An Essential Guide to Business Process Optimization

An Essential Guide to Business Process Optimization

Optimizing existing business processes for your company may feel like a daunting task, but it’s part of running a successful, forward-thinking business. Perhaps you’re a creature of habit and used to doing things the way they’ve always been done. We understand – change is scary and never easy, but it can bring about positive and transformative results.

Four essential areas in your company that are ripe for business process optimization are

a) your company’s marketing strategy.

b) career development and training.

c) establishment of short-term and long-term goals and

d) competitor analysis.

 

Streamline Your Marketing Strategy

Streamlining your business’s existing marketing strategy is helpful and can be done in several ways. First, clear communication is key. By combing through your company’s existing website content and other marketing materials, you can identify verbiage that is trite and content or topics that are outdated and obsolete. Ensure existing and future content identifies your target audience and presents a clear call to action to the products and services you provide.

Second, if your company has social media pages (which, it should), consider hiring a social media coordinator to consistently post and update them.  That way your audience stays current on events you host and is quickly updated with any key changes to your products and services. Remember that you exist for your clients, so your content should always be marketing to them.

Third, take advantage of marketing automation tools to increase productivity while decreasing costs. According to a recent article published in Salesforce, the author states: “Good automation tools help you identify your audience, design the right content, and automatically trigger actions based on schedules and customer behavior.” For example, automating emails to clients using software such as MailChimp optimizes the number of customers you reach in half the time it traditionally would take. All it takes is the click of a button and you’ve generated 100 emails to potential and existing consumers in the time it would take you to send one.

Treasuring old keepsakes for sentimental reasons is understandable, but the same concept should not be applied to your company’s content. Exceptional marketing content generates leads and moves your company forward.

Invest in Leadership Development Courses and Customer Service Training

Another way to optimize your business is to offer customer service training for new hires and leadership development courses for existing employees. Hosting customer service training and development for new hires ensures customer satisfaction and retention. According to The Ultimate Guide to Training for Customer Service and Support in HubSpot, “Remarkable customer service is a competitive advantage. It’s also the key player in the game of customer retention.” Make new-hire and routine customer service training a priority for all members of your company.

Additionally, offering career and leadership development programs as part of an incentive program for existing employees increases morale and instills company loyalty. Your employees will know you value their worth when they see your willingness to invest in their continued education.

Establish Attainable Short-term and Long-term Goals

In a recent write-up on the necessary steps to business optimization published on Riverlogic.com, the author comments, “Business optimization requires firm, testable goals to work towards in the short and long term. Without concrete goals you can measure progress towards, you can’t apply the careful, methodical changes your business needs to achieve its potential.” Reaching goals builds revenue, lends credibility to your reputation, increases employee morale, and encourages customer trust and loyalty. As your clients see your business succeeding, they gain confidence in your ability to deliver the product or service you’ve promised.

Sometimes, as entrepreneurs, we fall into the trap of not seeing the forest for the trees. Don’t let your short-term goals prevent you from seeing the bigger picture or the long-term goals you have for your company. They all should align neatly with each other. Your short-term accomplishments should be building up to and achieving your company’s over-all vision.

Research Your Company’s Top Competitors

Lastly, another area that businesses neglect to invest time and money in is researching and analyzing their top competitors in the industry. Semrush published a recent article about competitor analysis and here’s what they had to say: “Competitor analysis is the process of identifying the strengths and weaknesses of your rivals.” Analyzing local companies that specialize in your niche should be at the forefront of every business’ process optimization plan.

Research the competition’s online presence and take notes on what they’re doing, as well as what they are not doing. Ask yourself pertinent questions: What is their marketing strategy? How do they effectively reach their target audience?  What do your competitors charge for similar products and services?

Move Forward

Optimizing your business’s operations can be a slow, methodical process, and much of your plan will be based on trial and error. Remember that positive change does not always equal sudden, noticeable, over-night transformation. What you’re looking for as a business owner is a visible, measurable, productive transition over a set period of time.

 

 

 

Let's Chat!

Is this an issue that you are facing with your company? Let’s chat over a complimentary Coffee & a Consult.
Name
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Related Posts