In light of recent events, your trade business might not be doing as well as you’d hoped. If it is, then that’s great! But you can’t get complacent, so this is still relevant for you. It’s important to keep track of just how ‘healthy’ your business is – that is, how much money are you making vs. how much money are you spending? There are a lot of things to consider when looking at the health of your business, but here are a few questions you can ask yourself to give your business a check-up.

Are you reaching your goals?

The better question for some of you might be, ‘Do you actually have goals?’ Either way, you need to have targets that you can meet in order to be moving in the right direction. It might be tough at the moment to hit those goals, so maybe scale them down if you need. They don’t have to be money-oriented, just ones that will make you feel as though you are succeeding in your business; it might be getting your team to bond more by engaging in some fun activities.

Are you getting new business?

Winning new business is usually a sign that your business is healthy, but you need to make sure that you have the resources to keep up with it. There’s no point in bringing in a tonne of new jobs and clients if your staff are going to be overworked and not be giving it 100%. You should be getting a consistent amount of new business to ensure your growth, but make sure that if it’s becoming a lot, you are able to say no or add extra resources when needed.

Are your clients happy?

As we said above, if you’re getting a whole lot of new business in but not doing a great job of it, your clients won’t be happy and you’ll get a bit of flak for it – not the healthiest thing for your business. You should always be looking for opportunities to better your business, so make sure you’re actively asking for feedback from your clients about how you can improve.

Are you getting referrals? 

You don’t just want ‘pretty satisfied’ clients, you want ‘so happy they’ll shout it from the rooftops’ clients. Because if they’re extremely happy with your services, they’re bound to tell other people about it. This is definitely a good indication of a healthy business – when you can rely heavily on word of mouth because you’re just that good. It saves you a bit of cash on marketing (it’s still important though) and makes you in demand, giving you more business and a fantastic reputation.

Are you meeting all of the compliance standards?

Another part of what makes a business healthy aside from profit and happy clients is all the legal nitty-gritty. You need to make sure that each of your team members has everything in order in terms of standards and licenses, so that you’re always compliant and your clients know you’re qualified for the job. It’s important to keep your training and certifications updated as you go along too to make sure you’re keeping up with the latest industry info.