2023 was a tough year for small and medium sized businesses with 2024 prospects not looking that much brighter. While consumer spending may have inched up slightly, operational costs continue to soar and the labor market continues to tighten which puts a real spotlight on efficiency in the new year. Every process from internal procedures to how new hires are trained should be on the table and looked at for fine tuning potential. Even Individual customer service engagement should be examined closely as maximizing each transaction is essential. Customer driven organizations need to run ‘leaner and meaner’ in 2024 for continued profitability and growth through these ‘uncertain’ economic times.
Looking Inside for Answers
Organizational efficiency can start with internal processes and procedures that could be optimized for faster and more accurate completions. The major advantage for small & medium sized businesses is that they can pivot much faster when identifying a potential time or money saving idea. Retail type organizations should start with how inventory is handled and deployed. Does the current receiving process allow for potential mistakes? Is inventory getting out for sale in the fastest way possible? Documenting the actual process and procedure for inventory can reveal potential vulnerabilities as well as possible time saving methods. Optimizing work schedules may mean putting top performers on during peak or key hours to maximize customer engagement. For contact center managers, having key resources available at the appropriate time is critical to reaching goals in the most efficient manner.
Some other business areas that could be looked at to increase efficiency:
- Is work completed accurately and how is it tracked and followed up on?
- Is training effective and impactful for new hires?
- When it comes to business supplies, is there a system in place to track and control usage?
A detailed internal look at the operational aspects of the business from different perspectives can highlight easily made changes that can help control costs, improve efficiency and most importantly, drive profitability.
Business that Walks Through The Door
Consumer economies are making a slow recovery but instability and undecidedness will remain themes in the near future. Small and medium sized businesses should also look for opportunities to increase efficiency within their main source of revenue, customers. Each potential customer engagement should be looked at as opportunity and maximized to the fullest. A thorough look at how the business handles customers could include fully documenting the ideal customer experience and identifying opportunities to increase that transaction.
Some other potential opportunities that can optimized during the customer interaction:
- Are physical customers acknowledged in an appropriate time frame?
- When asking customers questions, are they open-ended revealing additional needs?
- Are potential associative products being suggested?
- Is product and service knowledge a key component of new hire training?
- Are current store layouts (for retail operations) customer friendly or business friendly? Layouts should prioritize selling and not ease for the customer.
Prioritizing efficiency with customer interactions will result in increased spending and visit frequency at the business. High performing frontline customer service teams understand and embrace the importance of customer service efficiency and highlighting each and every customer interaction as critical for business success.
Frontline Teams are the Key to Efficiency
At the core of every customer driven business is the frontline team. This group handles most aspects of business operations from the back end to the front end and when introducing expectations of efficiency, getting this team onboard is critical to success. Managers and supervisors will always face an uphill battle when trying to get more work out of existing assets but motivation and belief are key tools to moving forward in the efficiency game. Bringing the frontline team into the process creates ownership in the ideas that are presented and implemented. Key team players can also provide excellent insight on how the operations works and looks from within. Evaluating and recognizing any upticks in efficiency and productivity are essential to keep motivation high. Feedback to frontline teams is also critical in keeping momentum and managers who understand the ‘pulse’ of their people are able to effect change faster if needed.
The Bottom Line
Key business leaders are calling 2024 The Year of Efficiency For Human Resources. Another way to phrase that is that small and medium sized businesses will need more efficiency and productivity from existing assets. Operational costs will continue to increase but unknowns in the economy and labor market means managers must create strategies and plans to get more from what they already have. Fine tuning internal processes and procedures could uncover time and money savings. Businesses that rely on customers for revenue must also depend on their frontline teams to achieve increased efficiency and productivity. Those customers have also become more valuable and each interaction must be maximized to drive profitability. High motivation, belief and work culture are critical tools to increasing operational and customer efficiency.