Routine checkups at the doctors and auto body shops help ensure your systems run smoothly. But, as Scott Crockett, CEO of Everest Business Funding, shares, you should conduct similar checkups on your business.
Many businesses wait until the end of a year to review how things are going, but that’s not frequent enough. So instead, you should check what’s working and what isn’t once a quarter.
When doing so, there are some essential items you should analyze. Below is a list of those items and preventative measures you can take to keep your business running smoothly.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Key performance indicators, or KPIs, are standard for setting company goals and benchmarks. Every quarter, businesses should measure their progress against these KPIs based on various metrics they have set up.
For example, suppose a KPI is increasing the company’s social media reach. In that case, you might assess how many new followers, views, and interactions you had across all social media platforms this quarter compared to last quarter. Then, you can identify some reasons why you either made progress toward the KPI or didn’t.
If you don’t have clear KPIs set up, this is something you want to create. Having KPIs in place is a great preventative to ensure your business runs smoothly in all aspects.
Sales and Expense Forecast
You should analyze how well your company met sales and expense forecasts every quarter. This exercise will provide insight into two areas — how well you performed against your projections and how well you forecast. Both of those insights are extremely valuable to any company.
The first is valuable in that it helps you gauge your company’s performance in three of the most impactful areas — revenue, accounts receivable, and accounts payable. Optimizing performance in these three areas will ultimately lead to increased profitability.
The second analysis is equally as valuable, though. If constantly exceeding or falling short of your forecasts, the problem could be that you’re not forecasting correctly. Doing so could be very detrimental to the business long term, as it would be hard to plan when to invest and when to hold back properly.
Staffing
To meet internal and external expectations consistently, you need to have a solid team of skilled employees that you can trust. The wealth of this can lead to significant success and expansion. Conversely, lacking this can lead to massive interruptions and an overall negative view of the brand.
As Scott Crockett explains, all entrepreneurs should assess their staffing levels at every quarterly analysis. This should include whether each department is properly staffed for current levels and future expansion. You should also ask department heads whether the proper people are in the proper seats or whether changes need to be made?
One of the best ways to prevent catastrophe in staffing is always recruiting. Even if you don’t have open positions, you should always look for talented individuals you can add to your team. Then, if you find the right people, you should always make room for them in your organization.
About Scott Crockett
Scott Crockett is the founder and CEO of Everest Business Funding. He is a seasoned professional with 20 years of experience in the finance industry. Mr. Crockett’s track record includes raising more than $250 million in capital and creating thousands of jobs. In addition, Scott has founded, built, and managed several finance companies in the consumer and commercial finance sectors.
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