Are you looking for some great Business Admin tips to organise your workload? In this article we take a look at 12 tips you really need to know to ensure your business runs smoothly.
Many business owners struggle when it comes to business admin as it is hard to see a return on investment for your efforts. Yet, without it, you wouldn’t have one! It is the structure that ensures all paperwork is held correctly and enables the smooth running of other activities. So, let’s take a look at 12 essential areas to concentrate on.
1) Use A 4 Tray System
Randomly placing paperwork can lead to complete disorganisation as you may not be sure what you should be doing and when. Implementing a simple ‘4 Tray System’ can help to organise both your desk and the business as a whole. To do this, set up 4 trays. One (usually the top one) is for your ‘To-Do’ items. For example, quotes that need to be typed up or phone calls that need to be made. The second is your ‘To Pay’ tray and this is where all bills and invoices that need to be paid should be stored. The 3rd is the ‘To File’ tray. Here is where you then put any invoices that have been paid or copies of quotes that need to go on file etc. Basically, any paperwork you have finished with that you need to keep, and the final tray is ‘To Read’. This can be magazine articles or documents that do not require urgent action, but you would like to have a look at when you have a spare moment (yeah right, how many of you have any of them!)
2) Avoid Document Clutter
In tip 1 we mentioned the ‘To File’ tray. However, you should only place paperwork you really have to keep and discard anything else. Failing to do this can result in a mountain of paper that will never be looked at again. The obvious things to keep are anything to do with the business finances, contracts etc. Many other things we keep are ‘That may come in handy’ and they never do. With modern technology, there are very effective electronic options to keep any paperwork without cluttering up the office.
3) Be Colourful
When filing any important documents, be colourful. If you have set colours for particular areas then it will be a lot easier to find the piece of paper you are searching for. i.e. Green folders for accounts paperwork and blue for contracts.
4) Avoid Overfilling Folders
Overfilling folders is another sure fire way to lose that single piece of information you are looking for. Use sub-folders to keep the volume to a more manageable level and make sure you keep them all together.
5) Write Procedures
You never know when something may happen and you need to have an extended time away from the business. If all the knowledge is in your head, how is anyone else meant to be able to hold the reins in your absence? Write procedures for every area of your business so that someone can step in, in the event of an emergency, and prevent your business from falling apart.
6) Back Up Your Business Daily
Use Cloud facilities to back up your business daily, then in the event of a disaster the maximum workload you have lost is only one day.
7) Auto-Response Email
If you are expecting to be away from the office for 4 hours or more, set up an auto-response email with a contact number to reach you or details of the person who is there to support in your absence so that if anyone sends an email they are aware that you will not respond immediately. This way, if there is something urgent, they have an alternative means of contact.
8) Clear Your Email Inbox Daily
Clearing your inbox as you complete or respond daily prevents you from wasting valuable time trawling through, looking for an email from that person. If you set up a structure of email folders you can deal with the email and then electronically file it in the relevant folder, making it much quicker and easier to locate it, should you need to at a later date.
9) Keep Records Up To Date
Your customer database is your best marketing tool if you use it wisely. Keep all records up to date, especially contact names and telephone numbers. It doesn’t look good if you are trying to get another sale from a customer and you ask for the wrong person!
10) Use A Default Diary
Schedule regular activities in your diary to act as a prompt when things should be done. This also enables you to know exactly what availability you have for meetings and any ad-hoc activities.
11) Write Project Deadlines
Knowing your project deadlines and outlining the activities that need to be completed to achieve them, with dates each activity needs to be completed by, helps to ensure you are never late delivering a project.
12) Outsource/Delegate Wherever Possible
Outsourcing or delegating tasks that can be easily carried out by others, frees up your time to concentrate on tasks that ONLY YOU can complete and can ultimately, help to grow your business much more quickly and relieve the stress of trying to do everything on your own.
So there you have it, my top 12 Business Admin Tips that will help your business to run more smoothly. Do you have any tips that have worked for you? We would love to hear about them in the comments below.
Are you struggling to get your paperwork completed? Do you need help organising your business admin? Then we are here to support you. Contact Lyn on 01329 481202 or click the ‘Request Call Back’ button below and let’s talk about how we can make your business life easier.
If you have found this article helpful, please share and tweet. You may not be the only business owner that finds it useful.
