5 business areas that you can never neglect
No two businesses are exactly alike. Even if you operate within the same niche as many other companies, you might share some elements and processes with them, but you’ll always have your way of doing things. Your products and services will probably reflect this originality based on your value system.
Even though all businesses differ at least a little, you’ll notice some universalities as well. This will be true not just within a particular industry but also in a more general sense. That’s because companies need to set up and maintain certain departments and areas since, without them, they won’t be able to function.
Let’s talk about a few of those areas that your company will need to feature. If you neglect any of them, you’ll probably go out of business in short order.
Well-run accounts payable and receivable departments
Some companies regard accounts payable and receivable as separate departments, while others lump them in together. Either way, you should make sure that you set up these departments right when you open your doors, or else you’ll never be able to succeed within your industry.
Accounts payable is the department where you pay out money to your suppliers. Accounts receivable is where your customers pay you for the goods and services that you supply.
To make sure that your workers are running these departments the way they should, you might want to invest in a reliable AP and AR automation solution. You can either buy a software suite, or else you can rent one using the software as a service model. With this second option, you typically pay for your subscription every month.
You want to get yourself some AP and AR software that can archive your vendor and customer interactions and keep track of the money going in and out so that you don’t misplace any of it. It should also automate data entry, so you don’t have to make your workers do manually any longer. A well-run accounts payable and receivable department is a necessity rather than a luxury.
A well-constructed business website
You will also need a well-designed website that you maintain regularly. You probably won’t design the site yourself, particularly if you’re the business’s owner or operator. Even if you happen to possess the technical skills to do so, you likely have other daily tasks to occupy you.
You’ll need to hire a web designer who can use WordPress or possibly Wix to create and launch the site. These are the two most popular website creation platforms.
The site should have an About section, an FAQ section, and you might want to have a company blog as well. It should have a list of all your services and products, and it should make clear just who your company is and what its values are.
You also need to make sure that the web designer or someone you hire for the purpose maintains the site. You don’t want customers who visit it to find a bunch of Error 404 redirect messages. That will frustrate them, and they’ll probably go with one of your competitors if that happens.
Expertly-run social media profiles
Your business is also going to need to have active, well-run social media profiles. You’ll need to do some research to figure out which ones you should use. There’s Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, YouTube, and so many more.
You cannot possibly be active on all of them since there are so many, but you don’t need to be. If you hire a social media manager, they can figure out which social media platforms your likely customers typically want to use.
For instance, if Millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers are your target audience, you’ll almost certainly want to be on Facebook since that is where they spend a lot of their time. If you’re going to target a younger crowd, like Gen Z, you should spend time on Tik Tok, YouTube, or Instagram. Depending on what your services or products are, you might even choose to spend some time on Twitch.
Excellent vendor relationships
If you manufacture a physical product or products, the raw materials for those have to come from somewhere. You need vendors to provide them, which means that you have to cultivate strong, healthy vendor relationships.
There might only be one or two vendors that produce some specific item that you need. Without that item, you can’t make your products.
This is where you need your accounts payable to pay your vendors regularly, so they don’t ever have to wait. You should also know the company representatives personally and speak to them periodically. You need them to continue making your products, so you can’t let these relationships lapse.
Reliable transportation and storage methods
If you make a physical product, you also need to make sure to have the infrastructure in place so you can transport it when you need to. You might use trucks, vans, planes, or even boats, depending on whether you’re supplying American or international store locations, or both.
You must know how long it takes for your products to get to your distribution points, but you should also know about any possible delays that can occur. At some times of the year, you should know that weather-related delays can happen.
You should also know how to slow down production during downtimes. You won’t always have the same sales numbers, and when that happens, you need a place to store your excess products until things pick back up again.
You need secure, suitably equipped storage facilities. If you need to store your products at a particular temperature, for instance, you need to have a system in place to do that.
If you don’t neglect any of these areas, there is no reason why your business should not succeed. You’ll have the basic framework to produce what you make, ship it, and market it. That’s definitely a winning formula, regardless of your chosen industry.