What’s going to be different about your business this year?

13 Questions you must be able to answer about your business now you’re in the swing of a New Calendar Year!

1. Which product or service lines are most profitable and make the greatest contribution to the business?
2. Do we need to change the mix of our product/service portfolio in any way? (When assessing products, think about factors like length of sales cycle, volume of sales, profitability, how easy is it to sell products, repeat sales, support revenue and costs, pricing, cross-sell and up-sell compatibility, etc)
3. Do we acknowledge and nurture our best customers?
4. Where will our growth come from this year? Will it be from our core business and customers, or from somewhere new? (Where did it come from last year, and was it enough?)
5. Will we be able to fund our growth? What options do we have?
6. Where is the biggest weakness in the business? What needs to be done to address it?
7. What do we need to do differently this year to achieve our goals?
8. Do we have the right systems and infrastructure in place to support our goals and priorities?
9. Do we know what the key measurements are to assess the overall progress and performance of the business, and can we report on that?
10. What will be the significant milestones that we will focus on this year to move our business forward?
11. Are we doing the same things and expecting different results? Is there anything we could be doing differently this year to make quantum changes to our business growth?
12. Do we have the right team? Do we have resource gaps?
13. What changes could I make (as the boss) in what I do, to improve the performance of the business?

Finally, after answering these questions, where are our priorities for this New Year? The milestones you listed in question 10 are your priorities, and the answers you provided to the other questions will tell you what needs to happen to achieve those milestones.

List your priorities and the actions required to follow through. Put a completion date next to each, and make it challenging but realistic.

Spend some time on this exercise as the answers will reveal where you need to focus. There will be some recurring answers, which reiterate exactly what the priorities are for you this year.

Track your priorities weekly and monthly to make sure you stay focused on the most important things to progress your business.

Does it all seem too challenging? Our Business Improvement Division can help you develop strategies and implement action plans to make sure you know what the answers are to these and other business issues. If you would like to discuss how we can help your business achieve more, please contact Louie Torre.