It’s Gut-Check Time: 5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before 1Q Ends
With the first quarter winding down it’s time for the first gut check of 2014. The first quarter is perhaps the most important three-month period of the year, as it usually establishes the pace for the rest of the year and gives you an early indication of what is working and what is not.
With the first quarter winding down it’s time for the first gut check of 2014. The first quarter is perhaps the most important three-month period of the year, as it usually establishes the pace for the rest of the year and gives you an early indication of what is working and what is not.
At this time of the year you should be taking a hard look at your revenue trends as well as your internal structure. It's a time to make changes, if necessary, and address problem issues before the entire year is in jeopardy.
Below are the five main questions you should be asking yourself if your first quarter isn’t panning out as planned:
- What macro issues are in play? There is a ton of uncertainty in the world today. There are international dangers as well as domestic problems. None of these things are in your control. What you need to determine is whether any foreign or domestic issues are negatively impacting your business, such as the rollout of Obamacare, the sluggish economy or the minimum wage or immigration debate. Are any of these factors causing your customers to delay or cancel projects? If so, you need to tighten up and just ride it out. Most of this is cyclical and there is no reason to fundamentally change your go-to-market strategy. Capitalism will prevail after it adjusts.
- Are there the industry-specific or customer-specific issues? After you've evaluated the macro conditions, take a hard look at the specific industry you are servicing. What changes is it going through? What is the impact on your customers' budgets? After understanding this, only then can you adapt your selling strategy to meet their needs. This is specifically true with technology solutions, as they are usually upfront investments with an ROI further down the road. You may need to evaluate how you sell for your customers to realize efficiencies sooner.
- Do your products and services meet the needs of the market? Technology is always evolving. which creates tremendous opportunities but also shortens product lifecycles. New solutions are always being developed. Solution providers, regardless of how their current quarter is shaking out, must evaluate their own service offerings constantly to ensure they, too, are evolving with the market. The tail-end of every quarter is a good time to take a hard look at what services are being embraced, which ones aren't and what services are needed.
- Do you have the right sales professionals? Just as important as ensuring your product and services meet the market needs, you also must have the right sales professionals to sell them. Even in poor economic times and a challenging industry environment, a good sales professional will find a way. If you first quarter revenue number is off, regardless of what is going on outside your organization, you should be looking at the strengths and weaknesses of your sales team. Then you need to make a decision. Do you replace any of them, knowing there is always a learning curve? Do you need to invest in any training to bring out better performance? Do you need to restructure or change any responsibilities? Waiting and not addressing any potential sales problems doesn’t make them go away.
- Are your internal processes helping or hindering growth? The final question is about your internal structure. Do your salespeople have confidence that what they sold will be delivered and serviced as presented? Are there roadblocks that are preventing salespeople from doing their job? Does the process hinder their efforts or free them up to be more customer-facing? Your internal processes should always make it easier for your sales professionals to sell more, not less.
