The new year is here, and with it comes a fresh opportunity to re-evaluate your business goals. This is a useful annual exercise because goals and priorities can change. You need to ensure everyone is on the same page in the new year. Take the time to look at your objectives and to apply lessons learned from 2019.
Here are some important things to consider as you review your 2020 goals:
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Assess 2019:
Start by figuring out what you did right and what you did wrong in 2019. The right stuff should serve as the basis for the growth of the company. But the bad stuff is possibly more important because it tells you where you must take action to improve performance. The actions you take depend on the nature of the problems you encounter. Typically, you will have to redirect and/or increase resources allocated to the problem areas, whether it be management, sales, marketing, finance, or operations. Your assessment should be accompanied by specific plans to exploit strengths and remediate weaknesses.
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Emphasize training:
Growth in 2020 will require an investment in professional growth within your company. Sure, you need to train onboarding employees, but you must also make sure that management, including yourself, receives the latest information regarding changes in the business landscape, including technical, tax-related, best-practice, marketing, and regulatory developments. Group training options may be the most cost-effective. You should also utilize your in-house and consultant experts to deliver training courses where needed. Naturally, you can save money by training on-premises rather than paying for travel.
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Set SMART Goals for 2020:
SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-Bound. To make your goals SMART, you must state them in detailed language that leaves no doubt as to what constitutes success. You must specify what is to be done, using which methods, by what deadline. You should also specify how you will prove that the goal is achieved. For example, you can use financial ratios to prove you’ve improved margins, reduced inventory turnaround time, or attained dozens of other possible goals.
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Use high-quality data:
The adage is “garbage in, garbage out.” Now more than ever, you need to be operating using accurate and timely data. Bad data can result in bad expenditures that hurt your business. It might be a good idea to bring in a data consultant to assess your current databases to see that they are internally consistent and clean. Prioritize which data is the most important for your business and verify it is of high quality. You should have key performance indicators that help you assess data quality.
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Evaluate your leverage:
Many companies short-change their growth prospects by failing to employ enough leverage (i.e., debt). Often, owners are too conservative and miss opportunities that would enhance growth. They are afraid to take on debt even though their businesses throw off more than enough cash to easily repay the debt. By taking prudent loans, companies can make new investments, pay off old liabilities, and recruit needed talent. You may want to spruce up your financials in anticipation of merger and acquisition activity. Perhaps you want to relocate a store, or open new stores, or upgrade your inventory mix. If you have carefully designed plans, don’t let them wither just because you can’t finance them internally.
Conclusion
We’ve outlined a few important priorities to address for the new year. To the extent they require expenditures, our last point is critical: Use debt to grow your company. We can help. Please contact us at IOU Financial for quick, affordable business loans that are easy to repay. We have the experience and expertise to get you the money you need on terms that will please. We look forward to hearing from you soon.
