Mid-year check-ins, have you done yours yet? Or maybe a better question is have you ever done a mid-year check-in? I’ll admit, I only started doing my own a few years ago—it had never really occurred to me that I should be doing one. Now that I’ve started though, I’m glad I did. Mid-year check-ins are a great way to see how far you’ve come. Are you meeting the goals you set in the new year? What’s something you’d like to improve on moving forward? What’s your biggest achievement/proudest moment of the year so far? Answering questions like these can set you on the path to improving your business.
In fact, in this month’s Go Sell Something article (Page 34), Alan Sipe breaks down mid-year check-ins and encourages you to look at the ‘why’ of it – why is your business doing well, why are your profits down, why is this product selling so well but not the other? In answering these questions truthfully, you get the root of the ‘why’ and from there you can either make sure to continue what you’re doing or figure out how to do better.
“…figuring out why is really important,” Sipe notes. “If you know, to the best of your ability, why your revenues are where they are, you stand a much better chance of continuing this run of success instead of just letting the winds of good sales blow as they may.”
A simple way to perform your mid-year check-in is by doing a SWOT analysis. In a recent blog from Score.org, Rieva Lesonsky, president and CEO of GrowBiz Media, recommends that small business owners, such as yourselves, conduct a SWOT analysis twice a year to assess your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. These four sections will help you determine your business’s performance.
- Strengths: In this section you should look at where your business is excelling and how it’s surpassing the competition. Think about the products that you offer, the customer service you provide, anything you do that positively sets you apart from other mobile tool distributors.
- Weaknesses: Understanding and acknowledging your business’s weakness is necessary in order to improve. If you find that you struggle with collections look for ways you can improve this skill. Try talking with your district manager or other distributors in your area to get some advice.
- Opportunities: These outside factors are chances to grow your business. While doing your SWOT analysis you may even find some new opportunities, such as new products to stock (EV-related, perhaps?), new customers to visit (Farms? Airports?), or maybe new things to try like creating a Facebook page to promote your weekly deals.
- Threats: You’ve heard the saying, “Know your enemy,” and whether it’s a competing tool truck or supply chain delays, understanding influences that may hurt your business is crucial so you can create a plan to fight back.
Now, go take just 15 minutes to think about how your year is going so far.
