By Cristina Maria
Competition is one of the biggest reasons businesses fail, particularly small ones. Why? There are a variety of factors, but a major influence is the fact that newer, smaller businesses simply can’t compete with larger enterprises when it comes to speed, flexibility, and accuracy—or can they?
Let’s say you provide field services like plumbing or HVAC. How could your 50 technicians hope to go up against a company of 300? By working smarter, that’s how! Look at the companies that started out only a few years ago and how they battled their way to the top: Uber went against thousands of taxi drivers, not by offering more but by offering better. It used technology to revolutionize the way people think about getting around a city.
Now, we’re not saying you have to be the next Uber. These are called business “unicorns” for a reason—they rarely happen—but it’s worth taking a look at their innovative mindset and applying it to your small business. Whether you’re in retail, e-commerce, food, or home services, there’s nothing to stop you from assessing how you can do better by your customers.
And what could be smarter than taking all the time-consuming, repetitive tasks that no one enjoys and automating them? Think sales funnels, newsletters, database management, and the likes. So read on to find out how business automation can help you win in the big leagues:
1. Business automation helps productivity skyrocket
The most obvious benefit of business automation is the increase in productivity. Managers can often underestimate just how much time is wasted on activities like recording customers or confirming emails. And if there’s one thing you lack in a small business, it’s time.
Increasing your productivity means you can do more tasks with the same number of people, whether it’s to serve more customers or install more appliances. Naturally, if you have a higher output with the same input (i.e., the same number of employees), your profits will increase while your costs stay the same.
The trick is finding the right automation software for your industry and for your business. This way, you might have to pay a small subscription fee, but if that saves you having to hire even one extra admin person, it’s still profit in your pocket.
2. Business automation facilitates scheduling
Is there any reason not to automate your scheduling? Maybe you just like spending two to three hours every Friday, staring at Excel spreadsheets and calling people to check they’re fine with their shifts. Then getting around to hearing everyone complain on Monday that their rota isn’t what they expected—and again on Wednesday when someone calls in sick. We reckon there aren’t too many people who enjoy this, as it’s obviously not an efficient way to grow a business.
Scheduling simply takes a lot of time and focus, but it’s essentially a repetitive task. Automation can easily save you from having to hire additional admin staff to handle it and open up your own schedule to actually working on growing your business. With a software to keep an eye on overlaps, number of hours, part-time or full-time staff, and even particular skills, scheduling can take mere minutes, instead of arduous hours.
3. Automation offers flexibility and attention to detail
One of the advantages your larger competitors have is their flexibility and ability to accommodate a wide variety of customers fast. But when you’re smaller, you’re much better at discerning customer needs and paying attention to the little details. It’s the reason why some customers will always trust a small business with a strong brand over a nameless corporation. With the help of digital tools, however, you can easily compete with larger companies on speed as well as capacity.