Small-business owners work hard. They wear lots of hats including accountant, lead salesperson, human resources manager, marketing coordinator, chief mechanic, truck driver and simply boots-on-the ground laborer. If you are nodding your head and mentally adding even more titles to that list, you may be a bit defensive about this column’s headline. How dare I call you lazy when you’re working 12-hour days! Would it help if I admitted I’m probably hurting my business by being lazy about some things too?
If late fall and winter are your slower seasons, this is a good time to assess your business practices and do some tasks you have let slide. Taking action could eventually save you time because you won’t have to spend the time cleaning up the messes being lazy can cause. Take “fire chief” as in “one who is constantly putting out fires” off of the list of hats that you wear by giving up these lazy behaviors:
Lazy Behavior No. 1: Not looking at your books
It doesn’t matter how busy you are, if you’re not collecting from your customers, you can’t pay your bills and your business is in trouble. Cash flow is crucial, so don’t just assume the business is doing OK because the trucks are out every day. You need to spend time looking at the books or talking to your accountant. Tweaks in how promptly you bill or when your payments to vendors are due can make a big difference in cash flow.
Lazy Behavior No. 2: Neglecting your customers
It’s easier to keep existing customers than to find new customers, so don’t take your regulars for granted. Check in on them. Ask how your team is doing and if there are any ways you could serve them better. Let them know about new specials, products or services you’ve added.
Lazy Behavior No. 3: Never changing your passwords
Every couple of months we hear of some major company’s data being hacked. Keep your personal and company data safe by changing passwords frequently, especially on banking and credit card sites. Don’t be lazy and use the same old easy-to-remember password for everything. Create longer, safer passwords incorporating numbers, letters and symbols.
Lazy Behavior No. 4: Not taking the time to produce a quality photo of yourself
Everybody’s taking selfies with their smartphones these days, but a quick snap taken in your car with your phone is not a suitable photo of yourself for business purposes. Call a professional photographer and have a new headshot taken (it’s not that expensive and it doesn’t take much time). Then any time your company does something noteworthy you can provide the local newspaper with a headshot to go with the press release. It also looks better on your website and social media sites if you include a dignified and high-quality photo of yourself. It sends the message that yours is a top-notch professional company.
Lazy Behavior No. 5: Never posting to your social media sites
If you set up a Facebook or Twitter account for your business, started a blog or have a LinkedIn account and after a few posts started to ignore it, people might think you’ve gone out of business. Keeping the content of your social media sites fresh will also put your business closer to the top of Google searches. And promptly responding to any comments or reviews – positive or negative – shows customer service is a priority for your company.
Lazy Behavior No. 6: Not backing up your files adequately
What if your computer system crashed, there was a fire in your office or your laptop was stolen? Are your files backed up to an external hard drive stored off premises or saved on the cloud? And do you back up your files frequently enough? Setting up a reliable backup system and taking time to test it could turn a future catastrophe into a mere bump in the road.
Lazy Behavior No. 7: Never acknowledging a job well done
If employees do a great job – going above and beyond their job descriptions – do you take time to thank or reward them? An occasional pat on the back goes a long way toward employee retention and winning company morale and it doesn’t take much time.
Lazy Behavior No. 8: Not training your employees properly
When you’ve got new employees, new equipment or a new client, take the time to train. Safety, as well as customer satisfaction, can be at risk if staff doesn’t know what they are doing. Sink or swim is not a wise training philosophy.
Lazy Behavior No. 9: Never checking references when hiring
You need someone on the job yesterday and calling references will just waste time. Besides, if an applicant provided a reference, surely that person will only have good things to say, right? Yes, it may delay the hiring process, but it is worth calling to make sure the references are legitimate and do indeed have positive things to say. Sometimes people can’t refuse when someone asks to use them as a reference, but you can infer from a conversation that they are less than thrilled with the person’s past performance. Taking more time in the hiring process saves a myriad of headaches associated with hiring the wrong person.
Lazy Behavior No. 10: Never actually talking to people on the phone
Yes, we live in an age of text messages, voicemails and emails, but when you’re making sales calls especially, just leaving a message won’t do. You’ve got to connect and actually talk to another human being to hear what their needs are and make an effective pitch. Calling back until you actually reach a person shows your company believes in the personal touch.
Finding An Edge
You probably aren’t remiss in all these areas, but every small-business operator is probably lacking in a few. Take the extra time to do things right, and you’ll save work and frustration in the long run, leaving you more time to actually be lazy … in a hammock, on vacation, with an umbrella drink in your hand. Oh, who am I kidding? You’ll always be too busy … but you’ll be working smarter and your business will be more secure.
