The festive season kicks off in a few days. Therefore, at just about 40 days to year end, there’s no better time to review the performance of your business (or career) for the year than now.
“So, what exactly should I review?” someone may ask. Here are few suggestions:
What gets measured gets improved – Peter Drucker
1. Retake a SWOT analysis of your business
2. Revisit your competitive analysis
3. Measure your actual performance compared to your projection at the beginning of the year.
4. How many leads did you get and from what sources?
5 How many leads translated into business?
6. What is the total number of deals, projects or sales?
7. How does your performance compare to your financial target?
8. Any new product, service or customers?
9. What were your best sellers?
10. What products or services should you repackage or drop?
11. How much did you invest into networking and training; and what values did you derive? Which of them was worthwhile?
12. How did you advertise or promote your business, and which platform yielded the best result?
Etc.
Some benefits of year-end reviews include:
1. You get a holistic view your annual performance
2. You don’t want to remain on the same level or reinvent the wheel and make the same mistakes. Reviews feed you with data, facts and figures with which you can make informed decisions for the coming year.
3. You can tell at a glance what works and what doesn’t work; what to stop doing and what to improve on.
4. What doesn’t get measured isn’t accurately controlled or improved. With your review, you get the baseline info and indicators/ suggestions for improved performance next year.
5. If you wait for the new year to plan for the year, then you’d be too late. It will jump start your plans for the coming year, (and you’ve probably procrastinated if you’re a young startup)
Though it is common belief in some quarters that the most important factors in business ain’t always measurable, Peter Drucker’s saying that ‘what gets measures gets improved’ holds valid, as many vital factors in business are actually reviewable.
So now that you know, when are you taking a year-end review of your business?
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