Your End of Year Business Planning Checklist
If you have talked or worked with me, you know that I love checklists. I make them for myself and my clients, and I ask my team for them constantly. They’re a really good way to make sure that nothing falls through the cracks. One thing that small business owners might not think of needing a checklist for is business planning – but I assure you, it’s helpful, especially at the end of the year.
While every business will have different needs, the same areas of planning will apply to all of them, even yours!
Reviewing Your Financials
Your end of year business planning checklist should always include reviewing your financials. This will allow you to know what will be coming in during the last few weeks of the year, including your final expenses, projected revenue, and your plan to pay any bonuses.
If there is an expense that you were planning to pay after the first of the year, it may be worth paying it before December 31st for tax purposes. That way, you don’t pay tax on gross revenues only to turn around and lend the money back to the company and pay out expenses in the new year.
Finally, you will want to review your profitability and look at where your highest expenses have been over the past year. If they were out of your normal range, work to identify ways to bring them down in the year to come.
[optin-monster-inline slug=”z4azbloxp3jwsqyefviy”]Revising Your Business Plan
Another key end of year planning component is to map out your business plan. This will equip you to know where you plan to take your company in the coming year so you can set the stage for your team.
Not everyone loves change, so it’s important to set the seed of what is to come and then let that seed germinate over the holidays before undertaking any new projects in the new year.
For example, many of our clients will share with their team how they’re going to tackle building out certain systems by department or create workflows in the new year. This allows their team to get excited about the prospect, but not have the pressure of needing to build it all right that minute.
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Evaluating Your Culture
Taking the time to objectively evaluate your team and culture is another key element that should go on your end of year planning checklist. Set aside time to think through what changes may need to be made in order to build a stronger team going forward.
This is a great time to get feedback from your team in terms of what they believe you should do more of, do less of, or start doing. It’s also an opportunity to have candid conversations with your various team members as to what they want to accomplish in the new year and take strides to align their goals and interests with the needs and goals of the company.
Review Your Ideal Client
Knowing your ideal client is a key factor in your marketing, sales, and service or product development. However, who you are best positioned to serve can change as market changes and shifts in the economy happen. It can also change as your business grows and evolves.
This leads to the next checklist item: assessing who your A+ clients are and what it is that you love about working with them. You may find some unexpected treasures in this process that can help you scale in the new year.
However, you should also review the clients who created headaches and more work for your team – those who you can technically serve, but who were not ideal. Doing so can help you gain clarity about who you want to attract in the coming year and find ways to deflect any inquiries from prospects who will not be a good fit.
Plan Out Your Marketing Calendar
It would be nice if marketing were a “one and done” activity, but the truth is, it’s a world that is constantly changing – and something that requires constant focus. It’s easy to set it on a “this is what we always do” track and forget it.
It’s important to remember that your marketing doesn’t have to be everywhere, though. Rather, it needs to be focused. Creating a high level marketing calendar will allow you to do this, and it’s definitely something that should go on your end of year planning checklist.
You don’t have to plan out every detail right now, but set some time aside to plan out your major campaigns. Are there certain times of year that are historically slow for you? A marketing push can help to offset that. Are you planning to launch a new product or service? Let your audience know – it may bring in more sales!
By being intentional about going through your checklist, you can take care of your end of year planning and be ready to hit the ground running in the new year. If you need some help tackling any of these tasks, let us know – we have resources for every level of business ownership and specialty coaches ready to help!
