As the time of year that you’re reading this, the football season is in high gear. I live in Green Bay, WI, and I’m sure you can recognize that this city has a definite interest in football—to put it mildly.

Since I’m writing this before this season of football begins, I can’t tell you how well our local team is doing. But I can say with certainty that they have planned for the season long before it started.

And just as a football team can’t wait until the fourth quarter to begin to do their best, neither can you wait until the year is almost over to try to make up for lost sales or marketing efforts that fell short.

I know that it’s an old retail adage that the fourth quarter of the year makes all of the store’s money. But in health food store retail, that just can’t be the case. You need to analyze throughout the year, starting off on the first day of January—and continuing until the turn of the calendar year—to know what’s working, what’s not selling, and how to change your plays to get the best results.

Evaluate your media promotions: I’ve often said that one of the first stations on the road to success was to promote the activities and sales at your store. It draws people in, helps you connect with the community at large (especially when you have local guest speakers or authors), and makes your store feel like a destination on someone’s “to do” list.

However, it’s good to know when to continue using the same media outlets and when to take stock.

If you’re not using Instagram, Facebook, or other social media platforms, you may need to start—and then promote the fact in your store flyers and ads. Have someone in your store who is savvy with this aspect of promotions be in charge and update posts frequently to keep the momentum going.

Also, try to determine what kind of readership your local papers and magazines get. Is it worth it to advertise in them, or can those resources be just as wisely used by your own staff for home-grown media initiatives that do a better job of reaching potential customers? There’s no magic formula here—it just takes time and analysis to get it right. And that media picture may evolve from year to year, so be ready to re-advertise in your city’s weekly advertiser if you realize that it was money well spent.

Innovate, but do so wisely to keep things fresh: if things seem to be feeling a little stale in your store layout or you are simply bringing in more inventory to the point that you need to change things up a bit, switching around the layout of your store aisles or seasonally freshening up product choices may be necessary. Plus, this can be a good way to build anticipation in the minds of your regular customers.

But, also be wary of doing this too often. Any radical change in your store’s layout should be communicated to customers before, during and even after to process and highlight how this new setup makes the store better and easier to shop. After all, we get used to certain circumstances, and I can tell you from experience that regular customers may not appreciate their aisles and their favorite products being moved around. Which leads into my next point about changing inventory when needed.

Edit your selections mercilessly: If you’ve genuinely tried to promote certain products in your inventory, but just can’t seem to get them to move, it’s probably time to let them go and replace them with something better. As always, make sure that as much as possible, the products in your store can’t be easily found someplace else. In an era of online-everything, this can seem like a tough job—and it is. But combined with stellar service, your unique offerings make your store a destination. And that means that you can’t afford to donate shelf space to items that aren’t selling.

Keep a running list of “best events” for your store: If you’ve had presentations or topics that generate a lot of interest, make them happen often—at least once per quarter.

Remain relevant: It’s vital to the health and growth of your store to keep it a destination with events and promotions throughout the year. Whether you focus on pain relief, allergies, immune health or weight loss, make sure to keep bringing in experts, host lifestyle or diet discussions, and align all of it with highlighted products that get a prominent display. And, as always, let as many people as possible know about these things at all times. Because keeping your store as a destination where customers trust your recommendations and have a positive experience is absolutely essential. In an era of online retail, you can’t afford not to be relevant, unique, and in touch with what people are looking for.

Analyze, analyze, analyze: Don’t wait until the end of the year—you can’t take your eye off the ball for a minute. If something isn’t working—a product doesn’t sell, or promotion doesn’t work out—you need to actively intercede to make sure that what you’re doing is really working. Review your goals from the last year every quarter and continue to achieve them but adjust if you need to.

Being in any business means being responsive and adaptable to changing circumstances. I am sure that many of you already have this very much in mind. But I also think it’s important to recognize that a retailer thrives—or doesn’t—based on how much they take deliberate actions and don’t try to coast along on whatever goodwill and customer base they’ve established so far.

So, rather than waiting until the fourth quarter to do a deep dive into which plays worked and which ones fizzled, make sure to start off each year—and carry on throughout each year—an honest evaluation of the practices that keep your healthy business strong for the long term. VR

A highly regarded leader in the natural products industry, Terry Lemerond is founder and president of EuroPharma, Inc. He also founded Enzymatic Therapy, Inc. and PhytoPharmica, Inc. and is currently co-owner of the Terry Naturally Health Food Store in Green Bay, WI, which recently won its sixth consecutive consumer choice award as “Best of the Bay.” With more than 40 years in the natural products industry, Lemerond has researched and developed more than 400 nutritional and botanical formulations that continue to be top-selling products in the market. Lemerond shares his wealth of experience and knowledge in health and nutrition through his educational programs, including the Terry Talks Nutrition website, newsletters, podcasts, webinars and personal speaking engagements. He is the author of two books: Seven Keys to Vibrant Health and the recently updated Seven Keys to Unlimited Personal Achievement.