From employee scheduling to customer service, marketing, sales, and everything between, small business owners are always on the clock. Even so, it can be difficult to avoid daily distractions like social media, personal phone calls, and surfing the internet.
But there are other time drains that cause even more damage to developing businesses. These time wasters are often ingrained in day-to-day operations. When it comes to the success of your small business, proper time management could be the final piece to the puzzle. Eliminate these inefficient practices as a business owner, and you’ll find more time, less stress, and a higher functioning business.
- 1. Responding to emails at all times of the day
Email communication is essential for effectively operating a business. It’s often the preferred form of communication between clients, prospects, and employees. As the head of the business, owners receive the highest volume of such emails, but sorting, reading, and responding to each message can easily turn into an all-day distraction.
- 2. Answering the phone throughout the day
Business owners know they can’t afford to ignore phone calls. At any point, the caller on the other end could be a person in need of service. But owners also know they can’t spend the majority of their day taking calls. Not only does having the owner answer calls waste time, it can damage the reputation of a professional business.
- 3. Scheduling meetings
Meetings are a great tool for brainstorming new ideas, generating discussion, and solving problems. But too often meetings are scheduled for relaying basic information that could’ve been shared through other channels of communication. Not only are the meetings themselves a waste of time, but the act of scheduling a meeting can become a tedious task as schedules change and priorities shift.
- 4. One-person customer service
Responding to customers is vital to building and retaining a loyal customer base, but it’s not a function of the business owner. Not only does it require a significant amount of time, it requires a dedicated employee or assistant, depending on the size of your business. This limits stress on the owner and delivers a resource for customers that’s more likely to provide the level of service required.
- 5. Multitasking
All of the aforementioned tasks are worthy of your time and important to the success of your business. But it’s when all of these tasks are combined into a full day of multitasking that the trouble begins. Multitasking is possible, but when it comes to running a business, it should be limited.
So how can business owners handle all of these responsibilities on a day-to-day basis? A full-time employee could help, but the hiring process in itself can be a long and risky endeavor.
The most effective and efficient solution is a virtual assistant. Virtual assistants at Intelligent Office are highly trained assistants capable of taking care of all of these tasks in a professional manner. Our assistants get to know your business inside and out, including your schedule, clients, and industry standards. This gives you peace of mind, so you can use your time to do what you do best — grow your business. If small business time management is an issue for you, we can help! Get a quote from Intelligent Office today
