January is usually a slow month for most businesses. With the holiday season behind us, many people curb their spending and focus on rebuilding depleted savings accounts or paying off debt that they have accumulated over the holidays. For many businesses, January is the perfect time to focus on tasks that you generally don't have time to do during the rest of the year. Some of those business duties that you can do in January include:

 

1. Revisiting Your Business Plan

 

This is the perfect time to go through your business plan to see where your business is in comparison to where you planned to be. It's a great time to re-assess your spending, business goals, growth and marketing strategies that were originally laid out in your plan. Are you ahead, right on track or behind in your goals? What has been successful for you? What has not been successful? This is a great time to analyze and review your strategies. If parts of the plan need to be rewritten, now is the time to do it.

 

2. Cleaning Up Your Website

 

Websites are often the first introduction that potential customers have of your business. But updating the contents of your website can be easily neglected during busy times. January is a great time to review your business website and clean it up. This is the time to add more recent pictures, check links and attachments to make sure they still work, update staff and contact info, review your blog posts and look for ways to re-design or polish the overall graphics and layout of your site.

 

3. Reviewing Customer Lists and Contact Information

 

Customers can be very transient. There is a continuous flow of new and repeat customers throughout the year. Some customers continue to use the same email address and phone number, while others change their information. Business contacts will have staff changes throughout the year that could impact your contact lists. This is a great time to review all of your client information and make sure it's current. If you have customers that you have not been in recent contact with, this is a great time to send a friendly "hello" email or phone call to touch base.

 

4. Audit Your Social Media Sites

 

There are many forms of social media out there that are great marketing tools for businesses. During the busy season, a lot of time may not be spent on keeping up your social media sites. But when business is slow, this is the perfect time to review your sites, update images and information, and make sure that your sites are still linked to your website. With marketing trends continually changing, this is also a great time to read up on the latest social media and marketing trends to make sure that what you are doing is helping your business, not hurting it.

 

5. Assessing Inventory And Ordering New Stock

 

Slower business months are a great time to go through all of your stock to make sure everything is clean and in good working condition. It's also a great time to plan ahead and start ordering supplies that you will need when business starts to get busy again. Going to an event with malfunctioning rental equipment or inadequate amounts of supplies will not impress customers or set a positive tone for the upcoming busy season.

 

Early planning and replenishment of stock is also a lot easier on a budget because rather than spend a large amount of money at once, you can spread out the expenses to make purchasing products easier.

 

While January might be a slower time of year for providing services to customers, it's definitely not a quiet time for companies. There is plenty to do during this month in anticipation and preparation of the upcoming year!