Halftime. I’ve written about this before, but, the year is half over, and it’s a great time to schedule a mid-year review to look at your business’s first-half performance, take what you’ve learned, and re-forecast for a strong second half of your year.

I know a lot of people are going on vacations, but for me, while it’s wise to take a short break, mid-year is a time to contemplate my client’s performances and develop a plan to come out strong for the rest of the year. In fact, for some, an offsite half or full-day session is a perfect means for this exercise.

I have had a couple of full-day, offsite sessions with my clients already this year, and while it’s not absolutely necessary to carve out a full day, whatever time you can set aside is valuable for reviewing information, and re-forecasting the business plan.  Plus, it helps you distill Q3 action plans into several big quarterly goals and get the entire team on the same page.

A quick and thorough financial close process is essential in order to have the information you need.  We’ve talked a lot about that in the past, but a strong quick close paves the way for better decision-making. It gives you more confidence in the numbers and is more efficient. Regularly gather your performance statistics: sales by segment, gross margin, expense comparisons to budget and to prior years, and any capital /investment needs for the rest of the year.

At your halftime meeting or offsite, evaluate your team and have candid conversations to maximize performance.  Look at your sales department’s performance and marketing successes/failures.  Take a close look at the current data and strengthen your plan for the rest of the year.  Gather the facts, reevaluate your assumptions, and get your team all focused and rowing in the same direction. 

Whether you decide to have an offsite, or just take some time in the office, here is a Second Half Checklist to help you prepare for a proper halftime business review:

• Gather overall 5 Performance Stats actual versus plan: Sales, Gross margin, Operating expenses, Net income, Asset velocity
• Update the Org Chart
• Obtain your Income statement by month – 2021
• Download your Balance sheet by month – 2021
• Print out your 2021 Budget by Month (original)
• Collect an invoice register download or sales by segment data
• Prepare documents for an Income statement comparisons: month to date versus budget versus last year: quarter to date versus budget versus last year, year to date versus budget versus last year.

Don’t miss the halftime opportunity to take stock, reevaluate, and develop action plans to improve performance, net income and cash flow.

I’d love to see if I can help! Contact me!