Ruth King: Little changes can lead to big profits
I recently ran a 5K on runway 26L at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Although a 5K race isn’t as intense as a full marathon, training for and completing this race will no doubt help prepare me for something bigger down the road. So that got me thinking: From a business perspective, what little changes can we make in our businesses that can create big profits? Here are a few small steps you can take for big change:
Get one more billable hour per day per field employee.
No lingering in the office after a meeting. Five minutes after the end of the meeting, employees should be on their way to their first call. You can you’re your employees minimize travel time by having them start their day near their homes and routing efficiently or have their trucks loaded and ready for them so they are in the shop less than 5 minutes a day. Time is money and money is time well spent.
Eliminate overtime for office personnel.
In the busier times they got used to those extra dollars in their paycheck. Now that it is slower, they should be able to do their jobs in a normal 40 hours work week.
Get out of debt
With the exception of vehicle loans, which produce many more thousands of dollars than the loan payment, eliminate your interest expense by becoming your own line of credit. Save your maintenance dollars. Save 1 percent of all revenues that come in the door. One of my clients has their maintenance monthly recurring billing receipts sent to a savings account rather than their operations account so they never have to be tempted to not transfer those dollars to a savings account.
As an owner, get out of the way.
Are you a bottleneck? If your office is in the middle of everything you hear everything and get distracted — decreasing your productivity and the productivity of your team. If you trust your team, and you should, then move your office to a corner or out of the way so that you can’t hear everything. They will come get you if they need help.
Do something to “recharge your batteries.”
Get out of the office. Go play golf, tennis, hunt, fish, or whatever you like to do. You will get great ideas when you aren’t thinking about business. Write them down and implement them.
These five little changes can add thousands to your bottom line. The best part? If you take these recommendations one step at time, you’ll be ready to run a marathon in no time.
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