The year is slowly winding down. The holidays are upon us, and you are doubtless looking forward to enjoying downtime with family. It’s also a good time to take stock of your business, analyzing the gains of the past year and making preparations for the coming year. Taking a little downtime to assess your business can be a vital step in ensuring its ongoing success.
(Pixabay / Photo-Mix)
Here are a few tips for making a meaningful examination of your 2016 business gains.
Year End Review
After twelve months of operations, review your progress. If you are working from a business plan, it’s a good time to pull it out and compare it with your current performance. Identify how to make the most of the market position you were able to establish. Tweak the plan to include goals for the coming year.
Assessing Efficiency
Examine your core activities and the level of your business efficiency. To get a finger on the pulse of productivity, visit old goals and see if you met them. Examine your employees’ role in your progress. Did they meet expectations? Consider meeting with employees individually to review their progress and let them know about your expectations for the coming year.
Review your financial position to have a clear picture of where you can take your organization into the next year. Look at your financial statement and make plans that will address shortfalls and build on successes. Did your advertising dollars pay off? Did your supply meet demand? Are your employees’ salaries appropriate? Or could you give raises or bonuses to award high productivity?
Redefining Business Goals
Use the results of your review to redefine the goals of your business for the coming year. There are always ways to improve, even if you had a great year. Are there opportunities to expand your business? Waste to trim? New marketing strategies to tackle? New technologies to invest in to save you time while making your business run more efficiently?
A little analysis can help your New Year get off to a smooth start and pave the way for increased success for your business.