“Don’t put the cart before the horse.”
There are certain things in life that obviously must be done in a particular order. Socks go on before shoes, toothpaste goes on the brush before the brush goes in the mouth. Some tasks are designed to force a particular sequence of events. You must place the key in the ignition and start the car before you can put it in drive. With other activities the order isn’t so clear cut. It is up to us to decide which task takes precedence. Often order is determined merely by our personal preference for one task over another. In same cases this works out just fine. Eating your favorite food before your least favorite part of the meal isn’t likely to affect your digestion and it may enhance your enjoyment of the overall experience. Other times the order in which we choose to do things can and will affect the outcomes. Choosing to play before we work could result in us running out of time or being too tired to do a good job on the task that truly needed to be done.
When it comes to your small business it is very important that tasks be prioritized and completed in the best, most effective order. Again, there are some times that the order is obvious. Clearly you should take inventory before placing your next order. In other instances the answer isn’t quite so clear. Should you work on that new marketing campaign or implement a new sales strategy?
The best way to answer these questions is by reviewing your process map. If you’re unfamiliar with process mapping click here for an introduction. Knowing where the bottlenecks that are slowing down your productivity and keeping your small business from growing are can help you decide where to start making changes. Identifying the areas that need the most attention can give you a starting point. If you are still unsure what should come first there are a few other factors to consider.
If you have a project that requires run time or some processing time after you’ve done your part it might be a good idea to get that started so that it can be going while you are doing something else. It’s easy to get caught up in the desire to finish something but overlooking the benefit of starting that project that can run on its own could really hurt you in the long run. If you finish your current project before starting the next one you may end up waiting around. Even worse, the project you are working on might take longer to finish than you anticipated and suddenly you are short on time for the second project to finish.
Take for example, cooking dinner. You want to finish checking your e-mail before you start the meal. You have more messages than you thought, it takes you longer to formulate your replies, whatever the case may be suddenly your stomach is growling and you realize that it’s almost time to eat and you haven’t even started the oven yet. Pressing pause on your e-mail and getting dinner started still gives you time to finish with your messages while dinner is in the oven. Then when your stomach starts growling you will be that much closer to actually eating.
Consider the impact that one project will have on another. Back to marketing vs. sales, you want to have your sales team ready and raring to go before you run that super marketing campaign that is going to generate tons of leads. If you run the campaign before you have the sales staff to handle the leads in place you’ll just be wasting all that good marketing. Remember to look at the big picture. Focusing on marketing might be more fun than hiring and training a new sales force but there is a definite benefit to getting the sales team trained first.
Order Matters - Get Stockpile Quick Free Inventory Solution Before You Do Anything Else
If your process map indicates that inventory issues are holding you back, you next step should be to implement Stockpile. Stockpile quick free inventory solution allows you to quickly and easily track your inventory within a single location or across multiple locations. Stockpile has the reporting capabilities that you need to have a clear picture of your inventory. You can also easily run all the reports you need for year end. Stockpile is also mobile compatible so you can always check your data, anytime from anywhere. Get Stockpile today!
