In simple terms, leverage means using resources to maximum advantage. In business, these resources include your time, effort, money, knowledge and people. With leverage, you increase your ability to do more with less.
You work smarter, not harder. You get more sales at lower costs. And increase profit through efficiency. Your people work together and enjoy the relationships that come from teamwork. You deliver what you promise so customers keep coming back.
It’s a win-win for you, your people and your customers.
4 Ways to Create Leverage In Your Business
Time | Focus on What Matters
How much time do you spend on activities that create value? By value, I mean tasks that directly produce sales, grow profit, improve service and delivery or help others do these things.
Take some time to analyze how you spend your time. Then focus on the critical tasks while eliminating, delegating or outsourcing others.
Here are a few things that will help you do this:
- Have goals and an action plan. Without goals, everything seems important.
- Tap into technology. Your calendar and to-do list are as close as your phone.
- Schedule time beyond meetings. Important tasks should be scheduled too.
- Turn off distractions. Your phone, email, and people. Interruptions are time killers.
Sales | More Customers With Less Effort
When it comes to maximizing revenue, your marketing and sales channels can go a long way toward improving this area.
Good marketing with clear messages and targets can help you attract quality prospects. Why chase after the wrong people and waste a lot of time trying to convert them? Combine this with a great sales management system – and you get more customers with a lot less effort.
Next, think about sales channels. You can personally sell to individual prospects in a traditional one-to-one manner. You can grow exponentially faster by selling online, but this model doesn’t work for all businesses. So why not build a network of people who sell to the same people you do. Then let them do the work and pay them a fee for the sales they generate. You both win. Again, you get a lot more sales with a lot less effort.
People | Help Them Be the Best They Can Be
Your people may be your most valuable asset, but only if you leverage their skills and capabilities.
It starts when you hire and bring them on board. Invest the time to find the right people to join your company – even when you feel rushed to get someone in there. But even the most skilled individuals need time to learn and understand YOUR business. Orientation and training is critical to get them off the ground running and contributing. Especially today, new hires want to feel that they are making a difference or they won’t stick around.
If you have low employee turnover and long-tenured team members, hiring may not be a priority. But you should still look for ways to leverage your people. Are you maximizing their skills and providing new challenges and opportunities?
As your business grows and technology changes, job responsibilities will also change. When was the last time you looked at your organization structure, positions, and job descriptions? Are they still relevant? Do your people have the skills and knowledge to take on additional or different work? This is an area often overlooked. But it can improve work flow processes and keep your team engaged and challenged.
Effort | It’s All About Systems
Regardless of industry, every business has key processes to develop products and services, build demand, satisfy demand and manage the business. These include common functions such as marketing, sales, customer service, manufacturing, shipping, service delivery, technology, human resources, finance and strategic planning.
A lot of tasks! But the more efficiently you operate, the more profitable you become. You can leverage all areas of the business when you ask the right questions, focus on continuous improvement and take advantage of technology and people. You can take it a step further when you look for others/partners to help you grow without doing the work!
When you master the leverage game, you get more of what you want with a lot less effort. Pick one of the areas above to focus on and get started.
Leverage Your Business With Systems
If you are serious about creating leverage with systems, check out my Ultimate Systems and Procedures Guide. Designed specifically for small business owners, my step-by-step guide with templates and examples makes it easy to do it yourself.
Prefer to work directly with me — to build systems and a whole lot more profit in your small business? Then let’s explore the possibilities with a complimentary consultation. Call me at (856) 533-2344 or drop me an email Joan@HybridBizAdvisors.com
