New Year, new decade – I am sure we all made our personal New Year’s resolutions, but have you made a New Year’s resolution for your business? A new decade might be a great time to consider whether your business is keeping up with the times, running the risk of being passed by your competitors or, loosing relevance for your customers.

One aspect to consider would be technology. Do you have a website or other online presence? If so, is it up to date and working well? For instance, Google keeps upgrading its SEO algorithm, so now things like having a secure site (https: rather than http:) help you to get higher in the index, as does being-mobile friendly and also having fast site loading speeds, things that may not have been a factor when you set up your website.

Do you use technology such as txt or email reminders for service bookings and WOF reminders? What about your client lounge – when was it last refreshed? Is it looking a bit run down or tired? How old are the magazines in there?

How about your marketing – has the customer base in your area changed? (See our diversity article in this issue.), is there a large group of a different ethnicity you could engage with via staff or marketing in different ways?

Is your diagnostic equipment up to date to deal with all the new models you are seeing? Sometimes a software update is all that is required, but the hardware needs upgrading periodically as well to keep up with vehicle technology.

And what about staff training? The electronics in cars keeps advancing each year with newer vehicles now getting a range of safety technology focussed around sensors such as Automated Emergency Braking (AEB), blind spot monitoring, etc. These vehicles will be starting to appear in general workshops as they end their warranty periods. Are you geared up equipment and training wise to service electric vehicles, given that most of the growth in the EV fleet is used imports? These are out there now as potential customers.

Happy reading, and all the best for 2020.