Small Business Spring Cleaning: How to Declutter

The birds are chirping, the sun is finally feeling warm, and spring is definitely in the air. Now is the perfect time to take the pulse of your business to remove what you no longer need, accentuate your strong points, and create a road map for the weeks and months to come. 

Implement some of these proven spring cleaning solutions today to reap the long-term rewards into the summer and beyond.

Focus on your website

Your website is often the first glimpse that new customers have of your business and the products you sell. Even so, it can often be the last aspect of your store that you think about when contemplating improvements.

Use spring cleaning as the perfect excuse to thoroughly review your digital face. 

Is your content current, accurate, and in tune with the mission and voice that you want to present? Does your site’s design remain consistent with what you want to portray? Are all policies and prices accurate and clear, and is your site in compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and other protocols in your industry that protect customer information? 

If you answered “no” to any of these questions, this is where your work begins.

Dive into your books

If your accounting is still taking place mostly with hard copies and manual procedures, your spring cleaning is even more necessary. That’s because it is all too easy to lose important documents and to make errors when entering numbers by hand.

Digital accounting software takes the guesswork out of bookkeeping, integrating with your point of sale system to seamlessly track products and update financial reports in real time. When your operations are more accurate and connected, everything from online invoicing and daily reconciliations to tax preparation becomes easier. 

If you don’t already have accounting software, think about using your spring cleaning time to choose the best package for your business.

Polish your business plan

You wrote your business plan when you started your company, and it acted as the guide to what you wanted it to become and how you planned to get there. But did you know that your business plan is actually a living document and one that should be examined and updated regularly?

Times change, and so does your company. Your plan should reflect what is happening right now: new products, updated funding sources and procedures, and modified marketing strategies. 

Don’t beat yourself if you have forgotten to give your plan the love it needs; just take it down from the shelf and bring it up to speed.

Sweep away bad marketing techniques

Customer needs and wants change, and along with them, evolve the most effective marketing methods. Use the data about customer buying behaviors stored in your smart terminal to see what parts of your recent campaigns have resulted in sales and which have had lackluster results. 

Then find ways to eliminate the dead weight so that you can focus on current and future trends and strategies that will lead to big profits and happy customers.

Use technology and innovations to your advantage by automating email marketing and fully participating in social media. Doing so will provide you with affordable, easy ways to communicate with your customers as you re-acquaint them with popular products and introduce them to cutting-edge offerings.

Do some old-school cleaning

How can we talk about spring cleaning without an actual discussion of dust mops and trash cans? One of the best ways to open a new season for your company is to create a tidy environment free of unnecessary mess and clutter.

As you work to clear your desk and file cabinets and get rid of decrepit furniture and equipment, never lose sight of the importance of data security. Be sure to shred any paperwork that contains sensitive information, and inspect your hardware and software for obsolescence. 

If security patches or versions are outdated, take this opportunity to upgrade or, in some cases, make new purchases.

Before you know it, the freshness of spring will give way to those lazy summer days. 

Before this happens, don’t wait to jump-start and re-enliven your business with a good spring cleaning. Trust us, your mom would approve.