Even with a large business that has been running for years, there are still improvements that could be made, and some of these improvements could even increase their bottom line. Some improvements, you may think, are no-brainers. Unfortunately, however, the number of businesses that still do not implement any improvement in these areas is overwhelming.
Most changes that could be made are simple little changes, but there may be a few larger ones, which will be very beneficial in the end.
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Is your website working for you?
Checking that your website is actually doing what it should be doing as this is a big area to look at, you may need to acquire the help of a third party or get a UX Audit done by a professional company to do this properly.
Making sure that your website is user-friendly and that it is easy to navigate is some of the most important parts from a customer point of view. If a customer cannot navigate your website or it is not easy to use, or it takes too long to load, they will just click away and go elsewhere.
Also, you may find it beneficial from a customer point of view to offer more than just the standard contact option, which tends to be via email. By making it easier for customers to contact you either by phone or live chat, you could find that you have more customers or reduce cart abandonment on your website.
Having a look at your SEO may also help, especially if your business has changed even slightly. However, you may be missing the right potential customers. Many SEO companies will offer services to look at and correct any SEO issues you may have and offer services to manage all areas of your business’s SEO for you.
Investing in your employees
Regardless of what type of business you are running, whether it is an online or service-related or manufacturing-based one, your employees are the most important asset you have. The easiest way to get the best out of your employees is to invest in them and make them feel valued and confident in what they do.
Train all your employees to the highest level of workplace qualification you can for their job roles and give rewards such as certificates for any training completed and passed, even if it is just in-house certificates and not industry lead ones. Be sure to award pay increases when necessary, as this will help your business keep your most valued members of staff, which really should be all of them.
By training your staff to the highest standards, you should be able to cut down on the number of time products take in production due to mistakes or errors from lack of knowledge.
With highly trained members of staff, you will be able to call them specialists. Customers would love to have specialist teams working on their products and services. If your staff are at the top of their professions, you may even be able to increase the prices of your products or services without losing out on your order book.
Improving your information flow
Let all your employees know what is going on within your business. This helps with employee morale, cuts down on negative gossip and rumors, and helps all staff know that there is nobody too low to know.
Information flow is best when it is word of mouth rather than written. If it is written, then you are expecting everyone to go and read a notice board or take notice of an email, any confusion or questions tend to remain unanswered, and employees feel rattled rather than confident.
By holding meetings from directors to managers, managers to section leaders or supervisors, and from section leaders or supervisors to shop, factory or office floor, everybody gets the information, all questions can be answered, everybody feels like they can contribute and that they are part of the bigger picture. However, when information does not flow, employees feel worthless, uncertain, and frustrated.
Look into obtaining scheduling software
A lot of companies find that they come unstuck when it comes to scheduling workload and hitting crucial delivery times. By obtaining and using scheduling software to the fullest of its capabilities or hiring a scheduling and planning management team, you could be saving on all those late delivery penalties served by your customers.
There are quite a few scheduling software options available to you, and all work just as well regardless of what type of business you are running. You may find it beneficial even if it is just you working on your own from your kitchen table as you will be able to see at a glance at what stage any particular job is at and what still needs to be done in order for it to be completed. You will also be able to how sure it is to meet its deadline, how much longer it will run over schedule, or on the positive side, how much ahead of schedule you are.
When planning or scheduling, it is always wise and add a bit of time on for things should they go wrong rather than make your timings so tight that it will be impossible to hit your target. Be the one to lead your delivery dates, and do not be afraid to say no to customers who want the impossible but always explain why.
You will be amazed to find that this will improve your standing with customers as they will see you as a more reliable option to those companies who say yes but are always late on delivery.
Final thoughts
Most changes will be customer lead, whether it is with regards to your website, or your scheduling, or even your employees with their training and information.
At the end of the day, it is your customers who use your website, your customers who want their deliveries on time, and your customers who want the best value for money when it comes to quality and product or service knowledge.
