The lazy days of summer are long gone and if things haven't already started to pick up at your business, they will very soon. Now is the best time to create a schedule and commit to sticking to it. It's also a great time to implement Stockpile, but we'll get to that later in this post.
As your business picks up you can't afford to get behind. Not only will your employees become frazzled and start to make mistakes, but you will also let your customers down. Disappointed customers aren't typically repeat customers and they often tell their friends how bad their experience was. Bad PR like that can cost you tons of future revenue.
After the relative ease of summer it can be hard to get back into a regular routine but it is so important to the success of your business. Keep reading for some great tips that can help you devise a schedule that will work for your business.
Look at the Big Picture
What are your goals for the next six months, the next year, and the next five years? Knowing where you'd like to be several years in the future is the only way to create a plan that will actually get you there. Setting smaller incremental goals allows you to keep the steps realistic and attainable. If you want to double your business in five years you can begin by trying to increase sales by 20% in the next year which means that you would only need to increase sales 10% in the next six months. If your goals are more customer or product focused the same theory applies. Break each large goal into a smaller more attainable step.
Outline Your Plan
Dreams are great, but vague ideas are not. You need to have a concrete plan of how you plan to attain your goals. You can't create a schedule if you don't know what tasks you're hoping to accomplish and how quickly you need to get them done. Outlining the steps gives you a road map of where you're going, defining your goals gave you the timeline to get there. Once you have those two pieces you're ready to create a schedule.
Clearly Identify Responsibilities
Everyone in your business needs to stick to the schedule. You can't do everything on your own, and you shouldn't try to. Taking on too much is one of the biggest stressors for small business owners. Remember to delegate. Assign specific employees certain tasks and make sure they have a clear idea of when things are supposed to done. This will get everyone on the same page and help them stick to the schedule.
Daily/Weekly/Monthly
For best results your schedule should have some daily components and some that are weekly or monthly. Having all three together allows your employees to plan out their week so that everything gets done in a timely manner. If you assign daily tasks all the time that can ensure that everything gets done when it should but it takes away autonomy and that could have a negative impact on employee morale. Giving employees some flexibility and control over their schedules can empower them and make them feel valued and included in the success of your business.
Another way to show employees that you value them and increase employee morale is by implementing Stockpile simple smart inventory system. Inventory issues plague a number of small businesses. Managing inventory is time consuming and often very stressful. It doesn't have to be that way. Stockpile makes it easy to track inventory whether you have multiple locations or just one. Adding item records is quick and easy. Stockpile is fully customizable so you choose which fields to include in your records. This ensures you'll have the information you need at your fingertips. Transferring items between areas and locations is simple. Just a few clicks and you can update records so that you'll know exactly where each item is. Want to run reports? Stockpile makes that easy as well. When you take the headaches out of inventory management your employees will have more time to focus on other aspects of your business. The best part is that Stockpile is available for free so there's no risk. Try Stockpile today!
