**Collaborative Post**
Whether you have recently started your small business or it is well established there are always ways you can look to improve things, especially when it comes to improving efficiency which seems to be an ongoing task in most businesses. Improving efficiency is important in any business because it can help in a number of ways including improving profit, reducing costs and losses as well as helping your business stand out and become more competitive with any competitors.
There are many ways you can improve efficiency in your business and to get you started we are looking at 5 ways to do this below, keep reading to find out more.
Call Handling Services
If you are a business that receives a lot of calls or has a lot of communication with customers or potential clients, why not consider hiring call-handling services? These companies take full control of handling your incoming calls attentively and professionally leaving you to deal with other areas of the business. This can help to save your business money by freeing up employees to do other tasks and it means you never have to worry about calls being missed or customers/clients being given the wrong information by an unsure employee either.
Reward Your Employees
Your staff are the core of your business, they are the ones who help make it run smoothly every day and whilst they are of course getting paid for the work they do, often staff who are treated well will go above and beyond for a company that cares for them as people. If you can why not treat staff do a team building day now and again. It could be a fun activity you all do together, a meal out or even a reward in terms of a "performance bonus" in their wage packet once or twice a year. Whatever it is, it shows that you value your staff and staff that feel valued are more likely to be more efficient and loyal to a business.
Avoid Meetings or Big Decisions on a Friday
Whilst Friday is of course a normal working day for most, even the best of us are probably ready for the weekend and a few days off if we have been working all week. So holding lengthy meetings, making big decisions or having any kind of big talk can be problematic on a Friday. Not only will people probably not be at their best, but any decisions that do get made then cannot be actioned straight away and once the weekend comes around, by Monday some plans/actions may have been already forgotten. Instead, hold those meetings and make those decisions at the start of the week, everyone will be fresh and efficient for the week ahead and can get on with making those plans/decisions happen straight away for the rest of the week.
Communicate Clearly and to Everyone at Once
It is no secret that communication is key and that is a widely known phrase in most businesses, however, the problem usually lies with the messenger, and the more than message gets passed along, the more it varies! If you have a business with staff why not host a "efficiency meeting" at the start of each week. It is a good chance for you to let people know how things are going, pass on any messages you may have and it is a good way for everyone to get motivated and on task from the get-go at the start of the week. If everyone starts with a meeting and knows what they are supposed to be doing it starts the week off efficiently and positively.
Don't Avoid Up-to-date Technology
Some businesses (and staff) seem reluctant to use technology or to update to the latest technology or software and whilst I get it can be hard to change something that is working. But technology is always improving and mostly for the best part, especially when it comes to businesses and technology. Software updates can make things run faster, smoother and often have updated features to make life easier for you and successful business performance. There are new apps and programs being introduced all of the time and you never know if one of those may be perfect for boosting the efficiency of your business or staff. Of course, there is the initial outlay in costs sometimes for new tech, etc but if it can save you time and make staff more efficient at tasks it may also save you money in the long run.
Of course, these are just a few ways that could help boost the efficiency of your business. Some may work, some may not it will depend on many things including the type of business you are running. If you have found other ways of helping your business become more efficient or have experienced a super efficient business as a customer, let us know what worked well in the comments below, you never know you may help another business too!
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