The New Year is well underway and as many of you are working on your plans for your business this year don’t forget about focusing on what actually brings in income. Years ago I was told by a very wise person to determine the cost of my time and look at the activities I was performing to decide if they were worth the amount I was “spending”. Sometimes the activities should be delegated to someone in the company who is being paid a salary appropriate for the task. Other times the activity isn’t worth anyone’s time and should just be shelved or discontinued altogether.
Some of the programs you implemented over the years may be taking much of your time but not actually improving your bottom line. This is a great time to assess these programs and determine if a change is in order. Take a hard look at your return on investment and categorize your programs into a few categories: Revenue generators, loss leaders, and dead weight. The first two categories are part of doing business and improve your bottom line but dead weight is just that and may actually be costing you money!
Don’t forget about all of the tasks you perform throughout the day: emails, voicemails, written correspondence, tracking spreadsheets, updating your website, etc. These may be necessary for the success of your business but could these be managed by someone else in your company? When you are performing these tasks you may be losing sight of money making opportunities. Your time may be more valuable spent on acquiring new business, creating new programs or marketing.
This month the Lunch and Learn, on February 23rd, is presented by O.A.R Solutions who will be teaching us about tools to work smarter, not harder. More specifically this event will teach you about SEO tools (search engine optimization), promoting your business on Facebook and twitter. I recommend that you come learn about these tools and bring someone in your organization who may be managing these tasks. Chamber members and non-members are welcome to attend this event.
I look forward to seeing you this month at our Membership Luncheon and at the Lunch & Learn.
Have a great month!
Karen
Added on 02/10/2011
Filed Under
President's Message by Chamber blog
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