As a business coach, December and January are months when I help lots of business people with their stress management. The festive season comes round every year without fail yet many small businesses seem to be surprised by it every year.

Following a particularly bad time when he not only under-stocked his inventory and lost sales but also failed to relax for Christmas Day, one of my clients created this festive checklist to ensure that he could enjoy all his future holiday breaks properly.

Set yourself a goal of planning ahead

* Predict your expected demand levels from what happened during the last festive sales season.
* Hire temps to meet seasonal demand without adding to your long-term costs.
* Plan your cash flow through the holiday period and organise stand-by funding to boost your working capital in case your sales peak.
* Send greetings cards to your best customers, remind them what you offer, and tell them your closure times.
* Ask your suppliers which days they close and their arrangements for late deliveries.
* Check how the late supply deliveries might impacts the service you offer your own customers.
* Find out the arrangements for postal collections and for banking before the holiday and into the New Year.

Ensure that you can deliver your promises

* Check your stock levels, note which is stock seasonal and would have to be sold cheap if you over-stock.
* Don’t over-trade or accept contracts that you cannot meet because this will damage your image.
* Prioritise regular customers because they provide loyal custom throughout the year.
* Pre-book a reliable company to deliver your customers’ goods because holiday gifts that arrive late will damage your reputation.

Schedule how you will close down cleanly

* Clear your paperwork before you break: post your cheques and money transfers for prompt bill payment during the holiday period and send out your own invoices to get prompt payment from your customers.
* Check your security procedures and brief your key holders before you close down.
* Agree a roster to update your answer machine regularly. (How burglars rejoice when automated email or phone responses say “everyone’s away, come round anytime you like”.)

And organise your relaxation

* Organise a staff party to show how you value the hard work of your team.
* Give out awards and presents to boost staff morale, reward loyalty and encourage team spirit.
* Make time to relax with your family and recover before the New Year.

Use your quiet time for forward planning

* Review how this year has treated you, how you did against your business goals, how you exceeded your marketing plan and how your business is growing.
* Reflect on what you want to change in the next 12 months.
* Plan your large tasks in small steps - setting the long term goals and creating milestones and stepping stones to reach the goals in a reasonable timescale.
* Plan your own training and self development to take place when your sales tend to be quiet after the holidays.

If I was coaching you, I would encourage you to re-write this checklist in your own words, to make it reflect your own business issues. Then pin it up in a prominent place so you and your staff are aware of the list. This will help you to tick off each item as your achieve it.

Then you can return refreshed to your small business, you can start the year afresh, ready to serve your customers to the best of your ability.