Often we have tips for your small business. Most of the time we focus on how to start out on the right foot. What if you've already been in business for some time and made a few mistakes? This is the post for you. Today, we're going to talk about ways to right the ship and get back on track if your business isn't working as well as you'd like. Plus, we'll have some info on how you can put Stockpile to work for you.
Identify the Issue
You need to know what the problem is before you can fix it. You may have a general idea of what the issue is, but that's going to be good enough if you want a real solution. This is the time to be specific. You need to identify the issue and any smaller factors that could be contributing to the problem. If employees are consistently late, you need to know why. Just telling them to get to work earlier isn't going to solve the issue. If you discover they are late because they stop for coffee every morning, adding a Keurig machine in the breakroom just might do the trick. If work is being done incorrectly you need to determine whether your employees are confused about the proper procedure or if they really are just being lazy. If you lecture and threaten to fire employees for poor work when they truly are trying their best to do what you want, you're going to end up with a lot of unhappy workers.
There are a few ways to get to the root of the problem and you'll probably need to use a combination to get the whole picture. Observation is a great place to start. Couple that with communication by gathering employee input and you'll start to see some patterns emerge. You can also poll your customers or hold an employee meeting to have a round table discussion if you really want to brainstorm ideas.
Solve It
Once you know what your issues are you can begin devising a plan to fix things. Again, this could be a great time to gather employee feedback. Unless the solution is obvious, there may be more than one way to solve the problem. Figuring out which way your employees would respond to the best can really improve your success.
Get Everyone On Board
Once you've come up with a plan you need to get everyone on board. Just telling everyone the plan isn't enough. You need to get people to buy in to the new way of doing things. Often just sharing the reasons for the changes are enough. If the problem effects their jobs most employees will be happy that you're working on a solution. Other times your employees may be happy with the status quo and less willing to adapt to changes. In either situation you need to be clear about what's changing and why. You also need to outline the consequences for not working with the new system. Change isn't always easy, but often it is necessary for your small business to succeed.
Save Time and Money
One way to improve your business is to find ways to save time and money. Implementing Stockpile allows you to do both. Creating item records in Stockpile is quick and easy. Because Stockpile is fully customizable you choose which fields to include in item records. This allows you to track the information that is important to you. Thanks to areas and locations you can be very specific about where items are kept. Why waste time searching for items? Stockpile makes it simple to locate what you want when you need it. Running reports is a simple process as well. Just a few clicks allows you to generate end of the year or tax reports. Want to keep an eye on your inventory when you're away from the office? You can thanks to Stockpile's mobile compatibility. If you've got internet access you can see your inventory.
It's easy to see how Stockpile saves you time, but how does it save you money? Stockpile helps you avoid overstock issues and those dreaded loss sales due to being out of stock. When you can track your inventory more easily you can make better purchasing decisions. Plus, it frees up your time so that you can focus on other aspects of your business. You may be able to bring marketing or other tasks in house when you have the time to devote to them. The best part is that Stockpile smart inventory solution is available for free.
You've got nothing to lose and so much to gain. What are you waiting for? Try Stockpile today!
