As a small business owner, the number of tasks that consistently require your attention is endless.
That’s why you must have a dedicated business productivity plan in place.
Here are some things I have implemented in my daily operation to help ensure that I always keep my small business running at maximum productivity.
1. Clean out your email inbox weekly
One can quickly feel overwhelmed by the number of emails a typical small business receives throughout the week.
Setting at least one day out of the week, preferably on weekends, to sort and organize your email inbox can make a difference.
You’d be surprised to find out how many emails you overlook because you were too busy with other tasks or skimmed over the inbox without actually reading the contents.
Weekend email maintenance is also a great time to empty your spam, trash & junk folders.
Keeping your email client (Microsoft Outlook/Mozilla Thunderbird) cleaned and organized by folders can also boost business productivity.
2. Listen to & clear out your voicemail often.
One of the excellent rewards of achieving business success is consistently attracting new clients. And with new clients comes many more phone calls and other types of business communication.
The last thing you want is a potential customer calling you to inquire about your services and being greeted with the dreaded message: “this mailbox is currently full.”
It’s understandable if you miss a call because you are on another line or are busy with another task, but prospective clients should always be able to leave a message at least.
Depending on the nature of your business and the frequency of calls you receive on a given day, your voicemail should always be checked and cleared out daily.
3. Automate repetitive processes to save time
Do you find yourself running into bottlenecks from repetitive tasks that can be automated?
A typical example of this is filling out the same information every time you complete an administrative form.
One possible solution to this repetitive task would be to pre-fill forms with standard information and save them as a template for future use.
Finding ways to minimize or remove steps from standard business practices can free up a lot more time to focus on customers and growing the business.
4. Train & develop staff regularly.
One of the many hurdles small business owners face is that their businesses can’t function correctly without them either being physically present in the office or available on the job site (contractors & tradespeople).
Developing a competent team that is adequately trained to keep the business running smoothly with or without you present is crucial to your overall business operation.
Don’t wait until the unexpected happens to try and figure out a plan B; regular staff training and development should be a top priority.
5. File Backups & Disaster Recovery
Having multiple redundancies built into your business reduces the likelihood that a single point of failure will spell disaster for your business operation.
Having secure and recent backups of important business files will ensure that your business can still operate effectively if a work computer crashes or a network server fails unexpectedly.
In addition to keeping physical copies of customer records and other important files, I also keep backups of these documents on an encrypted external hard drive.
6. I.T. Infrastructure & Security
Like most things you only think about when something goes wrong, your I.T. security infrastructure should always be at the top of your mind.
To improve the longevity and functionality of I.T. hardware, you must keep the software running on those devices updated and secured with the latest Anti-virus and Anti-malware solutions.
The last thing you want or need is your essential business files being compromised or rendered inaccessible because of an overlooked security vulnerability.
Finding ways to streamline your operational processes and pre-planning for potential business disruptions can improve your company’s resilience to overcome many of the inevitable challenges.
I hope you found these six small business productivity tips helpful to keep your operation running smoothly on all cylinders.
