We hope some of the wisdom shared by our WHK clients can propel your business to greater heights in the year ahead.

Move with the times – don’t stand still in an ever changing world. Be prepared to alter your strategies, try new concepts and move with the times (Wood Mallets, Manufacturing, Hawke’s Bay).

Regular contact with your key customers – when was the last time you called up every one of your major customers just to have a yarn with them? We find that more effective than anything else (Language Perfect, Software / Education, Dunedin).

Move your software into the cloud – Accounts – Xero, CRM – Capsule, Email – Gmail, Word and Excel – Google Docs. it’s much cheaper, more secure, easier to collaborate and available globally (Wild Tomato Media, Publishing, Nelson).

Make every hour and every person count – time management, programme each job to make every hour count. Use dash boards so everyone can see who is performing and who is not (Nulook  Southland, Construction, Invercargill).

Engage with a mentor or adviser – involve someone who is not in your business as an adviser or mentor. Make sure you meet regularly with this individual to discuss monthly results, plans, dreams, or whatever is important to the health of your business and its direction (Cuts@once, Hairdressers, Nelson).

Implementing an effective system for ongoing analysis – implement a system such as Sage Winforecast, and focus ongoing attention to analysis and reporting in order to execute adjustments and improvements to the way your business works (Waipak, Packaging, Hawke’s Bay).

Love your customers – be positive and SMILE (Clive Cannons, Retail Pharmacy, Lower Hutt).
All tips are courtesy of the WHK Business Growth Tips competition (July 2011).

View the rest of the business growth tips’ entries on www.whk.co.nz/growthtips