Rather than simply allowing a year to draw to a close, use it as an opportunity to evaluate where your small business has come from and where it's going.
When the year is rapidly winding down, what perspective should you embrace as you examine the health and welfare of your small business? Many times, entrepreneurs face an impending new calendar year with the perspective that the only area of focus for them is in regard to finances. Although there’s much prudence in addressing items such as bookkeeping and cash flow planning, there are various other aspects of a small business that merit an equal degree of scrutiny and examination. A year-end review is also a crucial time for examining the direction that the business is heading and to make course corrections as necessary.
In your small business, perhaps your fiscal year runs contrary to the actual calendar year. In that scenario, you may find that you have two separate incidences each year in which you need to judiciously view your operations. However, irrespective of when your fiscal year ends, the winding down of a calendar year is a logical time to draw some conclusions about how your business has performed since January 1st. Years look very different at their end than they did at their beginning, so concepts and ideas that seemed like your golden ticket twelve months ago may have ended up having a regrettably short shelf life.
Your general business performance is the first area that should be considered as the year wraps up. Depending on the nature of your operations, as well as the needs of the customers or clients you serve, you likely came into the present year with some clearly defined goals. Just shooting for something and never taking the time to investigate why you did or didn’t reach it isn’t likely to yield satisfactory results. The only way you can make solid strategic decisions in the coming year is to meticulously dissect what transpired in the current year, carefully framing everything within a few key parameters.
One area worthy of consideration involves classifying how you define success for your service or product offerings. Regardless of what your business offers, the paying public is (hopefully) seeking you out for the purpose of receiving something that your enterprise can uniquely provide. This is where things can get to be a little tricky, and it’s essential that you examine how well you met your yearly goals with some specific criteria. It’s extremely important to evaluate things from both a quantitative and a qualitative standpoint. Perhaps you introduced a new product offering this year and had unsatisfactory results in terms of the sales dollars associated with it. You may, however, have gathered strong positive feedback from those who purchased your offering. So, what possible conclusions could you draw from that scenario?
The fact that those who purchased the product were extremely pleased with it helps to validate the legitimacy of the offering. Even though you may not have sold as many as you would have hoped, you’re obviously onto something that has the potential to garner additional sales in the future. Instead of bemoaning less-than-satisfactory revenue, focus on investigating why a highly-rated item didn’t end up selling more units. You might discover that there was a deficiency in the accompanying market efforts, resulting in lower sales due to the vast majority of the public not even knowing that the product exists.
Armed with an understanding that a good product is being ill-promoted, you can enter the new year with a renewed emphasis on developing a wide-reaching strategy for spreading the word about it. Without taking into consideration the level of positive feedback from those who purchased the product, you might be tempted to convince yourself that there was a deficiency in the offering itself. The deeper truth may be that you simply weren’t able to get the product in front of the right eyes. Now, instead of sending yourself back to the drawing board to start from scratch by designing something new, you can instead invest energy into a proper marketing approach.
The importance of feedback from your clients or customers can never be overstated, and it devolves upon you to find efficient and focused ways to obtain that feedback. The good news is that your efforts to get feedback can run the gamut from digital to paper. A printed survey form handed to clients or customers as they close out a transaction with you might give you the best chance at getting a response, as it will require the person to actually answer the questions while they’re still in your presence and then return the form to you. An online option such as Microsoft Forms or Google Forms can be more convenient for you, as you can use an email notification or a QR code to direct people to your survey. The drawback here is that motivating people to take the initiative can be difficult if you’re not physically in their presence, guiding them through the process.
You also have to purpose to be willing to disseminate that feedback, whether it’s positive or negative. Being an entrepreneur requires a thick skin in many situations, and being willing to receive criticism from those you’ve served is no exception. We all want to hear how wonderful we are, but if we’re not providing a level of service and offerings that meets the needs of our clients or customers, we owe it to ourselves to find out why. We can be thrilled with what we’re doing as a company, but if the people willing to send their money our way don’t share that view, it’s completely pointless.
Even beyond the scope of asking for feedback, simply making contact with your customers or clients at the end of the year can play a crucial role in reminding them that you’re invested in serving them. Taking the time to communicate with those you’ve served to emphasize your appreciation for their patronage can be a tremendously positive self-promotion for your business. This can also be a great opportunity to apprise them of what’s right around the corner as you move into the new year. Businesses that value communicating with those they serve will always be presenting themselves in the best possible light.
Unless you’re a sole proprietor, there’s likely at least one other person who shares responsibility for whatever your business was able to achieve during the past year. Take the time to celebrate what you’ve been able to accomplish, whether you have a staff of three or eighty-three, which will also serve to provide positive motivation for everyone to achieve even more in the year to come. However, year-end can also be a time to critically examine your existing staffing to determine if changes need to be made. In the worst-case scenario, you may discover that some of the people working for you may not be a good fit. This doesn’t necessarily translate into letting people go, and it could merely entail a reassignment of roles within the company. The best situation would be one where you’ve seen a massive influx of new business, thus requiring you to bring more staff members into the company in order to meet the demand.
There’s always strength in numbers, and closing out a year might involve looking for opportunities to connect with others so that you can accomplish more in the coming year. Networking can be achieved through various means, but one especially advantageous approach is securing membership in your local chamber of commerce. By doing so, you can connect yourself with a wide variety of other entrepreneurs, covering a wide spectrum of business sizes and types. You may also find it beneficial to pursue the establishment of strategic partnerships in the new year, enabling you to collaborate with other companies to both their advantage and yours.
You hopefully founded your business with a long-term vision of where you desired to be a few years from now. Year-end self-assessment can help you to determine whether or not you’re still on track. If you find that you’re not, you may have to establish a short list of key points to focus on as you move forward. You may discover that you need to upskill or train your employees to address new tasks necessary to do business in the future or that financial investment will be required to support your latest offerings.
Rather than simply allowing a year to draw to a close, use it as an opportunity to evaluate where your small business has come from and where it's going. This kind of proactive self-analysis can help you maintain a competitive advantage as you take your business into the challenges and opportunities of the next year.
Ready to Take Action? Let ValorExcel Help You Make It Happen!
As you reflect on your small business's performance and prepare for the year ahead, consider partnering with ValorExcel to ensure you're on the right track. Our team can help you with strategic planning, performance analysis, and actionable insights to propel your business forward. Reach out today to start your year-end review and set your business up for success in 2025! Visit https://www.valorexcel.com/book-online, to book your power hour session where you’ll meet with ValorExcel staff to assess your needs and develop a plan of action to reach your year-end momentum goals. Or, call 240-329-9387 or email us at info@valorexcel.com, ✨ Then, don't forget to check out our recent videos on YouTube by clicking HERE. Whether you need help crafting your vision, optimizing your digital presence, or building a winning strategy for 2025, we’re here to guide you every step of the way. #Year-End Review #Small Business Strategy #Customer Feedback #Self-Assessment #ValorExcel
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