Time spent with clients is some of the most valuable time of the day for growing entrepreneurs. To understand the goals and challenges of each client, a business owner must be able to dig in and give that client his full attention. According to a U.S Chamber of Commerce Small Business Index report released in 2017, nearly 30% of small business owners are working more hours now than they were at the same time the previous year, while only six percent say they are spending less time at work. The survey also found that entrepreneurs across the country feel they don’t have enough time to achieve all their tasks during the day.
So, how do American small business owners get to a point where they can dedicate more time to serving clients and growing their organizations?
Find your sweet spot. If you feel there isn’t enough time in your day to reach your goals, start by taking a high-level look at your daily schedule. Do your meetings regularly run over the time limit, pushing back the rest of the day? Do you start your day early enough to allow prep time for your first task? Are you scheduling strategy time or do pop-up meetings regularly throw off your to-do list? Planning out your schedule from wake to sleep can help you identify where you regularly have extra time and where you are losing time throughout the day.
Get organized. Business owners are required to wear many hats. During the chaos of the day, important tasks can be lost to disorganization. Make sure that client contact information is easy to find and that your filing system meets your needs. Align your support services and your processes with your organization’s long-term goals. Having the right technology and the right back-office systems in place will enhance your productivity, reduce duplication in your workflows, and reduce time spent on manual processes.
Keep your goals front and center. The most successful business leaders always prioritize tasks that further their goals. During the course of a busy day, some to-dos will fall off the list. To ensure your business moves forward, you need to relate as many of your daily tasks as possible to your long-term goals. Dedicating time and resources to work that does not align with your business plan wastes your resources, your time, and your energy.
Stick to a schedule. We all know that opportunities and setbacks happen on any given day. We can start the day with the best of intentions and end up putting out fires we never saw coming. Maintaining a schedule can help you make the most of your time and move more effectively through your to-dos. To maximize the organization of your daily routine, try to keep ‘like’ tasks together. For example, if you need to dedicate time to cold calling on potential clients, put together a call list in advance and block an afternoon. This will help you gain efficiencies in your task and prevent you from making disorganized, one-off calls at random times during the day.
Bring in the big guns. While getting organized sounds like something anyone can accomplish, many business leaders are too far in the weeds to help drive real change in their daily processes. Partnering with a business strategist and consultant can bring expertise into your business that allows you to improve your strategic goals, align your internal processes, get your team onboard with your long-term goals, and identify more time in your day for client service.
Brittany & Co. not only helps you find your sweet spot but we also help you get your entire business operations organized, we help you set goals and we keep you accountable to a schedule. Let’s hop on a quick call and see if we are a good fit! Find a time to chat with your organization expert HERE!
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