Inspect What You Expect

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We love hosting guest bloggers!  Special thanks to Desirée for being a longtime colleague, friend, and now contributor to The Distributor Channel.  Be sure to subscribe to see more of Desirée's features in the future!  


There’s a Holy Trinity that exists in March, and it’s not a religious one. 
It’s the Holy Trinity of Executing Your Strategy:

1. Plan and Set Goals
2. Execute the Plan
3. Review the Plan


Assuming you have a plan, and it runs on a calendar year, after Quarter 1 it’s time for a Quarterly Business Review (QBR).  Dust off that plan you made back in November or December of last year, schedule time with your Sales and Operations teams, and review your progress.   What should be included in that review?

For starters, see how you are tracking against your goals.  If you are way off target, either to the positive or the negative, it’s time to drill down and figure out why.  If you are not close to meeting your Q1 targets, you are demonstrating that you don’t know your business.  Are there changes with your customers, your supply chain, or your sales team?  If so, what are they?  How can they be addressed?

It’s not enough to only review the top-line, revenue.  Is the bottom line, profitability, on target?   What about your mix of products and services?  What about your customer mix?  You should also review any other major plans, such as a new product launch, or new supplier, and make sure those initiatives are also tracking according to plan.

You might be thinking this QBR is premature.   It’s barely April Fool’s Day. That is the point of taking time out of the business to review the business.  After quarter one, it’s relatively easy to course-correct before your business gets too far off-track.   Wait until mid-year and the proverbial horse is already out of the barn.

You have the ability after Q1 to make adjustments to the goals, and, more importantly, the plan.  Let’s go back to the example of your new product launch.  If it isn’t on track, you can do a deep dive and figure out WHY.  This also gives you the ability to act and get back on track.  Maybe you need a training refresher for your sales team on the new product.  Maybe you need to invest more in advertising.  Whatever the root cause, by identifying the reason for the shortfall, you CAN make the necessary adjustments, so you still meet your goals.

Good leaders face hard facts and fix what is broken.  It’s much easier to catch a problem when it’s minor.  Wait too long, and the minor problem becomes major.  So, do your organization a favor, and schedule that QBR now before your calendar fills up, and the quarterly business review becomes the mid-year business review.  You’ll be glad you did, and your bottom line will thank you!

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