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Review The Positions In Your Business

Posted by Linnea Blair on

09/09/2005

The positions in most small to medium businesses have evolved into their present form rather than having been created with specific objectives and duties. This means that the roles of team members often overlap or don’t incorporate everything the person could be doing. A thorough review of each position will clarify these vital details and put your business in a position to run more efficiently. The review should be done in conjunction with the person in the position so that both of you gain a clearer understanding of the role and its responsibilities.

Tasks of the position

Begin by making a simple list of all tasks each employee does – ‘answer telephones’, ‘purchase stationery’, ‘collect mail’ and so on. For each task list the outcomes that the work is to accomplish. Be as comprehensive as possible and ask why each task contributes to the functioning of the business. ‘Answering telephones’ makes a contribution to sales, to accounts, to public relations and frees up managers to spend their time more effectively. Then create a brief outline about how each task is performed:

Is it performed manually or with the use of equipment?
Is it performed independently or with the assistance of someone else in the office?
Is it required to be performed at specific times of the day?
How much time does it take each time the task is performed?
What skills are required for completing the task?

Priority of each task

Assign each task a level of importance according to its contribution to the business. Use only three classifications:

Essential – the business will not survive unless this task is done
Valuable – contributes to the functioning of the business but not essential to its survival
Nonessential – if the task was not performed it would have no effect on the business

This requires some sensitivity to people’s feelings as everyone thinks that what they do is important. Duties such as picking up the owner’s dry cleaning or collecting money for a weekly lottery entry may be part of somebody’s responsibilities but contribute nothing to the business.

Document the essential tasks

Prepare a ‘how to’ step-by-step manual for performing each essential task in the business. As you do this, go through every step and ask whether this is the best way to do it or if there is a way to improve it. If the person now performing a task leaves the business it will be much simpler to bring a new person up to speed because you’ll have a written procedure they can follow.

Examine the valuable tasks

Tasks that are considered valuable deserve closer examination. Each should be analyzed to answer the following questions:

Should this function be performed by someone else in the business?
Are the outcomes of the task the same as another task that is being performed?
Is the task being performed at the optimum time of day?
Is the equipment being used appropriate for the task?
If the task is performed with others, are you using the best combination of team members?
Is too much time being spent on the task?

There are a number of tasks that are valuable to a business but could be handled in a way that adds more value. If the person doing the task is struggling then consider training them up or reassigning the task; or perhaps they’re being performed inefficiently because the wrong equipment is being used; or maybe they are just being done in a way that consumes too much time.

Eliminate the nonessential tasks

The final step in your review is to eliminate any nonessential tasks. This will free up team members’ time for better performance of their other duties and for new tasks that may have been put aside because there wasn’t time for them.

Information in this article is sourced from RAN ONE, Inc

Categories : Business Operations, Employees, Human Resources

Tags : Employees, Human Resources, Project Management

Profit From A Niche Market

Posted by Linnea Blair on

09/09/2005

Operating in a niche can be very cost effective as well as enabling your business to become a leading player in its field. A niche market lets you target your sales messages with greater precision; the more specifically you define your niche the easier it is to cater to the shared interests and needs of the people or businesses in that market. A great example of niche marketing comes from an entrepreneur by the name of Frank Kern. He markets a product for parrot owners that he guarantees will teach their parrots to talk within 30 days. This one product nets him an estimated $20,000 per year and is just one of fifty niche marketing sites he’s in the process of setting up.

What is a niche market?

A niche market is a group of people or businesses that can be described as:

Sharing the same interests and requirements
Having a need or desire for your products
Sharing the same communications channels
Large enough to produce a profitable volume for your business
Not presently being targeted by a large number of your competitors

You need to find areas where prospective customers’ needs aren’t already fully satisfied. Analyze any other businesses operating in this market area and the quality and features of the products they offer. You then have to create a competitive advantage by offering a value-add that isn’t already available.

Clarify what you’re doing

Estimate just how much time, money and other resources will be required to profit from this niche. Meet with your team and prepare an outline of the project. Identify what is needed to develop the product or service to a marketable stage, what marketing investment it will need, and the timeline for its development and launch.

Create your niche proposition in detail

It would cost a fortune to set up a business that sells all kinds of books online and could compete with Amazon.com. They’ve had ten years to grow into the world’s biggest bookstore and would probably be impossible for a small operator to successfully compete against. But you could profitably cater to a niche of the book retailing market – for example, publications for owners of classic Fords or people interested in the art of silk painting, and succeed because of your specialization. Consider every aspect of the product itself. What’s needed to make it the most attractive option available to your niche and how will it be marketed? Go through everything in detail with your chosen niche in mind; the language you use, the packaging, and how it will be sold are just some of the details that have to be worked through. Be sure that the product is right, the pricing is acceptable and your marketing efforts appeal to your audience before moving ahead.

 Information in this article is sourced from RAN ONE, Inc

Categories : Marketing

Tags : Marketing, Niche Market

A Strategy For Managing Business Bills

Posted by Linnea Blair on

08/08/2005

A business depends on its cash flow to pay its bills. Cash flow can fluctuate greatly in smaller enterprises and there are often times when payments have to be made selectively. This is a strategy to serve as a general guide for paying bills at any time; it is especially useful for times when extra consideration has to be given to which bills are paid and which are delayed.

Prioritize every bill that comes in when it comes in

Maintain a register of all bills that shows their priority ranking, when they have to be paid, and of course whom to pay and how much is owed. Note how they’re to be paid – cash, check or electronic transfer. Set up a system that will enable you to see at a glance the bills due to be paid that day and the priority attached to each one.

Pay the most important bills first

Some creditors are more important than others. Those that are essential to carrying on the business have to be at the top of the pile; this is a list of those that are usually deserving of top priority status:

Business insurance
Business vehicle leases
Governmental authorities – licensing and permits
Income taxes
Key suppliers
Payroll and sales taxes
Rental or mortgage payments on business premises
Utilities – electricity, water, gas, telephones
Wages

Silence isn’t golden

Simply not paying the less essential bills is not the right way to deal with them. It leaves your financial position in doubt and could trigger anything from hostile phone calls to collection action. Contact the creditor and explain that you’ll be late making payment but that payment will be made by a specific date. Raise the priority level of that payment accordingly and be sure you do make it on time. Ask each creditor if you can make partial payments for a period of time until your projected cash flow returns to normal levels. See if there might be some way of reducing or eliminating the debt by providing them with goods or services. If your business experiences seasonal cash flow fluctuations – for example, you generally experience a shortfall during the summer – you can negotiate with suppliers that bills will be paid within thirty days most of the year but within ninety days during the summer.

Meeting a temporary cash flow shortage

To meet a temporary cash flow shortage you may want to use one or more of the following strategies:

Obtain a loan
Arrange for a line of credit from a bank
Accelerate the receipt of receivables due to you
Bring forward a sale or other cash raising activity
Acquire new items of equipment by leasing or other finance means
Liquidate investments to raise cash

 Information in this article is sourced from RAN ONE, Inc

Categories : Financial Management

Tags : Cash Flow, Financial Management

Road Test your Website

Posted by Linnea Blair on

08/08/2005

Most websites work in the way they were intended to work by their programmers, but does that mean your visitors will have the experience you want them to have? You can’t be sure unless you give it a thorough road test in real life conditions. Road testing a website doesn’t have to be expensive, nor does it need to be conducted by highly specialized researchers. You can do it yourself and find out quickly where any problems exist. Here’s a seven step process that you can use.

1. Identify the functions that visitors want. Ask yourself this question: “Why would someone visit my website?” There are many possible reasons why people might visit your website and you need to prepare a list of every one of them.

2. How will people get what they want? When you know what people want from your website you then have to work out how they’ll get it. Prepare an outline for each kind of function that your site now offers that shows step-by-step how it can be done. Later you’ll compare this with test results and see if this is really the best way to do it.

3. Select your road testers. You will need between five and ten people for your road testing. Although anybody can road test your site for functionality the best results will be obtained if you recruit a group from your current customers who are likely to be representative of those who will visit your website in terms of characteristics like age, product preferences and economic circumstances.

4. Set up your road testing facility. The testing facility doesn’t have to be anything fancy. Most people visiting your site will just have a desk with a PC and Internet access so set these up in a quiet location where the road testers won’t be interrupted. You’ll need enough room for your road tester and yourself. Each test should take no more than an hour or so.

5. Write the scripts for your testing. Prepare a simple script for every activity you want to test, both for those functions your site now offers and those you think visitors might want it to offer. If you want to see how someone makes a purchase from your site ask them to “…select a product you might want to purchase and buy it from the website.” Have a script for each activity that is based on functionality only – don’t give them any how-to instructions.

6. Conduct the road tests. Tell the road testers in brief what the test is all about and what you hope to accomplish. Encourage them to say whatever they want to say about your website, both good and bad. You want to see what works and what doesn’t. Go through all the scripts relating to existing functions first and see how each participant handles each function. Don’t help them do anything; if something isn’t easy to do you need to know about it. Note in detail every step in their actions, even if you know what they’re doing won’t give them the desired result. When the existing functions are completed take them through the functions that you think might be wanted. First find out if they want that function to be available, and then ask them how they think it would be delivered. Get them to take you through a process of using that functionality – how they ‘see’ it being done.

7. Analyze your road test outcomes. Review your notes and analyze the test results function by function. Identify which existing functions worked as intended and which need attention. Evaluate the answers you received on functions you think might be wanted and for those that are in demand which is the best procedure to use for delivering them. You need to do this road testing because the real test of a website is just how usable it is. If your website isn’t easy to use it will be quickly abandoned and your prospective customers will go somewhere else where they feel more comfortable.

Information in this article is sourced from RAN ONE, Inc

Categories : Internet Marketing, Marketing

Tags : Internet Marketing, Marketing, Website

Developing Your Team Members’ Basic Skills

Posted by Linnea Blair on

07/15/2005

Employers that provide their team with training are making a commitment to better customer service and to being more competitive in the marketplace as well as encouraging a reduced team turnover rate.

Few businesses are incapable of providing some sort of in-house training to improve skill levels and the improvements in performance that result makes it a highly cost effective investment.

A typical small business’ basic skills training program can incorporate on-the-job instruction of individuals or groups by supervisors and cover practical subjects such as workplace safety and equipment operation. It can also encompass more fundamental topics like reading and writing that at first may not seem work related but actually underlie everyone’s ability to perform their job.

It won’t take a lot of time to develop these programs, nor will it require much in the way of resources. The essence of basic skills training is the sharing of information, letting those with more knowledge communicate what they know to those who will benefit from the exchange.

This type of training is also valuable as part of an induction program for new workers to ensure they have the specific knowledge their work requires. It will give them greater confidence and enable them to be more productive from day one.

Delta Wire, a small manufacturing company in Mississippi, instituted a basic skills training program that enabled workers to record and interpret information on a control chart, and to communicate about that information properly. A year after the program was introduced Delta Wire’s non-conforming material had decreased from 6 or 7 percent to just 2 percent and the firm’s output had increased from 70,000 to 90,000 pounds per week.

Here’s how to introduce a basic skills improvement program in your own organization.

1. Start by analyzing each position in the business and list the specific knowledge and skills that it requires. This will tell you the kind of training you need to provide.

2. Appoint one senior person from your team as the Training Supervisor. Let them be project manager of the training and work with them on structuring the process that will deliver the skills training needed.

3. Identify the members of your team who would make the best instructor for each of the skills on your list. Involve as many other team members as possible in the planning and let them help in developing the content of each ‘course’.

4. You might be able to involve your suppliers or even some of your customers in the process, especially if skills related to equipment or product usage are part of the requirements. Most people are willing to share their knowledge with others if asked to do so.

5. As with all the training you do, be sure you have a way of getting feedback on how effective the training has been. Ask both the instructors and the students to evaluate the training sessions and use their comments to improve the process.

You can get assistance in planning your basic skills training from a variety of sources including local technical and vocational educational institutions, trade associations, unions and government agencies. Investigate these before you begin and you may find that someone else has already done most of the hard work for you.

Information in this article is sourced from RAN ONE, Inc

Categories : Employees, Leadership

Tags : Employee Development, Team Training

Cash Management Pays Dividends

Posted by Linnea Blair on

07/01/2005

Managing cash is one of the most important tasks for any business owner and even if it’s not as glamorous as sales and marketing it is the job that makes sure the bills keep getting paid on time.

The cash position of a business at any time is easy to determine if you know just three figures – the cash in the bank, the cash that’s going to be received by the business, and the cash that has to be paid out.

It sounds simple, and it is, yet it’s amazing how many business owners don’t have a grasp of these three cash measurements. Whether you have a financial officer, or handle the accounts for your business personally, there are things you should be doing to keep on top of your cash position.

Know what’s in the bank at all times Banks can prepare statements at any frequency you request, and online banking is even easier and tells you instantly how much is in your account. Because this is the only source of funds you can instantly draw upon, you should be aware of your bank balance at all times.

Watch your receivables It’s not enough to know how much is owed your business – you also need to know when it’s coming in and if any payments are running overdue. This means ensuring that your debtors know when their payments are due, and having a credit policy that is firmly administered.

Know what you owe The other side of the coin is keeping track of what you owe and when payments have to be made. You might be paying bills too early and could hang onto cash an extra week or two without upsetting suppliers. You also need to be sure you’re taking advantage of any discounts on offer.

Monitor your cash position Just knowing the bulk figures of your bank account, receivables and payables isn’t enough to give you the full picture of your cash position though. You also need to incorporate the dates when receivables will arrive and when payments have to be made. This will help eliminate the possibility of being in a position where you have bills to pay while still nervously waiting for the cash to come in.

There are three other things to do that will help you get more benefit from your cash.

Put spare cash to work If you’re lucky enough to have surplus funds or are building up a strategic cash reserve put this money into a short-term interest bearing account. There’s nothing more wasteful than money just sitting in a non-interest bearing account.

Restrict your banking Don’t have too many accounts, and don’t deal with more than one bank. This makes it easier to know how much cash is on hand and puts you in a more favorable position with a financial institution.

Get expert financial advice Many small businesses have someone who ‘does the books’ and an accountant who sees the accounts once a year for the purpose of preparing a tax return. Unfortunately, this exposes the business to cash flow problems that can arise during the year. At least on a quarterly basis, have your business’ cash flow position analyzed by an accountant who can use their experience to spot developing problems in cash flow before they become too serious.

Cash management is an important responsibility of business ownership. It isn’t all that complicated but it does require regular attention and monitoring using cash flow forecasts.

Information in this article is sourced from RAN ONE, Inc

Categories : Financial Management

Tags : Cash Flow, Financial Management

When Projects Get Out of Control

Posted by Linnea Blair on

06/02/2005

Businesses grow by increasing the amount of work they perform. Unfortunately, this can really create extra problems for a business that doesn’t have the resources to handle the new work – especially a small firm where the workload is already evenly distributed and everyone already has enough to do.

Once you become aware that this sort of situation has developed you have to take immediate action to avoid, among other things, deterioration in your work standards and in your relationship with the team. But no matter whether you recognize the difficulties early or late, there’s a straightforward procedure for addressing the issues and getting workplace relations back to normal.

Call a team meeting

Call a meeting of everyone involved in the project. Give them an outline of where things are up to and any other information you think might be of interest to them. Go ahead and acknowledge the fact that problems are being encountered and that this meeting recognizes that and is about finding a workable solution.

Now ask for a report from each team member about their current workload – not just on the project but for everything else they are responsible for doing as well. Often new work is begun without any consideration of just how much leeway there is among the current team to take it up and incorporate it along with all the things they already do.

This will provide you with some idea of where you will need extra assistance and how much of it.

Ask for suggestions

When you’ve got a clear picture of the situation ask your team members for their suggestions as to how the project’s requirements can be met as well as making sure all the other workload needs are satisfied. There’s probably some catching-up to do and extra support may initially be needed.

Get a consensus on the final decision

You’ve already accepted ownership of the problem so make sure the solution is one that everyone agrees with. Workshop the possible answers to every problem until you get a consensus that the course of action chosen will fix the problems and will be acceptable to all parties concerned.

Act quickly to implement a solution

Whatever temporary additional resources are needed – people, equipment, software – get it in place as fast as possible. Make this your personal priority and be seen to be working hard to fix the problems.

The worst thing you can do when a project of some kind ‘implodes’ on the firm is to let things go on without confronting the situation. When the actions you’ve taken to fix the problems have succeeded and the project has been completed, have a celebration with your team and be sure that the lessons learned aren’t forgotten.

Information in this article is sourced from RAN ONE, Inc.

Categories : Business Operations

Tags : Business Operations, Project Management

10 Mistakes That Can Cost You Your Business

Posted by Linnea Blair on

06/01/2005

Even the smartest small business owner can do dumb things now and then. Unfortunately, some mistakes can kill a company.

Just ask Jeff Seifried, small business coordinator for the City of Aurora, Colo., and Peter Tourtellot, chairman of the Turnaround Management Association.

They, along with other experts who prefer to keep their observations anonymous, have seen the best – and worst – of small-business operations.

Here are 10 examples of common, but potentially deadly, errors committed by otherwise brilliant small- business owners. Don’t make the same mistakes.

Underestimating the importance of cash flow management

Two woodworkers had a thriving business building interiors for retail stores. They did beautiful work and their customers were pleased, but it often took them 60 or even 90 days to pay the bill. Until the money rolled in, the partners couldn’t start on the next job because they couldn’t buy materials. They lost jobs because customers were in a hurry. You can be making plenty of money, but if cash isn’t arriving in time to meet payroll and buy inventory when it’s needed, you can be quickly out of business.

Getting sloppy with recordkeeping

The owner of a lawn service was haphazard about recordkeeping. If he had kept better track of lawns mowed, he would have known that his oldest mowers had so many miles on them, they were unlikely to last the season without an overhaul. Instead, it came as a very unpleasant surprise when three of them burned up in one week. Good records are a key decision-making tool. If you’re not keeping good track of your business, you are denying yourself the tools to make good business decisions.

Ignoring inventory

The owner of a business-supply store bought a flat of construction paper just before school started. Three years later, employees were still stepping around the boxes to get into the storage room. If you end up with stale inventory, discount it and get it out of there. Otherwise, you’re just tying up money and taking up storage space.

Neglecting collections

A dentist had dozens of outstanding bills for routine and special dental work approaching 180 days old because his assistant hated to make collection calls. Nobody likes to dun people, but unless you have a systematic collection plan and make sure it’s carried out, some people just won’t pay.

Disregarding employee concerns

The owner of a small jewelry manufacturing operation refused to pay overtime. He thought workers should be able to get the job done in the time allotted. Employees came and often left unhappy over what they saw as unfair treatment. Finally, one of them complained to the state division of wage and hour, which launched an ugly and (for the jeweler) expensive investigation. If you have a hard time hiring and retaining good employees, your business is doomed. And if you find yourself the target of an employment-related lawsuit, your expenses can be astronomical. Get expert advice on human-resource issues. While it may look expensive, it can save you a bundle in the end.

Failing to delegate

A baker thought she was the only one who could make the perfect cookie. Back trouble that put her in bed two weeks before Christmas nearly shut down the business. Recognize that you can’t do everything. Turn some of the job over to the best assistant you can hire and trust him to do the job, even if he makes a mistake now and then. If you insist on doing it all yourself, you can’t grow.

Offering something the customer doesn’t want

A water ice vendor spent all his time and money developing 100 delicious flavors. The trouble was nobody bought anything but cherry, lemon and vanilla. Ultimately, his inventory melted away and so did his profits. Market research is vital. Talk to potential customers, talk to current customers and respond to what they tell you.

Letting costs get out of control

The owner of an auto body shop was having such a great year, that he bought a lift that wasn’t in his budget. He also hired the son of a an employee who needed a job, even though there wasn’t quite enough work to keep another person busy. In the final analysis, revenue went up significantly, but costs skyrocketed. If you’re not careful, you’ll spend up all the profits.

Spreading marketing dollars too thin

The owner of a Tex-Mex restaurant in a part of the country that’s not exactly a hotbed of enthusiasm for Southwestern cuisine had an obvious need to advertise. And she did. She bought one cable TV ad, one radio spot and a small coupon in the local weekly. Although she spent plenty – several thousand dollars altogether – her efforts didn’t add up to a marketing campaign. Failure to spend wisely on an integrated and continuing marketing plan is an expensive mistake. In this case, her location is now a pizza parlor.

Underfunding an emergency account

When unannounced road resurfacing closed a popular dress shop’s doors for a month, it put the owner out of business because she had no emergency money and she couldn’t go a whole month with virtually no sales. As every gambler knows, no matter how good a player you are, you’re occasionally going to be dealt a bad hand.

Likewise, every business needs a financial resource to turn to when disaster strikes. Bad things do happen frequently to good people and their businesses, so, like a good Boy Scout, you have to be prepared.

© Copyright 2002 Bankrate, Inc. All rights reserved

Categories : Business Operations

Tags : Best Business Practices, Business Mistakes

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Review The Positions In Your Business

Profit From A Niche Market

A Strategy For Managing Business Bills

Road Test your Website

Developing Your Team Members’ Basic Skills

Cash Management Pays Dividends

When Projects Get Out of Control

10 Mistakes That Can Cost You Your Business

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