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New business owners have a lot on their plate. Between managing a new business, building a team of employees and spreading the word to potential customers, it can be easy to forget the importance of proper business practices. The key to a successful business is smart business practices. Smart practices for business can be anything that saves money, promotes the company (like using these expert social media tips), or helps to achieve some other goal. While you are busy focusing on the what or why of your company, smart business practices are how you can make it all happen. If you want to help your business succeed by enforcing better business practices, keep reading below.
Go Paperless
Going paperless is one smart practice that has grown in popularity over the past few years. This green method of communication eliminates physical files, bills and other unnecessary paper use. However, this practice is not only good for the environment. It is good for your business, too. By going paperless, you can cut costs on ink, printers and paper. Additionally, many other companies, such as your electrical or phone lines, may provide a discount to paperless users. If that is not enough of an incentive to enforce this smart business practice, consider the ease of having a virtual database of information rather than clunky file cabinets.
Update Your Tech
In conjunction with going paperless, it is also important that you keep your technology up to date. This smart business practice often goes ignored by many new or struggling companies. Computers and new software are expensive. However, updated technology can be a morale booster for employees. Working on tired, old desktops can be a nightmare. It can even hurt operation of your quality management system. Providing your employees with new technology to work with can help to increase productivity, and it will show that you are putting an investment into your business. And that is always smart business.
Set SMART Goals
If you want to practice smart business, you need to set SMART goals. SMART goals are goes that are
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Time-Based
Make sure that every goal or objective you set for business is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time based. Setting SMART goals will certainly help you practice smart business.
Accountability
Accountability is one practice for business that can be carried out in a variety of ways. No matter how you choose to enforce it, keeping yourself and your employees accountable for the work you all do is essential to running a successful company. Record keeping and time management are two easy ways in which you can utilize this. Having a log of when and what your employees are doing will help to foster a more efficient and honest work place, which will lead to improved employee advocacy as well. This is one of the best business practices.
Have A Process
Another important way to run a smart business is by developing a process for each position. Whether you are in the process of hiring new employees or vetting current ones, it is important to provide them with a guideline for how their job should be done. You can work with current employees or develop the process yourself. No matter what you choose, be sure to outline the expectations and requirements for each job. This will help to improve accountability and it will provide your employees with a reference point to follow for all tasks and assignments.
Smart business practices are an important part of creating a successful business. Now is the time to begin implementing some of these methods and rules. Let us know what other business practices improve your operations in the comments below.
Photo from http://www.gearfuse.com/how-your-business-can-benefit-from-smart-business-internet/
