We’ve seen business productivity tips before. Usually, they’re a mile-long list of quick tips to power through a to-do list. That’s fine, but at Raleigh Bookkeeping, we think true productivity comes from laying the right groundwork to be able to be proactive instead of trying to make sense of those long to-do lists.
Here are our best tips for small businesses to improve productivity:
Have a clear focus: Sometimes businesses lack productivity because they’re trying to do everything to gain customers. This leads to too broad of a product line and a drift away from the company’s purpose. Take for example an amazing cookie bakery that is being asked to make those oh-so-trendy hot chocolate bombs. It might be a great money maker, but is it worth the time and money to develop that product? Most likely, the owners will be watering down their productivity by putting resources into creating and marketing a short-term product.
Set policies from the beginning: Knowing how you intend to handle certain situations like custom orders, returns, events, pricing, holiday services, etc. will make it easy to move forward when the situation presents itself. It will increase productivity and help guide the company and its employees seamlessly. In the example above, the bakery might run into productivity issues if they don’t have an order cancellation policy (“My neighbor said she’ll do them cheaper!”) or could have set a pre-order to handle the busy holiday season.
Outsource when possible: Jobs like bookkeeping, marketing, tech support...even maintenance can be outsourced to focus the business’ efforts on their products. If someone else can do it better than you can, why not let them? The cookie baker will be more productive by developing new recipes and making more cookies than by designing and maintaining a website.
At Raleigh Bookkeeping, we offer small business coaching in addition to bookkeeping. Let us know how we can help your business be more productive.