Much like relationships, there’s no boiler plate method for taking care of your business. Every company (again, much like relationships) requires a variety of different methods and approaches to keep it ticking along and happy. With Christmas approaching, we take a look at what you can do to show your business a little love and care over the holidays to ensure it grows well into the New Year and beyond.
Top 10 investments for your business this holiday season
Investment 1: Upgrading office space
Décor, furniture, and paint may seem bottom of the list when it comes to business focus, but the way your location looks impacts a lot more than you may think. Employee morale, client impression and overall professionalism can be greatly improved with an upgraded office space. Whether it’s new furniture, a redecoration or even a completely new office, take the time to improve your workplace and you’ll see the rewards.
Investment 2: Enhancing technology with new hardware
Everyone knows technology moves at breakneck speed, and that means you as a business need to be prepared to keep up. The last thing your clients need is being let down because your equipment isn’t up to scratch. Embracing up to date tech means you’ll always be ahead of the curve.
Investment 3: Investing in advanced software solutions
It’s crucial that businesses make sure their software is consistently up to date and in full working order. Keeping up with the fast moving world of software means you don’t get left behind when it comes to data security, work output and most importantly, client expectations.
Investment 4: Employee training
Sending your team into the New Year with a new set of skills can send your business to new heights. Find out where your teams strengths and weaknesses are and look to improve them with courses, seminars and materials to bring the best out of your employees.
Investment 5: Refresh your website
Your website may be the face of your brand, but it can also act as a deterrent if it’s lacking. Put time and money into making sure your website is SEO friendly, fast and most important, functional. Various studies show users lose interest if a website takes longer than 2 seconds to load, ensure your potential clients aren’t one of them.
Investment 6: Refresh your social media presence
Whilst social media can seem like a strange and murky place for businesses, it’s still important to have a clear, professional, and most importantly, up to date presence on the bigger social media platforms.
Investment 7: New toys
Now we don’t mean arcade machines in the office, but there’s no harm in bringing a few new gadgets into the workspace to liven things up. A fancy coffee machine to impress clients (and staff), projectors or AV systems for presentations and conference calls or even climate control systems to keep the office comfortable all year round. All of them improve your workplace and show your team the business cares.
Investment 8: Benefits
Investing in additional benefits for your team can bring a huge boost to workplace satisfaction and overall performance. Things like healthcare benefits, wellness programs, gym memberships or discounts off of products or services for the whole team.
Investment 9: Green initiatives
In 2023 it’s important companies are focusing on sustainability where they can. If you’re not already, now’s the time. Cycle to work schemes, paperless offices, net zero goals and recycling initiatives within the office can all make the difference.
Investment 10: Branding
Rebranding isn’t something that can be done on a whim, but if it’s time for a new logo, colour scheme or even just a refresh, now’s the time. A professional looking logo and eye catching brand palette can go a long way when it’s printed on business cards, building frontage and website headers.
Maximising returns on your holiday business investments
Assess the long-term benefits of each investment: Take note of which problems (current or future) these investments will solve. From work output, employee morale, customer feedback or even financials and income, track over the next 3,6 and 12 months to see how each investment has made a difference.
Think about less-tangible benefits: Small investments such as office equipment upgrades (new laptops/coffee machines/water coolers) can have small but positive impacts on workflow from team members – although this may be harder to measure.
Think about Cost vs Quality: When spending money on your business, it’s worth balancing cost against quality. A small improvement or upgrade to save money, may cost you money in the long run. Investing in high quality products or decisions, whilst potentially expensive to begin with, can stop your business from having to spend more later down the line.
Try and be strategic: Find out where your pain points and issues lie within the business. Is it physical space, customer feedback, even within your business development teams. Focus your spending on what you feel will make the biggest impact for the available budget, taking risks where it feels the most important.
