Small Business Tips for Starting Q2 2017

April 3, 2017 by Ed Becker

The first quarter of the year is ending, this is the right time that you need to review the stats, trends, and such to have a stronger Q2. Often Q2 gets lost, because many business people think they have a lot of time left in the year to make adjustments. Throw that bad trend out the window and take the time to re-evaluate budgets, goals, Key Performance Indicator (KPIs), and make the adjustments to slam dunk Q2, maybe then you won’t have to make up for it in Q4!

In January, you did your intention setting, budgets and projections. They are just that, projections and you know as well as anyone that they are fallible! It was your best guess at the time, but now you that you have some facts to base your reevaluation on you need to tweak them.

Budgets

As mentioned, projected budgets are simply your best-informed guess at the time. Now that you have more information to work with, you can readjust the budgets to be more realistic. You can see trends that are throwing the budget off, either too low or too high. You can see what is working and what may need to be cut now before it becomes a huge loss.

Success Ranges

Use ranges of success rather than hard set rules or targets. It is still early in the year, pull your top few streams of revenue and set a range that you can live with; does the first quarter fall within that range? If not, you must figure out why. This is when you can fine tune and play a bit with everything, and still have time to reevaluate again at quarter end. You may find that a specific stream of revenue is not doing well at all, this is the time to make the choice to cut your losses.

Key performance indicators (KPI) Review

Key performance indicators that measure the success of your key performers do not just appear, those numbers must be entered, tracked, and evaluated. Reviewing the KPIs allow you to see trends and areas that are working or need improvement.   KPI reviews can weed out the mavericks and non-performers.

Meet with Key Persons

Before you choose to make changes to KPIs, it is a great idea to actually meet with the key persons that you are tracking. Talk to them, get real with them about what you see and what changes you are considering. These are the people that are out there in the front-line trenches and know much more about reality than you do just looking at numbers. This also shows trust and confidence in your team while also building loyalty.

Mavericks & Non-performers

Both types of key performers can create havoc for your company, if you can’t rein them in quickly! Mavericks can be reckless and willing to take high risks that don’t pay off overall. Risks in themselves are not a bad thing, if the person has the discretion to know the risk factors before jumping in or out. If you have high-risk taking mavericks that you cannot control, it may be time to cut them loose. Non-performers are the opposite, they are not putting in the hard work, not taking any risks, therefore, not making any Return on Investment (ROI). If you cannot motivate or train them, cut them loose as well. This is not about them personally, it is about business.

Get Back on Track Scenarios

Take your main revenue streams again and consider what could derail them. Write down a few things for each stream that could throw it off. Do this for every top stream of revenue. After you have a list of several things that could derail,  jot down several signs or circumstances that would or could cause it. Then mark down what you would need to do or what would need to happen to get it back on track.

What this list allows is for you to be able to see a trend towards derailment forming and options of how to stop it in its tracks. Once you stop it, use your list to get back on track. By doing this you will catch things quickly because you are aware in advance of what scenarios could create issues, how to stop it and redirect it immediately before it becomes unmanageable.