Costco Connection - September 2012

1. Identify one time-consuming task you could outsource or delegate. Use the free hours to work on your business.

2. Ask a stranger to look at your website, shop, product or service and tell you honestly what he or she thinks.

3. Do one thing to increase your visibility in social media communities related to your business: tweet, blog or comment on industry discussion forums.

4. Ask a friend or business associate to act as a sounding board. A mentor can offer perspective and motivation that you can’t always achieve on your own.

Step away this year

1. Outsource, delegate. “Look at your organizational structure in a chart,” says Paul Meades of Meades & Company. “If you don’t have one, imagine one. Think of each business function or process having a box on that chart—e.g., sales, customer service, fulfilment, production. How many of the boxes on the chart are you regularly involved in? Think about how you can get out of those boxes you don’t want or need to be in—by outsourcing, delegating or recruiting.”

2. Focus on current frustrations.

Which areas are presenting the most time-consuming, disruptive or expensive problems in the business, and why? Are you getting complaints about service or quality? Does a supplier keep letting you down?

Have customers been defecting to a new competitor in the area? Get to the root cause of the problem and find ways to address it.

3. Look at your figures. Take your spreadsheets or your ledgers. Identify which activities, products or customers are earning you money. Are you taking a loss on some contracts or products? Can you drop them? Can you adjust your prices or raise your hourly rate? Consider value-added services you can offer to raise your hourly rate; bundle products to improve cross-sales and value per transaction. A good accountant should be able to help you do this.

4. Set targets. Decide where your business is going in five or 10 years’ time. Put figures on your plans: How much money will you earn, how many employees will you have, how many branches will you have, what products and services will you offer? Use this as a guide for strategic planning and identifying changes required to move in the new direction.—RG

or expensive problems in the

The Costco Connection Costco offers a variety of small-business services, including online payroll processing. For the complete list, see Costco.com and click on “Services” and “Business Services.”

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