Now’s the time to set goals and determine what you want to accomplish for 2019. Creating a plan for the new year with clear goals is the best way to boost sales and make 2019 your best year ever. Remember, when creating your plan for the new year, keep it simple!
Here are 5 strategies to help you get started:
Incorporate Key People
As you’re developing your plan for 2019, make sure to include your key people in the process. This could be your managers, department heads, business partners — whoever you feel plays a key role in your business. If they aid in the development of your plan for the new year, they’ll be more invested in it.
Have a Clear Timeline
Begin by thinking about what you want to accomplish and jot down your thoughts. Aim to have a completed first draft by the middle of the month. Have one or two of your key people look over it and make any necessary revisions. Remember, don’t complicate your plan. By the end of the month, you should have a completed final draft. Then it’s time to begin rolling it out to employees by the second week of January.
Determine What You Will Accomplish
Take a hard look at sales, profit and geographical footprint. Could you be looking to expand in the locations you service, or are you looking to increase your market share? Maybe you want to expand on the services you provide or products you manufacture? You’ll also need to determine if any outside changes like tariffs, fuel increases, potential wage increases, interest rate hikes, or union issues will affect your business in any way. If so, make sure to create a flexible plan to account for these changes.
Resources and Strategy
After you compile a list of what you want to accomplish, now it’s time to turn it into a reality. Ensure you have the capital to move forward and a strategy that will hit the ground running.
Scorecard
Throughout the year, it’s very important to keep track of your progress. It’s a key part of the plan but often neglected! Break down your plan into goals and milestones to determine where you should be annually, quarterly, monthly, weekly, and daily. Segment all goals by department. This way, if any issues begin to rise, you can react much faster by knowing exactly what’s happening and which department it’s effecting.
Don’t dwell on your mistakes and keep moving forward. Always take the lessons you learned last year and apply them to the next. Hats off to your best year ever!
