Is Your Business Healthy? It’s Time for a Checkup

It goes without question that when sales are up, clients are happy, and everything seems to be running smoothly, business looks good. Company operations run deeper than just what’s seen on the surface, and issues can arise from innumerable places.

It pays to be proactive, to do a check up and determine where improvements can be made so that your business can thrive (even when it already seems to be doing so). The doctor is in. Here is what’s in store for your business’ checkup:

First, Review Your “Paperwork”

What’s the first thing you do when you step into the doctor’s office for your annual? The receptionist hands you a clipboard and says, “Review this and let us know if anything has changed.”

The health of your business has a few levels, the first is a broad overview and the others dive a bit deeper.

Here is the first one–have numbers increased or decreased? Having a go-to scorecard or dash board of financial metrics is essential to monitoring your daily business pulse.

It can be revenue growth, new customer wins, new orders won, shipping performance, and anything else that gives you a quick take on what is going on.

Having this in a reporting format that provides comparison against the same period last year and this year’s budget is essential. As the saying goes, “we treasure what we measure”.

Take the Temperature on Engagement

Is the engagement running cold and losing steam, or is your advertising on fire?The best time to look at marketing strategies are during a time when ads are at a high frequency.

Examine the audience being reached and note what audience is engaging. If certain pitches are doing better than others, you can reallocate more budget dollars to them.

Having a multiple channel marketing program is essential where you can benchmark effectively among the programs. Ongoing prospect and customer communication engagement is important so that your audience knows you are out there and relevant within your industry.

How’s your fiscal fitness?

Every month, evaluate your monthly financial performance and budget. Determine if modifications are necessary to achieve both short term and long term targets.

How are your gross margins and profit margins trending? How is working capital trending? Many business understate their need for capital, especially within a growth phase, so proper capital planning is essential.

The key to assessing fiscal fitness is ensuring that the financial information is current and reviewed in a timely manner. Course corrections are commonplace, and can be effective as long as you are catch the issue soon enough.

What’s Everyone Talking About in the Waiting Room?

Check in and see what employees, clients, and consumers are saying. Discover the positive and negative comments and interpret what they can mean or how they can be resolved.

Your employees are more likely to feel motivated if you communicate with them, let them know what your mission is, involve them, ask management for ideas, and allow that connection to boost your company’s short and long-term success.

Companies that deal forthrightly with customers and employees are usually those that withstand the test of time and achieve longevity.

Get ahead of potential issues by scanning your business on a regular basis. Strengthen your standing in the market by paying attention to details, improving where possible, and gaining insight on weaknesses.

If your business is thriving and ready to grow, consider different options for acquiring Growth Capital.