Setting business goals for the second half

As the leaves on the trees turn to various shades of brown and the heating gets turned on for the first time, not only does this indicate that Autumn is upon us but also that we are now half way through the current tax year. For most doctors and dentists the 30 September will be “half time” for their financial year too, so it’s a good month to baton down the hatches and reassess your strategy! Why not allocate a couple of the dark evenings in the coming weeks, to reviewing your first half performance and plan for the second?

The bigger picture

Many business owners simply just don’t plan ahead. They are too busy in the day-to-day issues that arise within their work and personal life to take time out to see the bigger picture. Some are able to create a profitable and sustainable business without any forward planning (however, here business could always be better!) Others don’t even scratch the surface with their financial aspirations and, more importantly, their financial potential.

The half-time team huddle – there is still the second half!

Consider the rugby or football team huddle at half time. This is their chance to assess what worked and what didn’t work during the first half and what needs to be done in the second half to either continue their success as the winning team, maybe with an even greater victory, or, turn events around if required.

There is still time!

Applying a process of past performance analysis and advance goal setting can be the difference between success and failure.

Do you aspire to be a success or a failure?

The chances are if you are reading this you already aspire to things like:

• Generating more business profit
• Spending less hours working
• Being mortgage and debt free
• Providing private education for your children
• Gaining a property portfolio
• Early retirement
• Robust financial planning to ensure you and your family have a good standard of living

The same as with sports this requires training and commitment.

Step 1: Assessing the first half

So what sort of things should you be looking for? Here are some ideas: 1) What was your total income for the first 6 months of your financial year? 2) How does that compare to the same 6 months in the previous year? – Is it better or worse? – Consider the reasons for this result – Was there a  good or bad month that swayed results? 3) Did you have a target for this financial year as a whole? – If so, half it and see if you are on track 4) Divide your total income by 6 and multiply it by 12 to give a broad projection of your total income should you continue along the same level of performance. – Is it better or worse than last year? – Is it better or worse than expected? – Is it enough to meet your costs? – Is it enough to meet your aspirations? 5) Repeat the above asking the same questions about your costs and your profit.

Step 2: Planning the second half

Once you have assessed the first 6 months you can then see what action is required for the rest of the financial year. Here are some ideas: 1) Set specific goals for the next 6 months – Set them as a total goal and as individual goals by month,taking into account seasonal fluctuations 2) Do you need more income? – Does that mean you need more new patients? – If yes, how are you going to achieve that? 3) Do you need more or less resources (as in time, staff, equipment) to fulfil these goals? 4) Is any one of your team not performing in line with expectation? – Does this need addressing? 5) Do you need to cut any major costs to increase profit? – Also, it’s vital to decide how are you going to regularly track your actual performance against these goals.

Being your own coach

This is not a definitive list by any means. Really the importance of this process is to take a step back and consider the bigger picture around everything else that is happening in your business and your personal life. It is habit that once formed you can repeat every 6 months and then every 3 months and when you are in tip-top shape, every month. Coaching yourself can be the difference between success and failure. Figurit help many doctors and dentists with getting into good habits of business analysis and goal setting. For more ideas call to speak to one of our experienced specialists: 020 7376 9333