1. Use the buddy system.

Accountability is the name of the game when it comes to following through on resolutions. And finding a partner or a group to share in, or just check up on, your resolutions is a great way to stay accountable.

The American Society of Training and Development found people are 65% more likely to meet a goal after committing to another person. And that lift increases to a whopping 95% when they build in ongoing meetings to check in on their progress.

Like most of these new year’s resolutions for business owners, this one doesn’t cost anything. So ask a friend, a colleague, join a professional group in your area or even an online group for people in your industry. You’ll be much more likely to meet your goals, and you might even gain some networking benefits in the process.

2. Focus on quality, not quantity.

At OutboundEngine, we spend all day thinking about how to help small businesses improve their marketing. What we’ve found is that turning on a firehose of content isn’t usually the best approach. You can blast out 10 Facebook posts every day and retweet all night long, but there are ways you can connect with your current and potential clients better by doing less. Focus on posting interesting, timely information that encourages your audience to interact with you or share your content.

Quick ways to do this:

• Respond to comments on your posts.
• Leave comments and like content on other pages.
• Include personal notes on pictures or posts that you share.

Take the time to make a few real connections every day and you’ll see your relationships strengthen.

3. Be a mentor.

Think back to when you were first starting out in your career. You were probably excited and hopeful while simultaneously feeling nervous and unsure. Did you have support, or could you have used more?

One of the best new year’s resolutions for business owners is to pay it forward. Reach out to someone in your industry just starting out and who could use mentoring or a sounding board for advice. Your generosity will not go unnoticed, and you will be seen as both an expert in your field and as a person people want to work with. It never hurts to raise your profile within your industry, especially when you’re doing a good deed.

Not sure how to find someone? LinkedIn has a great feature called Career Advice. Answer a couple quick questions and they’ll match you with someone based on your preferences.

4. Think long-term.

Some goals take more than just one calendar year. Don’t be afraid to put something huge on your resolutions list just because it will extend beyond 2023. The idea of this task can seem daunting, so start by making a list or marking up a calendar. Oftentimes, just seeing your list on paper can make it feel more manageable.

It doesn’t matter how you want to manage your list. You can use the tried and true paper and pen and use a planner. If you prefer to keep things digital, check out some of these apps to keep you organized.

Write out what you’d like to see your business become. Include goals both personal and professional you’d like to achieve. Think about what steps you can take to make those dreams a reality. Use this plan as a motivator to stay on track with goals throughout 2023.

Interested in digging into improving your project management? Check out these tips from a pro.

5. Fight burnout with balance.

The workday for a small business owner doesn’t always end at 5 pm on a Friday and start again at 9 am on Monday. For example, a real estate agent may have busier weekends and slower weekdays. A health and wellness professional may see a spike in business on holidays when other businesses quiet down. All of this burning the candle at both ends means burnout is on the rise. Burnout affects both your mental and physical health, so it’s important to make sure you take the time you need to recharge.

Here are some tangible ways to work in balance:

• Exercise as often as you can. Take a phone call while you go for a short walk.
• Spend time with people you care about. Set a monthly lunch or schedule a weekly call with someone who is important to you.
• Get some sleep at night. Staying off your phone/tablets for an hour before bed will help you sleep easier.
• Carve out time for yourself. Watch a movie, knit a scarf, do a crossword puzzle, whatever will help you relax and recharge your batteries.
• Outsource tasks you don’t have time for. For example, we can take marketing off your plate so you spend less time working.

Shifting even a small percentage of your free time to yourself will have big benefits. With your mind refreshed and your body energized, your personal success will benefit. Who knows? You may even end up inspiring people around you to do the same. The domino effect of happier and healthier people in your life will be profound.

6. Strategically delegate.

Small business owners and entrepreneurs are used to doing everything, but should they? Shifting work to someone else can be difficult, especially for those who are accustomed to wearing every hat needed to run a business. However, delegation can open you up to focusing on what you love and what you do best.

Ask yourself these questions:

1. What do you dread doing?
2. What overwhelms you?
3. Could someone else do in minutes a task that takes me hours?

The answers to these questions may lead you to a list of tasks that you can and should delegate to someone else.

If delegating marketing is one of your new year’s resolutions for your business, let OutboundEngine’s automated marketing help. Click here to set up a live walkthrough and find out how we can help you succeed in the new year. Cheers to a successful new year!

Customer gift ideas can take the form of a grand gesture, a quick note, and everything in between. As long as it makes someone stop and remember you for something other than a business transaction, you’re on the right path.

Here are five customer gift ideas and tips for the holidays:

1) Go Local

Whether you’re in a big city or a small town, your area probably has at least a few beloved local businesses that could use your support, especially in an age when so many are struggling. Why not source your client holiday gifts from right here at home?

If you want to shop local, try giving clients:

• Bread or pastries from a local bakery.
• Coffee or tea from a local roaster/tea shop.
• Art or home décor items from a local boutique (the kind you won’t find online).
• Handmade gifts (think candles, jewelry, pottery, etc.) from a local artisan or craftsman. If you have a farmers’ market, that’s often a great place to find gifts like this.
• Beer, wine or spirits from a local brewery/winery/distillery (unless you know the client doesn’t imbibe, obviously). Bonus points for knowing their drink of choice!
• An item that your area is famous for, like a local style of BBQ sauce or a type of fruit that’s produced in your region.

Sending clients a gift from a local business not only shows you appreciate them — it also shows your support for the community. That’s something everyone can get behind.

2) Be Personal

Take the time to send a gift that highlights your attention to detail and personal connection. A great place to start is to think about past conversations and interactions. Have they mentioned a favorite sports team? Or maybe a go-to restaurant or coffee shop? A piece of merch with their team’s logo or a gift card for a restaurant they mentioned will impress them with your attention to detail. (This is one reason keeping detailed records in your CRM is so important!)

You can even take it a step further and give them a personalized gift, like custom stationery or a coffee mug with their initials on it. The best customer gift ideas demonstrate how much you value the relationship. Get creative and the thought and effort will certainly be appreciated.

3) Build a Better Gift Box

The gift you send matters, but don’t underestimate the value of attractive, impressive or creative packaging to delight your recipients. You can go the DIY route and channel your inner Martha Stewart with a hand-built gift basket, or you can take advantage of the many services that do the work for you.

A few options that put a new spin on the traditional gift basket:

• Greetabl offers “tiny, delightful, surprisingly special” miniature gift boxes with modern packaging design.
• Happy Box Store lets you build a gift box or choose from pre-built, curated boxes.
• Boxfox specializes in sophisticated, elegant gifts and packaging with a “no kitsch” promise.

Whatever route you choose, make sure to tailor your gift box/basket using any details and preferences you know about your client.

4) Make It Practical

Chocolate, cards and fun gifts are all safe bets, but sending something practical has benefits too. Consider a gift that your client will use in their everyday life. That way, they’ll think of you every time your gift makes their day slightly better or easier. The brand-boosting effect is doubled if the gift has your logo on it.

Practical gifts could include:

• Handy tech items like portable chargers or wireless earbuds.
• Items that make working from home easier and more comfortable.
• A high-quality face mask that’s actually stylish.
• An ultra-plush blanket to make staying home a little cozier.
• Kitchen tools like a nice wooden cutting board or a sturdy wine bottle opener.

The possibilities are nearly endless. By giving a practical gift that a client can use, you’ll be remembered in the months following this holiday season.

5) Give the Gift of Learning

Your clients trust you as an expert in your industry. Do you have a favorite industry-relevant book you know would help your customers? Write a note inside the cover and send it to them. Is there a magazine they could benefit from? Consider buying them an online subscription.

Many people have used the pandemic as an opportunity to learn new skills. Your clients might also appreciate a subscription to an online learning service like MasterClass, where they can learn popular skills from celebrity instructors.

Providing them with true value and information that they will take with them into their personal life or career shows you’re invested beyond making a sale.

Bonus: Just Send a Note Instead

If sending client gifts is out of your budget, never fear: there’s power in a handwritten note. In today’s world of emails, texts, and social media, a handwritten message is rare and meaningful. Taking the time to send handwritten correspondence will make your customers take notice.

There are a few things to remember when sending a handwritten note:

• Use their name. First names are preferable unless you’re worried about appearing too informal.
• Be personal. Reference a past conversation, a detail you remember about them or the service you provided them.
• Stay authentic. Express your genuine, heartfelt gratitude that they choose to do business with you.
• Talk about the future. Make sure they know you look forward to the opportunity of helping them again.

If you don’t have time to do this yourself (or if your handwriting isn’t the greatest), check out services like Scribeless and Handwrytten that offer done-for-you handwritten notes and cards.

Enjoy the Giving Season

Everyone stresses making a good first impression, but making a lasting impression is equally important. In a season when everyone is sending and receiving gifts, make sure yours stands out. Customer gift ideas don’t have to be big or expensive — they need to be thoughtful above all.

Looking for more great ways to build lasting relationships with customers? Let us help you automate your email and social media marketing!

1. Recruiting & Retention Struggles

79% of employees that leave a job cite a lack of recognition and appreciation as a key reason for quitting. This means that roughly 8 out of 10 employees who leave a job do so at least partially because they don’t feel appreciated. If you know the costs associated with recruiting and retention, this is a shocking statistic for a problem that’s entirely preventable.

Learn from this small business stat: If you employ either internal team members or external contractors, let them know you appreciate their hard work and contributions. Having happy employees who enjoy coming to work and feel their contributions are recognized will pay off for your bottom line. It can be as simple as a shout-out in a meeting, but you can also get creative with recognition. Try giving a hardworking employee a creative, unexpected thank-you gift to make sure they feel valued.

2. Fierce Competition

In 2020, 4.35 million business applications were submitted in the U.S. alone, a 74% increase from 2019. This stat is exciting and a little scary. It’s inspiring to see so many businesses launching, but it’s another reminder that competition is fiercer than ever.

Learn from this small business stat: What makes your business stand out from the competition? For many, it’s customer service. Exceptional customer service helps generate better online reviews and give your business that positive reputational glow, making you more resilient in the long term. It will also serve as a constant reminder of why your customers work with you and not your competition.

Need some ideas? Here are a few easy and impactful ways to show your customers you appreciate them.

3. Responsibilities Overload

66% of small business owners and leaders are personally responsible for three or more of the following areas of their business: operations, finance, sales, marketing, human resources, customer service, product development, or IT. Unless you’re superhuman, that’s too much for a single person.

You care about your business and success. Sometimes that means putting together the budget, running ad campaigns, handling customer questions and being tech support for your website all in one day. It’s a lot.

Learn from this small business stat: Don’t be afraid to delegate! As much as you want to do everything, it’s hard to keep all those plates spinning. Delegation can help you get your time back and allow you to spend it on the work that you do best. If you can’t afford a full-time employee to fill those roles, consider a freelancer or contractor, or even a software solution that automates those functions for small businesses.

One easy area to use software to save some serious time is marketing. If you’re looking to reduce your workload, find out how OutboundEngine can take marketing off your plate completely.

4. Budgets & Finances

56% of small business owners use their personal savings for startup capital. If you take personal credit cards, “other personal assets” and home equity into consideration, this number reaches 74%.

Starting a business is expensive. While some take the financing route, the majority of small business owners are at least partially using their savings to get their business off the ground. This can put you in a risky financial position should your business underperform or fail.

Learn from this small business stat: This is probably the least surprising item on our list of small business stats. All small business owners are familiar with the expenses related to starting a business. Every penny of your hard-earned money should be used as efficiently as possible, and you should watch your expenses like a hawk.

One way to do this is to set a marketing budget as early as possible, considering everything from staffing to marketing costs. You can also use one of these free budget templates to ensure you’re making the most of the investment you’ve put into starting your business.

5. Location, location, location

50-60% of small businesses are run out of a personal home. While this is a pre-pandemic stat, that percentage has almost certainly risen since 2020.

Remember how we said starting a business is expensive? As a result, many small business owners are finding ways to save money. Renting an office can be an unnecessary cost, especially if you don’t have additional employees that need a dedicated workspace. That’s truer in 2022 than ever before, when working from home is more common and office space less necessary.

So what’s the scary part? Working from home comes with its own set of unique challenges, from distractions to lack of communication to technology hurdles. Make sure you understand those inherent risks.

Learn from this small business stat: It’s very possible to run a business out of your home, for either a short while or indefinitely. Learning how to limit daily distractions while working home will help make the best of this situation. If you do need a more professional place to meet clients or escape the distractions of home, look into coworking spaces in your area, which tend to be more flexible and affordable than leasing an office.

6. Marketing ROI

Content marketing gets 3x more leads than paid search advertising.

Content marketing is a cost-effective marketing method that sees a solid ROI. The scary part of this stat is that content marketing isn’t super easy to create, which is part of the reason why more small businesses aren’t taking advantage of it. While spending money on search ads may sound easier than creating interesting, clickable content, you’ll be spending more per lead with that strategy.

Learn from this small business stat: Content marketing should be part of your overall marketing plan. By crafting and sharing useful, insightful content, businesses can position themselves as thought leaders and build reputation over time. If you’d rather not invest your own time in creating great content, we can take care of it for you.

Move Forward With These Small Business Stats

Knowledge is power. Knowing you’re not alone in the challenges you face is probably a bit of a relief. But it’s not a solution. If you can relate to any of these small business stats, seems like it may be time to make a few changes. One decision many small businesses make is to delegate with software or an outside agency to take on ways to combat these small business challenges.

OutboundEngine touches on all of these small business stats and more. We offer super simple software and a talented marketing team that keeps you top of mind with your network for an affordable price. Because we’re able to take on the work of a marketing team, you’re able to focus on your customers and building your business. Talk with one of our marketing experts today and get a free demo.