If you are running your own business; efficiency is incredibly important, particularly as you try to grow from 1 or 2 staff to perhaps half a dozen or more. Better efficiency can lead to better working practices and bigger profits, and if you have big aspirations for your business, it is important to get it right now.
If you are looking to improve your own business efficiency, consider the following ideas and whether they can help you achieve your goals.
Make it easy to share and access information between workers
Information can be more powerful when shared. Create methods for workers to share information more easily with each other. If one department has found a way to save money or provide a better service, make sure everyone in the business knows about it. It might help other departments become more efficient too.
It is often worth setting aside an hour every week or two weeks so that you can have a meeting with all of your staff and go over the whole of the business – this gives everyone the opportunity to understand how the business works and put forward ideas to improve it.
Invest time and money in your staff
This might seem like an expense but the better trained they are the more efficiently they will be able to do their job. This might also extend to being able to do more than one job if someone else is unable to for some reason. Multi-tasking makes every business more efficient because workers can always be moved into other roles on days where it is necessary to do so.
Reduce waste
We all know how important it is to get rid of our rubbish as effectively as possible. This means throwing away as little as we can and re-using and recycling as much as possible. Try to keep a close eye on wastage and avoid over-ordering on everything from paper and stationary to packaging and stock.
Save money on waste disposal
You can do this by shopping around to get the best deal, find good value skip hire or look for a waste management company that can save you money. You can also try to manage your own waste so you re-use some of it and throw away less. Educate your workers so they know what can be re-used or recycled and what needs to be thrown away.
Invest in CRM software
The CRM stands for customer relationship management. This type of software can make it easier to manage your customer base and achieve more efficiency from the moment you start using it. This software will tell you who your best customers are and what you should be offering to those who haven’t bought from you in a long time.
Summary
There are lots of ways to become more efficient in your business. You will achieve the best results when you put all the above methods into practice immediately. However don’t get overwhelmed – just pick one method and put that to work for you to see the benefits. Then you can add another one into the mix and so on, to achieve the best results.