On Wednesday 27th November 2025 I hosted my first in-person event - the 2025 Visionary…
Want to know how to do an annual business review for a small business? Every business, regardless of size, should do an annual business review, but a small business won’t have the resources to go into as much depth as a big business. Keep on reading to find out how to do an annual business review for a small business.
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HOW TO DO AN ANNUAL BUSINESS REVIEW FOR A SMALL BUSINESS
Preparing to do an annual business review for a small business
To maximise the success of your annual business review there are a few things you need to do in advance.
Firstly, you need to decide who needs to be at the review.
Secondly, set a time for the annual business review to take place and make sure it is in the diary of everyone who needs to attend.
Thirdly, ensure you collect/find/crunch the data you’ll need to assess during the review.
The data you’ll need to assess will be different from business to business, but some common types of data that are assessed in an annual business review are:
- Financial – Revenue & Profit
- Sales – Number of Customers/Clients (total, by service/product, by month/quarter, new versus repeat)
- Sales – Enquiries/Leads, Conversion Rate
- Website – Overall visitor numbers, percentage of traffic by medium/source
- Email – Subscriber growth, open rate, click-through rate
- Social Media – Followers, Engagement
- Content – Downloads / Views
Review your annual business goals
The first part of the annual business review focuses on reviewing the business goals that were set at the beginning of the year.
Go through each goal and ask “Was this goal achieved or not?”. If the goal wasn’t achieved then ask “Why was the goal not achieved?” and “Is this a goal that is still important for the business?”.
Make a note of all the goals that weren’t achieved, but are still important for the business.
Review how the business performed outside of the goals set
A year in business is a long time and it is likely that outside of your goals there will have been highs and lows.
Go through the data you collected and make a note of anything else that has performed well or didn’t. And then think make a note of anything else that has happened in/to the business but isn’t in the data. For example, the business could have won an award or been mentioned in the press, but you weren’t tracking awards or press mentions. Where possible include why something was or wasn’t a success.
| TURN YOUR ANNUAL BUSINESS REVIEW INTO ANNUAL STRATEGY DAY
I’ve been running Strategy Days with small business owners since 2019. Having a Strategy Day where you review the performance of business over the last year and then plan for the year ahead with someone external from your business and with tons of business and marketing experience and expertise makes a massive difference. I’ll support you to face the facts about your current position, dream big about the future and get really strategic about what you need to do in order to achieve those big business goals. So if you want to be super prepared for 2025and have the most impactful review and planning process book a 2025 Strategy Day. For more information and to book click here.
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As a small business owner, there is more to business than just achieving goals and all the data moving in the right direction. The data only shows part of the picture, which is why I recommend small business owners review and reflect at the end of the year. For example, it could be that a business has a record-breaking revenue year, but the business owner has worked so many hours that they are exhausted.
Reflect on what you, as the small business owner, loved
Running a small business is a rollercoaster and it will never be rainbows and sunshine every day, but taking a moment to reflect on what you’ve loved during the year can help you try and make more of that happen in the next year.
Think about what you’ve loved doing. It could be specific projects, delivering a certain service, working with certain clients, or something else entirely. It can be hard when you are thinking back over an entire year, but try to think of what you have really enjoyed or loved.
Reflect on what you, as the small business owner, have disliked or found draining
Now it is time to think on the flip side on concentrate on what have been the not-so-good bits of the business. Being honest about what you dislike doing in your business or what drains you will put you in an informed decision to make changes in the next year.
That’s it. You now how to do an annual business review for a small business.
As I said earlier an annual business review for a small business will be different to a big difference. You’ll be looking at less aspects of the business and market, but also the experience of the business owner is also included in the mix.
Once you’ve completed your annual business review you are ready to set the business goals for the year ahead and create the annual business strategy.
| Have your 2025 business and marketing strategy created in just one day!
Review and Reflect is the first part of a 2025 Strategy Day. Over the last 5 years I’ve developed a process to allow small business owners to put together their business and marketing strategy together in just one day. So if right now you don’t have a strategy in place for 2025 and you’d like to be guided through reviewing 2024, setting your goals for 2025 and then having the right business growth and marketing strategy in place to get there – book a 2025 Strategy Day. For more information and to book a 2025 Strategy Day click here.
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