It’s a new year, and more importantly a new decade. 2020 is your opportunity to define yourself and your business. What’s going to be your legacy? If 2020 is your year to level-up, we have some suggestions on how to shape your business resolutions to help you achieve your goals.

1. Be Wise With Your Capital

Think of the sacrifices you and your team make to earn money—time, labor, brainpower, effort, etc. Now think of all the things your business spends money on; there is no shortage of business expenses on that end-of-year report. If you can save in any category, that frees up more capital to spend elsewhere. 

Since goals are frequently limited by capital, it’s your job to look out for opportunities to save. 

While there are many expenses you can’t control in your business, the terms of your commercial real estate lease are not one of them. Let’s be clear, once your lease goes into effect, you’re locked into the terms of the agreement so it’s important to be wise with your decisions, as this agreement could follow you to the grave.

Before you sign the dotted line, understand all your options and what each piece of your lease means in relation to your business and it’s strategy. Without an experienced, occupier-only brokerage firm on your side to provide market insights, raise red flags when things seem fishy, and keep their eyes out for ways to save, you’ll be left with advice from a dual-agent or left without an advisor at all. When it comes to something as long-lasting and costly as your commercial real estate lease, you need to make sure the advisor you pick is 100% dedicated to your success, not your landlord’s.

Think you’ve been blindsided by your commercial real estate lease or suspect that you may have been represented by a dual-agent? Sign up for your free lease strategy call with one of Keyser’s experienced advisors. As our gift to you in the new year, we will uncover three ways you can save money on your lease and illuminate ways you can be more successful when it comes to your commercial real estate.

2. Provide Service Beyond Compare

A good brand experience is expected by today’s standards. Providing a consistent, positive experience for potential clients is one of your strongest, most valuable assets. The thing is, today’s consumers are smart—they can immediately tell when your intentions are genuine and when they aren’t. Reputations in general, are highly fragile, and your client’s experience should be protected at all costs. As companies like American Airlines can tell you, a negative client-experience is a PR nightmare and is extremely difficult to recover from, especially if it goes viral. The most sure-fire way to avoid a PR fiasco is to ensure your company is shaped by selfless service. 

While employees are often the client-facing body of the brand, the leadership needs to be responsible for the culture. A culture known for service needs to start with a leadership team that is willing to serve one another. So take a moment to reassess, realign, and rise above to find success through selfless service. 

Looking for a way to align your culture with selfless service? Join the upcoming Keyser Institute online courses on culture development with a selfless service strategy:

3. Foster a Culture that Attracts and Retains

Have you thought about your hiring strategy lately? Most likely. Have you thought about your retention strategy? Maybe not.

Many companies view onboarding an employee as a marriage. Once the new hire officially signs the contract, they stop courting the employee with opportunities for growth. Assuming if an employee was once happy with your brand or their role, they always will be happy is a misconception that can lead to huge talent losses. Over time, if employees aren’t happy with their work environment or feel under-appreciated, they bite at the first outside offer that comes their way. With the lowest unemployment rate since 1969, businesses are struggling to find available, qualified candidates to fuel their mission. Because the demand is much greater than the supply, it’s important to take steps to ensure your team members will be successful in their roles. Creating a strategy to attract and retain top talent will serve you not just in 2020, but for years to come.

To understand the full depths of the current employment status, and the best ways for your business to approach it, download the white paper “3 Key Strategies for Fighting the Talent War”.

In combination, saving money on your commercial real estate lease, ensuring that your client experience has a genuine foundation of selfless service, and developing your employee retention strategy will help you shape a strong plan for 2020. Good luck as you tackle these business resolutions! As always Keyser Community, we’re here to support you.