It's that time of year again…time to clean the garage, sweep under the rugs, wash the window sills and put away all that winter stuff. As the weather gets warmer, most everyone does some type of spring cleaning at their homes. But what about your business? Now is a perfect time to take a similar “spring cleaning” approach to your business, so you can be more effective and efficient the rest of the year. Below are 6 areas of your business that could probably use a good spring cleaning.
Your Workspace
I’ll be the first to admit that I am the biggest of packrats, but even if you aren’t, there’s a good likelihood that you’ve accumulated some stuff. Start by keeping only the absolute essentials on your desk surface. It will really help you chi if you keep things simple and neat. Find a different place for printers, magazines and that smart phone charger of yours. Then get some bins or file organizers for the things that you are currently working on. This will help to free up some real estate on your desk and clear up any clutter that you had, you may even find a sale or two that was buried.
Your Organization
If you have procedures that have been proven to be unproductive, inefficient, or just plain unnecessary, then it’s time to clean house. It is never easy to start fresh when it comes to the way things are done within an organization, but now is a good time to think about giving your employees the proper tools to maximize their productivity.
Your Services
Spring is a good time to start to identify and organize your offerings and/or services using a ranking system from the most profitable to least profitable. Market and develop the most profitable, spend less time on those in the middle, and eliminate the services that are least profitable and that drain the resources of your company.
Your Marketing Collateral
Pull out your business card or marketing brochure, take a good look at it and think about if it is sending the right message about your business. Does your logo need a facelift? Does your brand message need revamping? Does the content need some cleaning? Make sure that your collateral is a vehicle for driving people to your business as opposed to simply being a piece of printed material that gets put into the round file (garbage can).
Your Inventory
Are there products that you haven’t you promoted in over a year because they just don’t fit with your model any longer? If you have product that is usable but not something you want to continue offering then do some sort of clearance sale, people love to think they are getting a great deal. And if it’s not something that you feel is sellable, then recycle or donate it…whatever you do get rid of it, you’re tired of looking at it anyway.
Your Accounts Receivable (A/R)
Take the hit on uncollectable A/R and start this spring with a clean list. Constantly chasing money that you know deep down is uncollectable is draining to your resources and your sanity. Will it hurt your balance sheet? Maybe, but I can tell you that your banker likes inflated balance sheets a lot less than these asset write-offs.
So this weekend (after you’re done cleaning the garage) do a little spring cleaning of your business and I promise come Monday morning you will be fired up and do great things!
P.S. Let us know if we can help with the marketing collateral thing.
John Zalepka
Adpro Imprints, Inc.
