The flowers are blooming, the birds are serenading, and your office still feels like it has the winter blues. Spring cleaning is a tradition that allows us to freshen up our homes and prepares us for the hectic seasons of spring and summer. What about your professional home- your business? Do you need help applying these spring cleaning tasks to unearth your creative potential?
PPR Strategies has six steps to get your spring cleaning initiative off the ground:
- Formulate a plan and set goals – Write down what things your company needs to spruce up for the spring season. Maybe you should change the look of your website, brush off that strategic plan you started in December or give the office a facelift. Make a plan and choose what objectives you want to reach.
- Clear the clutter and get organized – No matter where you start, you have to have a clean space. This may your conference room or your own mind. Clean out the cobwebs and focus on what your customers believe. Starting with a clean slate opens your mind to endless possibilities and energizes your creativity. Don’t place limits on what you think you can do. Think outside the box and do #3.
- Get your colleagues involved – No one wants to clean alone. Ask for help. Your colleagues know what your customers are looking for and they may even have an idea that you haven’t explored. Revisit your parking lot of ideas from weekly meetings or start having those staff meetings to get ideas on the table.
- Use products you have on hand – Review your advertising and publicity campaigns. Tweak these to align with your upcoming product or service releases. Beef up your social media presence. Send out monthly eNewsletters to your customers reminding them why they chose your company to meet their needs. Create a database of prospects. Consistently reach out to them with helpful tips and ideas to bring them to your product or service. Ask clients for testimonials and use these on your website or promotional brochure. Don’t forget to ask for those referrals. A happy customer can market your brand just as easily as a paid advertisement.
- Tackle one area at a time – It’s budget season too so make sure your financials are matching your projections. Then ask your customers for feedback on service, product quality or what things they still desire. This can also help with #3. Seek out customers and proposals whose business you didn’t retain. Maybe they too are spring cleaning and will give you another shot.
- Maintain this momentum – Pace yourself. Some businesses do this in a week and others take a month or more. Spring cleaning helps your business to grow, but should be consistent. Reread #1.
Take a look around. There are all kinds of great projects to begin. Roll up your sleeves and have some fun welcoming spring to your business.
