The start of a new year is upon us, and things tend to get hectic soon after the holidays. If you have reached record highs in 2019 or were close enough to your projections, you will probably wish to push the boundaries a little bit further this year. Do you know what you should do in 2020?
Achieving the year-end revenues and profits is a usual expectation, but you need clear goals for growth that will set the course of actions and decision-making in 2020. Without having any plan, it is quite likely that your business will keep repeating the results from the past.
Here is what will help you to prepare the business for success.
1. Strategize
If you have not worked out your strategy yet, have a strategic retreat with your team. Go to a place where you can all take enough time to think strategically over the issues. Analyse key data and decide which goals you will pursue in 2020. Having general strategic plans is only the beginning of the strategic planning process.
2. Set concrete goals and objectives
To drive revenue and growth, you need concrete goals to which you and your team can be held accountable. The best way to plan viable, achievable and ambitious goals is to use the S.M.A.R.T. method (S – Specific; M – Measurable; A – Attainable; R – Relevant; T – Time-bound). We often see goals that are so poorly defined that they lack meaning, are difficult to understand and accomplish. When defining SMART goals, be very precise about what needs to be achieved, who will be involved, what they will do and by when.
3. Prepare detailed plans and budgets
Once your goals are all set, break them down into smaller, actionable milestones including deadlines. Well crafted plans align strategy and goals by formulating actions that drive you all toward the required destination. People are far more effective when their actions are tied to a plan.
“Goals are pure fantasy unless you have a specific plan to achieve them.”
Stephen Covey.
4. Train people
To support business growth, you need to invest in the professional capacity of your employees. High-quality training will help your teams to sell more and to serve your customers better, to apply new methods, procedures, technology or any changes in your value proposition. If you have not allocated adequate resources for skills’ development, start by creating a training budget. Use this simple calculation:
Total Yearly Salary Budget x 1% = Total Training Budget
Large companies usually keep their training budgets between 3% and 5% of the total yearly salary budget, but if you cannot afford that much, allot the minimum to cover the priorities that are closely related to your strategic goals. For example, if your strategic goal is to improve customer satisfaction so that your staff can do more up-selling and cross-selling, then your priority is to invest in training your customer service team.
To reduce training expenditures, consider on-the-job training and coaching, e-learning, in-company workshops and mentorship delivered by your employees.
5. Improve the quality of data
Your business depends on data, so it is critical to make sure your data is correct, well-managed and accurately interpreted. The better the data the better and faster your decision making. Wrong or ill-interpreted data can never take you far from ambiguity and indecisiveness. Your data must be accurate and structured to be used effectively and to enable you to monitor the KPIs at a specific point in time.
If you have been having problems with data and felt lost about taking the right decisions, start 2020 with a plan to improve your data management system.
What do you need to measure? How will you measure progress and results? What data will you need to capture? What will be the flow of data in specific operations? What will your employees do about managing data?
It takes time to build a reliable data management system, but if you and your team make that a strategic goal, you will soon have a plan and make it a success.
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