Every year about this time (often during or after spring break) we spend some of our weekends doing spring cleaning at home. Whether it’s the basement, the closets, some yardwork or the garage, it always leaves us with a sense of accomplishment. Well, we can do the same thing for our businesses too.
To help you get started, here are my Top 5 ideas for spring cleaning your business.
The Basement/Closets
If your business carries inventory, it’s probably stored in the equivalent of your basement and closets. Now is the time to review your current levels. What old or obsolete inventory are you carrying – what can you sell to make room for new stock? Do you need to reorganize your inventory storage area to make it easier to find the most commonly used/sold products/materials? Clean the storage area, clean up the books, free up dead money (old slow/not moving inventory).
Yardwork
Your Inbox is your office’s backyard, all cluttered up with leaves and twigs and a winter’s worth of whatever. Go through your email Inbox and clean out those 100s of emails that are clogging things up and making it harder to find the important emails. Is it time to unsubscribe from the dozens of newsletters and daily quotes that you no longer read? Have your team do the same – less junk email, fewer missed important emails.
The Garage
has your office become garage-like, with various items you have “collected” over the last 6 months just hanging around, out-of-place, or just waiting to be discarded? It’s time to freshen up – whether you see customers in your office (or are about to start doing so), or if you only have your team in your office, now is a good time for a deep clean. If you see clients, what do you want them to see when they walk up to and into your business? What kind of environment do you want your team members to work in? If you are like me, the past 12 months have resulted in piles where piles never existed before. Now is a great time to go through them.
Your Calendar
Take a look at how you’ve been spending your time vs how you SHOULD be spending your time and make the adjustments on your default calendar. Remove the non-value-added activities (clutter) and make room for more value-added meetings and activities.
Your Offerings and Marketing
Are your products or services up to date with the needs of the market? Are your website, social media and other marketing media up to date? What might need a refresh? How are you sharing information about what you do with your public? Is it timely and in line with their current situation?
If you need help taking a fresh look at your business and identifying what cleaning needs to happen, let our team help you. You can schedule your FREE 30 Minute Spring Cleaning Review. One of our coaches will walk you through the process of taking an outside look at the inside of your business.
Author: Mark McNulty, Business Coach in Louisville, KY