It’s that time of year again. The snow has melted and the air has warmed, but your business is still stuck in winter-mode. No matter how young or old your business is, there’s no better time than the present to make changes that will benefit you, your employees, and your customers for the rest of the year. If you’re looking for ways to save your business money, or perhaps make it run more efficiently, take a look at these six spring cleaning strategies that will refresh how your company functions so you can continue to make better business decisions for the future.
1. Update Company Software
If your company uses any software to keep track of finances, productivity, or other company information, it’s pertinent for your business’s success to make sure the software is still efficient and relevant to where your company is, as well as where it’s headed. If you’re a young start-up, you may have outgrown your old systems in the past year with new hires and clients.
2. Take Time to Assess Employees
Employers should take time to assess their employers, no matter what time of year it is. One of the biggest spring cleaning strategies to save money is to go over your employees to see who needs to go, who deserves a promotion, and how positions should change. You should evaluate employees quarterly, so spring is the perfect time to follow up on suggestions from the end of year review.
3. Prepare for Next Year’s Tax Season Now
To avoid frustration and confusion next spring, why not get all of your tax stuff together now? Create a file specifically for items you need to save for filing next April 15. What did you wish you had easily accessible this year? It may seem like an unnecessary pain now, but you’ll be relieved to have all of your information in place when the time comes. The sooner you organize your business’ invoices and create long-term systems to keep finances organized, the better off your company will be.
4. Improve Overall Communication
Communication is one of the biggest concerns for businesses of any size and age. While spring cleaning your procedures, consider your business’ communication methods.
- How is communication between the company and its clients?
- How is communication between management and their employees?
- How is interdepartmental communication?
These are all aspects of the company you should consider when moving forward with the second half of the year. If you find that there are any issues with communication, consider making changes and rebooting strategies to make sure that everyone is on the same page.
5. Purge and Organize
This strategy is the most literal spring cleaning strategy. Just as you would when spring cleaning your home, get rid of everything you don’t need, is outdated, doesn’t serve a purpose, or wastes money. Think of purging and organizing as a fresh start for your business. Organize important documents, shred what’s not needed, move desks around, redecorate, and minimize.
6. Purge and Organize…Again
While you’ve gone through the physical aspects of your business, it’s also important to go through your social media pages, your email accounts, and the company website. One of the most important aspects of your business — oftentimes what people associate with your business before anything else — is your website. Regardless of what your business is, it’s important to make sure your website is up-to-date, offers good information, accurate inventory, correct pricing, and anything else relevant to what your company is all about. Make sure the company Facebook page doesn’t still have the timeline photo from the holidays and is actively communicating with customers and potential customers alike. Repeat this with all of your social media channels.
No matter what your business offers, consider making these changes that will benefit your company in the long run. Whether you are making drastic changes with employees, changing software, improving communication, or physically cleaning and throwing things away, you will feel better for making these changes for your company and be ready to face anything that comes your way.