You have heard me say it a million times.  There is almost nothing more important to your affluent clients than exceptional service.  VIP Customer service and client appreciation campaigns can transform your clients into raving fans who build your business for you.

Here are the three pivotal steps to creating that result.

1. VIP Customer Service From The First Moment They Encounter Your Company
2. Systemized and Personalized Client Appreciation Campaigns to Build Loyalty
3. Systemized Client Referral Programs

The key to profitability and success rests in a company’s ability to differentiate itself from its competitors through creating a world class customer experience. The greatest missed opportunity for most companies is in creating more profitability from the customers they already have versus consistently replacing lost customers with new ones.

While a growing business needs to constantly capture new customers, the focus and priority should be on pleasing your existing customer base and growing your profitability through them.

How do you plan to create success in 2010?  If you haven’t written down where you want to go, how do you know if you’ll get there?  Ensure you have a clear roadmap in place for what you desire to create and rest assured knowing that the path to success is yours.  The most important way to do this is with a fresh 2010 business plan.

It is easy for entrepreneurs and small business to convince themselves they don’t need to do complex planning, strategy development, or a lot of writing of documents for their business.  In my work, I’m never really surprised by the number of people who don’t have a business plan. I am, however, surprised by the numbers who actually think they don’t need a business plan.  In fact, 99% of small business owners don’t have one.

Without a business plan, they end up spending more time and money while making no significant progress toward their goals.  The critical reasons for a plan in the New Year are two-fold:

1. A comprehensive plan keeps you on track throughout the year.  At critical mid points, ask yourself if you have you completed the tasks necessary to obtain your objectives.
2. A business plan is an imperative tool to train new employees.  Accurate background information, competitive differentiation as well as, forwarding thinking planning objectives allow you to easily level-set your new employees with a complete picture of his/her new employer.

Most people I talk with are happily ready to close the book on 2009.  By now, we all know the headlines. So rather than focus on the negative, consider this: what are you doing to set your gameplan and prepare to play big in 2010?  In order to create the space you need for success in 2010, you must ensure 2009 is closed in a powerful way.  Two of the most important ways to do so are by wrapping up your books and cleaning up your space.

• Wrap Up Your Books

At the close of the year, it is critical to clean up your financial books and make the necessary strategic decisions to move forward.  I sit down with my CFO for a full day and assess: do we need to make any big capital investments?  Do I need to clear out any outstanding debt?  Is payroll complete and in order so that tax forms are issue in a timely manner? By reviewing your accounting several weeks in advance of January 1, you allow yourself a runway to finalize the year end and make any adjustments to begin 2010 with a clean slate.

• Clean Up Your Space

Make time to clear your space physically so that it reenergizes you mentally. By getting organized, you shift the paradigms and create a new view to let in a tremendous amount of potential for creativity.  Cleaning up your space can mean different thing to different individuals.  Perhaps you need a professional organizer to put your office in order.  Maybe new paint is needed on your office walls.  It may mean taking the time to file away all the paperwork that’s been piling up or even recognizing that a new set of processes and operations are needed to make you and your team work more effectively and efficiently.

Neatly packaging up and putting a bow on 2009 helps you put it to rest and gear up for big things to happen in 2010.  Get ready!!!