Now it’s a perfect time to look back on the past year to make better decisions for your business in 2018. Since HandiFox software products are intended to make inventory management processes easier for small inventory based businesses, we’ve decided to come up with a checklist of things that should be taken care of early in the year. These three simple tips will help you out when you have no idea where to start.
1. Review all the paperwork… again.
Are you going to bring out new products or expand your team? How much will you be investing in business promotion and marketing? Whatever your mind is set on, reviewing your financial performance is a crucial and probably the very first step to take. You won’t be able to navigate your business to success, if you overlook some important details. You need to know exactly how your business performed throughout the past year. Collect and keep budget documents, sales and expense reports at hand. Now, when you have all the paperwork within reach, compare the previous year’s financial figures with those of 2016. Take a closer look at how your business was doing month-over-month. This will give an insight into what season was the most profitable or if there were any unexpected growing demands for specific items. If some of them were selling really well, maybe it’s time to look into the possibility of stocking up on those. If not, maybe you should consider scaling back the price a little bit.
2. Inventory check-up.
A thorough inventory check-up is always essential and this is a step where you unearth all the inventory reports through all the past year. If you use the HandiFox inventory management app, you can get it done really quickly and painlessly. These are questions you have to ask. How many of your stock items need to be replenished? How many of them are up for repair? Does your storage space need to be revamped? Does your business need a bigger place to store your inventory? Are you planning on purchasing new equipment? Involve your team members if necessary and brainstorm together. With a clear picture of your finances and clearly defined goals, you can do much better planning for your inventory processes this year.
3. Don’t forget to make observations.
There’s no better guide in business than your competitors. You should never let them out of your sight. Monitor their websites and social media – that will help you improve your content marketing and brand positioning strategies. You should analyze what is working for them and then figure out how exactly you can apply it to your own strategy. How do your business rivals attract new customers? How do they keep loyal ones? There is nothing wrong in learning right things from other players in the market, is there?