The important thing about the beginning of the calendar year is that Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) owners who were able to take time off over the festive season will return to the office refreshed and recharged.
It is therefore vital for them to use this time to reflect on the performance of their business, assess and plan for the year ahead in order to ensure that the business is on track to meet its goals and targets.
As such, to help SME owners structure their year-planning exercise, here is a checklist to consider:
1. Look at the wider picture: Consider what is happening both globally and locally regarding micro and macro-economic factors, such as demand for goods and services, exchange rates, interest rates, fuel costs, inflation, electricity supply and water supply.
2. Check available resources and infrastructure: Review equipment, staff, storage, administrative capacity, transport and logistics, as well as IT and communication.
3. Look at efficiencies: Consider how you can do things better, faster and cheaper; without compromising quality.
4. Review insurance policies: Can you bring your premiums down? Shop around for better options and update the value of your insured assets to make sure that you are not over- or under-insured.
5. Investigate alternative suppliers: There is a case to be made for staying loyal to your stalwart suppliers, but there is no excuse for sticking to the same suppliers just out of habit. Scout the market and renegotiate your supplier terms.
6. Scrutinise financials: Look back in order to see where you could have done better, and what you can learn from the past year’s financial performance.
7. Monitor liquidity: Any growth that is not underpinned by a plan to ensure adequate cash flow can be dangerous and can bring the whole business down even as it expands.
8. Scan competitors: Business owners often say that they don’t bother with the competition - they just focus on doing the best they can. While this is a good principle to follow when you are in the swing of things, when you are in planning mode, it is imperative to spend some time on scouting out your competitors.
9. Consider targeting new markets and creating new products: If you don’t update and innovate, your business runs the risk of falling behind and becoming irrelevant. Consider how you can use new technology to improve your products and services.
10. Preserve your current customer base: For as long as economic growth remains sluggish, not only are new customers hard to find, but you can be sure that other businesses will be coming after your existing customers. Reach out to your regular customers, listen to them, and focus on constantly improving your service.
11. Don’t neglect marketing: Marketing channels and methods are changing rapidly, and you cannot afford to rely only on old methods just because they worked in the past. For example it is essential to be on top of social media, however one should continue to seek alternative platforms to use and methods to grow your current social media community following.
Once you have your 2019 plan, sit down with your team while they are also still refreshed, and start working on getting their buy-in. Do it with an open mind and include any relevant suggestions. A plan cannot be fully implemented without the collaboration of the whole team.
Sally Gitonga is the Country Manager at Business Partners International
The Standard Group Plc is a
multi-media organization with investments in media platforms spanning newspaper
print operations, television, radio broadcasting, digital and online services. The
Standard Group is recognized as a leading multi-media house in Kenya with a key
influence in matters of national and international interest.
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