How to optimise your business: six areas to focus on

Anna Stubbs • December 18, 2024

We’re trading in uncertain times at present. But there’s still a pressing need to refine your business model, add value and look at the opportunities for growth.

 

In this series, we’ll look at some key ways to optimise your business, exploring different avenues to evolve your enterprise and create a legacy you can be proud of.

Six ways to optimise your business

 

Your game plan might have been to sell the business, achieve a great deal and retire on the profits. But in the current market, it’s possible you’ve had to press pause on this exit strategy.

 

However, instead of letting the business just tick over, why not get proactive about improving and enhancing your business model, so it’s a more profitable and viable business?

 

Here are six key areas you should be looking at:

 

Go digital and automate the business

 

Now’s the ideal time to embrace digital technologies. With the latest cloud tech, AI and automation solutions you can streamline your operations, improve your overall customer experience and boost sales. You can also explore e-commerce solutions, social media marketing and digital marketing.

 

Get proactive with your finances

 

Strong financial management sets the foundations for making the business profitable. Switching to the latest cloud accounting software helps you get a handle on your cashflow, a better overview of costs and a more informed view of your overall financial position. Many accounting platforms will also offer integrations with other helpful business tools, such as inventory, invoicing and point-of-sale (POS) tools.

 

Build on those customer relationships

 

Exceptional customer experience helps to build loyalty and drive repeat business. This means getting granular with your customers’ needs, providing excellent customer service and listening to (and acting on ) your customer feedback. It’s the best way to improve your customer service and brand.

 

Diversify into new areas

 

It’s easy to get stuck in a rut when it comes to your product range and industry focus. One way to shake things up is to diversify and explore new product ideas, new customer audiences and new niches. Diversification can reveal a whole new customer demographic, not to mention additional revenue streams.

 

Nurture your team and employee experience

 

Engaged employees are the foundation of a great business. Invest in training and development to improve your team’s skills and motivation and do everything you can to build a positive work culture. When hiring, look to create a diverse and inclusive team of people, so you have a real melting pot of talent, ideas, skills and experience in the business.

 

Look for strategic partnerships

 

Navigating the market is far more successful when you explore the benefits of business partnerships. Connecting with other businesses can extend your market reach, reduce costs and allow you to share resources. You also open up your brand to a whole new customer audience, boosting sales and growth.

 

Talk to us about optimising your business model.

 

There’s no single strategy for turning around the success of your business. But looking at new ideas, markets, products and business tools can certainly add considerable value.

 

If you’re looking to add some pizazz to your business model and operational effectiveness, drop us a line. Our team will be happy to review your current business and identify the opportunities for a great start to 2025.


By Anna Stubbs June 3, 2025
No one can deny that to grow your business, you must attract new potential customers (or leads). It’s how you generate these leads that’s important though. STEP is a lead generation acronym to help you generate quality leads without pointlessly blowing your marketing budget: S = Strategy T = Target E = Efficiency P = Process
By Anna Stubbs June 3, 2025
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are essential to measure the performance of your business in order to grow your numbers. Of course, the measures themselves are pointless unless there’s reflection and discussion to ensure they’re met. Here’s a simple and effective way to link KPIs to a reporting and accountability framework. Firstly, make sure there is ONE leader for each of the departments in your business: Director, Leadership, Product / Service Development, Operations, Marketing, Sales, Finance, HR, and Admin / IT. One person can lead more than one department, but two people can’t lead one department. You can also contract out departments to avoid needing a large head count of team memebrs (finance, marketing and IT can be outsourced relatively easily). Be clear on who reports to who . One person can only manage 5 or so people effectively. Consider establishing teams with team leaders to enable you to achieve a ratio under 6 to 1. Set up regular department meetings . This may be the CEO with each of the other department heads, the Operations Leader with the Operations team (if less than 5 in the Operations team) or with the Operations Team Leaders (if more than 5 in the Operations team).
By Anna Stubbs June 3, 2025
One of the simplest ways to grow your bottom line is to tighten your belt and spend less.