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Business Health Checklist

It is July, the beginning of a new financial year. In twelve months, will you look back at what you have achieved and smile as you reflect on the value of your planning? Or will you just shake your head, having not planned at all?

Consider this - if you plan for the coming twelve months you will be better off than most of your competitors, because they don't.

Consider further - what if you don't plan, and they do. Gut wrenching isn't it.

How do you start to plan? Firstly, do a business health check. Find out where you are currently.

Look at your business as if you have never seen it before. Is it the type of business that you would want to venture into? Why would you venture in? What attracts you to it? Ask yourself these questions and more.

To assist you we have developed the following Business Health Checklist. It is by no means exhaustive, however, we believe that it will provide you with a good start to work on finding out what you need to work on.

Business Health CheckList

Business Background

Do you have a Business Plan and review it regularly?
Do you regularly perform a SWOT analysis of your business?
Do you earn sufficient income from your business?
Do you enjoy sufficient leisure time away from your business?
Would you buy your business at the value that you could sell it for?

Products & Services

Are your products or services admired by yourself - are you proud of what you do?
Are your products or services fully developed and ready for resale?
Do you have suitable distribution channels for selling your products or services?
Do you have systems in place that yield efficient production/delivery of service methods in place?
Do you have sufficient capacity to meet the demand of your products or services on a timely basis?

Staffing & Management

Do you have the knowledge and experience to deliver your products or services?
Do your staff have sufficient knowledge and experience?
Do you have a low staff turnover?
Do you and staff undergo regular professional development?
Do you remunerate yourself and staff adequately for their services?

Marketing

Do you know what your customers/clients actually want from you?
Do you regularly review your sales by analysis of sales by customer type and by product type?
Do you regularly analyse the market trends for potentialities?
Do you regularly monitor your competitors (do you know who they are)?
Do you know whether you are pricing your products or services appropriately?

Financial & Administration

Do you regularly review your financial performance (more than just once a year)?
Do you have a cash flow forecast or budget that you monitor progressively over the year?
Are your administrative systems up to-date?
Are your administrative support personnel proactive in their approach?
Do you know whether you will be making a profit next month?

The above are only a couple of questions that I could think up quickly that broadly covers most businesses - you will know whether they are appropriate for your business or not. However, the question is not whether the above is appropriate, but whether you do review how you work on your business.

Is it worthwhile to do a business health check on your business. And what happens after this step? Well, if you need any further assistance with this, please do not hesitate to contact Farmilo & Co. We can professionally assist in your business development and/or can provide referrals to other business consultants.