It's Time for that Midyear Review!

The year is half over, and it’s time to take stock of how your business is doing. It’s time to figure out what’s working for you and what’s not so you can make the necessary adjustments to help accomplish your 2015 goals.

The most critical areas for you to evaluate as part of your midyear review are:

Sales
Sales are the engine that keeps your business running. By midyear you should be able to assess if you are on target to meet your revenue goals for the year. Are your sales strategies working, or should you revise your plan? How are your sales reps performing? Do they need a bit of refresher training or coaching? There’s still time left in the year to address any shortfalls, but the months do move by quickly. Don’t forget, once you get to a certain point in December, a lot of people go away, focus on the holidays, etc. – so the number of serious business days in the second half of the year is less than in the first half! Take a close look at sales and profit margins and act accordingly.

Human Resources
Midyear provides the perfect opportunity to address your staffing levels. Are you understaffed? Are you overstaffed? Sure, it’s terrific when business is booming, however if an increased workload is falling on the same staff members as were working during less busy times, your employees may start to burn out. On the other hand you might be overstaffed especially if things are slowing down or if you have started to utilize labor-saving technology. Use the midyear to assess your staffing situation, and meet with your employees to ensure no underlying discontent and stress is weight them down.

Financial Health
What is the fiscal health of your company at this midyear point? It’s now time to make some important financial and tax projections for the remainder of the year. If you need to take cost cutting measures to meet your 2015 business goals, do so sooner than later. Or, on a stronger note, if you have enough of a financial cushion to invest in the firm, do so with confidence and wisdom.

Client Satisfaction
The key to continual business success is client retention and growth. You must not only keep existing clients happy, you must win new ones with your signature wow power. Midyear can allow you put a finger on the pulse of your clients, such as conducting a “Voice of Customer” survey by email, snail mail or phone. Find out if you are doing right by your customers or if there have been some missteps along the way that need fixing.

Get started now! You don’t want to look up to see that another quarter has swept you by. It’s time to ensure you end the year in exactly the position that you want.