Are You on Track for Exceptional Business Success?

by Dr. Vesna Grubacevic

With already the first quarter of the new year over, now is a great time to take stock of how your business is performing and to make any adjustments so that you can have an exceptional rest of year.

Below are some quality questions you can ask yourself to give yourself feedback on the year so far, and to assess what you need to do differently for the rest of this year. Remember that if you are seeking better success in your business this year than last year, you will need to make some changes or improvements to what you have been doing to date.

Your Self Assessment

Take your quick self assessment now.

Firstly, think about the goals and strategic objectives that you set for your business at the start of this year. How would you rate your overall performance (out of 10) versus those business goals and strategic objectives? Rate each one separately and then for each one, ask yourself the following questions:

What have been your biggest successes in the year so far?
What could you have done better, differently or improved?

Next consider the following:

To what extent have any of your or your team’s fears or self doubts affected your business success and results?
How happy are you with your sales levels, customer retention rates and conversion of leads to customers?
How well are your employees and partners meeting their targets/KPIs and adding to your bottom line results?
What have you been putting off doing? Make a list of all the things you have been putting off doing in the year so far. Next to each item, write down how much your procrastination has cost you in terms of customer relationships, staff performance, repeat business, money, time, energy, focus, etc.
Is there anything that you could stop doing altogether that would either have a neutral or positive impact on your business?
Is there anything that you could start doing that would have a positive impact on your business?
What challenges did you experience in the year so far and how effectively did you deal with them?
What could you have done differently, better or improved to deal with the challenges more effectively?
What are the major positive things that you have learnt from the above challenges in the year so far?

Making the Year Really Count!

Once you review the above answers, decide your top 5 priorities for your business for the rest of this year. Choose the strategies and actions that will make the biggest positive difference to your business in the coming months. For example, is it increasing sales, converting more prospects into customers, improving staff performance, servicing existing customers, etc.?

Next, set a goal for each of these strategies/actions. Make sure that your goals are specific, realistic, measurable and have a specific date by which you would like to achieve them. You may wish to stagger the dates so that you can focus on two goals at a time, take sufficient action towards each one and, therefore, achieve them faster. Then for each of your goals, put together a simple action plan of the key steps you need to take to achieve each goal, together with a date next to each step. Taking baby steps each day or week will reduce overwhelm and will have you achieving your goals before you know it!

It is important to regularly review how you are tracking versus your goals. This will assist you to change or improve on what you are doing along the way, rather than waiting until another year has passed and then wishing that you had changed things sooner. By regularly reviewing your performance, you will stay focused and motivated and will be better placed to deal with any challenges, rather than being side tracked by them. Just imagine implementing the above strategies and making the rest of the year really count!

Read about how one of our clients transformed his confidence, professional and personal relationships and success!