All business brokers need a back-office
function to deliver whatever the business needs at any particular time. This means
that some business people invest in more capacity than they actually need, so
that their firm is not overrun at peak times.
However, working efficiently means
cutting away excess resource so that the company can cope with busy periods
without overspending in lean times.
Streamlining an office is not all
about staffing levels, it should be said. There are many approaches to working
smarter rather than harder. Let's look at some of the most effective
techniques.
Get into online collaboration
Many business brokers like the tried-and-tested approach of having staff
members turn up to work at the same time each day and sharing the same office
environment. Although there are undoubted benefits from having face-to-face
meetings between managers and employees occasionally, there’s no need to do
this every day.
Move to a more agile approach and you
can reduce the amount of physical office space needed, thus lowering overheads.
Try using tools such as Microsoft SharePoint or Google Docs, which allow administrative
staff to work on the same documents, even simultaneously, without having to be
in the same room.
Working from home offers them more
flexibility, so you may well find that productivity rises when people spend
less time in the office – and indeed commuting.
Manage social media effectively
A key part of any marketing strategy these days is a strong social media
presence. With so many accounts to log into and share posts from, it can be
time-consuming, however.
Instead, consider using a service
like Hootsuite, which requires just one login to handle the lot. Furthermore,
Hootsuite, or a competitor like Social Pilot or Buffer, offers plenty of
metrics on how your posts are performing and what sort of engagement you are
generating.
Embrace the mobile age
Although most employees need a computer to create reports and presentations,
mobile apps can perform a lot of the basic business administration that
executives need to do on the go. Why wait for a chance to get out the laptop to
write up notes following a sales meeting when you could do it from
your phone?
To get started, you could try out an
app like Producteev. Running on iOS and Android Producteev takes seconds to
create meetings with multiple attendees and sends invitations to relevant
contacts according to pre-set priorities.
Alternatively, why not have a look at
Docusign, a clever little app which means you don't need to be physically
present to sign important documents? Anything that requires your written
approval, such as supplier payments or customer contracts, can be signed off
without driving to the office.
Reduce travel expenses
With a busy sales force out in the field, travel expenses
can soon mount up.
Allowing your team to handle their
own travel arrangements may mean that you spend less time micro-managing them,
but it can soon lead to bad habits. After all, sales executives are less
inclined to shop around for the cheapest flights, rail tickets or hotel
bookings when they’re not paying from out their own pocket.
By streamlining the process with
self-booking tools (SBT), such as those run by Omega World Travel or CTM, many businesses
report reductions in travel expenditure by up to 25%. These tools help
employees quickly hunt down the lowest air or train fares and alert them to
special offers.
Use virtual meetings
When you need to talk to your people or clients but don't have enough time to
travel, use a virtual meeting environment like Skype to bring three or four
people in different places together in one virtual meeting room. Skype allows
you to share screens, so you can even deliver a presentation using the platform.
Another option is Google Hangouts,
which is handy if you already use Google Docs.
By Adam Turnbull,
Managing Editor of BusinessesForSale.com, the market-leading directory of
business opportunities from Dynamis. Adam manages content across all titles in
the Dynamis stable, as well as well as being a regular contributor to other
industry publications, both print and online.