The turn of the seasons, as well as the passage into new quarters of the business year, is always a good time to take a moment to evaluate your business’s financial standing and the progress you’re making in your various company goals.
Considering the summer is often a slower time of year for many businesses, the transition into the fall is when it makes particular sense to take the time to evaluate various aspects of your business’s performance.
Here are a few tips to help you finish off the summer strong over the next month or so and prepare for a new season of business once September hits.
- Check inventory: Take stock of your inventory and the current status of the items you have. Take note of what has been selling well, and make sure you replenish any items that are running low.
- Prepare new marketing endeavors: The promotions or marketing strategies you employed during the summer may or may not be suitable for the fall and beyond. End any summer-specific promotions you had going on and re-tool your marketing. Now’s a good time to start thinking about the holiday season, if you haven’t already been putting together holiday promotion plans.
- Manage your contacts: The start of a new quarter is always a good time to go back over any new contacts you’ve collected or connections you’ve made during the previous several months. Make sure you’ve put them into your system and that they are receiving any regular marketing communications you send out from your business. It’s also a good time to reach out to existing customers or contacts to offer promotions or check their satisfaction.
- Check your books: If you work with a professional bookkeeping service, the end of the summer and beginning of the fourth quarter is a good time to check in and see how your books are doing, what your profit margins are looking like and where you stand to improve. Based on the numbers your bookkeeper has been tracking, you can analyze the data and determine where you have growth opportunities and what types of financial goals you should realistically be able to hit for the next quarter.
- Prepare your physical location: If you have a storefront or other type of physical business location, you should make sure you prepare for all the end-of-summer chores you need to keep your business in great shape and get it ready for the cooler months. Start thinking about scheduling furnace maintenance appointments, for example, and perform any last outdoor projects you have to complete before the summer comes to a close.
It might feel a little early to start thinking about the fall already, but the fact is that the rest of July and August are going to go by in a flash. For more tips about how you can prepare your business for the fall in a variety of ways, including getting yourself financially prepared for the start of a new quarter, contact our team at MCG Solutions.