The Mauldin Group, Your Atlanta Digital Marketing Agency Asks, “Is Your Company Time Management Being Done Right?”
As a leading Digital Marketing Agency in Atlanta, The Mauldin Group understands that businesses often look at profitability and loss in terms of money only. Yet Time Management is probably the biggest contributor to company success and losses. Good time management, is a key component to keeping operations costs down, employees happy, and increasing profits. But, if your company has an ill-performing time management plan or no plan at all, chances are your time management sucks!
You may delay, but time will not. Benjamin Franklin
Atlanta Digital Marketing Agency Tips For Company Time Management
Could you be handling your company’s time management wrong?
Here are few tips for what may be hindering your time management and changes to help you beat the clock.
1. Not Having A Real Understanding of Your Company’s Time
The PROBLEM: As an owner, often those in charge at the top can lose sight of the “real” terms of how much time their processes take. This is true for both manufacturing and service-related industries.
While you may have built your company from the ground up as the owner there comes a point where your focus shifts to the greater demands of operations. As the business grows you add more people, services, equipment; the processes change. Add to this the need to grow with the latest trends, It is not uncommon to lose touch with the “real” time it takes to perform your services or produce your products.
The ANSWER: Quite simply get to know your team well. Whether it’s making time to “stroll through the warehouse” and speaking one on one with your team or delegating to managers the task of building good team relationships. The fact is those in the trenches are your best means of assessing the “real” time it takes to perform your processes.
2. Micromanaging Your Team
The PROBLEM: You know the business. Heck you built it! So you feel you have all the answers needed to overcome the obstacles your team is facing. But in not trusting your team, you may be killing their creativity, missing out on the knowledge who know your operations best, and hurting morale.
The ANSWER: While it is important to have open conversations with your team, try to fight the urge to micromanage. You may view your solution as THE answer but you’re not the one performing the task. Your team knows the ins and outs of the processes learned only by performing the tasks daily. As a result, they may have ideas in order to improve the process in a timelier, economical and more efficient manner, you just gotta trust them.
3. Not Having A Weekly Meeting
The PROBLEM: A lack of communications within the team is causing deadlines to be missed. This is aggravating team members and duplicating tasks adding to project and process times.
The ANSWER: Weekly Meetings are such a simple, yet overlooked time management tool. Everyone is busy but making time for a short weekly meeting will help you to quickly be updated on internal and external issues. It creates an air of openness where team members can feel listened to (promoting morale) and valued. A weekly meeting can provide solutions you may not have considered for problems like supply chain holdups.
Example: I once knew someone who worked for a home décor distribution company. They had a huge order to fill from their largest customer, a major retailer. Unfortunately, a major item on this order was held up due to a hurricane at an international seaport. After a team meeting, it was also pointed out by a warehouse packer that this particular item was part of what they called a “deal” or mixed bundle. Essentially this is several items normally sold alone but made up to make a combined products box.
By breaking these deals (which by the way were not selling well) the company was able to fulfil their biggest customer’s order without suffering any time delays. In that case, this weekly meeting saved the company from possibly losing their largest customer.
MEETING TIP – Keep your weekly meeting to one hour or under. Ask the meeting lead to keep their opening very brief. Moreover, Have an agenda with urgent needs first. Encourage everyone to share. Reward or recognize team members who have innovative ideas to contribute.
4. Implementing New Equipment (Or Processes) Without Research
The PROBLEM: While your industry may have new, trending innovations in equipment or tools to share, that does not necessarily mean that they will fit YOUR business well.
The ANSWER: Before making the decision to implement a new piece of equipment or even change something as simple as the drills your team is using. Do your research!
Again, talk to your team. Read reviews. Wait a few months to a year before making the change. Waiting will provide the time for any bugs to be found.
This is critical, especially when making a change in company technology. Before making an expensive purchase that could end up being a costly disaster leading to employee dissatisfaction, production delays, and loss of time, do the research. Talk to your tech team and employee end users. If this is a program that customers will use, be sure to get feedback for them as well.
Whether a new tool, technology or piece of equipment, read reviews and ask for other company references you can contact to get their perspective.
A Few Questions to Ask…
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- How much downtime is required to implement this new tool and get back up running?
- How much training, if any, will my team need?
- How does this new tool or technology benefit my business?
- How much will this affect my customers or clients?
- When is the best time to make this change – would it be better to wait until a down season like summer or after the holidays?
5. Not Using Digital Marketing Is A BIG Time Management Mistake!
The PROBLEM: While running a business it is easy to lose focus on the how the world may be changing outside your company doors. This is especially true in terms of marketing.
The ANSWER: It is a digital world. Within this new technology-driven business realm, some marketing tools may work better for your unique business needs than others. The key is figuring out which provide you with the best ROI (Return On Investment) and which simply put, are a waste of your time.
THE WEBSITE
To succeed, you must have a user-friendly website with effective SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Regardless of your business type, whenever clients seek your services or products, their first step is searching for you online.
Your potential customers want to save their time by essentially interviewing you online. Your website provides the information they need.
- Home Page – Short, sweet answer to Who, What, How, Where and Why You Are THE Choice!
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- Who you are.
- What you do.
- How you meet their needs.
- Where you are and how they can reach you.
- Why to choose you.
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- Services/Products Page – They want to know what you offer to meet their needs.
- About Us Page – Who leads your team. What your team’s expertise is. How long you have been in business.
- Blog Page – Learn about how knowledgeable you are. What makes you a leader above your competition.
- Contact Us Page – How to reach you.
Other “Time Saver” Digital Tools All Companies Should Consider
While your website is critical, there are many other digital marketing tools that can save your business and team members time.
Google Ads – Implementing a Google Ads strategy to your business can essentially be like implementing a new top performing sales rep. A Google Ad can help “sell your service” to the target demographic customer in the location you desire for THE service or product that is most profitable for your company. A Google Ad hops over your competition to put you in front of the customer searching for your exact service. The one who IS READY to make a purchase!
TIME SAVE: No pounding the pavement or cold calling. Your qualified leads come looking for you!
ORM (Online Reputation Management) – Did you know that 93% of consumers read a company’s reviews before making a purchase decision?
TIME SAVE: Having an ORM that efficiently and automatically posts positive reviews to your Google listing and Facebook can save your customer service team time calling and email customers asking for reviews. Equally important, having the ability to immediately address a customer’s negative experience can save you a customer AND keep a bad post from turning away potential customers.
Social Media Marketing – Social Media Marketing provides a fast and economical way to promote your brand and build a loyal customer base. Thus, it allows for your customers to do the selling for you in many cases.
TIME SAVE: A good Social Media Program will save your customer service team time by letting your customers spread the word digitally for you. Social Media can help make your brand recognizable and more importantly easily shareable. Additionally, it is a quick and easy way to advertise events.
Email Marketing – Email is one of the most effective ways of reaching mass quantities of both existing and potential customers. Through an effective email marketing campaign, you can put the details of what you have to offer right into the inbox of potential clients along with a cta to reach your sales team.
Email Marketing offers 4 Time Saving Types of email
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- Email Newsletters – To keep in touch, advertise and drive traffic to your website.
- Acquisition Emails – Emails to “acquire” potential customers and clients.
- Retention Emails – Emails to “keep” in touch with your existing customers and clients.
- Promotional Emails – Emails to promote your services, products, and special events.
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TIME SAVE: Email Marketing effectively reaches both potential and existing clients expanding your customer service outreach in an effective way. This can especially help small businesses with small teams to provide customer service to a large audience. For sales teams, using Acquisition Emails or DRIP campaigns can certainly reach qualified leads providing an easy cta and help to field through those leads that may not be a good fit that cost them valuable time.
Digital Marketing Strategy, Find Out What Works and Get Rid of What Doesn’t
Digital Marketing can definitely play a positive role in your business’s time management strategy, the key is knowing which tools performed in the right ways will produce the greatest results. So many times business owners will use so much time internally trying to manage their marketing in house, that they end up losing both time and money
To reach your target market effectively with Digital Marketing the key is knowing when, where, and how to use it. Being able to research and change marketing strategies whenever required to find what works and get rid of what doesn’t requires expertise.
TIME SAVE: Hiring an Atlanta Digital Marketing Agency such as The Mauldin Group, can free up time for administrative staff from trying to juggle business operations needs with marketing tasks that they are not equipped for. Going with a customized program from an expert marketing team can assure the time spent produces the best ROI.
The Mauldin Group, The Atlanta Digital Marketing Agency That Can Help You Improve Your Company Time Management
At The Mauldin Group we believe good time management can make the business and employees happier and even more productive. We work with businesses, small to enterprise, to make the most of their marketing. We free up your time to concentrate on what matters most, building great customer relationships leading to greater profits.
Ready to see how The Mauldin Group can help you manage the time you spend on your marketing? Contact Us Now or Call 866-438-7756.
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