You might not see any need to spring clean your business, however no matter how well you’re doing, it’s always nice to shake things up a little. I generally subscribe to the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” camp, but a few little tweaks here or there are usually beneficial in more than one way. Particularly in that even doing something small can make you look at things differently and, without change and growth your business will become stagnant.
If you’re feeling like things in your business are a bit same old same old and you want to run some fresh air through the company, here are 15 things you can do to spring clean your business.
- Try a new marketing method: If you’re not on social media, get an account on one platform, if you only use social media, get some flyers distributed or take out an ad in a local newspaper, buy a radio spot or create a TV ad.
- Document your processes. To make sure things are being done in the most productive way and to allow new staff and contractors to have a greater understanding of how things are done.
- Add a new product or service or update an old one. It doesn’t have to be a major offering, but if you’re getting a lot of feedback from clients, or you can see a gap in the market – go for it.
- Survey your clients. Even better, take them out for a coffee or lunch and get some honest feedback about what they’d like to see and how you could improve
- Freshen up your branding. A small change to your colours, logo or font can make a big difference to how you’re perceived by prospects, customers and even staff
- Go green. Find ways to reduce your businesses carbon footprint like replacing light bulbs, sourcing environmentally friendly supplies and suppliers, turning off equipment overnight or while it’s not in use.
- Redecorate your office. Get in some plants, new furniture, nice artwork or some splashes of colour. Small changes can make a large difference. Look at getting furniture that exceeds OHS recommendations.
- Get a business coach. They can help you see what you need to do to take your business where you want it to go. They also help with accountability.
- Revamp your business card and stationary. Just like freshening your branding, getting new stationary can make everyone look at you in a different light. Consider getting a business card that does double duty as a representation of your industry. i.e.: Lego men business cards for Lego employees, a business card for a lawn care company that includes grass seeds, a bicycle shop whose card can also be used as a bike repair tool.
- Freshen up your website. Themes, widgets and plugins are changing really quickly, what might not have worked for your business six months ago might be just what you need now. Have a look at the competition and see what they’re doing and pick and choose the bits you like.
- Go paperless. Scan anything you need to keep, develop a filing system and a really good offsite backup, then develop procedures to prevent a build-up of paper in future. It’s worth having a talk to your lawyer and accountant to see what’s legally required in your area.
- Hire people to get your “one-day” jobs done. We’ve all got a huge pile of jobs to do when we get around to it. Hire people outside of your company to knock some of them over, or if they need to be done internally, offer up some overtime or get temp workers in to take over the day-to-day.
- Get someone in to train you and your team on some aspect of business. Whether it’s customer service, telephone services, using a key piece of hardware or software more efficiently, sales training or OHS training or anything else that will benefit your business.
- Take some time to brainstorm and explore one aspect of your business. Suggestions could include: your ideal customer, a business manifesto, your customer service strategy, goal setting for profitability, new sales, repeat sales etc.
- Investigate new software. Regardless of what you do, there’s a good chance you’ve been using one program to do it for years just because you’ve always used that one program. From time to time it’s a good idea to have a look at what’s available out there and how it would work for you. You don’t have to change, but it’s a huge mistake to keep doing the same thing without thought.
There’s a few things to get you started. A spring clean for your business should make you feel refreshed and clear about what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. It’s a mistake to make changes just for change sake, particularly not major ones. But it’s just as bad to stay stuck in the same place just because you’re resistant to change. Stagnation is never good for anyone (except maybe mosquitoes and pond scum).
Do you have any tips for spring cleaning your business? Please leave them in the comments….
