The first step in making an efficient business financial planning is to survey the current situation of the business. To do this, gather your organization’s data, such as operating time and financial history.

Then, it is possible to do a SWOT analysis, which consists of identifying market strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

In this sense, keep in mind that it is necessary to have both an internal and an external view of the enterprise.

This will help you understand where to start when setting goals for your micro or small business.

2. Analyze your cash flow

After knowing the internal and external scenario of your company, the next step is to manage the budget and analyze your cash flow.

In this sense, having finance software can facilitate the process, integrating data and helping to prevent errors.

Here, it is important to record all income and expenses, as this allows you to understand the reality of the business. In addition, it is a way to easily view all the information about your financial transactions.

It is also interesting to separate by periods and by cost centers. This action creates subsidies to define the objectives of your financial planning.

The information may show that there is excessive spending with a particular supplier, for example.

Thus, when establishing a cost cut, it will be easier to present data to seek the negotiation margin with this agent or change supplier company.

That is, by analyzing your cash flow, you can identify ways to reduce expenses.

From this, the company may have surpluses in the budget to make an eventual investment or implement other strategies.

Also, the recording of costs and revenues may indicate the need to attract capital, either with sales or with other credit solutions.

3. Make projections

Projecting the financial future is important even for micro and small companies. To do so, these forecasts need to fit into corporate financial planning and must be guided by macroeconomic changes.

By analyzing the macro context, you will be able to identify opportunities to stay ahead of the competition. To complement, it is also worth thinking about what your customer expects from your products or services.

Conduct opinion polls and compare with other regions of the country. It is also important to always consider political changes and the financial market.

Thus, your company will have the basis to understand the future of the sector in which it operates and prepare properly for eventual changes.

4. Set goals for Financial planning

After knowing your company’s financial reality and considering the context in which it operates, it’s time to define what you expect for the short, medium and long term.

When setting your goals, be sure to ensure they are achievable.

In addition, if your micro or small company has employees, it is essential to make everyone aware of the objectives set.

Another interesting strategy is to divide each of them into small goals that stimulate team productivity and make work more dynamic.

That way, you can get results faster. The trend is for everyone to feel inspired to act in the best way to achieve the company’s financial planning goals.

5. Act on data for Financial planning

With the financial scenario established and financial planning based on realistic objectives, the company will be able to take the first steps towards better organizing its finances.

If there are no debts, the job is even simpler, as all you need is a boost to optimize results. On the other hand, if debts are present, it is worth paying them off before proceeding with planning.

For this, it is possible to renegotiate values ​​seek better conditions, and define financial priorities.

A tip to help with the choices is to measure and follow the metrics, aiming to find the points that deserve more attention and guarantee data-based decisions.

6. Have good inventory management

If your company works with inventories, know that a part of your money is immobilized in this way.

Therefore, keeping large volumes stored unnecessarily is a very inefficient measure, as this amount could be directed to other strategies.

One possibility is that this money was invested and provided a financial return. However, you need to have balance. After all, a very small stock can threaten your production flow and the fulfillment of demand.

Thus, from a financial point of view, inventory control is essential for financial health. If desired, use a control system to improve management.

7. Make ongoing investments

As you’ve seen, a company’s financial planning exists to keep finances in order. One of the results it provides is the availability of money to invest and grow.

This is because continuous investment is essential for the survival of an enterprise.

It is often necessary to invest in technology, physical structure, training, and new equipment, among other factors, in order to have more visibility. This initiative allows you to increase profit and stand out from the competition.

8. Track the results

Finally, you must have an action plan based on your goals and track the results you get. Set a schedule, determine the steps according to each objective, and distribute tasks to put the plan into practice.

Thus, all employees can work in alignment. This is critical to getting the most out of your action plan. In addition, set deadlines to analyze whether the activities carried out are having the expected outcome.

In this way, it is possible to identify if the results are adequate or if it is necessary to reformulate the action plan or goals. This is essential care so that all your financial planning goals can be achieved.

Although consumers are already willing to spend more in these periods, it is necessary to prepare your business for commemorative dates. After all, competition is increasingly fierce.

Want to know how to prepare your business for commemorative dates? So keep reading! In this post, you will understand how it is possible to organize your company to earn in the seasons.

Come on?

How to prepare your business for commemorative dates?

To prepare your business for the commemorative dates, first, it is necessary to know which are the special days. That way, you can get organized early enough to make a good campaign.

Check what they are:

• New Year;
• Carnaval;
• Easter;
• International Women’s Day;
• Mothers Day;
• Valentine’s Day;
• Father’s Day;
• Children’s Day;
• Natal.

In addition to the traditional commemorative dates, there are others that can be used by commerce to leverage sales. Although they are not so common when it comes to shopping, they serve as campaign themes that draw the attention of certain consumer profiles.

Take advantage of dates related to the company’s niche

As you have seen, there are seasonal dates that can be used to create campaigns to boost sales. For example, a comic book and collectibles store can benefit from Nerd Pride Day to craft a special promotion.

Therefore, it is worth researching the seasons that most relate to your business. In this way, it is possible to organize promotions that attract more customers.

prepare the stock for business for commemorative dates

Stock preparation is essential for commemorative dates. After all, your company can have a drop in reputation if you offer products but don’t have enough inventory to meet demand.

In addition, there is no point in putting together a sales marketing strategy if there are no products that serve consumers. Therefore, in order not to waste the opportunities that these seasons bring, schedule yourself to renew the stock.

Build a differentiated campaign

The campaigns of the commemorative dates do not need – and should not – all be the same. It is necessary to have a differential to draw the attention of consumers in the face of competition. This is possible with good research work to gain insights.

It is worth seeking inspiration and understanding what your audience is looking for, researching references and transforming them into campaigns that relate to your brand. But be careful that they are not copies of the shares of other companies.

Create promotions for business for commemorative dates

In addition to campaigns, it is interesting to carry out promotions, placing lower prices or better conditions on the purchase – such as buy 1 take 2 or greater interest-free installments. This helps to attract customers and can encourage sales due to the differentials offered.

There is yet another advantage: you can get rid of products that have been sitting in stock for a long time, taking up space. They can be offered with unmissable discounts or in combos with other items in greater demand.

Bet on social networks

Social networks are great tools for publicity and relationship with the consumer. When preparing for an anniversary, don’t forget to pay special attention to personalizing them.

It is interesting that you work on the layout of the photos, videos and posts on top of the commemorative campaign. For example, when preparing for Christmas, have a plan to post Christmas-related content on your business’s Instagram.

Hire temporary staff

It is very common that on more traditional commemorative dates, such as Christmas and Mother’s Day, sales increase exponentially. The flow of customers is intense and you will probably need more collaborators.

Therefore, it is important to include the hiring of staff in your campaign planning so that the company has time to select temporary employees. In addition, it is essential to provide training for newbies.

Promote quality care

Seasonal sales are great opportunities to win and retain customers. For this reason, it is very important to promote quality service. After all, when the consumer is well served, the tendency is to return to the store.

In this way, when preparing for a commemorative date, gather employees and reinforce the importance of providing good service. To this end, the company can also promote training and workshops aimed at serving the public.

Create an agenda for anniversaries

Finally, create an agenda for the commemorative dates. It is common for the company’s usual calendar to have several tasks, which can make special dates go unnoticed. If this happens, you will miss out on all the opportunities these periods bring.

To avoid this problem, here’s how to create the schedule:

90 Days: Purchasing Goods and Managing Inventory

The purchase of goods must be made at least 90 days in advance of the main commemorative dates. This is because the products must already be available in greater quantity between 30 and 60 days from the special date.

Therefore, it is not uncommon to see Panettone in supermarkets from September onwards or Easter eggs right after Carnival, for example. In this way, write down in your calendar the period in which you should shop and manage stock for each occasion.

60 Days: establishing marketing actions

2 months in advance, you must gather the team to assemble the company’s marketing campaign. Be sure to consider the tips we gave you about references and taking advantage of the seasonal dates that are most related to your business to create identification with the public.

30 Days: disclosing the offers

When the 30 days before the date approaches, it is time to start publishing the offers. At this point, all the marketing material – both physical and digital – should be ready to be released and start to attract the public.

As you have seen, commemorative dates are opportunities to increase revenue and attract and retain customers. For this reason, they deserve special planning so that your company can get the best out of these seasons.

In practice, risk management is a process that aims to prepare the organization for the unexpected, identifying threats before they happen to manage your company’s risks. The idea is to prevent them from materializing or to solve the problem more quickly. For this, it is necessary to identify, assess and control risks.

Thus, this strategy is essential to avoid losses in the most diverse areas of the company. This is because threats can arise from a variety of factors, such as strategic management errors, legal liabilities, natural disasters, etc.

In addition, risk management allows a company—no matter its size—to better deal with unforeseen risk. After all, the business will develop greater problem-solving skills and find opportunities to improve processes to achieve its goals.

Types of risk

Now that you know what risk management is, it is interesting to understand what types of risk a company can suffer. Look:

• compliance risk: refers to loss of documentation, insertion of new rules;
• strategic risk: related to topics such as political scenarios, a new competitors in the market;
• financial risk: involves issues such as indebtedness, customer default, interest rate increase;
• environmental risk: relates to natural disasters;
• cyber risks: deals with issues such as hacker attacks, and cyber fraud;
• operational risks: related to problems that compromise or can generate rework by employees, such as equipment breakdown;
• risks in the work environment: referring to issues such as exposure to toxic substances, extreme temperatures, etc.

How important is this strategy to manage your company’s risks?

You already understand how to manage your company’s risks. Therefore, it is interesting to discover the importance of this strategy. To facilitate understanding, imagine a city that suffers from recurring floods.

So, the buildings started to be constructed in order to reduce the damages in case of a new flood. At the same time, the city hall structures project to prevent occurrences. This measure is a strategy that makes up risk management.

The same principle can be applied in the business world. By identifying threats and taking steps to avoid them, your company is able to face adverse situations in the best possible way.

In the case of financial risks, for example, proper management can avoid fines, debts, waste, and the wrong contracting of credit lines. Therefore, risk management prevents losses that affect the financial health of the business.

How to manage your company’s risks?

After understanding what risk management is and what it is for, as well as the types of risks, it is time to understand how to apply this strategy in your company. Next, check out the necessary steps!

Identify the risks

First, it is important to identify the risks in order to have data that allow us to draw up the management plan. As risks can vary from company to company, this identification must be made from a deep knowledge of the corporation’s processes.

To this end, you can bring together collaborators from all areas to point out the problems in their departments. In this way, it is possible to list threats and identify points that might not be noticed by managers.

Do qualitative analysis

After identifying the risks, it is important to make a qualitative analysis of what was perceived. In it, you organize the threats according to their relevance and impacts on the functioning of the business, in addition to the probability of them materializing.

Perform quantitative analysis

The next step is to perform a quantitative analysis. In this step, you must numerically classify the effects of each risk identified so far. In this way, you will be able to see the situations that may occur, if the threat is consummated.

Establish risk responses

Once the qualitative and quantitative analyzes have been carried out, it is time to plan and implement risk responses. That is, to establish the possible solutions for each identified threat. In this case, the hierarchy must also be considered.

This means that the determination of strategies for each problem must start with the most urgent risks. In this step, the actions must also be put into practice as planned, considering the company’s budget.

Monitor risks and actions

With the plan in place, it is time to monitor the risks and the execution of activities to minimize the threats. This step is important for you to monitor whether the established solutions are efficient. If not, you can make adjustments to the strategies.

What tools can help with risk management?

You have seen that risk management is essential for the smooth running of the company. To put it into practice, it is possible to use tools to make the process more agile.

Check out the main ones!

What If

The term “What If” means “what if”. The method consists of assuming all the potential risks of the company and their causes. It is made from meetings with employees in which hypotheses arise based on the question “what if?”.

In this way, it is possible to imagine different problems and solutions for each one of them, based on different scenarios.

Process Failure Mode and Effective Analysis (PFMEA)

Translated as Failure Mode and Effect Analysis, this tool helps to identify and judge the chances of errors, based on cause and effect situations.

In addition, it points out the consequences and suggests actions that can minimize the realization of risks. The PFMEA is also able to tell the probability of occurrence.

Do you understand how risk management is an important strategy for the company? By adopting it, it is possible to foresee threats and put actions into practice that can minimize risks and improve business results.