June 19th, 2007
Mid Year o7, lets finish strong!
In January every one is optimistic over business. There is little down side to our business plans. We are coming back to work after holiday, may have taking a great trip and we know we have our act together. How were we supposed to know gas would hover around 4 a gallon in the USA. The gas price has a negative affect on business. We were still feeling good at the end of the first quarter because like the Sox are saying and the Cubs say every year, It is early. Now we are at the mid point of the year. Those of you that are kicking butt will enjoy this analysis, those of us that have work to do hopefully will benefit, those that have given up, should begin work on their resume. As follows is an effective outline for mid year business updates.
Sales performance by month, Jan –June. This should include a actual sales vs. Goal and % of goal
Margin performance by month, Jan-June, same analysis as above
Gap analysis, if below plan revenue and margin, notate the dollars needed to make up.
Discuss plans to make up the additional dollars to fill the gap, plus second half goals by account.
Use below format to discuss accounts
Account name—objective—tactics—time line for each step of sale—comments
If you are running above plan, use the analysis to discuss how much potential over achievement is possible by account
Review big picture aspect of your first half year.
Major accomplishments
Major disappointments
Critical factors that could influence outcome of second half of year
Key events
Additional resources needed to make and beat plan.
Competitive update
What I will do differently
This exercise will help you understand your business much better.
Business people, how is your year going? How will you analyze the next 6 months. I look forward to your comments on this.
June 19th, 2007 at 3:37 pm
Thanks for the analysis info. Sadly, I didn’t set any goals at the beginning of the year. But I can tell you business has increased since Jan. I just joined forces with a friend of mine who used to sell for IBM and that is his strong point. I guess we’ll set goals now at mid-year and use your suggestions above to see how we do at the end.
June 20th, 2007 at 11:01 am
Theo, congrats on your increase, as you look at major accomplishments, 2 I see are; your business growth and your joing forces with a IBM trained sales person. Good luck the rest of this year. I did a tag blog on OPI, one way to set your goals is to visulize what you want out of life from the income, and then build your sales and profit goals so they will lead to your life style enhancement.Check out the post and it will let you know about OPI
June 25th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
I’ll check it out. Where can I find the link?
Also, how do you keep from overselling? Part of our business involves designing websites and while sales are good, I want to be able to complete all the projects. We’re just really getting started and want to be able to be competitive in pricing. Pricing has been one of our major issues.
June 27th, 2007 at 6:27 pm
Theo, the link is http://www.blackinbusiness.org/2007/06/14/need-a-way-to-make-goal-setting-fun-opi-it/ the site map can take you there. Do not take on more than you can handle at your standards. I am doing the same in my small business.