3 ways to get your 2024 off to a flying start

How are you feeling about the start of the new trading year?

Are you raring to get back into the swing of things? Or do you dread the thought of logging on and seeing 500+ emails in your Inbox?

Regardless of how you’re feeling about the post-Christmas return to work, getting a fast start to the year should be one of your main objectives.  Being able to the fly out of the blocks will give you momentum and set the tone for the rest of the year.

In this article I will share 3 ways to get your 2024 off to a flying start.

Prioritize your admin for the 2023 Financial year-end close.

In my experience, January is the busiest month for the Commercial Finance department.  They will have all hands-on deck as they conduct their year-end audit.

This audit requires Account Managers to get all their financial administration in order.  Any outstanding invoices for fixed or promotional investment from the previous financial year need to be reconciled and submitted to the relevant Finance Managers. 

The quicker you can complete this task ahead of the deadline, the better.  I understand that this financial reconciliation can be arduous, but procrastinating and leaving it until the last minute will only cause anxiety as it will always be at the back of your mind.  Completion ahead of the deadline will also have the added benefit of winning you favour with the Finance Department!

Invest to help your customer clear any residual stock from the Christmas trading period.

If you work for a business which sells seasonal SKUs, then it is likely that you will have an agreement with your customer to help them clear any leftover Christmas stock.  I worked for a confectionery company for 4-years and had to account for this investment in my P&L for Christmas and Easter.

Perhaps you have been fortunate and had exceptionally strong sell-through of your seasonal range throughout the Christmas trading period? Or maybe your customer has a lot of your stock leftover following a poor festive performance?

If you have the misfortune of the latter scenario then it is in your best interest to help your customer clear that residual stock as quickly as possible.  Let me be clear: this may require you to increase your level of residual investment (i.e. deeper discounts) particularly if there is a significant amount of seasonal volume left over. There are two reasons for why you might wish to take this course of action. 

Firstly, a fast and clean exit of Christmas stock will give your brand the best possible in-store presence in January.  It never looks good if your Christmas stock is sitting in discount FSDUs at the front of store for weeks on end.  Furthermore, in the worst-case scenario you could find that the sheer volume of stock left to clear could delay the launch of new listings. 

Secondly, this will also set a collaborative tone with your customer for the rest of the year.  It will give you a platform upon which to build momentum with your Buyer to list your NPD in the Range Review and deliver best-in-class execution. 

Start as you mean to go on – establish your cadence for internal and external meetings.

The third way to get a fast start to 2024 is to establish your ideal meeting cadence as early as possible.  Don’t let the Christmas hangover lead to the delay of what may seem like non-essential meetings.  What start out as non-essential meetings can often become some of your most impactful over time if they become part of your regular cadence. 

If you want to start a monthly Account Surgery meeting with internal cross-functions, launch it this month rather than pushing it into February.  The same can be said of any new external meetings that you want to set up, for example monthly joint forecasting reviews or small format performance updates.

The longer you delay these meetings (even if it is just by a month), the greater the likelihood they’ll fail to take off any meaningful way.

How building Mental Fitness can help you get a fast start in 2024.

Building your Mental Fitness will help you adhere to your plans for a fast start in January.  They will help you to overcome procrastination and the inevitable feelings of self-doubt, and instead choose positive, proactive responses to increase your productivity.

As is true of any lasting habit change, this takes at least 6-weeks of intense work.  If you are interested in this game-changing program then take the Positive Intelligence Saboteur Assessment https://www.positiveintelligence.com/saboteurs/ and then book a free 30-minute coaching call with me at https://www.expcoaching.co.uk/ to find out more!