10 areas to consider for your annual business checklist

With any new quarter or season, there is an opportunity to look at previous trends, successes, and pain points. Review and adjust your business plan to add to your bottom line.

Keep these 10 areas in mind as you perform your annual or quarterly review.

1. Analyze your budget and review the numbers. Revisiting your budget from the previous year is a great way to start evaluating the financial needs of your business. Start by making small changes like reallocating funds based on needs. Tracking trends will help determine where costs should be cut and where money is needed.
2. Take a pulse on employee morale and reward success. Ask your employees for feedback. This can be in the form of a confidential survey or one-on-one conversation depending on what you're comfortable with and the personalities of your employees. Try independent conversations or a confidential survey. Reward your employees with a company award, celebration or gift card. Keep turnover low by investing in your employees’ well-being. Sometimes the little things can mean the most.
3. Evaluate pain points and identify trends. Meditating on the previous year’s business events can help identify business trends. The ability to predict these trends will help you financially prepare for seasons of low cash flow and business traffic.
4. Evaluate the need for new staff. To keep up with your company's growth as well as new advances in technology, like app or website development, now could be the optimal time for your business to hire on new staff to rally behind these company projects. Along with reviewing your budget, investigate areas where you can cut to accommodate hiring new staff members to your team.
5. Create an action plan for the new quarter. Take time now to sit down with your team and create an action plan for the upcoming quarter. This will ensure that your team is prepared for the upcoming quarter. To encourage new ideas and collaboration, consider hosting the meeting somewhere out of the office.
6. Perfect your mission and positioning statement. As your business grows, look at your original mission statement. Does your mission still hold true? Is your positioning statement still the differentiator between you and your competitors? These two components will help determine your marketing plan for the future.
7. Explore new opportunities for growth. Growing your business can happen with various tactics. You could open another location, develop a website, or enhance your social media presence. Estimate potential returns and any additional costs to determine the greatest business opportunity.
8. Backup your files and organize documents. Backing up files and organizing your documents are tasks that easily take the back burner throughout the year. However, doing so will save you major headaches if your computer or network are corrupted with malware.
9. Do your research on new regulations. Keep up with new laws and regulations that may affect your business. This is important due to compliance regulation, tax policies and healthcare standards. It is unlikely that there will be major changes affecting your daily operations. However, ensuring that your business is prepared for the coming year will alleviate future concerns.
10. Stay updated on technology. Technology is a great way to streamline your business, simplify day-to-day operations, and even save money. New machinery or software can help your business with general financial management. For example, eDeposit allows you to send and receive money with going to the bank.

Preparing for a new season can add a lot to your to do list. Get started early and Jefferson Bank will be here for any questions you may have.

Need some help with the logistics? Reach out to our team at (573) 634-0888 and we will be happy to help! Or, get started with Business Analyzer today. Enter information about your business and we’ll determine products that will increase the efficiency of your business.