A
slow business period tends to carry less demanding workloads, it is also prime
time to do housekeeping to get your business in order. Depending upon the
industry your business is in the slow period varies due to the culture of the
industry, to the national holidays or time of the year. For some it is the
summer months or maybe the months of December to February. Either way you may
want to consider being constructively productive during that period by what I
term doing a business tune-up.
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Tune-up Actions:
1. Check annual goals:
Has your
business' focus changed? Go back and alter the goals you set to reflect this
evolution. Flexibility is crucial to effective goal setting.
2. Re-examine employee goals:
This
ensures that goals you have set for key staffers still make sense and that
employee development is on track.
3. Find ways to cut costs:
Re-evaluate
your suppliers of insurance, phone service, member associations and other
business services to make sure you are getting the most for your money.
4. Update your database:
Check to make
sure you have the right mailing addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers
for all key contacts. At the same time, weed out old contacts that are no
longer active.
5. Re-evaluate advertising choices:
Were your selections beneficial to your bottom-line. Seek out new possible
venues to advertise. If you have not yet devoted dollars to this area, should
you start to consider it.
6. Scrutinize marketing and business development
strategies
to make sure they are leading you to your goals.
7. And the last most important thing is once you have tuned-up your
business,
tune-up yourself
with a vacation
in this period. You'll not only find fewer interruptions and be more relaxed
but your spouse/family will be happy to see you too.
About the Author:
Jacqueline Edwards is a Business
Development Specialist for BusinessPipeline.com, a business development firm
designed to assist microenterprises, entrepreneurs, small businesses and
corporations in key methods, strategies, support and resources to help start,
manage and grow a business. BusinessPipeline.com is at http://www.businesspipeline.com
