Spring Cleaning For Your Small Business: 3 Tips To Improve Efficiency This Season

Birds are singing, temperatures are rising and spring is in the air. Now is the perfect time for a little spring cleaning. While running a dustcloth over your desk won’t help your bottom line; these three simple spring cleaning tips for your small business can keep you running at peak productivity all year long.

1. Website refresh

Take the time to audit your website page by page and recruit a few friends to do the same. Of course you want to immediately correct any functionality errors and fix any typos but a thorough audit takes a broader view and looks for ways to improve the customer experience:

• Add new products or services and delete any that are outdated or no longer available

• Update photos with fresh, high-quality images

• Ensure all pricing is current and accurate

• Incorporate recent customer reviews and testimonials into your content

• Check how your site displays on a variety of desktop and mobile devices

• Investigate new platforms, programs and plug-ins to enhance the user experience for customers and visitors to your site

• Consult with a designer on ways to make the site cleaner, more visually appealing and easier to navigate

2. Digital decluttering

Now is the time to tackle all those piles of paper, boxes of files and overflowing cabinets you’ve been ignoring. Invest in a high performance scanning system and take the time to build an effective system for document storage and archiving now; doing so will pay off in security and efficiency for years to come. Choose your scanning system wisely. The Ambir nScan 915i network scanner, for example, is engineered to handle multiple users with ease. The compact, standalone unit connects to your network wirelessly with no cable or computer required, and scans directly to your email, network, device or the cloud.

• Take advantage of cloud technology to build a secure document archive that is available anywhere, any time.

• Divide all your paper files into two groups: store or toss. Be realistic and ruthless

• Shred all discarded documents for secure disposal and easy recycling

• Set up a simple cloud-based digital file system and scan all the remaining documents directly to the appropriate file

• Once the documents are scanned and stored, there is no need to keep hard copies; simply shred, recycle and marvel at how much space your office suddenly has!

3. Contact list clean-up

Your communication is only as strong as your contact list. If you’re using outdated lists then you are simply wasting your time. Building a better database from the ground up will help build your business so consider investing in a comprehensive customer relationship management (CRM) program such as Nimble. Far more than just contact lists, CRM programs help you manage your contacts, automate sales and marketing functions, capture business intelligence about prospects and competitors, and track social media conversations and engagement.

• Purge all databases of outdated or irrelevant information

• Consolidate all your fragmented contact lists, databases, spreadsheets and business cards into one central database or CRM platform

• Capture the information your team needs to drive sales: demographics, social profiles, buying patterns and more

• Track message opens and clicks to determine if your message is reaching the right people

• Monitor key contacts’ social media profiles to identify emerging trends or potential issues