How to Optimize Your Business

Are you looking for strategies to take your business to the next level?  No matter what stage of growth your company is in, better understanding your process and what efforts can be streamlined will help ensure that all resources are used in the best possible way. Consider these five steps to optimize your business and achieve the next level of growth in this coming year.

1. Redefine Your Key Performance Indicators

As your business evolves, so may your goals. But in order to accurately track your progress and plan effectively for your next steps, you need to know what you're measuring. Do you want to increase brand awareness? Boost newsletter signups? Reach a certain number of phone calls? Hit a certain income threshold? Determine which indicators of success are unique to your business model, and use them as a foundation for the next stage of your business strategy.

Once you determine your KPIs, use these to construct both short and long term business goals. Long-range objectives should be supported by short-range incremental ones, and short-range objectives should be flexible enough to accommodate change without compromising their value. 

2. Direct Project Energy Towards Goals

Optimizing high-level strategies involves identifying and cutting out waste. Many companies fail to realize that they're wasting money on projects that aren't actually helping them achieve their objectives. Again, this is where short and long-term goals can provide guidance. Projects which seem good ideas in isolation may not be so great when viewed through the lens of the bigger picture. Audit your upcoming projects and decide which ones will contribute directly to your long-term success, and which ones needlessly divert your energy and resources.

3. Build Relationships

One way to build confidence in the customer experience is to automate time-consuming processes. If your business can automatically handle some of the things that usually take up a lot of your time, such as invoicing and billing, you can spend more time focusing on other important business-building tasks. Automation frees you up to redirect your energy to the human component of your business and foster stronger returning relationships.

Another way to build customer trust and further optimize your business is to strengthen your online presence. A Google study found that more than 63% of customer shopping journeys begin online. If your business is hard to find or has a shady (read: outdated) digital presence, you're only holding yourself back. Utilize social media and chatbot options to show your customers you are online and available for helpful interaction. It is essential to have meaningful interactions and engagement with your audience, if you want continued business growth, through a CRM (Customer Relationship Manager) software.

4.Remain Flexible

When it comes to the business landscape, there is only so much that you can control. You need to stay sensitive to shifts in the industry, politics, and social climates - and how they relate to your goals. However, this only extends so far. Don't overhaul your long-term plans in order to cater to the whim of the market. Rather, make adjustments that will still let you be effective and efficient. If you have your eye on the right metrics, and have the right analytical processes set up, you'll be able to find which changes are right for your business.

“Be stubborn about your goals but flexible about your methods.”

5. Foolproof Your Meetings

The more time you can save in meetings, the more time you can give back to your customer. Even though meetings are still important, there are ways that companies can make them more efficient. To avoid time-wasting, everyone should ask themselves: “What is the purpose of this meeting?” To keep meetings efficient and relevant, the person in charge should set an agenda of topics to be discussed ahead of time. This way, teams can avoid unnecessary discussions and have more effective 30-minute meetings instead of wasting precious hours. 

A successful business requires adaptation. Use these five tips to help optimize your business structure and pave the way to an even more fruitful future.