As we approach the New Year, take some time to reflect on 2012 and identify areas for improvement in 2013, with advice from the article “Small Business Planning: 7 Things to Focus on in 2013” from the Yahoo! Small Business Advisor Blog. Whether this was a great year for your business or not so much, there’s always room for improvement. Consider focusing on some of these aspects for a better 2013:

1. Mission/Vision. Start by going back to square one. Why does your business exist and what is it trying to accomplish? Identifying a clear mission and vision trickles down into your entire business strategy, so spend some time reflecting and re-strategizing.
2. Customer Experience. Finding ways to improve the customer experience should be a primary focus for every business. Work on developing processes and systems to keep interactions with consumers consistent, whether it’s sales procedures or problem solving. To increase profits, try to identify new products and services that your ideal customer wants.
3. Controlled Spending. Budget, budget, budget! Do your best to eliminate wasting resources on anything that doesn’t contribute to achieving objectives.
4. Employees. Don’t fail to take their front-line point of view into consideration in crucial strategic decisions. “Take advantage of the employee perspective and take time to learn from their experience working with customers, products or services,” the blog suggests.
5. Changing technologies. Don’t get caught playing catch-up. Stay tuned in to industry blogs and publications to stay ahead of the curve.
6. Emerging Trends. Be an involved member of your industry. Get involved with professional organizations to keep informed on emerging trends and be a leader, not a follower.
7. Personal Development. Education never stops. Seek out some books, classes and seminars that will help you improve your skills and knowledge and better equip yourself to deal with the challenges of 2013.

Click here to read the article from Profit Minded.