Article

Emma Sturgis
Emma Sturgis has written 28 articles for SB Informer.
View all articles by Emma Sturgis...

6 Foolproof Office Efficiency Tips for Small Businesses

Emma Sturgis

November 25, 2015


Not rated
Rate:

Small businesses are always under pressure to get more done with less. These days, they are often competing directly with much larger players. In order to survive and thrive in this challenging environment, they need to be both efficient and effective. Here's how:

Take Care of Yourself

No matter how many electronic gadgets or cool software tools you have, ultimately all work is done by people. Make sure you eat right, exercise and get enough sleep. If you are not at your best, you cannot expect to be at your most productive.

Take Care of Your People

When your business gets big enough to hire people, keep the above principle in mind and make sure you take care of your people. Make sure they have decent pay, reasonable hours, breaks, a break room to relax in, and good benefits. If you take good care of your people, they will take good care of your business.

Remove Clutter From Your Workspace

Clutter can physically get in the way of efficiency. It can also get in the way mentally. If you have to think too much about where important items are stored because it isn't readily apparent, that wastes cognitive capacity that would be better used to develop your business. If necessary, a specialist from The Storage Center recommends renting a storage space to store any office supplies, electronics, or furniture not currently in use. Clutter and confusion in your office space will only undermine productivity, not enhance it.

Go Mobile

Use a laptop as your primary business computer instead of a desktop computer. This makes your office portable for taking home, taking to business meetings at other locations and taking on business trips. Add a smart phone or tablet to the mix so you can email yourself in a jiffy while offline or leave yourself voice messages. These days, so much of the paperwork we need to do can be done digitally that there is no reason to not have access to your office in your pocket at all times.

Consolidate Tasks to Save Time

Group physical errands together that make logical sense geographically. In other words, if the post office is next to your office supply store, pick up office supplies and also drop off mail on the same trip. Do the same thing with tasks that happen in the office. Set aside some time to make all of your phone calls at once or answer all of your emails at once instead of letting them fritter away your time throughout the day.

Track Relevant Performance Metrics

Do not let yourself get fooled into believing that because you made a bunch of phone calls or wrote a bunch of emails you accomplished something. Maybe you did, maybe you didn't. Figure out what metrics actually matter to the bottom line of your business and track those things. Figure out what you need to do to make more profit per sale, to reduce costs, and to increase customer satisfaction. Every business has metrics specific to its industry. Make sure you know what metrics matter to your business, track them and use them to continually improve performance.

No matter who you are, there are always 24 hours in the day. Some people learn to pack a lot of productivity into those hours. Others fritter their time away and wonder where the day went. If you are going to succeed as a small business, you have to find a way to put yourself in the first category and avoid the second. Time is money and, as such, it is the lifeblood of your business.


                   



Add comment Add comment (Comments: 0)  

Advertisement

Partners

Related Resources

Other Resources