There are many factors in business that you can focus on if you want to perform well and drive growth. Optimising costs, pricing, profit, productivity and other aspects can all contribute to greater success.
But there is one factor that underpins everything, and that’s efficiency. Efficiency and business growth go hand in hand. Businesses that operate efficiently grow their customer base, achieve more sales, and improve revenue and profit levels.
If you are struggling to achieve business growth, focusing on efficiency within your operation could be key. Here are the benefits you can achieve when you improve efficiency.
Customer Retention
If you run an efficient operation, you meet customer service targets. You communicate effectively, consistently ship orders quickly and accurately, or complete client projects on time. In this way, your customers perceive you as providing a positive customer experience that meets or exceeds their needs.
This drives their continued loyalty. It costs more to attract and onboard new customers than it does to retain your existing ones. So, by providing efficiency in your customer dealings, you engender high levels of loyalty, which results in low churn rates and higher levels of customer retention.
With an engaged and faithful customer base, you will see higher levels of repeat purchases and sales of additional products or upsold goods and services.
Winning New Business
Of course, winning new business is always important too. Not only do you need to replace any customers that you lose, but growth for most companies comes down to expanding your customer base.
Existing satisfied customers will probably refer their friends and family to you, but with an enhanced reputation, you will also attract new prospects. Positive testimonials and social proof will spread the word about your products and your good service levels, whether you sell consumer goods or services or are a business-to-business operation.
Being More Competitive
An efficient business has lower costs. If you’re in distribution, for example, then increasing your procurement efficiency means you optimise your stock holding and minimise your purchase costs.
The lower your costs, the keener you can be with your pricing. This makes you more competitive, allowing you to attract or win more customers and to grow.
If you’re a technology start-up, then to manage your product efficiently you might use an agile developmental approach. With less time spent on developing and honing your product, you spend less and can iterate new versions more quickly. You can get your product to market sooner or implement new functionality faster than your competitors.
Better Productivity
Efficiency is about ensuring your staff are as productive as they can be. By optimising workflows, you can speed up administrative tasks. And if you can automate tasks, you will often eliminate all manual effort entirely.
By utilising the maximum capacity that you have within your business, you optimise your output. This means maximising worker productivity, streamlining and automating manual tasks, maximising production, or boosting order fulfilment rates.
Enhanced levels of productivity mean getting more done. And the more you do within your business, the more it grows and the more it earns.
Investment Potential
Small, incremental efficiency gains lead to increased income and profit. By investing this money in your business, you can grow and develop your company.
You might invest by taking on more staff, or investing in larger premises, more warehouse storage, better IT systems or improved infrastructure.
Or you might grow in other ways – by developing new products, moving into new markets, investing in or acquiring other businesses, or diversifying your products or services.
Improving Your Efficiency with NetSuite
An ERP system underpins your entire organisation, affecting its performance across the board. NetSuite ERP streamlines and automates processes, reducing your staff’s manual workload and limiting time-consuming and costly errors.
Using NetSuite, your staff will become more productive. Thanks to improved visibility, they will be able to better customer service, boosting your reputation and allowing you to retain existing customers and attract new ones.
You will lower costs and become more competitive, maximising the available capacity of your operation.
Your newfound levels of efficiency will bring improved performance, a better financial situation – and above all, growth.
If you would like to find out more about how NetSuite can bring you efficiency and growth, contact us for a demonstration or a quote.
