We all like to have a good sort out and deep clean in our homes in the spring. A spring clean always makes you feels really good afterwards. This year why not extend this to your business. Here are 5 areas you can focus on to have a spring clean in your business. These are worthwhile tasks that can easily get pushed to the bottom of the list because they do not affect your business operationally. However, they could make a huge difference to your business performance and you will feel really good after completing them:
Dust off those debtors.
Get chasing those old debts that should be sitting in your bank account, take further action if necessary but aim to eliminate all debts older than 3 months.
Sweep through your suppliers.
When was the last time you reviewed your suppliers? When was the last time you shopped around? Do you know what other companies are on the market? Is there any supplier you are unhappy with? Have you done a price comparison?
Brighten up your business plan.
Did you write a business plan? If so, when was the last time you reviewed it to see how you are doing compared to what you set out to do? Has your business objective actually changed because of changing market conditions or do you need to re-focus on what it was you set out to do? Reviewing your business plan will inevitably make you question the assumptions you are operating on as your thought process is taken back to when you were setting up the strategy for the business and this is always a valuable exercise.
Neaten your network.
No doubt you have a wide network of business contacts, these networks of people will only become valuable relationships if they are nurtured and given time and attention. That being said with limited time and attention you may want to be choosy about which relationships you want to nurture. Consider all of your relationships; who is particularly good at referring work to you? Who always requires a lot of time but is not really adding anything to you or your business so is a time stealer? Knowing your network and knowing what relationships you should be investing in will set you on the right track in the coming months so you are making the best use of this time.
Polish your social media presence.
Review both yours and your staff’s social media presence, does it need updating? Is it sending a consistent message? Is it engaging? Is it used? This will help you decide whether you need further investment in this area.