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When growing your business, you don’t always have the funds to rent or buy more warehouse space. But when the warehouse is a must-have part of your business, you must find other ways to make the most of it without expansion. Much of making the most of your warehouse will come down to using your business analytics to make smart decisions about which products should go where. 

Reorganisation

Something that costs no money but will take time is a simple reorganisation of your products. Almost all businesses, when they first have a warehouse, don’t use the space effectively, and that causes chaos later on. 

Take a look at your products and consider whether they could be moved into a better place. Grouping products by type or frequency of purchase together can make a big improvement pretty quickly. 

Excess 

Without good inventory management, you will likely have many excess products. And perhaps you have decided to keep them because you might manage to sell them later. Usually, the excess product is excess for a reason. The space that you have shouldn’t be used for products that might not sell. 

Make it your mission to dispose of these items. You can bulk sell them on eBay or donate them depending on the product. Either way, removing it will make room for products that actually sell. 

Mezzanine 

Adding an extra floor will give you a lot more almost immediately. A mezzanine floor offers extra floor space that can be used for storage or used as an office space. No matter what size of mezzanine you decide to add, you will be increasing the square footage of the warehouse – and as a bonus, they are flexible, so you can have them anywhere you need. 

Storage

If you don’t need to use a forklift, then you can have your racks as close together as you like within reason. A narrow aisle can make it difficult for a regular forklift to travel and get products. It is possible to increase the total amount of storage you have if you don’t need to have a 12ft aisle width (standard forklift). 

Containers 

Containers can be the best way to store products. Ensuring that the measurements of the products are taken in advance so you know that you can fit the right quantity of products that can be stored in them. Containers can be stacked and organised so that you can find inventory faster when required. 

Simple 

Overly complicated storage methods will slow the process down in other ways and ultimately make picking and packing more difficult. While simple is best, try to avoid random organisation (where you put anything anywhere so long as it fits). Random organisation makes the best use of the space, which means you can rarely find what you need at high speed. 

Talk a walk through the warehouse, and use the purchase information to make smart decisions about the layout. Take into account hazards, electric sockets, emergency exits and more. 

Improved warehouse management is part of the back end of your business, and there is always room for improvement; here are some other tips: Improving the ‘Back End’ of Your Business. 

The Key To Growing Your Business In One Word: People

Growing a business is far from easy, but with the right strategies in place, it will be possible to take yours to the next level. While many entrepreneurs fall into the trap of overcomplicating things, the truth is that success is as simple as focusing on people.

Still doubtful? Read on, and that will soon change.

Grow the business by investing in your team

First and foremost, you must never overlook the importance of your workforce. In addition to hiring the right candidates, you should use the best learning management systems to support their growth. The individual and collective rewards gained from this approach will strengthen the position of your team. A combination of increased engagement and motivation should also reduce the risk of them leaving. The added sustainability can only lead to improved performance levels.

Investing in your team could also focus on using an employee innovation plan that encourages creativity. This makes employees feel valued and allows the company to gain leverage from the team’s collective knowledge. 

Expand by looking to outsourced services

Building a stronger in-house workforce is one thing. However, it’s equally important to consider alternative ways of building a better team. This is particularly important if you’re looking to scale new heights over the coming months. With the right outsourcing strategies at your disposal, any transitional phases will be far smoother. Moreover, those services can be utilised for ongoing purposes to fill in the gaps or manage the size of your team. It also helps you tap into global talent. 

Outsourcing can help you add new departments or grow the size of the company. Better still, there is no need to make long-term commitments like moving to a larger building. It’s also an ideal way to handle business matters where your expertise is lacking.

Develop stronger connections with customers

As a business owner, you will need to grow an audience. Still, the best entrepreneurs appreciate the fact that 80% of sales can come from just 20% of their audience. With this in mind, a conscious effort to develop strong connections with long-term loyalty in mind should be a priority. Aside from boosting your revenue, it is the ultimate way to make accurate forecasts going forward. 

Several steps may be taken to develop deeper connections with your audience. This includes running loyalty schemes and discounts on repeat purchases. When combined with actively seeking their opinions on how to improve, stunning results can follow.

Use clients to help expand your audience base

In addition to boosting their customer lifetime value, loyal clients also help grow your audience. This is because most consumers now look for recommendations before trying a new brand. You can help gain those referrals by using the best affiliate marketing schemes. Meanwhile, collecting verified reviews is another very powerful tool. The vast majority of consumers in today’s world will read them to make a calculated decision.

When prospective new clients see that your business can be trusted, it helps. In the case of recommendations, they will take note of what people they trust have to say. For the best results, you can turn to influencer marketing too.

Be open to collaborations

It’s very easy to assume that it’s your business versus the world, but it doesn’t have to be that way. You can often run joint promotions with other businesses, especially if you are a local company. Quality flyer printing, for example, can promote both brands to recipients in the region. Skills trades or sharing resources with another business may be possible too. This can have a positive impact on cash flow while also giving you an advantage over companies that continue to limit themselves.

Perhaps the most efficient way to leverage success from other professionals is to seek a mentor. They have been there before and can offer valuable guidance. In some cases, you may be able to see further benefits by utilizing their contacts too.

Celebrate your uniqueness

Whatever industry you are in, you are the company’s biggest USP. You are responsible for engaging employees, customers, investors, and more. Even when you are not directly involved in an interaction, your influence will be telling. Building your self-confidence is a goal that most business owners will benefit from. It’ll motivate others and allow you to express your ideas with far greater clarity.

You are competing against many businesses, but many will lack the personality needed to stand out. Still, people buy people, which is why you need a brand vision that everyone can buy into. Achieve this and you’ll never look back.

Provide Your Staff With Excellent Training
Part of promoting an employee’s growth is ensuring that they are provided with adequate training, to complete their tasks efficiently, and to potentially undertake more demanding tasks/roles in the future. Effective training delivery can play a huge factor in employee turnover; if someone feels confident that they’re doing well and understand fully what is expected of them, they’re less likely to make mistakes, which in turn tends to increase morale and general wellbeing for an employee, making them less likely to feel stressed, overwhelmed and desiring to leave the business.

As a business, it’s important to keep your staff’s well-being and health in check. It’s also necessary to ensure that the business is clean and presentable for anyone who steps through your doors. Whether that’s your staff or clients, the state of your business is often a clear indication of just how much you care for it.

Improving cleanliness is important to do and maintain, especially nowadays after the impact of the pandemic. There are certainly tips to help improve that cleanliness, so here are some top tips to make use of, within your business.

Ramp up your cleaning routines

If you’ve not already ramped up the cleaning routines, then now is a good time to do so. It’s helpful to improve upon your cleaning routines, especially with many of us still being conscious about spreading germs.

While COVID-19 has somewhat been controlled, it’s still out there and people are still getting it. That’s why it’s important to make sure your cleaning team are keeping surfaces clean and regularly patrolling the office to clean up and keep things in pristine condition.

Encourage your workforce to keep their own spaces clean

While your cleaners are there to help with improving cleanliness, they shouldn’t have to pick up after your employees. In fact, when it comes to their own workstations, they should be keeping their own space clean.

It might be worth putting in a workplace policy for staff that it’s their responsibility to keep their work area clean and free of any hazards. Should that policy be broken, then there are warnings given that may result in dismissal. 

Don’t push sick employees to come to work

When it comes to your employees, don’t push sick employees to come to work if they don’t need to. Most businesses will know it’s still productive to work from home if they’re fit to do so but your staff shouldn’t be coming into work and spreading any germs they have.

With that being said, be wary of staff illnesses, especially during peak times in the year when the flu and common colds are flying around.

Get professional services for pests

There’s nothing worse than realising that your business premises have become overrun with vermin. Ideally, you want to get rid of pests as soon as you spot the first signs of them. However, spotting them is a lot harder at first, especially if there are no tell-tale signs.

However, to keep the premises clean, if you have discovered pests then make sure to call out a commercial pest control service as soon as possible.

Review risks and mitigate them where possible

Finally, be sure to review the risks that are commonplace in your workplace and where possible, find ways to mitigate these risks. Whether that’s putting in preventative measures to policies and insurances that cover your back as a business.

This is important because cleanliness is part of health and safety within the workplace. Make sure that you’re improving your cleanliness as a business in 2023.