Do you know exactly how your warehouse functions? Or do you have significant bottlenecks and operational inefficiencies that waste money each holiday season?
Even the smallest operational bottleneck gets amplified during the holiday season, so it’s essential to make improvements now, ready to hit next year’s holiday goals.
Once the holiday season is over, schedule a meeting with key fulfillment team members to assess what went well, what can be improved for next year, and how you can streamline your operations.
To make your seasonal business review as effective as possible, we’ve outlined 19 crucial questions covering six operational categories for you to use.
The Benefits of Reviewing Your Operations
Whether you had a record-breaking holiday season or you ran into some unexpected challenges, there are some crucial benefits of organizing an operations review in the New Year.
Implement Software Improvements
Our research shows that about 33% of self-implemented software upgrades fail. Without objective insights into what runs smoothly and poorly, you can’t make software upgrades that align with your business goals.
By sitting down with key personnel and analyzing your holiday season, you can determine where bottlenecks and poor processes impact sales and plan an effective software upgrade.
Improve Team Satisfaction
Employees who are consistently recognized for their efforts are more likely to stay at a company. Taking employee feedback into account and recognizing the value of their contributions will drastically improve team satisfaction and retention.
Not to mention that your operations personnel have firsthand experience with your current software – they can tell you what works well and what is causing bottlenecks during the busiest time of year.
Set Achievable Goals (and Hit Key Milestones)
By reviewing your seasonal operations, you’re in a much better position to forecast for next year, set achievable targets, and identify key projects that help you achieve those goals. Without these key insights, you’ll struggle to see consistent growth and may miss opportunities for improvements.
19 Questions To Ask Your Operations Team After The Holidays
So, let’s dive into the key questions you should be asking during your seasonal operations review. We’ve split the questions up into categories to make it easier to dive into specific areas of your operations and pinpoint areas for improvement.
Your warehouse management workflow is a visual representation of the main activities within the warehouse. A well-optimized workflow means a streamlined process for goods received, processed, shipped, and all the stages in between.
With this in mind, ask:
- Were there any obvious bottlenecks or inefficient processes?
- Did you have adequate staffing levels and shifts?
- What can you automate or streamline?
It’s important to include management and warehouse operatives in this questioning stage since your operations team will have key insights into the workflows they use daily.
Ensure all staff understand they can be open and critical about current operations, as this is a prime opportunity to improve their workflow.
Next up is fulfillment systems. A critical component of holiday season success is getting orders shipped out on time. Any issues or bottlenecks within this system will result in delayed shipping, frustrated customers, and missed opportunities for repeat sales. When reviewing outbound fulfillment, ask yourself:
- Were there any obvious issues with system uptime or reliability?
- Have you noticed any gaps in functionality or integration with other systems?
- Can you think of any opportunities to enhance the current tools?
Although your fulfillment operatives might not have specific recommendations for software upgrades, they’re in the best position to highlight issues or challenges with the current system, which you can then discuss with a dedicated software consultant.
Your inventory management encompasses ordering, storing, using, and selling inventory. Efficient inventory management helps avoid gluts and shortages, allowing you to streamline operations and boost your bottom line. To best assess your inventory management, start by asking:
- Were our order placements and counts accurate, or did we have a shortage or glut?
- Did we have on-time inventory receipts?
- Can we identify any opportunities to improve our replenishment system?
Inventory management challenges are common for SMBs, so don’t be disheartened if you find multiple opportunities for improvement within these systems.
Whether it’s manual inventory tracking, warehouse inefficiencies, or changing demand, there are system upgrades that can help overcome inventory challenges and enjoy growth next season.
If you have training programs for new hires, this is a great time to check in and see what’s working and what can be improved. If you have new team members, it’s crucial to bring them in and get their direct feedback.
You should also talk to management and senior team members about training progress to identify any skill gaps that can be addressed and ready for next season. So when you’re looking to improve team efficacy, consider the following:
- Are our training programs effective at meeting requirements?
- Do you have any feedback on improving team skills?
- Are any additional certifications needed that would improve operations?
Research shows that only about 11% of SMB managers prioritize training retail staff, but it’s an effective way of improving overall warehouse performance.
Communication is another important area that’s often overlooked during end-of-season reviews, but you might find opportunities to make quick and effective improvements. Ask the following:
- Did you collaborate effectively across teams?
- Did any issues get escalated to managers and resolved?
- Can you identify any opportunities to enhance information flows within and between teams?
Communication between different operations teams can be a significant issue, causing delays, errors, and interdepartmental conflict. If your current system lacks effective collaboration tools, upgraded software could solve many of your communication problems within your warehouse.
Continuous improvement should be a core principle of every business, as it encourages employees to be open and honest about system shortcomings and potential opportunities for improvement.
Now is the time to get some critical feedback on what went well and what lessons you learned. Consider:
- What key lessons did we learn this season that we can build on next year?
- What went well and deserved recognition?
- What goals and initiatives do you think we should set for next year?
- Have you noticed any opportunities to reduce costs or errors?
No matter how well your holiday season went, there is always room for improvement. It’s important to highlight achievements and goals hit, and then use any lessons learned to improve your systems ready for next year.
How To Move Forward After Your Operations Assessment
Before ending your seasonal business review meeting with your operations team, thank everyone for being involved and take the time to highlight any outstanding work you’ve noted throughout the holiday season.
The more involved and appreciated your team feels, the more committed they’ll be to helping make necessary improvements to support your business goals.
Perhaps the most important thing to consider is the timeline in which you need to act in order to make your next holiday more efficient and profitable. Once you have all the data you need on your holiday operations, it’s time to make a plan. Become a member of the StackPlan community, and we’ll work with you to find the best operational system solutions to help you smash next year’s holiday season goals.
Need Help Evaluating
your Current Inventory Systems?
Visit our directory of software consultants in the StackPlan Consultant Directory. Vetted consultants are ready to support your business needs.
