In today’s competitive markets, no business can rest on its laurels regardless of its size or market share. The landscapes are always changing and that includes the edges different businesses can employ or the demands of a customer base that globally is hitting new levels of requirements.
If you’re a business that finds projects taking too long, productivity lacking, sales not closing quick enough, or not utilizing marketing to the fullest potential, it can lead to a wheel spin which can lose profits and revenue. Something small could become endemic in the business, leading not only to lost money or customers but even closure.
Forbes has reported that since the pandemic, 33% of customers have switched a business they used due to poor customer service. This is a big indicator that in our ever-changing world, customer demands are becoming bigger and higher – you cannot afford to not improve. Deloitte also found that 80% of customers only buy from a business that goes that extra mile to create a personalized experience, backing up this trend of heightened customer demands.
Every smart business owner should look at ways they can be more effective, efficient, and streamlined from top to bottom. Here are ten ways you can make your business more efficient:
Accept The Digital Age
Some businesses think that just having an internal email system is moving with the digital times. That is not the case. By using digital methods, you can streamline and improve almost every process in your business. A good example can be found in WalkMe, a platform that helps businesses adopt digital practices including data leveraging to simplify their processes.
Other examples can be collaborative digital platforms that can track projects and team members to allow a more transparent and efficient working process. Whether it is a task management platform or a digital collaborative team tool, using digital tools can make your business infinitely stronger and increase revenue overall.
If your business is lagging, it could be as simple as adopting digital marketing and employing online advertising to increase your business leads.
Encourage Automation
Regardless of whether you’re sending out employee payslips, freelancer or agency invoices, or simple, small tasks that could be done out-of-house, you should look to automate a lot of the small tasks throughout the business. Automating these tasks is not some kind of luxury only afforded to the biggest companies, but something that even small and medium enterprises should look at in the quest for growth. Whilst it can feel pricey and an expensive outgoing, if done correctly it will pay dividends in the increase of business efficiency,
Clear The Workflow
If you inundate your staff with meetings from morning to lunch to the end of the working day, it can cause a stream of constant interruptions which hold them back from being their best. A consistent meeting schedule is not only lacking in productivity but can stagnate an employee’s effort in being efficient for the rest of the working day. They can be tiresome, and boring and leave an employee frustrated rather than motivated, as they are constantly interrupted in doing their tasks.
It isn’t only meetings that can break up the workflows of a business, it can also be unnecessary internal messenger popups, emails that aren’t relevant to work, or notification popups from a task management platform. The minutes lost from these interruptions can cost a business thousands of dollars as their employees are losing time to work on a task. Whether it is introducing a company-wide piece of software that limits distractions or just cutting down on the aforementioned interruptions, you can save a lot of money by clearing up the workflows.
Hone In On Single Tasks
Everyone thinks they can juggle multiple things at once, especially in the business world. I can guarantee that if you are running a business, right now you have multiple tabs open and probably have several projects and pieces of work you are running right now. However, we are quickly learning that just because you are multitasking doesn’t mean you are being the most productive for your business.
Some businesses are encouraging the process of focusing on one task per day to keep their employees from feeling overwhelmed, which in turn allows them to be more productive and efficient on the singular task they are focusing on. Focusing on just one task allows you to be more productive as you don’t let a project sit and stew when they are almost at completion. It is easy to lose focus when you have so many things that require your attention. By honing in on one task, you get more done on a ‘per task’ basis and chip away at the workload slowly but steadily.
Know Your Limits
It is easy to lose sight of the line in the journey of making your business as streamlined as possible. You can push your business too far, not knowing which processes shouldn’t be automated or which meetings should be canceled.
Being efficient is important, but for a lot of businesses, it is most important to grow at a manageable rate. Things like brand reputation, customer retention, and product quality are things that grow over time – there is no quick fix or hack for this. Know your company’s limits and take your time in that desire and dream of becoming a huge organization.