Achieving key results for your business often sounds easier than it actually is. For small businesses and startups in the United States, having a strategic plan in place to help guide your team members toward success is one of the most important components. However, even the best small business owners tend to overcomplicate things from time to time. That’s why it’s so helpful if you streamline your business in some clever ways.
Focus on objectives and key results
Familiarity with the concepts of objectives and key results (OKR) is helpful for almost every small business owner. It helps maintain internal integrity and assists you with goal setting and strategic objectives. Incorporating OKR software into your business is beneficial, too. OKR software can help your small business adhere to the best practices of the OKR system and it’s a great idea to leverage this type of flexible employee performance management software when you’re anticipating performance reviews or ongoing growth periods. If you’re looking to increase productivity and get all of your team members in alignment with your small business’s overall goals and growth objectives, OKR software and the OKR methodology can greatly assist you.
Find a solid product supplier
Take the supplement industry for example. Say you’re trying to produce a gummy supplement that’s packed full of vitamin C. However, you choose a below-average manufacturer that doesn’t get the flavor right which leaves the gelatin tasting off. Now, your gummy product is seemingly ruined. If you had taken more time to choose a gummy manufacturer who has years of experience in gummy supplement manufacturing, you could’ve avoided this altogether. Sure, you may not be producing private label gummy supplements, but the underlying lesson still stands. You need to pick quality suppliers or you’ll start turning away customers.
Incorporate effective platforms
Startups and veteran businesses alike can benefit from the right software selections. Whether you need a goal-setting framework or an inclusive SEO tool that gives you real-time feedback, it’s always a good idea to shop around and find the platform that works best for your business. If you’re hesitant about paying for a service that you may not end up sticking with, choose platforms that offer a free trial. That way, you can give every platform mini “performance reviews” to determine which works best with your business.
Fix outdated processes
Objectively, would you say some aspects of your business are a bit behind the curve? There’s no shame in admitting as much. In fact, in most situations, understanding your weaknesses is a good thing. If some of your processes are behind the times, create a custom formulation for what does and doesn’t work for your business. Then, you can determine what needs to be fixed and what is performing strongly. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself consistently falling short of your key results metrics. Another issue with outdated processes is that, as technology continues to develop, some of your existing methodologies might end up being incompatible with any of the new tech you decide to incorporate into your small business.
Learn to prioritize
Startups and small business owners tend to have excellent quality in common: a wealth of exciting ideas. When you’re constantly coming up with new concepts and business strategies, however, it can be difficult to put the most important ones first. In particular, ideas that deal with general business health may need to take priority over novelty ideas that won’t get too much traction.
Whether you’re a CEO trying to create the newest, greatest gummy vitamin or a small business owner that is researching the best OKR software to help achieve key results, there are always ways that you can streamline and simplify your business.
