In times like these every business has to focus on productivity. With people (your customers) closing their wallets and reducing their spending, small business owners have to take the approach of focusing on how they can better utilise their time and reduce costs.
The area where every tradesperson can benefit is in the process of invoicing their customers and the collection of cash (reducing your debt). Most of us dislike doing admin and paperwork so you’re not alone, however being efficient in this area will really start to improve your business.
What can you do about it?
Look at your processes. Most businesses don’t have good processes around capturing key information, raising invoices or getting the cash into the bank. Improving processes is hard but without a system even the best solutions won’t benefit you. A common phrase is “crap in crap ou”!”
The steps to improving your systems are;
- Understand and acknowledge what you are currently doing
- Look at how you can improve the way you do your paperwork
- Review ways to capture the key information that your business needs
- Compare yourself against your peers, what are others doing
- Work out what will work for your business, not everything works for everyone
- Get help if you need, it might cost you but the long term benefits far outweigh the cost
- Implement the new system
Once you have this worked out you can start looking at the tools in the marketplace, and trust me there are plenty.
The hardest thing for a business owner is not too get overwhelmed by the options. Do your homework all good solutions now have a trial period that will allow you to have a good look at what the product can do, what is looks like and how intuitive it is. Second have a look at who else is using it; while I personally think this can be misleading it is always nice to check that you are not using a product outside of its core purpose.
Lastly don’t underestimate how big an impact good systems can have on your business. Sometimes as small business owners we think its not that important, rest assured if you can get your business operating efficiently and your debtors reduced you will most certainly notice the difference, mostly in your personal life.
