Reviewing your business plan and budgets isn’t a luxury, it’s important stuff. For me, as the weather warms up and I’m about to start thinking about holidays, I always think it’s a good time to reflect on how my own business is doing.

What are the priorities for quarters three and four? Are there any signs that things are going off course? Or can I feel proud of the hustle I’ve put in?

Reviewing your business plan might seem like hard work,  especially when you’re really busy.  But I promise there are some real benefits to taking the time to look at what you’ve achieved so far, and what needs to be done to get you to your goals.

So, why should you review your plan?

Give yourself time to make changes

Now that you’ve got half a year under your belt, you’ve got some data to help you understand your business more intuitively.  Do you need to order more stock? Promote your business or products using marketing?

These things will take time, so it’s best to work out that change is needed sooner rather than later.  If you can implement it as part of a business plan review, you’ll have plenty of time to get things done – rather than rushing around last minute.

Don’t just make changes for changes’ sake though – there has to be a real reason behind everything you do. Where possible, always use data 🤓.

Leave other companies in the dust

If your competitors haven’t worked out a business plan and strategy, you’ll be one step ahead – and they’ll have a hard time catching you up.

You’ll be able to assess what you’ve done well, what needs changing, and what your competitors are doing, also. This should give you a great foothold going forward, and allow you to oversee more sustainable growth – because you’re constantly looking at what’s working and what’s not.

You can leverage this as part of an incentive program for your teamas well (we’ll touch on this a bit more below).

Spotting opportunities

Reviewing your plan will allow you to spot things you otherwise may have missed. It’s as simple as that.

“What happens if we…”

By simply looking at the products and services you currently offer, you’ll allow yourself breathing room to find things to improve your business.

Whether that’s attracting new customers, creating a new product, or assessing your existing customer base, you’ll begin to think about things in a different way.

This may mean removing something you’re offering that doesn’t bring any value. But without this evaluation, you’d never have come to this conclusion.

Motivate your team

We know what it’s like – summer’s around the corner, which means more sunshine hours, planning holidays and, understandably, lots of fun distractions outside of work.🍦

By showing your team that you’re already thinking about what’s going to happen in the future, you keep them focused on the task at hand.

And if you can incorporate a goal-oriented mindset, maybe through summer incentives or bonus offerings, you’ll find that they’ll be even more motivated to achieve the goals and ambitions you’d already outlined. 💪🏼

Never underestimate the importance of a happy team to your success!

Download one of our free business plan templates, or get in touch for advice and support.