Hello… the year is still new and happy!
Welcome to our first newsletter of 2019. We hope you enjoyed the Christmas break and are feeling refreshed and ready for the year ahead. Now that it’s February, it’s well and truly time to be hitting our productive straps and getting back into our routines. Did you spend your downtime just recharging, or did you use the time to do some planning and strategising for the next 12 months? In this newsletter, you’ll find some great tips, insights and opportunities to help you manage your business even better.
Your Optimum Team
We’re spreading the love!
This Valentine’s Day, the best way we can spread our love is by sharing some articles and opportunities that we’ve recently come across through our extensive reading and research, and our extended network of smart and inspirational business owners and influencers. Whether you’re in a business planning or goal-setting phase, or just wanting to improve your relationship with your customers, the insights you’ll gain from these articles will last much longer than a dozen long-stemmed red roses!
When it comes to business-planning, is less more?
Sue-Ellen Watts’ from wattsnextpx NYC suggests a different angle when it comes to developing your 12-month business strategy. Her refreshing perspective of ‘less is more’ in this article is interesting and very relatable.
3 tips for achieving your business goals
We also love this article by Susan Milicevic from Aspire Consulting. It covers three ways to help turn your ideas and wishes into measurable and achievable goals.
Any good at marketing?
Being a business owner doesn’t necessarily mean you have the skills of a highly seasoned marketing professional. If you need some help developing a marketing plan for your business, this article by Bek at BeKonstructive Marketing gives you some great ideas for B2B content marketing and customer journeys.
Are you playing hard to get?
You shouldn’t be! We recently came across this article from Credit Today that reminds us about the importance of being available to our customers by keeping the lines of communication open and easy. Have you assessed how easily your customers can contact your credit department lately? We recently undertook this process, and have implemented some changes. You’ll experience the difference soon and hear some new voices.
Who really deserves your love?
(Yes, we’re continuing with the Valentine’s Day theme, so hang in there.)
Not all relationships are created equal. Some are easy and mutually rewarding, some take a bit more effort to keep things working, and some are just too hard and simply not worth the effort.
Apply this thinking to your customer relationships and the same logic is relevant. It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking every customer is a good customer, but this isn’t always the case. Step back and assess how the relationship with each customer is working – for you. Are they paying you on time, are they giving you realistic deadlines, are they appreciative of your service, are they referring you to their network? If they are, then these sound like your ideal customers. If they’re not, then maybe they aren’t Mr or Mrs Right?
So, if you’re finding that you’re spending a lot of time on a customer who isn’t reciprocating the love and respect, maybe it’s time you updated your relationship status with that customer from ‘In a relationship’ to ‘It’s over’?
Your focus and energy would be better spent cultivating the relationships you have with your ideal customers, and going out there to find more just like them.
Things we’re loving about town!
Tomorrow, the very first Queensland Leaders meeting will be held, and we can’t think of a better way to spend Valentine’s Day! Over the past few years, we’ve been honoured to make some great connections through this impressive network, and we’ve loved supporting and mentoring other business owners as Industry Experts. We look forward to making some more new connections through Queensland Leaders this year.
We’re excited to book our Early Bird tickets for AICM’s conference on the Gold Coast in October. After missing the last few years due to conflicting obligations, the Optimum team will be there this year with bells on! Grab your Early Bird tickets, and check out AICM’s full calendar of events, including their education and network meetings in each state.
We absolutely love being a part of SheEO – a global community of awesome women transforming how we finance, support and celebrate women-led ventures. Our very own Angela McDonald is a SheEO Activator, and has just been involved in selecting the first-ever Australian semi-finalists for venture capital support. This was an amazing and inspiring process, and we wholeheartedly encourage you to get on board with this movement.
On another note, a lot of people are experiencing real hardship at the moment, due to the severe weather events happening in various parts of the country. Those affected are in our thoughts and we wish them well during this tough time. If your business has customers in these hard-hit areas, please try and be as supportive as you can to those who have a genuine need. And if you’d like any assistance with developing a Hardship Policy as part of your overall Credit Policy, we can help.
