Ways to Increase Productivity in Your Small Business

6 years ago | Posted in: Business | 869 Views

Employees are the most crucial aspect of a small business or any startup. The well-being of your employees will undoubtedly increase their productivity if they are satisfied with the job environment and happy with how they get treated by their superiors. A happy and satisfied workforce is precisely what your business needs to grow in today’s capitalist market. As a small business owner, you will need to institute changes in the habits of how you run your business such as the use of cloud computing as an alternative to QuickBooks. As a result, you will drastically increase the production at all levels of your small business as well as improving the overall office efficiency. Increased efficiency will result in improved quality of work that is completed in a shorter duration and reduces time wastage on tasks that do not contribute to the growth of your business.

Today, many entrepreneurs are more concerned with working in their small business rather than improving the business itself. In this article, we are going to highlight the ways through which a business owner or manager can improve production at all levels of the company.

The provision of a consistent and secure access to information.

Small business always has an edge in that they are more flexible and nimble than medium and large corporations that also serve as their competitors in the same market. However, this very critical advantage can evaporate into the thin air if you do not equip your staff with the information and the means to respond to the requests and inquiries of the customer quickly. A small business owner or manager should have a well-laid down framework where the employees can troubleshoot an operational glitch, make the necessary changes in scheduled supply deliveries and treat the customer with the importance they deserve for the business to survive. Having a shared file in the cloud, on-site, off-site or even having a secure intranet that is immune to cyber-attacks can provide the necessary framework that will give your employees the capacity to access the information and knowledge that is necessary for the smooth running of the business. Having such infrastructure will also ensure that your workforce can make decisions quickly and respond to any externalities that affect the business.

Ensure that your hiring process is streamlined

In the past couple of years, the United States economy has been recovering from the 2008 recession, growing steadily and thus adding new employment opportunities into the job market. While this is a good thing for the market, it makes it hard for the owners or even managers of small businesses to find the employees they want at a reasonable price range. The process of searching, recruiting and hiring new employees in a startup or a small business can be expensive and time-consuming. You can have related activities scheduled when there is available time by identifying which job vacancies you will need to fill and within what time-frame.

You can streamline your hiring process by drafting job descriptions for the various vacancies that need to be filled in a clear and concise manner. You can then use such information when creating the employment opportunity postings on the print or electronic media. In the postings, incorporate the details of your firm culture. This will also include an item of action that the prospective employees will send attached to their resume. When you have such a comprehensive process of recruitment, you will attract more individuals who are not only qualified but fit for the job that you are advertising. Outlining all the steps in your recruitment process and the people that need to be involved significantly improves the efficiency of your small business.

Enhancing communication with prospects and consumers

The use of a customer relationship management software (CRM) and the sales management software will assist your small business in tracking your inventory and sales. It will also help in knowing the time when individuals are identified as potential clients till they become consumers. You will save your small business some a significant amount of time by tracking the interaction you make with your consumers. You will be able to identify exactly where you stand with your potential clients and the necessary steps that must be taken for you to acquire them as customers. For existing customers, you will be able to identify trends in their consumer behavior and make the necessary adjustments to achieve consumer satisfaction. With the CRM software, you will also be able to track any issues that arise with service delivery. CRM and the sales management software can drastically improve the efficiency of your small business if they are used properly. They also go a long way in enhancing consumer satisfaction which is critical in developing a loyal clientele.

Employee training

Your employees will need to get training on a regular basis as your business grows and different people are promoted to take up new responsibilities and roles. Training is essential for any workforce to equip them with the necessary skills in regulatory requirements and operation safety of the job. It may also be essential to learn new leadership skills and enhance their existing capabilities. By having trained staff on the job they are required to carry out in the business will go a long way to improve the operation efficiency of your small business.

Automation

Business automation will eliminate the manual repetitiveness from specific operations and functions. You will be able to create time for your staff to engage in activities that are more business supporting and more productive. For instance, you can outsource to a payroll firm that offers a wide range of options or use direct deposit instead of mailing your paychecks on a weekly basis. Your business bookkeeper can use the available time to perform credit checks on new company consumers to give a determination whether they should have 30-day terms or pay in advance. The use of such incentives will be critical in improving the operational efficiency of your business. Your company will from time to time have areas of development and automation will be essential in identifying even more areas that will need improvement.

 

by: Dennis Hung

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