We are all full of hope and excitement at the beginning of a new year. If you look back over my previous blog posts, you will see titles such as Tips to Kick-Off a Successful 2018 to Sticking to Your 2017 Business Resolutions that were published in anticipation of a wonderful new year. Whether you were ahead of the game and performed your annual planning activities by the end of last year or you lagged a bit and completed your planning well into the new year, we are now over halfway through 2018. How are those resolutions and goals panning out? July is the perfect time to review the objectives you set out to achieve this year.

Why You Need to Perform a Mid-Year Review

So much can happen in a single six-month period of time. Whether you work from a business plan, a strategic plan, or a simple objective setting document, there are so many ways you and your company can benefit from a mid-year review. These include:

  1. Embrace Opportunities. If you leave your review until the end of the year, you may miss out on identifying consumer or market changes. As you know, the world in which businesses operate change daily. If opportunities go unnoticed, growth and profits may be hindered.
  2. Smart Marketing. Marketing plans that were established at the beginning of the year might not be yielding the results you originally desired. Make sure you review each and every campaign and marketing channel for mid-year return on investment (ROI) results. Little tweaks here and there can transform results and a quick review could prevent you from wasting money on strategies or channels that are no longer working for you.
  3. Understanding Your Customers. When was the last time you asked your customers for feedback? If this is done as a matter of course, when you did you last sit down and review what your customers are saying? Take time to listen to what is being said. Understanding what your customers want can help you identify new opportunities and ensure that your retention rates are kept low.
  4. Review Your Tech. Review how your technology and systems are working for your business. Are you spending more in a specific area than originally budgeted for? Talk to the team and review support requests to identify where the core issues and costs are coming from. You might be surprised at just how easy it is to identify key issues and put low-cost fixes in place that can aid productivity and reduce expenditure.
  5. Control Costs. If you have specific budgets for expenditure or departments within your business, most people will review this on a monthly basis. However, it is fairly common to glance over such reports without paying too much attention to what lies beneath. Use your mid-year check-up as a way to drill down into the details to make sure your expenditure is in line with your forecasted costs.

Even though a mid-year corporate check-up may seem time consuming, the results can help you identify issues and establish new resolutions that will lead to increased productivity and growth before year’s end. Questions? Contact me today!