2023 - your plans?
Discussion
As we start a new year, many take the time for a new start, new ideas, maybe even a new business?
What’s your plans?
Mine is to continue to build our cleaning business, which grew approximately 50% last year, aiming to do that by expanding our rate of tender responses, and aiming to take on a second BDM.
I’m also aiming to start a small specialist car sales business, starting small and aiming to provide quality used sports/hot hatches etc, and build a good reputation and network through that.
What’s your plans?
Mine is to continue to build our cleaning business, which grew approximately 50% last year, aiming to do that by expanding our rate of tender responses, and aiming to take on a second BDM.
I’m also aiming to start a small specialist car sales business, starting small and aiming to provide quality used sports/hot hatches etc, and build a good reputation and network through that.
Al Gorithum said:
Personally I'd still clear of car sales at the mo. I'm expecting a blood-bath.
Maybe you wouldn’t want to own a forecourt full of Range Rovers, but I think like anything the profit will continue to be in the buying. If anything I think a “bloodbath” could present an interesting entry point into a “specialist” car sales market Biggest year of my life!
I did a thread for advice on potentially out sourcing my manufacturing a couple of years ago. I have been working away at it every since. Long story short first batch of materials landed in Lithuania week before Xmas been talking through detail today getting first batch made by the end of the month.
If that all goes well by the end of the year both my factories here will be closed down with the switch complete. With distribution being handled out there (separately). Leaving offices and R&D here in the UK.
I am soooo excited. Will finally have the capacity to go after the big contracts we have shied away from for years. Will also full design freedom, if I can design it they can make it. Which opens a lot of possibilities. Can now directly target the big boys of my industry, been causing them trouble in niches for a while but will be able to go after the main stream stuff.
I did a thread for advice on potentially out sourcing my manufacturing a couple of years ago. I have been working away at it every since. Long story short first batch of materials landed in Lithuania week before Xmas been talking through detail today getting first batch made by the end of the month.
If that all goes well by the end of the year both my factories here will be closed down with the switch complete. With distribution being handled out there (separately). Leaving offices and R&D here in the UK.
I am soooo excited. Will finally have the capacity to go after the big contracts we have shied away from for years. Will also full design freedom, if I can design it they can make it. Which opens a lot of possibilities. Can now directly target the big boys of my industry, been causing them trouble in niches for a while but will be able to go after the main stream stuff.
This week marks the start of year 3 of my business which was originally set up as a stop-gap entity through which I could sell myself on Communication Consultancy projects internationally. Today, it looks, feels and operates like a full-beans agency. I (and my wife) are the sole employees. My 'team' are a bunch of freelance collaborators and small companies that white-label themselves to me. Work from home so super-low overheads. We punch well above our weight and are winning some really good projects and contracts from notable clients.
My plan for 2023 is to decide on a 'steady-as-she-goes' course or start to build the business into what it looks like it is but isn't.
One the one hand, I like the freedom I have at the moment. It's stress free and very low risk. Plus I absolutely love the work and the revenue is excellent.
On the other hand, it's not a business I can easily exit from. For a business to acquire value sufficient to make it attractive others, the owners have to be unimportant to the business - but I 'am' the business. Changing that would require investment, risk and the accumulation of baggage that I'm currently enjoying not having to carry around.
My plan for 2023 is to decide on a 'steady-as-she-goes' course or start to build the business into what it looks like it is but isn't.
One the one hand, I like the freedom I have at the moment. It's stress free and very low risk. Plus I absolutely love the work and the revenue is excellent.
On the other hand, it's not a business I can easily exit from. For a business to acquire value sufficient to make it attractive others, the owners have to be unimportant to the business - but I 'am' the business. Changing that would require investment, risk and the accumulation of baggage that I'm currently enjoying not having to carry around.
I'm in car sales. No slow down for me, just got to have your wits about you.
Its all in the buying. My plan for this year is to remain consistent as we have had 2.5 years of extremely good times and good performance, I don't think records will be broken but have set things up to be strong and aim to maximise profits on the deals we can do.
My main objective is to make it really simple and easy for people that actually want to buy from us. So if they want next day delivery the car is there, if its finance its competitive, clearly explained and simple to apply / proceed. Essentially want to offer really good customer service.
Its all in the buying. My plan for this year is to remain consistent as we have had 2.5 years of extremely good times and good performance, I don't think records will be broken but have set things up to be strong and aim to maximise profits on the deals we can do.
My main objective is to make it really simple and easy for people that actually want to buy from us. So if they want next day delivery the car is there, if its finance its competitive, clearly explained and simple to apply / proceed. Essentially want to offer really good customer service.
Our plan for 2023 is continued growth of our business.
2023 will be our 5th year of trading, in 2021 and 2022 we double our year to date sales each year, so we are seeing success.
However what we really need to see , and our goal for this year is to maximise and see a growth in our profits.
We have just been badly burned by an SEO company, we have spent thousands with them since October 2022, but they have delivered squat, I’m fact less than that our website rankings and seo have gone down.
To add insult to injury they came back to us in December 2022 and asked for another £3000 to update our website so that they could make more SEO changes.
I had a very heated call with the CEO of the business, and to be honest he responded to my criticism of his lack of achievements based against the goals we set like a petulant child.
I terminated the contract with his business yesterday.
So I am on the lookout for good honest SEO company to work with, who can demonstrate proven results and a track record.
Anyone on here interested in helping?
2023 will be our 5th year of trading, in 2021 and 2022 we double our year to date sales each year, so we are seeing success.
However what we really need to see , and our goal for this year is to maximise and see a growth in our profits.
We have just been badly burned by an SEO company, we have spent thousands with them since October 2022, but they have delivered squat, I’m fact less than that our website rankings and seo have gone down.
To add insult to injury they came back to us in December 2022 and asked for another £3000 to update our website so that they could make more SEO changes.
I had a very heated call with the CEO of the business, and to be honest he responded to my criticism of his lack of achievements based against the goals we set like a petulant child.
I terminated the contract with his business yesterday.
So I am on the lookout for good honest SEO company to work with, who can demonstrate proven results and a track record.
Anyone on here interested in helping?
nigelpugh7 said:
Our plan for 2023 is continued growth of our business.
2023 will be our 5th year of trading, in 2021 and 2022 we double our year to date sales each year, so we are seeing success.
However what we really need to see , and our goal for this year is to maximise and see a growth in our profits.
We have just been badly burned by an SEO company, we have spent thousands with them since October 2022, but they have delivered squat, I’m fact less than that our website rankings and seo have gone down.
To add insult to injury they came back to us in December 2022 and asked for another £3000 to update our website so that they could make more SEO changes.
I had a very heated call with the CEO of the business, and to be honest he responded to my criticism of his lack of achievements based against the goals we set like a petulant child.
I terminated the contract with his business yesterday.
So I am on the lookout for good honest SEO company to work with, who can demonstrate proven results and a track record.
Anyone on here interested in helping?
We work with several SEO agencies of differing skill sets who I can happily recommend - If you're happy to email over some additional context on what you're looking to achieve, I'd be happy to point you in their direction. 2023 will be our 5th year of trading, in 2021 and 2022 we double our year to date sales each year, so we are seeing success.
However what we really need to see , and our goal for this year is to maximise and see a growth in our profits.
We have just been badly burned by an SEO company, we have spent thousands with them since October 2022, but they have delivered squat, I’m fact less than that our website rankings and seo have gone down.
To add insult to injury they came back to us in December 2022 and asked for another £3000 to update our website so that they could make more SEO changes.
I had a very heated call with the CEO of the business, and to be honest he responded to my criticism of his lack of achievements based against the goals we set like a petulant child.
I terminated the contract with his business yesterday.
So I am on the lookout for good honest SEO company to work with, who can demonstrate proven results and a track record.
Anyone on here interested in helping?
info@tristanpalmerstudio.com
tpalmer said:
We work with several SEO agencies of differing skill sets who I can happily recommend - If you're happy to email over some additional context on what you're looking to achieve, I'd be happy to point you in their direction.
info@tristanpalmerstudio.com
Hi Tristran,info@tristanpalmerstudio.com
Many thanks for the reply!
I will send you an email now, I notice you are also based in Worcestershire too!
Hello neighbour!
nigelpugh7 said:
Our plan for 2023 is continued growth of our business.
2023 will be our 5th year of trading, in 2021 and 2022 we double our year to date sales each year, so we are seeing success.
However what we really need to see , and our goal for this year is to maximise and see a growth in our profits.
We have just been badly burned by an SEO company, we have spent thousands with them since October 2022, but they have delivered squat, I’m fact less than that our website rankings and seo have gone down.
To add insult to injury they came back to us in December 2022 and asked for another £3000 to update our website so that they could make more SEO changes.
I had a very heated call with the CEO of the business, and to be honest he responded to my criticism of his lack of achievements based against the goals we set like a petulant child.
I terminated the contract with his business yesterday.
So I am on the lookout for good honest SEO company to work with, who can demonstrate proven results and a track record.
Anyone on here interested in helping?
Sorry to hear that, it really shouldn't happen these days as it's not a dark art. 2023 will be our 5th year of trading, in 2021 and 2022 we double our year to date sales each year, so we are seeing success.
However what we really need to see , and our goal for this year is to maximise and see a growth in our profits.
We have just been badly burned by an SEO company, we have spent thousands with them since October 2022, but they have delivered squat, I’m fact less than that our website rankings and seo have gone down.
To add insult to injury they came back to us in December 2022 and asked for another £3000 to update our website so that they could make more SEO changes.
I had a very heated call with the CEO of the business, and to be honest he responded to my criticism of his lack of achievements based against the goals we set like a petulant child.
I terminated the contract with his business yesterday.
So I am on the lookout for good honest SEO company to work with, who can demonstrate proven results and a track record.
Anyone on here interested in helping?
We look after loads of websites we have created for clients and do the SEO for them too.
I am not defending the SEO company, but just to open this up for consideration. One of the hardest parts of SEO is getting objectives from the client. What are you targeting, what are the key words, who are your competitors, will you respond to reviews, will you write a blog etc.
I realise in some cases, you can pay more money and have someone do the thinking for you, but really it works best when everyone works together on clear goals.
andyb28 said:
Sorry to hear that, it really shouldn't happen these days as it's not a dark art.
We look after loads of websites we have created for clients and do the SEO for them too.
I am not defending the SEO company, but just to open this up for consideration. One of the hardest parts of SEO is getting objectives from the client. What are you targeting, what are the key words, who are your competitors, will you respond to reviews, will you write a blog etc.
I realise in some cases, you can pay more money and have someone do the thinking for you, but really it works best when everyone works together on clear goals.
Thanks for taking the time to reply chap!We look after loads of websites we have created for clients and do the SEO for them too.
I am not defending the SEO company, but just to open this up for consideration. One of the hardest parts of SEO is getting objectives from the client. What are you targeting, what are the key words, who are your competitors, will you respond to reviews, will you write a blog etc.
I realise in some cases, you can pay more money and have someone do the thinking for you, but really it works best when everyone works together on clear goals.
Yes we made sure that when we selected the SEO company that all of those things were taken into account.
I think the annoying thing for me was for the very outset I explained that our business is very niche, and we are also within a sub sector of that vertical market sector so effectively a niche within a niche.
I also made sure at the start of the engagement with the SEO company that they were happy to work with our existing website, which they categorically confirmed they would be able to work with.
Prior to kicking off the campaign I created three separate documents to highlight where we are today, what we have done so far, including what has worked and what hasn’t l, and finally two separate documents, one with a full list of our competitors, then a full list of our customers, and a final goals based document that broken down target profiles of potential new customers, and the vertical market sectors we see as a good fit for our services.
As far as key words, again we produced a document that covered the original list of SEO keywords including long tail key search strings, and the new set of keywords that we now feel are more closely aligned to our service offerings as we stand today.
I believe we gave the SEO company more tools and direction than most companies ever normally do.
And to answer your other questions, yes we have a blog on our website, as well as a page for clients to leave reviews both on trust pilot and Google reviews too.
Here’s the links to those pages.
https://www.impactaerial.co.uk/2020/07/11/impact-a...
https://www.impactaerial.co.uk/testimonials/
JimmyConwayNW said:
I'm in car sales. No slow down for me, just got to have your wits about you.
Its all in the buying. My plan for this year is to remain consistent as we have had 2.5 years of extremely good times and good performance, I don't think records will be broken but have set things up to be strong and aim to maximise profits on the deals we can do.
My main objective is to make it really simple and easy for people that actually want to buy from us. So if they want next day delivery the car is there, if its finance its competitive, clearly explained and simple to apply / proceed. Essentially want to offer really good customer service.
Interesting. Being great at selling cars and making the transaction smooth and rewarding isn’t really a differentiator, in as much as lots can do this. Also customer service isn’t really the selling, the selling is selling, customer service is how you handle a follow up from the customer that may require you to dip your hand in your pocket , as in there is a fault with the car, perceived or otherwise. Its all in the buying. My plan for this year is to remain consistent as we have had 2.5 years of extremely good times and good performance, I don't think records will be broken but have set things up to be strong and aim to maximise profits on the deals we can do.
My main objective is to make it really simple and easy for people that actually want to buy from us. So if they want next day delivery the car is there, if its finance its competitive, clearly explained and simple to apply / proceed. Essentially want to offer really good customer service.
I suspect you don’t have a handle on that. That is in anyway different to anyone else. Therefore your claims of really good customer service will fall flat against the back drop of poor follow up.
nigelpugh7 said:
Our plan for 2023 is continued growth of our business.
2023 will be our 5th year of trading, in 2021 and 2022 we double our year to date sales each year, so we are seeing success.
However what we really need to see , and our goal for this year is to maximise and see a growth in our profits.
We have just been badly burned by an SEO company, we have spent thousands with them since October 2022, but they have delivered squat, I’m fact less than that our website rankings and seo have gone down.
To add insult to injury they came back to us in December 2022 and asked for another £3000 to update our website so that they could make more SEO changes.
I had a very heated call with the CEO of the business, and to be honest he responded to my criticism of his lack of achievements based against the goals we set like a petulant child.
I terminated the contract with his business yesterday.
So I am on the lookout for good honest SEO company to work with, who can demonstrate proven results and a track record.
Anyone on here interested in helping?
I have an agency, we have a fair few SEO clients, local, national & multinational.2023 will be our 5th year of trading, in 2021 and 2022 we double our year to date sales each year, so we are seeing success.
However what we really need to see , and our goal for this year is to maximise and see a growth in our profits.
We have just been badly burned by an SEO company, we have spent thousands with them since October 2022, but they have delivered squat, I’m fact less than that our website rankings and seo have gone down.
To add insult to injury they came back to us in December 2022 and asked for another £3000 to update our website so that they could make more SEO changes.
I had a very heated call with the CEO of the business, and to be honest he responded to my criticism of his lack of achievements based against the goals we set like a petulant child.
I terminated the contract with his business yesterday.
So I am on the lookout for good honest SEO company to work with, who can demonstrate proven results and a track record.
Anyone on here interested in helping?
I'm just the MD and certainly not an SEO myself so I'm only saying this from experience rather than a deep expertise in SEO but the other agency never really stood a chance if you are giving them grief after 3 months.
I've seen multiple clients SERPS go backwards before they went forwards. We have lost 1 SEO client in the last 12 months we would likely have lost a load more if decisions were being made 3 months in.
Now if the decision was made due to them not delivering the amount of content etc they promised then that's a good reason to have a frank convo with the agency.
bigweb said:
I have an agency, we have a fair few SEO clients, local, national & multinational.
I'm just the MD and certainly not an SEO myself so I'm only saying this from experience rather than a deep expertise in SEO but the other agency never really stood a chance if you are giving them grief after 3 months.
I've seen multiple clients SERPS go backwards before they went forwards. We have lost 1 SEO client in the last 12 months we would likely have lost a load more if decisions were being made 3 months in.
Now if the decision was made due to them not delivering the amount of content etc they promised then that's a good reason to have a frank convo with the agency.
Thanks for the reply chap!I'm just the MD and certainly not an SEO myself so I'm only saying this from experience rather than a deep expertise in SEO but the other agency never really stood a chance if you are giving them grief after 3 months.
I've seen multiple clients SERPS go backwards before they went forwards. We have lost 1 SEO client in the last 12 months we would likely have lost a load more if decisions were being made 3 months in.
Now if the decision was made due to them not delivering the amount of content etc they promised then that's a good reason to have a frank convo with the agency.
Yes I agree that it takes time to get results on SEO, we know that, but our issue was that in four months we had expected to see more “ feet on the street “ results!
Whist we understand that SEO is not an overnight quick win we really had hoped that the SEO company might have delivered some more tangible results for a £5K investment.
A new web dev business start for me too this year. I promised myself that I was done starting businesses from scratch, but going back to being an employee for a web studio last year quickly reversed that decision. Just for small businesses though - I'm sick of how often they get taken advantage of - crap work, crap service, over inflated bills, etc etc.
Nigel, I can't believe the state of your site after having spent thousands on SEO. Many easy gains to be had, and so so much that needs fixing. This is exactly the sort of thing I'm talking about. Makes me properly livid.
Definitely not touting for the job (hell, I only came up with the name for my business on Friday so I've got a ton of my own stuff to sort out) but I am more than happy to have a friendly chat with you to offer some guidance if you'd like, because tbh what you've got there is going to give me nightmares tonight.
Nigel, I can't believe the state of your site after having spent thousands on SEO. Many easy gains to be had, and so so much that needs fixing. This is exactly the sort of thing I'm talking about. Makes me properly livid.
Definitely not touting for the job (hell, I only came up with the name for my business on Friday so I've got a ton of my own stuff to sort out) but I am more than happy to have a friendly chat with you to offer some guidance if you'd like, because tbh what you've got there is going to give me nightmares tonight.
I’ve given up on SEO, way too many con merchants out there hiding behind “algorithms innit”. Spent so much over the years, and always get the same excuses.
Call me old fashioned, but it’s totally alien to me to pay substantial amounts of money, for you to go backwards and get zero results. If SEO agencies are capable of what they say, then could they not take payment upon results? Or staged payments depending on result? Seems way too easy to hide behind terms the client doesn’t understand, to justify poor results.
Saying that, I don’t like our current website and would like to update it, however, being told £10k plus for that, which in our game, cleaning, requires massive results to justify its expense.
Call me old fashioned, but it’s totally alien to me to pay substantial amounts of money, for you to go backwards and get zero results. If SEO agencies are capable of what they say, then could they not take payment upon results? Or staged payments depending on result? Seems way too easy to hide behind terms the client doesn’t understand, to justify poor results.
Saying that, I don’t like our current website and would like to update it, however, being told £10k plus for that, which in our game, cleaning, requires massive results to justify its expense.
jagnet said:
A new web dev business start for me too this year. I promised myself that I was done starting businesses from scratch, but going back to being an employee for a web studio last year quickly reversed that decision. Just for small businesses though - I'm sick of how often they get taken advantage of - crap work, crap service, over inflated bills, etc etc.
Nigel, I can't believe the state of your site after having spent thousands on SEO. Many easy gains to be had, and so so much that needs fixing. This is exactly the sort of thing I'm talking about. Makes me properly livid.
Definitely not touting for the job (hell, I only came up with the name for my business on Friday so I've got a ton of my own stuff to sort out) but I am more than happy to have a friendly chat with you to offer some guidance if you'd like, because tbh what you've got there is going to give me nightmares tonight.
Hi David, thanks so much for this reply.Nigel, I can't believe the state of your site after having spent thousands on SEO. Many easy gains to be had, and so so much that needs fixing. This is exactly the sort of thing I'm talking about. Makes me properly livid.
Definitely not touting for the job (hell, I only came up with the name for my business on Friday so I've got a ton of my own stuff to sort out) but I am more than happy to have a friendly chat with you to offer some guidance if you'd like, because tbh what you've got there is going to give me nightmares tonight.
And also thanks for the email too, I have responded to it quickly in email, so excuse any typos as I wrote on the fly whilst getting ready to leave the house.
So sorry if some of it might not have the correct grammar and spelling!
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