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Is Your Business as Productive as It Should Be?

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business-841174_640If your business isn’t as productive as it should be, can you put your finger on the reason or reasons why?

For too many business owners, that problem is one that can ultimately cost them more than just money. It can ultimately lead to hanging a closed sign on the front door permanently.

So, how productive would you say your business is these days?

Being productive doesn’t just mean churning out products and/or services.

It also means giving your customers the best service possible, putting your employees in position to succeed, and showing investors (if applicable) why they should continue to support you (not to mention invest in you).

With that being the case, how productive is your business as you take it into 2017?

Business Productivity Comes in All Shapes and Sizes

In order for your business to keep productivity as a main staple, keep these pointers in mind:

  • Customer service – First and foremost, is your customer service as strong as it should be? Even if your products and/or services are top-notch, you can’t overlook the importance of customer service. When it comes to customer service, you have to always be better than your nearest competition. Keep in mind that customers today typically have numerous options when it comes to shopping; so many times you are not the only game in town. In order for you to stand out from the crowded field, your customer service efforts must resonate with customers. Go above and beyond the simple customer service initiatives, allowing you and your brand to grab and keep their attention;
  • Employee tools – Unless you are running a one-person show, you rely on your employees’ day in and day out to deliver for you. As such, it is imperative that they have all the resources necessary to be successful. From the latest in technology to educating them on how best to market and network in and out of your business, give them what they need. If that means taking a little extra time to find the best tools and/or spend a little more in money, certainly consider doing it. Whether their needs involve audio dictation for your business or countless other necessities that make time management more effective (see more below), give your workers as much assistance as they require. Remember, the goal when all is said and done is to give your customers more for less. When you allow your employees to get more done in a shorter amount of time, it is a win-win for both you and those doing business with you.

Time Management Can’t Be Overlooked

  • Time management – When it comes to running a productive business, time management is a huge factor. Stop for a moment to think about you and your customer needs when you play the role of consumer. The last thing you want is to be kept waiting for products and/or services. When left to do so, you might simply walk away, never to come back to that business ever again. The same oftentimes holds true for those consumers doing business with you. Most consumers expect to be waited on in a timely manner, along with that time being used wisely. If your time management efforts are coming up a little short, work on improving them sooner rather than later;
  • Customer feedback – Finally, do you truly listen to your customers? If the answer is yes, that is definitely something to be proud of. Unfortunately, too many businesses turn a deaf ear to those they are supposed to be taking care of. As a result, they can oftentimes end up losing those customers after a short period of time. Make sure you try and answer your customers’ questions whenever and wherever possible. If this means doing occasional surveys, do just that. In many cases, providing a little incentive (discounts etc. on products and/or services) will prod customers to take a few minutes to answer your questions.

When all is said and done, business productivity is essential to your company’s success.

Stop and see if you’re truly being as productive as possible as a business.

Photo credit: Pixabay

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business topics on the web.

Business Planning for the Time Crunched

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The other day, I caught myself after 7pm, listening to a business podcast, scanning through a research report that is relevant to my business, and periodically glancing over to my iPhone, which was buzzing to alert me about new emails and social media updates from my friends and colleagues.

Did I mention that the television was on in the background?

Even typing that paragraph, I’m getting a headache.

Pretty sure that none of those activities advanced my business one iota. In fact, they probably set me back because my brain was in a tortured, fractured state.

brain on Instagram

Deep breath.

Deep breath.

If you spend your “working hours,” roughly 9am to 5pm (haha) reacting to stimuli, you’re heading for a business rut.

How is your business going to move up to the next level if you’re spending your day putting out fires and your evening “catching up?”

You need to get ahead of the game and stay there if you want to innovate, use your creative juices, and make progress.

Practical Suggestions for Making Time to Plan Your Business

  • Schedule it. The same way you block out time for a customer phone call, make an appointment for your planning. Take a minute right now and block out one hour this week for business planning.
  • Stop multi-tasking. During meetings and conference sessions, leave the devices in your briefcase. Extract the full value of the relationships and information you invested in when you scheduled the meeting or registered for the conference. If you’re listening to a business podcast, really listen and take notes. There’s no award for doing the most stuff at one time.
  • Make a dashboard. Keep your finger on the pulse of your business metrics on a routine basis. Establish the numbers you need to track, and then pull them all into one spreadsheet. This will allow you to spot trends and take action before the fire flares up.
  • Narrow down your consumption. If you’re overwhelmed by your blog subscriptions, emails and social updates, hit the unsubscribe button on a few of them. Focus on quality, not quantity.
  • Move a big rock every morning. Start each day with a “win,” and knock off something that will actually give you progress. Do that before you answer the phone, before you check email, and before your colleagues start sending you Buzzfeed articles.
  • Have a business retreat You don’t have to have a large team, or go to a dude ranch for “trust exercises.” Plan each year to get away (even if it’s only virtually) and spend dedicated time working on the business. Evaluate the previous year, plan the upcoming year, and get your mind focused. Put an “out of office” message on your email, same with voicemail, and take a hiatus from social media. Emerge refreshed and ready to conquer the world.

How often do you step back and work on your business?

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

5 Ways Your Employees Can Be More Productive

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Increasing your business productivity is an excellent way of boosting your profits. But if your employees are lagging, or you’re just not seeing the results you’d like, how do you turn things around?

Here are five ways you can help your employees be more productive — making both them and you happier:

1. Provide comfortable break areas and times – It may seem counterintuitive, but providing a relaxing area for employees to unwind a few times during the day can actually increase the amount of work they get done. People who feel chained to their desks all day can zone out, and their lowered productivity can affect morale, which can turn into a nasty cycle.

Set mandatory break times for all employees (even if they’re not all at the same time). Consider implementing short, office-wide breaks in which everyone gets up once an hour to do a few stretches. This can improve your workers’ physical comfort and give them energy boosts throughout the day.

2. Give them the technology they need to do their jobs well – These days, mobile devices are becoming more and more essential to running a business. If you can’t afford to provide these devices to workers in the office or field who may need them, encourage them to bring their own.

If you choose to let employees work from their own devices, make sure your business data is well protected with strong passwords, time-outs, and other security measures.

3. Provide flexible working options – Whether it’s telecommuting one or more days per week, offering a flexible work schedule, or another accommodation, creating a flexible workspace can have an enormous effect on employee morale and productivity.

Having everyone in the office has its advantages, making collaboration more convenient. But with ever-evolving technology, working from
home is becoming a more feasible and attractive option for many companies.

Worried that productivity will drop if you let employees telecommute? Numerous studies have shown otherwise.

A Stanford University study from February of this year found that in one company, out of 16,000 workers, those who were allowed to work from home showed a 13% performance increase over their office-bound colleagues.

4. Provide regular, constructive feedback – It’s hard to improve in a vacuum. Employees who aren’t sure where they stand, or who have formed inefficient habits, may need some help identifying areas to work on.

Give your employees encouragement for a job well done, or thoughtful advice for how to perform better. Delivering this feedback regularly will help keep everyone on track.

5. Keep meetings short and sweet – Conducting a meeting without an outline or agenda is a recipe for a long, unproductive session.

Instead, write up an agenda and identify someone to lead the meeting and keep conversations on track. You’ll also need someone to take notes to make sure no important points get lost. Keep the meeting focused on important points, and consider issuing status reports and minor updates in a weekly email instead of during meetings.

These are just a few of the ways you can help your employees be more productive and keep your office running smoothly.

Photo credit: techliant.com

About the Author: Freelance blogger Angie Mansfield covers a variety of topics for both individuals and small business owners. Her work addresses such things as health, social media, and how to remove information from online records.

4 Key Time Management Tips for Even the Busiest Business Owner

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By Jennifer Dunn

Owning your own business is amazing, but there are times when it’s practically a nightmare. Sometimes it gets so hard you just want to give up and go back to a 9 to 5. This usually comes after you’ve tried and tried to catch up on tasks but can’t seem to find any time to keep your head above water, much less actually get ahead.

It doesn’t have to be like this! With a few simple tips you can turn your frazzled brain into a relaxed center of productivity. Don’t give up on your entrepreneurial dreams just yet – check out the following tips and see if any of them can help you.

Get Organized

This seems like an obvious thing to say, but it’s an important point to make nonetheless. Most business owners waste so much time searching around their office, store, or home for a paper or object that should’ve been properly stored away (think: tax time). Eventually you’ll waste so much time on this that other tasks fall to the wayside as you struggle to keep up.

Get an organizational process in place for whatever’s driving you nuts – for example, receipts should all go into a folder so you can find them easily. Alternatively you can use a service like Shoeboxed to digitize receipts for super easy retrieval. Are you always searching for files on your computer? Create a digital filing system. Do you spend hours resetting your passwords? Check out a password management system like LastPass.

Once you have this organization in place, keep it up! Don’t let it slip or you’ll go right back into your old habits.

Don’t Multitask

If you want to get more things done, common sense tells you should just do more things at once. This way you get done with tasks quicker, right? In fact, the evidence says otherwise – multitasking does more harm than good.

It’s all about spending energy – if you give 33% to three tasks, they may not turn out any better than if you spent 100% on one thing at a time. If something gets messed up, you just have to start over again anyway. Learn how to tackle one thing at a time properly so you don’t spread yourself thin. Welcome to “unitasking.”

Get Apps to Help

Tired of doing everything yourself? You may not be able to hire any help, but you can certainly afford to acquire some robots to aid you. Oh, you don’t have a connection to someone at a robotics factory? Then settle for the next best thing and grab some apps.

Whether you have a smartphone, a tablet, or laptop, there are hundreds of applications (and other software) you can grab to help you do simple tasks that eat up your time. Whether it’s financial tracking, task management, shopping lists, or a thousand other things, there’s a way to streamline it.

Step Away

Another bit of “common sense” that can get you into hot water is attempting to power through a task that’s driving you nuts. Once you get into the habit of doing everything yourself you tend to want to get it all out of the way as quickly as you can. However, like multitasking, this can actually do more harm than good.

Instead, take a nice break once in a while. Go outside, take a walk, play a game, read a book, or just stare at the wall – as long as it’s not about work. This break can not only give you a nice physical stretch it can free up your brain to come up with solutions to your problems quickly.

What are your time management tips for time strapped business owners?

Author’s Bio: Jennifer Escalona Dunn is the owner of Social Street Media where she writes about small business, tech and finance for sites like WePay and Outright. You can find her on Twitter @jennescalona.

The ABCs of Scheduling

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by
Rosemary O’Neill

The ABCs of Scheduling

You can burn the candle at both ends, but eventually you end up in the dark with no candle.
Therefore, one of the most important skills a business owner can have is the ability to take control of the schedule.

A-Always. B-Be. C-Calendaring.

(Apologies to David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross.)

Get out in front of your schedule

One of the most embarrassing incidents of my life was in high school (aren’t they all). I was Junior Class President, riding high, and responsible for putting together the whole-school Spring Dance. Unfortunately I was also a world-class procrastinator. Let’s just end this sad tale by saying that there was no Spring Dance, for the first time in years. Picture a 16 year old girl fielding phone calls from angry parents who had bought dresses for their 16 year old girls.

That humbling experience made me a goal-setting, calendar-keeping nut.

Use the calendar tools that work for you

If you don’t wrangle the calendar, and your daily events, it will wrangle you. Here are a few tips for scheduling sanity:

Take advantage of your natural rhythms – Liz recently posted about kicking in your peak productivity time. Don’t try to work against your body, if you’re an early riser, schedule accordingly.

Have a central, master calendar – I use Google Calendar for everything, and have it synced to all of my devices. You can make different colored sub-calendars for various aspects of your life, too. I have an editorial calendar, family and kid activities, business meetings, birthdays, and personal development time displayed together in one master calendar.

Tell people how you want them to schedule with you – If you use an online appointment system like Tungle.me, or you have a virtual assistant, let people know how to get on your calendar. Ideally, you don’t even have to be directly involved. The key is to use only one mechanism.

Start your month, week, and day with the calendar – Everyone should master the art of visualization. When you start out by planning and picturing how the month, week, or day is going to go, you’re already ahead of the game. Put aside sacred time (yes, put it on the calendar too) that you will use to prepare your mind for what’s ahead.

What’s on your calendar this week? How can you start making next week look even more productive for your business?

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Thank you, Rosemary!

You’re irresistible!

ME “Liz” Strauss

Keep Time Working … For You

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Keeping Time

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I think my life has sped up in the last few years.
Do you feel the same way?

Things that need doing seem to pile up faster.
Things I want to do keep coming up more quickly too.
Are you having the same experience?

These days I think of time off as the luxury of time to do what I want to.
And I ease into Mondays with ideas of keeping time working for me.

Keep Time Working For You

Time is flexible. We can waste time, spend time, invest time, have a good time, even use time to plan how we’ll use it. We’ve been know to stretch time and cram things into it. Some people actually speak of killing time. Why would you do that? The only thing we can’t do is get more of it. Twenty-four hours in a day is what we get no matter what we do with it.

I’ve spent some time considering the time I spend when I’m feeling like I don’t have enough of it.

If you want to know what you value, look where you spend your time and who you spend it with.

We Make Time for Things Important to Us

Here are a few truths about time that I’ve become aware of. You should too if you want to keep time working for you.

  • We make time for the things we know are important.
  • We find time for the things we want to do.
  • We use time to find things that will save us time. Sometimes using up the time we had do it whatever we would have been doing.
  • If we can’t find time to do something, we don’t value it as much as what we’re already doing.
  • When we take time for ourselves, we’re not so tight on the time we spend on others.

Time is the only resource we can’t renew. We need to use it while we have the time to. Time well invested gets us closer to the people we care about. When we spend time focused on what the relationships, projects, and businesses we’re building, we build them better.

This week, before time gets away from you, take a few moments to choose one goal that’s important to you. Decide to focus your attention for a set amount of time each day on that important goal and see what happens. Quality time focused in that single direction will have an exponential effect. But you knew you.

Be aware of the things you’re doing and the time you’re spending doing it.
Are you spending your time on what you value?

How do you keep time working for you?

It’s irresistible to be generous with your time.
Be irresistible.
–ME “Liz” Strauss