Well, another year has flown by. It seems like just yesterday that Matt and I were working on the 2005 goals list. Where does the time go?

Even though January 1 is just another day, it also seems to create closure and an opportunity to reflect on the previous year, allowing a fresh start with new perspectives. Each year, Matthew and I carve time out in our schedules to look at how we did the last year and where we want to go in the new year. I hope you will be able to take some of our ideas below and use them in your business to help create a stellar 2006.

At the beginning of every year, we look at where we would like to see the business by the end of the year. We set realistic sales goals and map out how we can reach those goals. We look for new services and features that are complimentary to our core business which we feel will help each of our customers be more successful. Using previous year's goals list to see where we succeeded and where we fell short, we adjust as needed. Our biggest core focus is on how to make our processes work in such a way that clients always stay satisfied.

It's amazing what you find when you take time to look! In our case, we found that the marketing and consulting services that we began last year were far more successful than we had first thought they would be. We also found that we needed to simplify our systems--with roughly 30 client projects in process at any given time, our management system became too cumbersome to use efficiently. By spending the time to rethink and simplify, we are now able scale better while keeping customer satisfaction high.

In your ecommerce business, You will probably want to focus on how to increase sales using the marketing techniques available, cutting order processing time, and increasing customer service while keeping employee costs down. Small steps are far more efficient than large ones. For example, if your goal is to increase your marketing efforts, work on one pay-per-click engine (ex. Google) at a time. Learn how it works, put the campaign in place, track your results, adjust, and move onto the next one.

We also find that when any blind spots show up that focusing on the solution is much better than focusing on the blind spot. Focusing on the blind spot tends to make it grow. Focusing on the solution creates willingness to see ways of increasing sales that you won't normally see. It's a good practice for business owners to step back to get a clear perspective on the forest rather than the trees.

We wish you outstanding success in 2006. Make it a stellar year! If we can help you with your marketing plan, feel free to give us a call.

Keith Enloe VP, CIO

A few of the books the Wild Men read and recommend:
Wild at Heart, John Eldredge
Nine Things You Simply Must Do to Succeed in Love and Life, Henry Cloud
Getting Things Done, David Allen
Today Matters, John Maxwell
Success is Not an Accident, Tommy Newberry