How to set your business up for success in 2025
Hoping your business will have its best year yet? Use these six strategies and watch it soar to new heights.

In 2024, small businesses made a big impression in the UK.
According to the Federation of Small Businesses, 5.5 million small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) made up 99.8% of the business population.
With such a commanding presence last year, the potential impact of small businesses can’t be overstated in 2025.
In this article, we map out six key strategies to position your business for growth in the year ahead, from strategic goal-setting to embracing cutting-edge AI technology.
Here’s what we cover:
1. Review your business plan
Your business plan isn’t set in stone. It’s actually a working document that you should update according to your company’s growth and its goals.
“Stop living in 2022,” says Andrew Bloch, the official spokesperson and PR adviser to Lord Sugar, the host of UK reality TV show The Apprentice.
Andrew, the founder of Andrew Bloch & Associates, a boutique consultancy specialising in communications and marketing, says, “The first step is to dust off that business plan you wrote three years ago and update it.”
He continues, “Your market, customers and costs aren’t what they were in 2022, so don’t treat your business strategy like it’s frozen in time.
“Be realistic, align it with opportunities and challenges ahead and make sure it reflects where you want your business to go.”
Here are some steps to ensure that your business plan is still fit for purpose:
Get customer feedback
Your customers play a huge role in your business. So it pays to get an understanding of how to improve your products or services to meet their needs, such as through:
- Customer surveys
- Review sites
- Direct communications.
If the customer feedback shows your business offering is no longer up to par, make adjustments—whether it’s building a more robust product or delivering a faster service.
Consider the market and your competitors
To stay informed about industry trends and consumer behaviour, you can use tools such as Think with Google.
You can also gain valuable insights from trade publications and industry reports.
Let’s say you’re a plumber, for instance. You can get your hands on a copy of a trade magazine, such as Professional Heating & Plumbing Installer, or an industry report, such as Plumbers’ Merchant Market Report.
If your research reveals new market opportunities and challenges from emerging competitors, amend your business plan to accommodate them.
This could mean pivoting to a different product or forming a strategic partnership to increase your company’s resources and broaden its reach.
Evaluate your business performance
Comparing your financial statements with your key performance indicators (KPIs) will give you the clearest indication of whether or not your business is meeting its goals.
There are financial KPIs to consider, such as monthly recurring revenue, and customer KPIs, like customer acquisition cost.
Either way, if your business isn’t hitting its KPIs, take a closer look at its procedures and remove any bottlenecks.
Alternatively, it may be that your business is running just fine, but you have to set more realistic goals.
2. Set SMART strategic goals
It’s good to set strategic goals for your business, but it’s even better to make them SMART—specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound.
For instance, imagine you’re a clothes retailer with a strategic goal of increasing foot traffic to your stores.
A SMART strategic goal could be something like this:
- Increase your brick-and-mortar sales by 7.5% in three months using targeted promotions and enhanced merchandising.
With a SMART goal, you align every business decision with your overall objective, making it easier to stay focused, measure your company’s progress and adapt to market conditions.
3. Manage your cash flow
Andrew believes that managing cash flow is critical to the long-term sustainability of any business.
He says, “Keep an eye on cash flow and margins because we’re in business to make money, not just pay bills. A healthy bottom line doesn’t mean much if cash isn’t flowing when you need it.
“Regularly run cash flow projections, stay on top of late payments and don’t let unnecessary costs eat into your profits.
“You also need to protect your margins by reviewing pricing, supplier contracts and operating expenses.”
Expanding on three of Andrew’s suggestions, here are some tips to manage your cash flow effectively:
- Create a six to 12-month cash flow forecast including expected sales and returns on any investments you’ve made, together with cash outflows, such as debts and expenses.
- Implement an invoice software solution that automates invoicing and follows up with late-paying customers.
- Negotiate favourable payment terms with suppliers, such as securing discounts for early payments.
4. Capitalise on AI and technology
Embracing AI tools and other technology can streamline your company’s processes, improve its efficiency and even help it compete with larger rivals.
Here’s a few examples:
Accounting software solutions automate your company’s financial processes, like payroll and expense tracking, enhancing both accuracy and efficiency.
If possible, it’s best to opt for an AI-powered cloud accounting solution that is HMRC compatible.
Then, there are customer relationship management (CRM) systems, which enhance customer service and sales efficiency by centralising your company’s customer interactions, sales processes and marketing campaigns on an integrated platform.
Lastly, inventory management software helps prevent overstocking by monitoring and managing your company’s stock levels, tracking orders and forecasting demand.
5. Train your team
A new year is an opportune time to take stock of your company’s talent pool and ask yourself if it’s equipped with the skills and experience to overcome your business challenges.
If the answer is “no”, you may want to upskill your employees by investing in training and development.
This can include digital skills training in areas like e-commerce, data analytics and social media marketing, improving your company’s online presence and enabling it to tap into new markets.
Customer service training is another key area for employee development, aimed at boosting customer satisfaction, loyalty, and retention.
This includes interactive workshops where your employees participate in role-playing exercises simulating real-life customer scenarios.
To find out if your business has any skills gaps, conduct regular employee performance reviews, gather self-evaluation feedback and compare your company’s performance levels against the industry standard.
6. Ask the experts
Even the most capable small business owners need expert help from time to time, whether it’s financial planning from an accountant or employee recruitment from a people management or human resources (HR) pro.
Say your business is in need of an accountant, for example.
You can check their credentials by finding out if they’re listed as a member of a recognised professional body, such as the Association for Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).
Then, you can establish their trustworthiness and reliability by word-of-mouth recommendations from family, friends and other small business owners.
You can even use an accountant database to find a suitable adviser who can support you with your financial requirements and help to grow your business.
Alternatively, independent reviews on websites, such as Trustpilot, are also a good source of information about individual accountants and accountancy firms.
Final thoughts
As the proprietor of a small business, Andrew encourages other small business owners to “think small, win big” by taking small, consistent steps towards their goals.
He says, “Too often, business owners try to fix everything at once and end up overwhelmed.
“Focus on one area at a time, whether it’s reviewing your business plan or embracing AI. Progress compounds and sustainable success doesn’t happen overnight.”
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