6 essential hacks for boosting productivity

No matter what stage you’re at, making sure that every aspect of your business is working as hard as it possibly can is essential. As such, productivity is about self-reflection. Only by taking a closer look at your business’ operations can you discover new ways in which to improve efficiency and growth whilst in pursuit of a brighter, sustainable future. Yet if you’re an SME with limited cash reserves, achieving greater levels of productivity can be a daunting endeavour. However, with the right support, it isn’t impossible. If you want to encourage greater levels of productivity in your business, here are 6 essential hacks that you need to take on board.

1. Pin down your goals

Firstly, you need to clearly define what you’re hoping to achieve. Setting goals enables you to focus on where your business is heading. You should also aim to make these goals realistic and establish a feasible deadline for each. So whether you wish to write them on a whiteboard, create post-it notes or jot them down in your smartphone calendar, identifying and recording your goals is a great start. However, working in business can be volatile and requires an element of trial and error. So in order to stay a couple of steps ahead of your competition and succeed, you may need to frequently revise and renew your goals, especially in regards to the implementation period for any proposed changes.

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2. Make sure that your business is being seen

Marketing your business effectively is a crucial responsibility for every business owner. After all, if your target audience is unaware of your business’ existence, you won’t get their business. However, effective marketing isn’t achieved in 5 minutes, it takes many hours of dedicated hard work, which can prove challenging for small businesses that are having to work within a tight time-frame. But if you can set up a well-designed website and run a reliable blog, you’ll be able to actively engage your customers and ensure that they know what your business is all about. Blogging can be a very low-cost and effective way of raising awareness which can then be shared on social media or emailed directly to your customers. Ultimately, your goal is to encourage word-of-mouth chatter among your target audience’s friends and family. If you’re successful in achieving this, the rewards for your business can be very bountiful indeed.

3. Manage your time effectively

In order to increase productivity, you and your team must learn to use your time effectively. If your work schedule is disorganized, it may result in wasting time on menial tasks or spending too much time on a specific task, making you less productive. To avoid this, consider using apps such as Asana, Evernote, Trello or even your smartphone’s inbuilt functions to organise your workload, enable you to communicate with your team and monitor output, and track time. It is also important to organise tasks in order of priority, taking into account both importance and deadline. In doing this, you and your team can ensure that your collective energy is spent on what is needed, maximising productivity.

4. Organise your workspace

Although your enthusiasm will be focused on maintaining a consistent and reliable workflow, take a moment to consider your workspace. It should be organised in a way that helps to reduce stress whilst making you and your team feel comfortable and relaxed. Ensure that your team has comfortable seating arrangements that are adjusted to each team member’s individual needs, especially in an office environment. You should also remember to take short breaks at regular intervals. Even just 30 seconds away from your desk can help make you feel refreshed and more able to concentrate. As such, a happy and relaxed team makes for a more productive working environment.

5. Speed up your operations

Another aspect of productivity is speed. Thanks to modern business technology, optimizing the speed of your day-to-day operations has never been simpler or more essential. Your customers are busy people, so in order to satisfy them and retain their business, you must be prepared to deliver goods and services at just a moment's notices. By having Electronic Point of Sale (EPOS) technology and Cloud Computing at your disposal, for example, vital information can be instantly shared with your team. This enables you to process orders and respond to enquiries in a time-scale that retains customer interest.

6. Keep your records up to date

Finally, make sure that your business records are regularly kept up to date. Even a small team of just 2 can rack up a large amount of data each day which you’ll need to keep on top of. As well as customer data, this can involve everything from accounts, tax liabilities, expenses and cash flow forecasts to insurance premiums. In order to avoid making this a bigger issue than it needs to be, it’s better to sort it all out from the start. You can achieve this through digital business management software such as Xero, QuickBooks or Scoro. Using such services could help you manage your financial obligations and ensure customer orders are handled promptly, helping raise productivity and reduce the risk of bankruptcy.

What support mechanisms are available to help improve business productivity?

Ensuring that your business is progressing in a reliable and sustainable manner is vital. If you’re suffering from low productivity you risk being overtaken by your competitors. For many businesses seeking to increase their level of productivity, the biggest obstacle to overcome is often funding. However, thanks to the Alternative Finance Industry, you now have access to a wide range of business finance solutions. Just some of the many finance products that are available to you can range from Secured and Unsecured business loans, Invoice Financing, Merchant Cash Advance, Revenue Advance to Asset Refinance. So no matter how you intend to support or raise your business’ productivity levels, apply for a suitable Business Finance solution today, or find out more with Rangewell.