7 Ways to Streamline Your Small Business

November 29th, 2020

2020 has been simply unforgiving to most companies. The COVID outbreak and resulting economic hit have caused a slew of bankruptcies. And many of those that have survived might be looking for ways to streamline their small business as they head into 2021.

You might wince at the term “streamline,” but a.) it doesn’t have to be painful, and b.) you don’t have to be a struggling small business to consider it. In some cases, streamlining can just be simplifying a few processes or getting rid of truly excess costs, and can turn a good small business into a great one.

If you’re curious about how streamlining might look for you, read on for a few ways in which small businesses can get faster, leaner and more efficient.

7 Tips to Streamline Your Small Business

Meet Less

Let’s take a look at some of the results of Harvard Business Review’s survey of 182 senior managers across several industries:

• 65% said meetings keep them from completing their own work.
• 71% said meetings are unproductive and inefficient.
• 64% said meetings come at the expense of deep thinking.
• 62% said meetings miss opportunities to bring the team closer together.

Clearly, this is a case where less is more. Having fewer meetings can not only save you and your workers time, but it can also make what meetings you have more productive.

Auto-Pay Bills (Preferably early)

The simple act of setting some of your bills to auto-pay can be more beneficial than you might realize. It’s one less task in your day. You save money on stamps and other paper materials. Numerous providers will actually provide small discounts for customers who pay online regularly. And paying certain vendors early can even help you build your small business credit score!

Use Fewer Suppliers

While we’re talking about vendors, tightening up your supply chain can actually help you reap savings, too. By throwing more business at a smaller number of suppliers, you can not only simplify your operations, but potentially secure discounts.

Go Paperless!

At this point, most businesses have had to “go digital” to at least some extent in 2020. But you might be able to do to take your operations digital, and thus, there might still be more room to enjoy savings on everything from paper and ink to equipment maintenance.

Let Apps Help You Manage

You’d be amazed at how much software and applications can take off a small business owner’s plate — and for how little cost.

For instance, you can access online-based inventory management services via the Delivrd app. And you can even enjoy some basic services for free. You can organize your team via apps like Teamdeck, connect with them via Slack and manage customer loyalty via programs like Belly.

Use Accounting Software

You can even use accounting apps to help you with your small business’s dollars and cents. These accounting software programs, for instance, allow you to do anything from creating business reports and invoices to keeping track of employee hours and mileage.

Outsourcing

You can even “streamline up” — that’s choosing the most efficient option first rather than needing to slim back later.

One great example of that is using an outsourced CFO as your company grows to the point where you need more accounting help but aren’t quite ready to bring on a full-time chief financial officer. How do you know if this is right for you? If you have a few hours a week of accounting duties, that’s probably more than you can afford to take on yourself (especially if accounting isn’t your forte), but it’s also too little to justify an entire position.

McManamon & Co. is a full-service accounting, tax, fraud, forensic and consulting firm that can help small and midsized businesses with many of the aforementioned streamlining steps. So if you do think you need to streamline your small business, don’t delay. Call McManamon & Co. at 440.892.8900 or contact us online.

Tags:  accounting, consulting, financing, McManamon, McManamon & Co., outsourced CFO, paperless office, small business, small business accounting, small business finances | Posted in accounting, McManamon & Co., outsourced CFO, paperless office, small business