7 Acuity approved small business efficiency tips

Create a business plan

No business (seriously – none) can run efficiently, or at all in the long-term, without a solid business plan.

Without a business plan you can’t create an effective strategy for growth, and therefore can’t…

• make informed and strategic decisions for your business’ direction as it grows;
• make decisions on spending and finances, particularly for the long term;
• or attract investors or lenders for funding – in some instances, you may even struggle to grow your internal team due to a lack of vision for your business.

A business plan is your vital first step to business efficiency.

Chase outstanding payments

Balancing your books can be tricky, whether you’re a start-up or a steadily growing small business.

To ensure your business’ cash flow remains steady, you are likely to come across some situations where you’ll need to chase a customer or client for payment.

While this can be an awkward experience, it is very important. However, you also need to know when to chase.

For example, your payment terms are 30 days. One of your customers received their invoice 30 days ago, and you haven’t yet seen the funds come in.

While it may be tempting to get straight on the phone, you don’t want to be too pushy. After all, you want to make sure your customers will come back.

Wait two to three days before sending a first reminder, and make sure you send it to the right email address. Follow it up the next day with a phone call (again, making sure you’re contacting the right person) to check they’ve received your email.

Being firm but not too pushy will mean your client is more likely to pay quickly, remember your consideration when the next invoice comes through, and pay it on time.

Monitor and control stock

By monitoring and controlling your stock, you’ll know exactly what you have available at any time.

Paired with tracking your sales, you’ll know what’s selling and how quickly, allowing you to make efficient, informed decisions about ordering more stock and managing your entire supply chain.

Focus on the future

There’s no denying that reviewing and analysing your business’ past performance is vital to your overall strategy.

However, if you only ever look back, you won’t get very far.

The business landscape is changing so rapidly that we have no option than to plan for the distant future as well as our business’ immediate plans.

Make sure your business is future-ready by starting your digitalisation journey and consider taking your software to the cloud if you haven’t already.