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Spring Cleaning
If you are not doing any spring cleaning in your own home, it is certainly time to do some at work. It is often during spring cleaning that we find things we did not even know were lost or decide to toss out some items that are no longer being used.
First, let me tell you that I am not talking about tossing out some staff! As your business grows after you complete your company spring cleaning, you are going to need them. You may need to provide them with extra training and support, but they are not part of my spring cleaning plan. Just thought I would clear that issue up.
So where should you start cleaning, moving or tossing? Here are five focus areas for your spring cleaning initiative:
- Your Account List
It's time to sit down with your entire account list. Are there accounts on the list that are not really accounts? In other words, do you see companies that have not ordered any products or services for more than six months? If so, then it is time to place their names on your priority call list.
It is possible they have decided to take their business somewhere else, and you need to find out why. Did they have a complaint they did not share? Have they gotten better service from someone else? Have they signed a contract with another provider?
While you may clean these names off your account list, they should not be tossed aside. There has been some change in that account, and you need to find out what it is. Maybe the person who ordered from you has taken a new position. Take the time to find out where they have gone.
- Your Product Inventory
Look at a list of all the products you carry, and think about the reasons you are not selling certain products. Are you forgetting to tell referral sources about your retail store, your new disease management program or the new products you now carry?
What about looking at the products that simply do not sell? If you are really cleaning house, it's time to eliminate those products that are not of interest to your customers. You do not have to be all things to all people.
- Your Marketing Materials
A closet full of outdated materials needs to go. Make sure your brochures are correct and up-to-date. You do not want to give out materials that present pictures of products you no longer carry. Also, make sure that your materials actually describe and present to the customer the products and services you want them to know about.
