As we are at the end of yet another year and the end of a very important milestone for TCG, (We turned 5 years old  this month (December) so Happy Birthday to us) this has got me thinking and reflecting  on the past 5 years, and what we done right and wrong.  Despite having been in business for 5 years , it has not all gone right.. in fact far from it.  There have been many things we have done over the years that, given the chance to do  again, we  would do a lot differently.

Like a lot of other businesses, we have always done the same thing in terms of trying to get new business, and wondered why we always end up in the same place. In our case, we have always relied on referrals, and this year in particular the referrals have been a lot less than in previous years, for one reason or another.  Speaking to some other businesses owners and colleagues I have seen a pattern forming, whereby most people who do the same thing, always end up with the same results.

So this got me thinking, what can we do differently this coming year, that we have not done in previous years. ?

For Starters we are going to change the way we look for business and instead of relying only on referrals, we will do some Marketing campaigns to specific vertical sectors ( we already serve the Accountancy vertical so why not market to prospects in the same vertical using the pain points we have already got from our existing customer).  Not only is this a great  opportunity to engage our existing customers, who we may not have seen for a while, but its also a great way to get testimonials and case studies from them, which you have not have done before.

We have also  started to look at all the relationships we have with vendors and  2010 will be the year that we will engage a lot more with our vendors and look for ways to help them get more business,  which ultimately will help us to get more business for ourselves, so this will be a WIN WIN for both parties.

I am sure you have all heard the saying “IF YOU ALWAYS DO WHAT YOU’VE ALWAYS DONE,  YOU WILL ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU’VE ALWAYS GOT !!”

This saying is so true and sadly most people, including myself have always ignored it and continued doing the same things every year and then wondered why , every year they get the same results, so why not make 2010 the year that it all gets turned around, take a sheet of paper and copy the above line, in BOLD and stick it on your wall, so that whenever you get to the office, you have something to remind you, to do things differently this year.

Thanks for reading and here’s hoping  you all have a very prosperous 2010 and together lets make it the best year of the decade..