Now
is the time to look at your short list of Q1 goals, and ensure you’re on track
to meet your objectives.
It’s
also a good time to book your 'Q1 Review Meeting' on your calendar with just yourself
or your team. I do many of these with
business owners I work with early in April. (I also like to book these a year in advance).
I
don’t care how big or small your business is - I like my clients, either with me
or without, to spend most of a full day for their quarterly reviews. These are extremely important to ensure the
big things are getting done. Also, given
the current business environment, it seems like our growth strategies can
change at hyper-speed, so quarterly strategy sessions make sense.
So,
schedule these on your calendar – preferably offsite to allow you to focus.
I
like to start off with some deep breathing and a few minutes of basic gratitude
discussion or thinking - where we are now, what good things have we recently
done with this business, etc. Stay on the positive side.
After reviewing a few highs and get on the table a few lows of the previous quarter – customers issues, product
difficulties, personnel challenges, etc. This can help identify and prioritize improvement areas.
Review
your financial statements (see previous posts) – quarterly income statement compared
to last year and to target, balance sheet, big balance sheet accounts, 5-8 key
indicators - actual vs. plan, etc. Also,
review the softer attributes of your business.
Spend some time thinking about your shareholders, employees, customers, and
vendors.
Look
at your mission and longer term vision.
It’s easy to get caught up in the strategies and operational details. Ask – what does my business look like in 5
years.
Write
goals for the upcoming quarter. After
looking at your long-term business vision, make a short list of specific 90-day
objectives – list the 5-7 most important things to do next quarter. I put this list on an index card, so it’s
easy for me to keep these things in my mind.
I look at this list on a weekly basis to make sure I’m on track and moving
the ball forward.
As
a business owner, you need to work on high impact projects to continually
develop your business. So, if you’re reading this now, take out your ‘2014
Q1 90-Day Objectives’ on your index card and make sure you’ve made or you’re
making progress on these 5-7 most important things to be done by March 31st. We all still have 3 weeks left in the quarter
to make progress.
Again, it’s easy to get
caught up in the operational part of your business – but make sure you’re
moving the ball down the field, getting the 5-7 most critical items done each
quarter.
If you need any help
looking at your numbers or want advice or strategies to improve your business processes to
build a more profitable and valuable businesses, let me know - I love helping business owners improve their
businesses.
As always – Think
Profit!
/jon
