Unless you have a magical power that I would love to know about, there are only a finite number of hours in the day. Once you factor in sleeping, eating, and actually interacting with the 3-dimensional people that are your friends and family, you are left with your working hours.
To make the most of those hours, you need to have good business processes in place. These are the systems and strategies you use to get your business working as efficiently as possible. Just because you have always done something one way does not mean that it is the best way.
So, I have put together my four favourite ways to improve your business processes.
4 Ways To Improve Your Business Processes…
1: Automation
This is always my number one recommendation. Automation utilises certain resources to allow your business to run more efficiently. I won’t got into it in too much detail here, as I have whole blog on the topic that you can read here [link automation blog].
But, the short story is that you can automate a bunch of your tasks and communication so that they automatically happen without the need for your manual input. Just be careful not to automate too much as people want to deal with the real people behind a business and not with a robot!
2: Audit Your Time
Sometimes it can be hard to know which processes to improve if you don’t know exactly where your time goes. Take note of how much time you spend doing each task in a week. Track your time in a notebook, or in a time tracking app like Roll.
Once you know how much time you are dedicating each aspect of your work, you can make a plan to streamline them. For example, if you are wasting hours struggling through your weekly financial tasks might be time to consider upgrading to a comprehensive accounting package like Xero, or outsourcing to a bookkeeper.
3: Measure Your ROI
If you invest anything, you want to see a good return on your investment. If you aren’t getting a good return, then it is like flushing time and money down the toilet.
Look at all of the things you are currently investing in. This includes your advertising, any resources you use, or apps you pay for.
- Advertising: Can you track how successful each method is – do you know how many potential sales or clients each advertisement is creating, and are they converting? You need to be able to know these things to see if they are a worthwhile investment for your business.
- Resources: Do you use all of those fancy gadgets you invested in, or are they sitting gathering dust? There are certain resources you will need for your business to function, but carefully consider what function they perform and how much you need them before whipping out the company credit card!
- Apps: Software and apps can definitely make business life easier, but only if you choose the right ones. Go through all of the apps you have installed, both free and paid ones. For a start, see you are using them, or if they are gathering digital dust. For the ones you are using, are they useful and you using them to their full potential? Then see if there is any crossover in their functions. Are you duplicating, can you consolidate to a core suite of apps?
4: Pay Attention To Your Industry
It can be very easy to get caught up in a bubble when you are focused on your business. But you need to keep checking outside your bubble every now and again.
Monitor what is going on in your industry to ensure you are keeping up and not falling behind. Is there new technology that you can take advantage of, or is the market shifting? Make sure you are constantly evolving with the times.
Also, you always need to be developing best practices. That is the best way to do things – fast, efficiently, cost-effectively, and to a high standard. Remember that you can always improve, you don’t have to keep doing something the same way if there is a better, more effective way.
These are just 4 of the ways that you can improve your business processes. In business, you always need to be learning and evolving to stay at the top of your game. It’s a fun and exciting journey, but that’s why you love the ride right?
Want to improve your marketing processes? They don’t call me the Marketing Baker for nothing. So go check out our marketing strategy page and see how we can help you learn and evolve to stay on top of your marketing game.