Four Ps for prosperity: The first quarter small business health check

In her weekly post, Enterprise Nation founder Emma Jones says it's time to take stock of the year so far, think about what you've achieved since January, and learn from that to plan the rest of 2013 via the four Ps of product, promotion, people and profit.

The first week in April spells the end of the first quarter of the year which makes it a good time for reflection, writes Emma (left). It's time to take stock of how your business is performing and to plan for how you'd like it to prosper over coming months. Here are four Ps for you to consider:

1. Product

You're offering a product or service to customers: does it need updating and is it priced at a point or set at a value that keeps customers coming back? This is a useful time for collating happy quotes from customers so you can display testimonials on the website or in promotion materials. Consider selling your wares in new markets and kick off the process of research and planning for expansion!

2. Promotion

"Is your name and business being seen and heard in all the right places?"

Is your name and business being seen and heard in all the right places? Are your social media accounts up to date (that's just reminded me I - need to spruce up my own LinkedIn account!)? Are you in as much contact as you'd like to be with journalists and bloggers covering your trade? How about plans to create content around your topic through an event/survey/webinar that can be used as the basis for a press release and a reason to invite customers to appreciate your expertise?

3. People and partnerships

Take a while to consider whether you have the right people are in the right positions. You may not have full-time employees, but you'll undoubtedly be working with other partners and professionals to grow your business. Are there other businesses with whom you have an ambition to partner? Are your team members (if you have a team) clear on company objectives and their own role in contributing to this? Think this through and possibly put in place tech tools such as Basecamp to help with team communication, and send that 'Can we talk?' email to a perfect partner prospect!

4. Profit

"Taking a moment to reflect will pay dividends as you spring with confidence into the next quarter - and beyond!"

To ensure the figures add up, calculate whether sales are coming in at the rate you'd like. If the product and price is right, if people know about you and they enjoy the experience of dealing with the people in your company, this is a powerful route to sales. So all that's left to be considered is keeping costs low, so income from these sales is turning a healthy profit. Taking a moment to reflect will pay dividends as you spring with confidence into the next quarter - and beyond! Emma

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Photo Credit: Connor Tarter via Compfight cc