Congratulations! You’ve made it through another busy and successful year. Chances are you’ve spent so much time merchandising, ordering, selling, planning events and satisfying customers you haven’t had too much time to think about strategizing for the New Year.

Now that the holidays are over and the dust has settled, it is a perfect time to assess your inventory levels and start clearing stock to make room for new items in the New Year. Start making a plan to get organized. Stock rooms and storage areas usually get the least amount of attention when business starts picking up. Clean up these areas by disposing of damaged goods and old displays. Consider putting together a clearance section or sale rack for items that may have been slow movers.

Additionally, the New Year is always a great time to sit down and reflect. Did you reach the goals you set for yourself in 2015? What opportunities do you see for the upcoming year? Set new goals for yourself; maybe it’s offering a greater product mix to your customers, or that you’d like to increase traffic to your shop.  Maybe you want to freshen up your website or Facebook page!

After you’ve considered your goals and accomplishments it’s time to begin strategizing. Use your OWL calendar to plan out how you can use promotions like “OWL day” or the “New Year Special” to maximize your selling potential. Now is also the time to start thinking about open houses and customer appreciation events you’d like to have this year.

Goal-setting and getting organized are just some of the key ingredients to your best year ever! Set yourself up for success by taking a moment to strategize how you’d like to attack the upcoming year. A little bit of planning goes a long way!