Set aside proper time

This sounds simple but, especially for small businesses, it’s easy to find yourself completing tasks which feel more urgent and overlooking things like an end of year review which are crucial for growth.

So, put time in the diary for your end of year review, and if you have a team make sure it’s an appointment they prioritise too.

Write an agenda and set expectations.

It may seem obvious, but key to planning an end of year review for your small business is setting an agenda.

Make sure you’re clear on your intentions. What’s the aim of the review, and what do you want to know by the end?

Once you’ve broken this down into smaller steps, assign a time slot to each section so that you’re giving everything the attention it needs.

Circulate the agenda with your team if you have one or use it as a helpful steer for yourself if your business is a one-man band.

If you have a team, it’s also a good idea to help them to gather their thoughts before coming to the review.

You could send over a list of questions you’ll aim to answer in the meeting for them to think through in advance, such as:

• What were our key achievements this year? 
• What went well? What didn’t? 
• Where have we had a big impact this year? 
• Are we reaching our target audience? 
• Where are key areas where we could improve?

Encouraging your team to process some of their thoughts before the review will be key to making sure the end of year review for your small business is the most effective it can be.

Evaluate your goals.

It’s tempting to dive straight into assessing your strategies, but it’s important to first focus in on your goals first as you plan the end of year review for your small business.

How can you best assess whether you’ve reached your goals?

Clarify your goals

Start off by reviewing the goals themselves. These need to be clearly defined, measurable objectives that align with your business strategy.

Your business goals might include revenue targets, customer acquisition goals, operational improvements, product launches, or team development goals.

Measure your goals against SMART criteria: are they Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound?

This helps you determine if they were realistic and properly set up for tracking.

If you realise your goals might not have been as well-planned as you thought, you can use this to shape next year’s goals as you look ahead to 2025.

And now the next stage of your the end of year review for your small business is to

compare goals you set at the beginning of the year with your KPIs (key performance indicators).

Measure Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Here’s where you can start to work out the progress you’ve made towards your goals.

KPIs are quantifiable metrics which help you do this. Sit down and identify the KPIs that underpin each of your goals. Some examples include:

• Financial KPIs such as revenue, profit margins and cash flow.
• Customer KPIs such as customer acquisition, retention rates and customer satisfaction.
• Sales/marketing KPIs such as lead generation, conversion rates and website traffic.
• Operational KPIs such as efficiency metrics, production rates and delivery times.
• Employee KPIs such as engagement scores, training achievements and productivity metrics.

Now you can use these KPIs to assess how well each of your goals have been achieved.

After looking at goals, assess strategies

It’s very tempting to dive straight into assessing your strategies – “when we did x it worked really well!”

It’s much better to hold off until you’ve looked at the data and assessed which goals have been reached.

Then you can talk about what led to the achievement of that goal and think through which strategies worked and which didn’t.

Something that can help you to do this is a SWOT analysis.

Conduct a SWOT analysis

We recommend a SWOT analysis as part of an end of year review for your small business, which helps you to review your business’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

Strengths
You’ve already thought about which goals were reached, so now think through which strengths contributed to that success (e.g. your strong sales, efficient team performance or the success of a new product).

Weaknesses
Think through any areas where the business fell short.

Focus in on weaknesses that need addressing, such as inadequate resources or customer dissatisfaction (it’s great to make sure you look at your customer feedback at some point during the end of year review for your small business).

Opportunities
Consider any new opportunities that have emerged, which you can build into next year’s strategy or perhaps could have been leveraged better.

Threats
Review any external factors (economic downturns, market shifts, competitors) that may have impacted goal achievement and take these into account in your review.

Talk to us if you need a hand planning an end of year review for your small business

I hope that these tips have been helpful in bringing some focus and structure as you plan an end of year review for your small business.

Beginning by clarifying your goals before assessing how well you’ve reached them, and the strategies used will set you in good stead to know where your business is at as we approach the end of 2024.

Check back on this blog next month for advice on getting your ducks in a row at the start of 2025; these two go hand-in-hand so it’s great to spend proper time reviewing where your business is at before planning next year.

If you’d like a hand reviewing your small business or planning for the future, Zoe would love to use her experience and skills to help.

Get in contact here or book a free discovery call to chat about your business and how she could help.

Let’s plan an excellent end of year review for your small business and give you the direction you need for 2025!