Good health is important. It is important to our bodies, and it is important to our business. When you care about the health of your business, you are demonstrating an interest in more than just the money that flows through it. You are showing that you fully understand the different parts of your business that contribute to its success – its good health. Just like we visit our Doctors once a year for a checkup, we take our cars to a mechanic for a tune-up, or we visit the Dentist for a cleaning, we should also conduct a checkup on our business at least once a year. Some suggest conducting a checkup twice a tear. Whichever you choose, you may be wondering – What exactly is a Business Checkup?
A business checkup is an examination of all the parts of your business. As I shared in the opening paragraph, this is more than simply looking at the money aspect of your business. A good business checkup will investigate and help you understand the key issues and parts of your business. In general, these are:
- Marketing
- Productivity
- Net Profit
- Planning
- Budgets and Cashflow
- Sales
- Customer Service/Retention
- Pricing/Costing
- Worklife Balance
- Financial Management
You may choose to add others, but in general, these are the key elements that significantly impact your business. Some other areas you may wish to consider are:
What is your growth plan for the new year? – Remember the adage; if you aren’t growing you are dying – plan for growth. You should update your business plan annually.
Are your employees properly engaged? – With our current labor shortage, many businesses are either short staffed or experiencing employee departures. Proper employee engagement helps manage that and keeps your workforce.
What new risks and challenges does your business face? – Is a construction project pending that will limit physical access to your business? Will a new law impact your business? What external and internal issues will concern your business?
Do your customers see your value? – Customers expect your product or service to add value to them. Do you know if your customers value you? How?
Once you’ve conducted your business checkup your next steps are the following:
Celebrate the things you are doing well, those parts of your business that are healthy. Understand why they are healthy and keep doing that.
Examine more closely those areas that are not doing well; the unhealthy part of your business. Once you understand the exact reason why they are unhealthy, establish a plan to correct that and ensure you both execute your plan and measure its results.
If you aren’t certain what the root causes of your unhealthy areas are, you need help developing a plan, or you aren’t certain what to do, consider external help. This is the perfect time for someone like a Business Advisor, Coach or Consultant to help your business.
To assist you with your business checkup I have a complementary survey on my website titled “How Healthy Is Your Business.”
It is a 36 point survey on 10 key areas of your business and only takes about 5-7 minutes.
Conducting a Business Checkup is an important step for business owners. Accumulate the necessary information you need, conduct your survey, determine what needs to continue and what needs correction, plan those steps and execute your plan. All of this will help sustain your business and achieve those things you want from your business.