Finding yourself with an end of the year budget surplus? While you may be tempted to salt away that money for a rainy day, you are likely to find a better return by investing it in your company. Here are my top recommendations for you to consider spending your way to profitability.

Expand your prospect pool. It is the rare, and enviable, company that finds itself struggling to keep up with incoming prospects. Trying a new source for leads can be a great way to keep your business expanding. Consider trying online lead generation services, establishing co-marketing partnerships with complementary companies, or testing new mailing lists.

Build (or rebuild) your web site. Your web site serves as a calling card to prospective customers, both those that you meet in person and those that simply judge your offerings by its HTML cover. A smart-looking site that provides the information to make your company sing can be a terrific alternative to a round-the-clock salesperson.

Get e-mail. If you don't have it already, get e-mail for your company. E-mail can truly speed the way business is conducted. And having one account for the entire company does not count as this usually means it is not used by anyone. Set up an account for each staffer. Ideally, it should be addressed with your own domain name, e.g., mylee@buyerzone.com to give it that professional finish.

Get broadband. While you're at it, get high speed Internet access. With so much helpful information to help build your business only a few keystrokes away, it can be frustrating to have a slow modem connection serve as your conduit to the information highway. The good news is that pricing has become more reasonable. Sorting through the various options from DSL to business cable modems to T1 lines can be admittedly difficult, though, but that's a topic for a future column.

Fix that computer problem. Does your company have a recurring computer problem that you have not been able to resolve? Have you been using a workaround for it instead? Well, stop it. Obstacles need to be taken away, not enabled. Call in a computer guy to fix the problem now.

Back up your computers. If you don't have a backup drive in place already, get one. If you have one, but have outgrown it and now back up more sporadically as a result, upgrade it. While you can keep delaying this purchase because you've been lucky so far, tempting fate can result in disaster. Remote backup can be a good alternative to ensure your data is kept offsite.

Create an incentive plan. There's nothing like a cash bonus to make sure people are aligned in their activities and motivated to act swiftly. Having an incentive plan that is tied to revenue and expense goals for the entire company can be a very effective way to use leftover funds.

Acquiring new or supporting existing customers, improving your operating environment or keeping your employees focused and motivated can all be very effective ways to grow your business. Invest now.