An efficient business makes a strong profit at low cost. It’s beneficial to put a stronger focus on ridding your business of unnecessary expenses than increasing profit. How a business functions on the day-to-day basis is a heavy factor in how much it spends. Here are some steps worth taking when trying to make your business more efficient.
Identify Time Wasters
The first step is to identify which things are slowing your business down. There are general things that slow down every company, but there are some that may be more personal to your business. Are there tasks or process that you or your employees find to be unnecessary? Is it a hassle for your customers to get in touch with a representative? Your goal is to streamline how your business functions.
Examine Relationships with Customers
How easy is it for customers to contact someone in your company? How easy is it for them to navigate your website? You never want to lose business because a potential customer couldn’t get the information they wanted.
Strengthen Online Presence
At this point, every business has a website or Facebook page, it’s the new standard. It’s in your best interest to make your business as presentable as possible and with a strong online presence. It’s important that you engage your followers. Someone could like your Facebook page as a favor to you, but you have to give him or her a reason to visit the page again. In addition to posting updates of your business, you should post things that relate to your followers and have those things relate back to your company.
Bridge the Gap Between Positions
A lot of businesses having a pecking order of sorts between the higher ups to entry levels, but it would be helpful to familiarize everyone with who does what. Especially, in smaller businesses, an entry-level employee shouldn’t be afraid to approach the CEO with an idea.
Ease Transfer of Information
Depending on the nature of your business, you may benefit from working on a shared open system like Google Docs. Here’s an example of how that can help: Steve has two days to write and file a report; Steve completes 75 percent of the report on the first day. On day two, he calls in sick. Steve’s supervisor asks Allan to finish the report. Because Steve used Google Docs and the file was shared with everyone in his department, Allan was able to access it without the need of waiting for Steve to email it.
Hire a Business Coach
Every company is different, while getting general advice is helpful; it is better to hire a business coach. A business coach will get to understand the ins and outs of your business and help you maximize efficiency. The business coaches at ActionCOACH Tampa Bay offer these services to the independent, small and large businesses of the Tampa Bay area. Contact us today to schedule an appointment so we can begin helping your company reach its full potential!