According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 25% of companies will make it to fifteen years in business. That’s a very small percentage when you consider that 600,000 new businesses open every year.

5 Ingenious Ways to Improve Your Increase Efficiency

The companies that succeed have a few important things in common, and one of those is an above-average business strategy. It takes superior planning and strategizing to keep a company going for over a decade, especially in today’s market.

So how can you join these strategy superstars? Here are five ingenious ways to improve your business strategy and stick around for the long haul.

1. Streamline Hiring: Speed Up Your Recruitment Process

The first way you can improve your business strategy is by streamlining your hiring process. On average, it takes 36 days to fill one position. You can decrease that time by encouraging new employees to come to you.

Companies like Google receive 3 million applications every year, which means that they’re never left waiting around for the “right” employee. You may not be one of the world’s leading search engines, but you are a unique company with the ability to create a culture and mission that people want to be a part of.

Consider what it is that makes what your company does unique. Is it your product? Your team? The way you achieve your goals?

Whatever it is, a recruitment and marketing agency can help you uncover your unique story and begin sharing it with the world. Once your message is out, candidates that share your goals and beliefs will come to you.

2. Engage With Employees: Ensure Everyone Is Happy On The Team

High employee engagement is shown to lead to higher levels of productivity, job satisfaction, and more sales. Sadly, only about 36% of employees feel engaged in the workplace. If you want to maximize productivity and increase the likelihood of a long-lasting business, you need to find a way to engage with the other 64% of your employees.

This can be achieved by prioritizing recognition of achievements and employee morale.

To begin prioritizing recognition, you can create an employee recognition platform. They give you a framework for providing praise and feedback and give you insights into your team’s dynamic.

To boost employee morale, create a culture of transparency and growth, and run a healthy and calm company. Taking the time to value and incentivize these traits will help build an environment your employees will want to be a part of.

When you take these steps, you’ll see your employees begin to engage and resonate with the work they do. That means less time spent hunting for new employees and more time spent cultivating the longevity of your business.

3. Narrow Your Focus: Create Clear And Concise Goals

One of the most important factors to ensuring the continued success of your company is to create clear and concise goals. They give you a benchmark to work toward and help you keep on track.

What goals you set will depend on what it is your business does. Consider where you’d like your company to be financially and professionally in five to ten years, and set goals that align with that purpose.

For example, if you design computers, one of your goals might be to have a successful line launch. For your short-term goals, you can prioritize creating the design on paper, or raising the money to make a prototype. That way, you have a tangible gauge of where you are on your journey.

Specific and detailed goals like this are more concrete than generalized goals surrounding growth, so they’re much easier for you to measure as you go.

4. Prioritize Improvement: Commit To Continued Training And Development

Many companies mistakenly believe that offering opportunities for continued education and development will encourage employees to take those skills and leave. While that viewpoint is understandable, it isn’t true.

Offering employees the opportunity to learn and grow has actually been linked to attracting and keeping better workers, increasing engagement, creating a stronger bond between employees and management, and encouraging employees to adapt to changes in the workplace.

These factors actually lead to employees staying with a company, not leaving. When you value the careers and goals of your workers, they, in turn, value your company. That creates loyalty, which leads to long-term employees and success.

Employees who are happy and fulfilled in their work will help your business continue to grow, and that’s one of the main reasons why you should support the continuing education of your employees.

5. Apply Automation: Adopt And Use The Latest Technologies

The last technique you can implement to increase efficiency and improve your business strategy is to adopt the latest technologies that can be used to upgrade your business. Technology is a tool, and you can use it to make your work life easier.

Here are a few ways you can use automation to help your business thrive.

• Simplify invoicing with online systems that send out bills and statements automatically.
• Use a project management system to keep up with appointments, documents, and important files.
• Create an email newsletter that goes out regularly to update customers about your services, specials, or that contains general updates.
• Streamline your financial records by using software to handle employee payments, and records for your taxes.

Adopting new technology regularly is one of the main ways you can ensure that your business remains efficient and thrives in years to come.

You can revolutionize your business strategy, increase efficiency, and ensure the longevity of your business by putting these five ingenious practices into place.