When you’re busy delivering for customers, it can be hard to find time to focus on your own business.
Here are 6 key areas to help you stay on track and plan for the future.
Review annual sales
Make time to review your year-on-year sales and track your progress. How do this year's sales compare with last year’s? Think of creative ways you can meet sales targets like taking advantage of Black Friday or investing in some online ads.
Also, take the time to look at your costs and profit levels and tweak your sales strategy if necessary.
Do regular cash flow forecasts
Making the time to manage cash flow is one of the best things you can do for your business. By staying on top of cash flow, you can:
- Take back control
- Have peace of mind that there’s money in the bank
- Spend more time focusing on what you love
- Make confident decisions about the future of your business.
There are two types of cash flow forecasts you should be doing:
Short-term cash flow forecasts of up to ninety days. These are daily, weekly and monthly predictions which focus on the cash required to fund working capital.
Long-term cash flow forecasts. These are high-level, strategic forecasts of up to five years, helping you shape longer-term growth strategies and grow your business in line with your ambitions. Both types of forecasting are equally important for helping you achieve your longer-term and shorter-term goals.
4 cash flow habits of successful businesses.
Adapt your business model
The best businesses are the ones that can adapt to change by regularly reviewing and pivoting their business model.
To thrive, it’s important to regularly assess your model, identify problem areas, and use divergent thinking techniques to improve them.
Look for innovative ways to streamline operations, cut unnecessary costs, and maximise value for customers. Strategically reviewing and adapting your model will also give you the best protection from competitors because your model will be the hardest to imitate.
Strengthening your business model requires a deep understanding of how your business operates and how it creates value for its clients and shareholders. It’s all about thinking differently and being open to new ways of doing things.
Keep on top of the bookkeeping
Think of bookkeeping as the basis of all your future decision-making.
If you get this wrong, you’re skewing your accounts, cash flow forecasts, and financial reports, which affects your ability to make the right decisions and plan for the future.
Set aside the time to regularly do your bookkeeping, whether that’s weekly or monthly. Keeping your books up-to-date means you’re working with accurate numbers and minimises the chances of forgetting to record transactions.
Check-in with customers
The best businesses are built on happy customers.
It’s no secret that businesses that invest in customer experience are the ones leading the way.
Putting customers at the heart of your business will help you build an organisation people want to come to time and again. And when we create amazing experiences, we create happy customers who become ambassadors of our brand. Customers who sing your praises and recommend your products or services to everyone they know.
Improving your customer experience can be as simple as checking in with customers, phoning them out of the blue, or asking how they are doing. Looking for extra ways you can support customers and add value will always be appreciated. It shows you care and makes people feel valued.
Talk to your advisors
Having a guide or mentor that is outside your business is so valuable for helping you grow and challenge your beliefs, whilst providing a much-needed sounding board for new thoughts and ideas.
Benefiting from the wisdom and guidance of people more experienced in business is crucial for success. This will play a huge part in helping you grow, challenge boundaries and get to where you want to be– and your business will be stronger as a result.
Building for success
We’re passionate about helping businesses thrive. Everything we do is designed to remove hurdles and take away the stress of running a business, so you can focus on what matters.
Get in touch to find out how we can help you build for success.
