As 2017 comes to a close it’s time to think about New Year resolutions for 2018. What are your company’s goals? What changes are needed to reach these goals? What can you do to make things happen and contribute to success in 2018? Hopefully you’re already deep into strategic planning for 2018, but here are a few recommendations based on industry trends and predictions to help aim you in the right direction, as well as a look back at some of this year’s published columns to help you get there.
Be the Best You Can Be. This well-known and often preached directive applies to all aspects of life — work, fun and play, as well as personal relationships. Though obvious, hearing or reading these words helps us focus on doing all that we are capable of. This applies to businesses, too. Look at your company’s behavior, from greeting fellow employees in the morning, to answering the phone, to arriving at the customer’s home or business, to communications within the company and outside with the public, especially clients. For a company to be the best, it needs to have a positive corporate culture, be professional with a class act reputation, excel at what it does, and build a great team. See the Smart Insights September article “Technicians Needed — How to Find Them” (www.SDMmag.com/technicians-needed) and the October article “Business Check-Up 101: Getting Your Act Together” (www.SDMmag.com/business-check-up-101).