20 Quick Tips to Building a More Successful Business

1. Increase my Network Bandwidth

The first thing you need to do is get someone to check out your network. I mean test your cables, replace old routers and defective hubs, and check out the doodads and dingbats. For example, are you using Category 5 cables? Or, if you’re wireless, is your router at 802.11g? Look, I don’t know what the hell any of this means either, but some propeller-head told me it’s the fastest. Technology has changed since your network was last installed. Things can run faster. Your people can be more productive. Getting things done quicker will save you money.

2. Set Up Remote Access

Set up remote access for your employees. You can lose opportunities and disappoint clients if some of your key employees can’t get information they need when they’re out of the office. Try out services like gotomypc.com and logmein.com, which will give you inexpensive Internet connections to your computers in the office from anywhere. You may even go so far as to set up Windows Terminal Server, which can handle a bunch of employees accessing their applications and files at the same time. This year, don’t let geography get in the way of profits.

3. Create a Few Key Reports

This year, bite the bullet and admit that reports are not as easy as the software vendor promised. But there’s information you need to run your business, and you’re just not getting it, are you? OK, here’s a test: What’s your pipeline? What quotes are outstanding? What customer paid you the most this year? What customers are more than 10% behind last year’s sales levels? Hire a consultant to create some of the reports you’ve always been asking for so you can start monitoring your business better.

4. Start E-mail Marketing

If you haven’t yet started, start now. In 2008, you could sign up with Constant Contact (constantcontact.com). Use Constant Contact to create something professional. Then, upload a spreadsheet of people and blast it out. It’ll cost less than $100 per month. The people at Constant Contact willmake sure you’re not spamming and will even help you review the e-mail to make sure it gets through the filters. Finally, make sure your content is compelling enough so that your readers look forward to receiving it. This is a great way to establish an inexpensive, mass communication channel.

5. Stay Away from Vista for as Long as Possible

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. You don’t always have to upgrade your software to the latest and greatest. Stay away from Microsoft’s Vista operating system for as long as possible. Your current software applications will continue to serve you and save you money and time by not upgrading.

6. Outsource my Phone System

You can save time and money by outsourcing your phone system. Virtualpbx (virtualpbx.com) and GotVMail (gotvmail.com). Both of these companies outsource phone systems. If your lease is coming due this year, now might be the time to switch.

7. Consider an Intranet

Is this the year to get an intranet? It’ll cost about $10,000 or less to get it all done. Once it’s set up (look into something like Microsoft’s Sharepoint), you’ll have a website created internally just for your employees, customers and vendors. It could display real-time information from your accounting and other systems, and everyone will have quick access to documents such as contracts, agreements and quotations. You can also have an updated list of contact information that everyone can access. Intranets are reducing duplication of data and e-mails and making people a lot more productive.

8. Create a Few Key Alerts

Configure your accounts receivable to give you an e-mail alert every time an invoice goes overdue. Configure your sales system to alert you when a quote isn’t followed up. Get an alert every time an inventory item on hand falls below an acceptable level. Doing these things will allow you to act on things faster and get issues resolved before they turn into more costly issues. Creating alerts is pretty simple in most systems nowadays. If you use a Microsoft SQL database, this functionality comes built in. Also check out a software program called Knowledge Sync (vineyardsoft.com). This will do alerts for you too.

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