Quick and Easy Monthly Business Review: 4 Must-Have Touchpoints

Note: some links contained in this post are affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission if you sign up for a service through me. I never recommend anything I don’t love and trust. You can see the list of services I use for my business here.

How often do you give your business an evaluation? How often do you check in and see what needs a tune up or a complete overhaul? Business reviews don’t have to be a pain in the butt. There are a few things you can quickly review that will ensure you’re heading in the right direction.

Each month, there are four things I evaluate to help me get and stay on track for the month ahead. And typically, the review takes far less than an hour.

Read on to learn how to do your own quick and easy monthly business review:

Goals

Start with a quick monthly review. Assess how things went before you start planning for the month ahead. Figure out what needs to be tweaked – or what you’re not interested in anymore.

Make a plan. Figure out what your focus will be. Try choosing one to three big goals for the month. Focus on smaller parts of the goals each week. Write your goals down. Have a plan. Check out my weekly planner if you need a tool to keep track of your schedule and priorities. Save your goals in Evernote or a trusty notebook. Pin them up on the wall where you’ll see them. Whatever works for you.

Budget

Know your numbers. I am not a financial wiz, but I do know that numbers matter when it comes to the health of your business – so have your money systems in place. Know your numbers. Have a budget. Make a spreadsheet in Excel or Google Drive. Sign up for Mint.com or  YNAB. If you’re a solopreneur, consider a system like QuickBooks Self-Employed to manage your money. Whatever method you choose, stick with it and review your numbers each month. Once that becomes second nature, try reviewing every week to make sure you’re on track as the month progresses. What adjustments can you make?

Stats

Do you keep track of metrics? If not, you should! You can do it in a way that’s easy and doesn’t take much time. Log your stats to see what’s working, not working and how you’ve grown. Create a spreadsheet or log the stats in your planner. Every quarter and at the end of the year, take a look at the stats and see what they reveal – where are you seeing the most growth? Where have you plateaued or taken a dip? Stats can give you great insights.

You can crank this out in less than 10 minutes. It takes me less than 5. Open up your Google Analytics or web stats dashboard, your email marketing program and your social media profiles. Log your chosen numbers/metrics and you’re done. Repeat next month and now you’ll have data to compare.

Prospects

Why do I trim my prospects list? Two reasons:

1. Frees up energy that can be used other places. There are enough things fighting for your attention  – things you WANT to do. Toss in the things you have to do or need to do – there’s a lot on your plate. Let go of things that aren’t serving you. That can include relationships.
2. Serves as a reminder to pursue working with interested and engaged people – and people that are responsive. If I can’t get in contact with you now, how will I reach you when it’s time to get you onboarded? When it’s time to get the actual work done?

Please understand, I am NOT saying that you shouldn’t follow up. Follow up is incredibly important. But you’ll soon figure out what’s reasonable (if you haven’t already). Have you spent three hours following up or answering questions for someone who is going to buy a $99 one-time call from you? Yeah….probably not the best use of time! Is it a major contract? Is your sales cycle usually a few months long? Well, then yes, you may need to invest more time.

The easiest bare bones way to do this is keep track in a notebook or planner. You can also create a simple spreadsheet. I keep track of my prospects in my CRM. There are a lot of great choices out there. I love using Salesmate.

That’s it! Take an hour at the beginning or end of each month to do a quick review in each of these areas. It will set you up for success in the month ahead. You’ll definitely feel more competent and confident.

—

Pin it!