Organizing your business (part 2)
Conquering Chaos (Part 2, Organizing Your Business)
Your team is likely lean. You employ a small group of people to handle the critical components of your business. While getting and staying organized would be ideal, your team members are probably already stretched pretty thin. And yet, it is true that an organized business is a more profitable business. You spend less time accomplishing the tasks you need to accomplish, which translates into less money spent. We cannot wait until we reach our ideal state to focus on creating a business that can operate in a less chaotic manner, but we also have to be realistic.
Accept that you cannot conquer it all. I have read hundreds of business books and listened to or watched thousands of hours of business content. Often, when I hear business advice, even though it is supposed to be geared towards small business owners, it feels geared towards business owners with larger teams and those who are well-established. The reality is that you won’t be able to do everything recommended in the books or podcasts. You likely don’t have the personnel that will enable you to tackle everything, and you can’t stop running the business to get everything in place. That’s okay, and it’s likely true for most small business owners. Accept that you will only be able to tackle a few key areas, and make them count.
Start with the highest priority area. What responsibilities do you perform that are vital for your business to continue to operate? Identify the top three and focus on them. Certain priorities are universal. You need to continue to develop new business. You need to continue to serve your current customer base. You need to get paid in a timely fashion for the services you render. If you can decrease the chaos in these three areas, you are better positioning your business to thrive for the long-term.
Developing new business. When you’re small, business development can feel chaotic and disorganized. Maybe you attend a networking meetup here and there. Perhaps you attend a conference. Maybe you interact with a few viewers when you post digital content sporadically. If you’re in the service business, perhaps you respond to a few Requests for Proposals (RFPs) or make a few bids. And while it may feel like you’re spending a good chunk of time on these activities, they likely feel disconnected and not driven by any overall strategy. Ask yourself
>How much time do you consistently dedicated to business development?
>How do you identify business development opportunities?
>Where do you focus your business development efforts? Do you have specific core activities that guide your business development? Do you have target customer segments that dictate where you will focus.
Each of these questions, if answered with sufficient detail, will help clear out a lot of the activities that do not move you towards your desired goal of developing new business.
Retain and expand business with existing customers. The best source of additional revenue is through customers who already know you and have worked with you. If they are satisfied, they are likely to buy your product or service again.
>How much attention do you give to nurturing those relationships?
>How often do you communicate with existing customers? How structured is that communication?
>Do you know how frequently and what form the communication will take? Is it scheduled on your calendar? >Do you carve out time to ask your customers about their experience with your product or service and how you can improve?
Paid on time. Cash flow is key to operating a business.
>Do you get paid on time? How many days do you allow after invoice before expecting to receive payment? >Have you automated notifications to the customer when payments are late?
>Do you have a standard notification you send to alert customers?
It is easy for us to think that busy means we are running a business, but busyness often means we are operating in chaos. We’re small, so we can’t address every problem area at once. However, we can focus on a few key areas and begin the process of better organizing our activities for maximum effectiveness, which leads to increased profits.