Evaluating for Success

Albert Einstein is widely credited with saying, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.”

How did your business fair in 2020?  That answer, for many, is dependent upon which business category you are in.  If you happen to own a Home Depot or anything to do with home improvement, you probably did very well. If you own a small retail store or restaurant, it was a very tough year.

The good news is, by most accounts, things will get better, sooner than later.

The key questions for business owners to ask themselves in the New Year are: What will you do differently? What will you do the same? In other words, Evaluate!  If you want or need different results, you may want to heed Einstein’s advice and try some different things.

“Without proper self-evaluation, failure is inevitable.”
 –  John Wooden

9 Key Self-Evaluation Questions

Most successful businesses and individuals “self-evaluate” themselves, at a minimum, annually.  A quarterly self-evaluation will help you keep on track and react faster to necessary changes and opportunities.

We urge you to take some quiet time to complete this self-evaluation process. For some, this process can take several hours, and for others, it may take just an hour or two. If you have key employees that play a major role in your operation, we encourage you to consider including them in the process.

1) Evaluate 2020:  What went well (your successes)? Where did you fall short and why?

2) Evaluate Your Goals for 2021:  Setting goals is quite possibly the single most important thing you can do.

3) Evaluate Your Team/Employees:  Nearly every business with employees has a pecking order from their absolute best employee(s) downward. A question to ask yourself is, “If the perfect candidate walked through your door today, would you hire them and add them to your team, or hire them to replace someone?”

4) Evaluate Your Business Category: Is your business category holding its own? Is it getting stronger or weaker? Identifying your business category will help you identify opportunities and potential roadblocks.

5) Evaluate Your Competition:  Identifying the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors will teach you a lot about where your potential growth areas exist and territory that you may need to protect.

6) Evaluate Your Community:  Small and Medium Town America is changing, and depending upon which part of the country you are in, it can drastically dictate how viable your market is. Again, understanding the strengths and weaknesses of your community/market can help you forecast opportunities for your specific business.

7) Evaluate How You Spend Your Time:  Time vs. Money. There is an old saying that states, “You can’t have more of one, without giving up some of the other”. Evaluating how you and your employees spend their time can go a long way in creating more profits and becoming a more efficiently run business.

8) Evaluate Your Marketing/Advertising:  The world of marketing and advertising is changing as rapidly as everything else.  You’ll want to evaluate your business category and competition’s marketing and advertising as well. The one thing that hasn’t changed in advertising is “perception is reality”. Well planned and executed advertising that creates Top of Mind Awareness is essential to getting your current customers and future customers to think of you first and to feel best about you when the time comes for them to need or want your product or service.

9) Evaluate Your Vendors:  You should always be judging and evaluating your vendors. With all the disruptions in 2020, there are opportunities abound. Are your current vendors taking care of you and do they have your best interest at heart? RFPs (Request for Proposal) from your current vendors and new vendors is one way to make sure you are receiving the best deals possible. It also serves as a notice to your current vendors that they should not take your business for granted.

If you would like to learn how to set up your marketing for success, contact us to talk to one of our Marketing Consultants today!  At Titan Broadcasting and Digital Group, our success is based on making you successful too.