How is the health of your business? Take a quick pulse by looking at the following areas:

1. Financials - key items to look at are your balance sheet, income (or profit & loss) statement and cash flow statement. Is your equity, profit margin and cash flow growing? If not, why not? If so, what plans do you have with your growing cash flow? Reinvestment? Expansion? Capital Investment? Acquisition? Do you have any major expenditures coming up on the horizon? If so, will you have sufficient cash or will you need to finance?

2. Market Analysis - start from scratch and see if you have a targeted niche market. If not, how can you further define your niche. Remember, oftentimes the more narrow your target, the better off you will be. If your niche market is perfectly defined, is everything you are doing geared toward that market? Are you doing everything you can to reach that market? And only that market. Are you wasting resources marketing outside of your target?

3. Customer Data - Are you keeping a full, updated and accurate data base of your customers, prospects and leads? Who are your biggest customers( (top10, top 100)? Do they provide you with enough repeat business? Are there other products or services they don't use that you can offer them? Do you have any opportunity to increase the size of their orders? Remember the 80/20 rule and make sure that this 20% of your client list is generating 80% of your business. How about the rest of your client list. Divide the list into five groups based on volume sales. Then come up with a plan to move each client into the next higher group.

4. Competitive Data - Who else is serving the market you are serving? What are they doing? What competitive advantage do you have, if anything? What weaknesses do you have? What are their strengths? Are you keeping a profile on your competitors? You should be doing this and update the information regularly.

5. Employee Data - Are you performing regular reviews. Is everyone performing to your satisfaction? If not, are they salvageable? What's the downsize of cutting them loose and replacing? Do you know each of your employees birthdays? Do you know their families? Have you identified certain employees for possible promotions should you expand or need to replace someone who leaves?

Being intimate with your financials, market, customers, competitors and employees can go a long way in the successful operation of your business.

Mike Shannon is the owner of Shamrock Business Coaching, a coaching practice that helps business owners increase profits. You can visit Shamrock Business Coaching on the web at: www.ShamrockCoaching.com

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