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DETOX YOUR ENTERPRISE
Small businesses should take several key steps to ensure their enterprise is 'detoxed' and ready for the year ahead, according to Bibby Financial Services. Bibby warned that entrepreneurs who do not go through the business equivalent of a workout and streamline their firm risk being overtaken by "leaner and meaner" rivals in 2004.
David Robertson, chief executive of Bibby, outlined 10 tips to help small firms get in shape for the next 12 months:
* Tackle the muddle - roll up your sleeves and get rid of any clutter that no longer has a practical purpose. As a rule of thumb, throw it away if you haven't looked at it in the past year.
* Reduce post pile-ups - deal with all your post on a daily basis and immediately dispose of envelopes and any irrelevant information. Take action to pass the data on or file it by the end of the day.
* Get filing - if your office is full of paperwork and collapsing shelves, sort out your filing system. Make sure that you only file essential information such as tax records, payroll records, purchase and sales invoices, bank statements and important customer data as 80 per cent of all filed papers are never read again.
* Detox your desktop - keep only the relevant information that you are working on at the moment on your desk and keep personal items to a minimum to prevent your mind from wandering. Clearing the decks will help you concentrate more on the tasks at hand.
* Clear your computer - see the wood from the trees by having a good sort out of your PC and deleting all spam and junk emails that you don't need. Act on any urgent messages and organise the rest in relevant files.
* Work smarter - meticulous planning is the key to business success. Ensure that you review your business objectives and prioritise everything that you want to achieve in the coming year. Developing a key action plan will help.
* Take control - make this the year you are firm with your debtors and develop a watertight credit control system. Issue regular statements and reminder invoices and call your customers if their payments are late.
* Manage your cash - ensure your cash flow is stable throughout the year. If necessary, consider alternative methods of funding such as factoring to guarantee your business has a flexible supply of working capital.
* Stock matters - don't get yourself into an over-stocked position where all your money is tied up in goods that you may not necessarily be able to sell. Review tour stock levels carefully and look back at last year's sales figures to determine seasonal peaks and troughs.
* Harness people power - review your staffing levels for the coming year and plan to cover staff holidays or peak season demand. If there are any significant skills gaps within your workforce that is holding your business back, consider external training courses to boost the skills of your existing staff.
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