productivity tips for small businesses

Small businesses need unique ideas for maximizing production but their resources are limited. Productivity plays a major role in the success of a small business. Productivity is the concept of getting a good output in a certain amount of time. But how can small businesses utilize this concept in their daily practice? Here are some essential productivity tips that can help your small business to increase its profits by leaps and bounds. Here are some productivity tips for small business growth.

●    Start your Day with a List of Priorities

The best way to begin a day at the office is by planning out your tasks. Prepare a list of priorities and place the most important tasks in ascending order according to their importance. As a small business owner, you need to focus on branding through connections but you cannot do it all alone. Have a separate team for branding and ask them to connect with professionals online. All the tasks that require your attention, must be dealt with personally. Delegate other tasks to team members based on their abilities and expertise. You must set clear objectives and deadlines for each task. Assign tasks at once for one or two weeks rather than daily. Ask your team to update you every day before logging out. Check off tasks from your priority list after completion.

●    Be Adaptable to Market Demands

As a small business owner, narrowing down your service offerings at the beginning will be your biggest mistake. You should be adaptable to the trends and demands of the market. It won’t cost you heavily, rather clients will flock to you if you portray your business as a one-stop solution for their needs. Eventually, you can learn and develop mastery over a particular area.

●    Team Collaboration

Collaboration is one of the best ways to grow a small business. Collaborating and communicating with your team effectively to work towards a goal is a surefire way to improve the bottom line. For example, product management software allows teams to collaborate, share documents, provide feedback, and ensure that everyone is on the same page. It pushes the boundaries of your business, opens the door to new possibilities, and leads to innovation.

●    Find Out the Strengths of Teammates

Be attentive to the expertise in their respective fields and their ability to work in a team while recruiting professionals. Hire people for all necessary things- website developing and designing, content writing, SEO, human resources, accounting and finance, client servicing, and graphic designing. Make your staff understand your business goals. Examine your team members to determine their human skills, conceptual skills, and technical skills to build a strong foundation with loyal employees

●    Do Not Multitask. Delegate Work to your Staff.

Even if you are the best multitasker present in the house, do not risk completing all tasks by yourself and pushing deadlines further. Instead, delegate tasks to your co-workers according to their expertise. Meanwhile, you can focus on jobs that require your special attention and interact with new people to grow your business.

●    Decide on a Common Channel for Employee Communication

The changing modes of working in the corporate world have created a demand for adapting to modern means of communication that need less physical interaction. Working from home has become the new normal, and as a consequence, communication platforms like Skype, Discord, and Slack have become popular methods for office teams to remain in touch. People have abandoned the age-old practice of conversing via email. These applications let your teammates provide live updates on their work and share documents, images, links, and even organize video meetings at any time.

●    Invest in an Online Appointment Scheduling Software

Schedule client/customer appointments online with a snap. Try a free online appointment scheduling software like Picktime. It will empower your clients/customers to book appointments around the clock and make secure online payments using credit cards and payment processors such as PayPal, and Stripe. The online calendar lets you add unlimited employees in multiple office locations and monitor their schedules with resource allocation for continued services. Picktime eliminates schedule conflict by letting you sync your external Google/Outlook/iCloud calendar with the online calendar. You can also produce service invoices and send feedback forms to your clients/customers via email.

●    Save Documents in the Cloud

Businesses all over the world have embraced the blended mode of working. While some individuals commute to work, others choose to work from home. In such cases, saving documents in a cloud-based app like Google Docs gives your co-workers to access, read, and edit the documents even if they are physically distant.

●    Use Freelancers for Getting Basic Tasks Done

Many basic but vital tasks like content creation, graphic designing, website designing, and SEO, can be outsourced. Hiring quality freelancers for getting these tasks is a cost-effective solution for small businesses. Since these jobs cannot be automated, it would be wise to provide a chance to freelancers and interns who would later turn up to be great assets to your company.

●    Automate your Social Media Posts

Small businesses often face issues with deadlines due to a lesser workforce. But, productivity is all about accomplishing things in the least amount of time. Since they cannot hire too many people and have to work in small teams, automating repetitive tasks like social media updates would be a great time-saver. There are certain apps through which you can schedule posts on social media, and they will be posted automatically at the set time. One can use Creator Studio to schedule Facebook and Instagram updates. TweetDeck and Hootsuite are two tools that are great for scheduling tweets on Twitter.

●    Be Mindful of Not Overdoing your Email Campaigns

Small businesses prefer to send email marketing campaigns through MailChimp or Constant Contact to convert leads into customers. However, it is highly inconvenient to send emails at odd hours or during the busiest hours of the day. More often than not, it frustrates the recipients, and they quickly click on the unsubscribe button. Small businesses should limit their monthly email marketing campaigns to no more than 4-6. The design must be visually appealing, and the body must have all the required information. But, the email should be crisp and concise. Avoid writing long paragraphs at all costs. The preview text and subject line of the email should be catchy to boost the open rates.

●    Prevent Distracting Activities at Office

Small businesses face increasing pressure to raise brand awareness across all channels while also acquiring new consumers. They are always in a race to deliver the best services to their clients and connect with professionals for business growth. In such situations, one cannot waste hours on distracting activities such as checking social media or playing games. You cannot let your mind wander. Hence, you need to avoid unnecessary chatting and stop using social media during work hours. Instead of playing games on your phone, consider interacting with professionals on LinkedIn.

●    Maximize Security for Client Data

Client information and other sensitive data must be kept secure.  Anti-virus software and malware security for your computer network can reduce external risks, but there are occasions when an insider, such as an employee, might accidentally disclose vital data. As a result, you must keep track of the data transferred between your co-worker’s systems and external devices such as mobile phones, USB keys, and external hard drives.

●    Organize Brainstorming Sessions for Harboring New Ideas

Conducting brainstorming sessions once a week is a fantastic exercise for the minds of your employees. Plus, it motivates them to think out of the box and gives them a feeling of being valued and heard. Organize such sessions to create new product/service launches or devise a new marketing scheme.

●    Measure Performance and Reward Employees

Monitor the weekly and monthly performances of your employees and offer assistance if they are stuck with a project. Measure your performance as well because you are the guiding light for your staff. Reward the monthly top performers with lunch coupons or tokens of gratitude to keep their spirits high.

●    Create a Comfortable Working Environment

Small businesses work in small teams, and therefore, they do not require a huge workspace. In fact, small businesses could greatly benefit from availing of a virtual office rental, as it gives businesses a physical address and office-related services without the overhead of a long lease and administrative staff. But creating a healthy workplace increases productivity because of the “feel-good” factor attached to it. Keep the temperature of the air conditioner in check. Make sure the washrooms are cleaned regularly. Include facilities such as a water purifier and a restroom for relaxation during breaks. Decorate the office tables with indoor plants to ward off negativity. And if you’re looking for an effortless way to create a comfortable and effective workplace, you can go for a coworking space franchise. It helps speed up your business process by creating a conducive and efficient working environment. These small productivity tips for small businesses can help in your business growth.

●    Treat your Staff to Meals and Host Parties

Get in touch with your employees and organize weekly shared meals for engaging in light-hearted conversations. You can also plan a short trip to nearby destinations with your colleagues or host an office party once a month. But make sure you do not discuss work on these occasions. Send gifts like a box of chocolates or snacks with a greeting card to your employees during festivities.

●    Encourage Healthy Eating and Sleeping on Time

Encourage your co-workers to eat healthy food and sleep on time. Make sure they do not work long hours at night. Sleep deprivation can cause a lack of concentration and irritation that hampers the thinking abilities of your employees. Therefore, offer them adequate time to relax. Advise your colleagues to have fruit, and green vegetables and drink lots of water to keep themselves fit.

●    Plan for the Next Day before leaving the office

Before logging out from your systems, make sure to devise a plan for the following day so that you can start tomorrow with a fresh mind and clear ideas. It shortens the time you spend roaming about your manager trying to have work assigned to you.

Use these productivity tips for small businesses. But, also come up with fresh ones because not all businesses work on the same principles. Find out which techniques benefit you the most and strengthen those points further. Above all, recognize and appreciate the efforts of your team members. The rest will come into place over time.

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