The New Year provides a clean slate to take stock of the past year and lay plans for the coming 12 months. Here are seven tips to get you started!
Run a Financial Check-up 
Are you where you had hoped to be financially for the year? Check your profit and loss, income, and expense reports. Review your sales reports to determine the more profitable areas of business and areas where sales were sub par. Create a plan for increasing business in more profitable areas during the coming year. Either prepare to eliminate less profitable ventures, channels, or market segments, or create plans to increase their profitability.
Prepare a Budget
Examine your projected budget and actual expenses for the year. Prepare a budget for the New Year, and resolve to stick to it. Factor in expenses for computer and software updates and new equipment purchases. Be sure to allow for changes in your marketing strategy for the upcoming year. Prepare a list of areas to cut if profits or cash flow start running below expectations and a list of contingent opportunities to add or increase if cash flow runs higher.
Businesses that fail to plan, plan to fail. Create that fresh business plan you’ve been thinking about. Or, if your financial check-up shows variances, fine-tune your existing business plan for the coming year. Set aside some quality time in January to lay the groundwork for future sales.
Create a Marketing Plan
Evaluate your marketing mix for the past year and make changes for the better for the coming year. Freshen up your marketing message and strategy. Are you consistently getting the right message out to the public, or do you find your strategy and materials are sending out mixed messages?
Update the Database
Review your database, updating information as needed. Renew contact with lapsed customers and touch base with your existing customers. Ask for more referrals from some of your best customers; connecting their associates’ business with yours is a win-win situation. It is a quick and inexpensive way to increase business.
Review Staff
Identify staff behaviors and accomplishments that should be acknowledged or even rewarded. Also, identify those whose behaviors or work needs to be addressed and improved. Everyone wants feedback on how they are doing. If you have difficulty remembering pertinent examples, schedule a few minutes each day or week to update notes (both positive and negative) for performance reviews for each of your direct reports.
Learn Something New
Resolve to update or improve your professional skills. Take a class or plan to read a book or two in an area in which you feel you could use more training.