Towards business success

Four steps to evaluate and improve for 2014

It’s THE end of the year already and for many business owners, that means it’s time to start winding down and thinking about the process of evaluating business performance and growth.

Taking time to understand how your business has performed over the past year is critical for outlining appropriate strategies for next year. Here are four steps to help you most effectively assess your company’s performance and strategize for the year ahead.

Define productivity

One of the first things you’ll need to look closely at is profitability. Sure, you had momentum over the past year, but did the overall profitability of your activities increase? If the answer is yes, what can you do to enhance that even more in 2014?

What specific activities were the most successful and who did you target correctly? Identifying answers to these questions will help you more clearly define and improve your strategy moving forward.

On the other hand, if the overall profitability of your activities has not increased over the past year, you also need to identify why. Could it be that you are targeting the wrong group? Reevaluating your audience and making slight changes could have the end result of more revenue. How about expenses? Are there areas you can make cuts that can add to your bottom line?

Assess outcomes

More than likely, you began this year with a hefty list of tasks and goals. Did you hit them? If you did, what processes or mindset shifts occurred to increase your success?

How can you repeat them and more importantly, amplify them even more? If you were not successful, what held you back? Were you too “hands-on” in the business, resulting in things not moving as quickly as you hoped? Did you need to bring in a team or virtual staff to support your activities? How much money did you lose through opportunity cost? Finally, what new processes must you set in place to move ahead?

Review service

Your customers’ happiness equals your wealth. Taking a hard look back. Were they happy this year with the level of support you were able to provide?

Was there an unexplained spike in dissatisfaction at any point in time and do you know why? Your customer base is the heart and soul of your business, and it may be time to invest some time and energy into analytics. Conduct a little research, get in touch with them and listen to what they have to say. Remember, the toughest critics can be enlightening for your business. How can you reach out to them?

Make it a priority to improve customer satisfaction and happiness year after year and they will reward you with loyalty and increased profits.

Identify new goals

In business, it’s not as much about climbing the ladder as it is about taking the big leaps. Did you take the big leap this year? Have you ever?

Ask yourself (and be honest) if you made the attempt to reach goals this past year. If not, why? What could your company achieve if you pushed yourself harder? If you did push yourself, congrats and keep pushing the boundaries!

> Pam Siow is the founder of ThinkSpace. A regional business coach, Pam helps hundreds of business owners and corporations gain success and profit with her knowledge and real-worldexperience. Find out more at ThinkSpace.com.my/ Internetbizownersclub.com now.