It’s likely many companies out there are not on track to meet their goals. The COVID-19 pandemic created many additional hurdles for companies of all sizes. As we near the fourth quarter, companies have made unprecedented changes to cope, and sometimes survive, the coronavirus.
This crisis has made many of us revise and then revise our corporate goals again. Let’s take a look at how your roadmap is looking and whether you are on track to meet your 2020 goals.
Reviewing the Damage and Setting the Course
The coronavirus has been our biggest distraction this year, along with the corresponding drop in sales, layoffs, and supply chain issues that many companies experienced or may still be experiencing. If you didn’t revise your quarterly goals during this experience, you are the anomaly.
Summer provides us with the opportunity to take stock at the year’s midpoint to determine where we are concerned with our goals. Are you halfway to your (revised) goal target? Given the pandemic’s fluctuating nature, summer may be a good time to revise your corporate goals as you look toward the fall and winter.
Let’s start with the budget, that line item that rules all the other line items in your business. How can you assess any COVID-19-inspired damage in this area without keeping a close watch on the numbers?
Here are five ways to adapt your goals in this area for the future:
- Watch the new numbers and review your planning accordingly. You may have closed your business for a time. Cash flow may be radically different. Above all else, continue to watch cash flow closely and protect it as much as possible.
- Create financial forecasting that is both realistic and cautious. Now is not the time to gamble. Estimate your future finances and project P&L, balance sheets, and cash flow to get your business back on track.
- Reevaluate your emergency resources. Few companies, especially smaller, new businesses, have emergency reserves. But now, more than ever, you must establish an emergency fund along with a line of credit to fall back on should the unthinkable occur.
- Eliminate debt from your balance sheets whenever possible. If you took out a coronavirus loan option, some of those debts are forgiven, but others may not be. If you had to borrow during the crisis, you’re in good company. But that doesn’t lessen the immediacy of getting rid of as much debt as possible to increase business solvency.
- Now, reassess your financial goals in light of all this data you’ve gathered. How does your new, realistic budget mesh with your goals for the fourth quarter? What changes will you make as you plan for the winter months?
Following these steps will help get you back on track. Similar steps can be applied to other areas of your business. As you’re looking at goals through the fourth quarter, the most important thing is to pull your head out of the sand, look around, and make a realistic assessment based on the numbers and fiscal predictions we have so far.
PrideStaff is standing by to help you with the staffing you need to meet your hiring goals. Talk with our team about how to outsource your workforce to save on your bottom line. We can help.
