Spring has finally started and everyone is coming out of the winter hibernation. So, while you are looking at spring cleaning and enjoying getting motivated with the warmer months why not extend this into your business?
Just like any home a business can also benefit from a clean out and tidy up. Here are just a few ways a business spring clean can benefit your business.
A Business Spring clean:
Update your CRM–
CRM’s are a goldmine of past, current and future clients. But if they are not maintained they become a waste of time. How many times have you spent the time going through your database and updating all the information, used the CRM actively for a couple of months only to get too busy and put it to the side for a week which quick turns into a month and before you know it the CRM tasks are exploding with overdue dates and your data is quickly going out of control again? We all have this problem me included! CRM programs are designed to hold our client’s information and prompted us when we need to contact them next to keep clients returning for our services. But once this is behind CRM become overwhelming and often get put to the side simply because we don’t feel ready to deal with such a large mess. BUT the sooner you act out the overdue tasks and out of date data the sooner 2 things will happen, 1. Clients will start coming back and referrals will start again and 2. The CRM will start functioning again without growing into an even bigger mess!
Updating a CRM is something you can do in-house, or it is something that you can get assistance with. Adminlink Plus specialises in assisting clients spring clean their CRM’s and maintain the relationships with their contacts. If your CRM feels out of control let me know and we can discuss how we can assist you.
Set your goals for the rest of the year –
While most people think of goal setting as something to look at the beginning of the year, or at the beginning of the new financial year. But October is a great time to look at planning for the next year ahead. By looking at your goals for 2019 now you are giving yourself 3 months of prep time to be ready to start the year. When everyone else is still in prep mode for the new year you are already 3 months ahead of the game!
Update your Website –
With the ever-changing internet and social media, websites can become outdated very quickly! Have a little look around your competitors’ sites and compare to yours, make a list of what stands out on their websites and what you might need to update on you own. Doing a complete upgrade of a website can be expensive and is often put off for this reason, but most the time it is not so much an upgrade that is needed, but more an update of text and layout of information that can make a difference.
Social Media is the same, don’t forget that is needs constant content added to be relevant. There are several options available to assist to make this easier. You can import and schedule posts for weeks in advance to be more time effective. Tools such as Hootsuite are great to assist with this!
Clear out old projects–
It’s easy to get caught up in a great idea only to get half way through and find that you don’t have the time or resources to finish it. Maybe you started putting together a new marketing campaign and got distracted with the day to day running of your business and never got it off the ground? Or maybe you started looking at upgrading your equipment and didn’t quite find what you were looking for so it got put to the side? No matter what the project was now is a great time to spend 5 min looking at where you were up to and decide on what to do moving forward. Ask yourself 2 questions. 1. Is the project still relevant? 2. Am I still interested in pursuing this project? If you answer no to either of these throw it out. Clear the space of relevant, interesting projects instead of being stuck in something that you are never going to move forward with. If you answer yes to these questions than it is time to move forward. Look at the next 3 months as the time to get this project setup and ready to roll out with the new year!
While you are at it, clear out your office –
Have a look at the space around you. I personally do not function well if my desk has ‘stuff’ on it. I get distracted way too easy. Go through your office space and put things away, throw out materials that you no longer need and clean your desk. Starting the day with a clean desk will lead to a much higher level of productivity. Oh, and while you are at it, don’t forget your computer! Clear out old files you no longer need. Put saved documents into a file system that will be easy to navigate when you are looking for something in 6 months-time. Don’t forget to clean your keyboard and mouse to keep them working!
So, after the spring clean is done, and your business is ready to tackle the next projects you have planned now is the time to set the motivation into action!
Plan how you are going to achieve your goals–
It’s all well and good to have set some goals, but for the moment they are just dreams, you need to have a plan of action to turn them into reality. Setting the goals is the easy bit, but when you look at a task it can quickly become overwhelming. With not knowing where to start they get put to the side and suddenly all the time spent spring cleaning becomes wasted and the need for a ‘Summer clean’ is fast approaching.
But this does not need to be the case. Have a look at the first goal you have set, make a list of the steps that you need to complete to achieve the goal. Break the steps right down so that each step becomes a mini goal in itself, suddenly a large overwhelming goal does not seem so scary. But the biggest key to achieving the goal is to set deadlines for each of your mini goals. Every time you complete a mini goal you are moving one step closer to the overall goal.
Adminlink Plus assists our clients with all these Spring-cleaning processes and can maintain them all year round. If you would like to find out more please contact us on 0414 753 082.
We are also offering a Spring Special for the Month of October with CRM updating and maintenance. Use the code ‘Spring Clean’ when you book with us to receive $50 off your initial invoice.
Happy Spring cleaning!