Posted on
July 03, 2009 by
ProGrad
Article taken from Sydney Morning Herald: 01/07/09
“When it comes to small business, there are three words that can make all the difference.
As a small business entrepreneur, you can often convince yourself that you need to do everything. And if you’re a control freak who can’t let go, you can end up with way too much on your plate. But instead of resigning yourself to the idea that it’s the small business owner’s lot in life to do everything – including taking out the rubbish – it could be time for a new mantra. Delegate, automate or delete.
Delegate
If you are new in business, you might think that you aren’t yet big enough to justify delegate. That might be true but remember that delegating does not mean you need a full-time staff member. You might have a casual person to help you with administration. You might have an bookkeeper that comes in once a month to do your accounts. Or you might have a virtual assistant to help you make calls and do research.
The beauty about these options is that you only have to pay for the hours you use. So you don’t have a fixed overhead that you have to feed each month. When you are deciding whether to delegate, compile a list of tasks that someone else could do – that could be anything from creating spreadsheets to vacuuming the shop floor. Identify the number of hours spent on these tasks and determine whether your time could be better spent generating revenue for those hours. If the revenue you can generate is much greater that the cost of delegating, go for it. You need to free yourself up from non-revenue generating work so that you can bring in the dollars.
Remember that delegating doesn’t stop there. Consider delegate your domestic duties too. If your time could be better spent generating revenue rather than queuing up at Coles, changing the kitty litter, or mopping your balcony, maybe it’s time to think about delegating your domestic tasks too.
Automate
If there’s anything you can automate, do it. Go through your business with a fine tooth comb and see where you can automate. The process of identifying then implementing the automation can be slow and painful, but it will be worth it in the end. I run a couple of training centres and enrolments used to be taken manually – either by phone, fax or email. Once the enrolment came in, we had to manually reply a confirmation to each person.
While this was fine when we started out some years ago, it soon grew into a time-sucking process. Since we have automated the system, it has saved hours of administration each day.
Remember that even though you should automate, that doesn’t mean you should take the human element out of the transaction altogether. Always be available to customers who want to speak to a real person. Some business owners get too excited about the idea of automating (thinking they never have to speak to customers again) that they no longer include a phone number on their websites. This is a big mistake. While there are some customers who are happy to use your automated process, there are many customers who still want the human touch.
Delete
In some cases, you may just need to delete. Perhaps you receive countless enquiries from people all asking the same question. Perhaps you have prospective suppliers knocking on your door every second day trying to get your business. In these cases, I’m not suggesting that you ignore them totally. But maybe you could create a form letter or series of FAQs that your assistant can use in replying to them.
You know that piece of paper that’s been sitting on your desk for the past two months? The one you’ve been meaning to read? If you haven’t read it already, chuck it in the bin. Deleting is about getting rid of clutter to clear your intray and reduce your to-do list. Be ruthless.
Delegate, automate and delete. Three words that can transform the way do you business.
Source: 01/07/09, Three Words That Can Transform Your Business, www.smh.com.au
