Spring Cleaning Checklist for Businesses

• Automate & digitize

• Audit all activities & processes

• Review neglected areas

• Freshen up & consolidate customer-facing documents

These are four key areas to focus on when spring cleaning your business. Let’s take a closer look.

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Spring has officially begun, which means we can expect to see the flowers bloom, trees grow their leaves, and rain pours. The change of season is so inspiring for many that they often feel a burst of productivity and a desire for change that propels them into “spring cleaning”.

Many people partake in this ritual by going on a cleaning spree throughout their home in which they re-organize it, discard what they don’t need or want, and scrub it of any debris that is leftover from the previous season.

When they complete it they feel refreshed, energized, and productive. It’s a great feeling! This is exactly why we should do it with our businesses.

Consider this spring cleaning quote, “Clearing out the clutter helps us prepare to enjoy the warm and hopefully productive months to come” (Stillman, 2019)”

This is a great time to evaluate our business and like we would do our home, reorganize and declutter all areas. This will reveal areas of our business that are outdated, inefficient, or not valuable, which can actually save us a lot of time and money.

While no business should wait for a particular season to evaluate current systems, processes, and organizational structure, if we want a place to start, Spring is a good time to get into action.

Where Do I Start?

To begin, we should create an inventory of our current activities, future activities, and unplanned but important activities. We can do these mentally or write them out, either by ourselves or with our team. Then we need to identify which of these activities are vital to our team and business. Which items on this list are foundational to our processes and provide overall value to our business.

If there is something in our inventory that doesn’t offer ongoing value or contribute to future improvements, we may need to halt those activities. We may need to focus on other activities that have higher chances of success.

This inventory of activities is going to identify “big rocks” or key goals that will require immediate or imminent action. When we break down these ‘Goals’ into manageable pieces, they are easier to accomplish and organize. Once we have cleaned and organized our inventory, we will have identified our priorities so that we are ready to clean the rest of our business.

Automate & Digitize 

Automation involves implementing technology that will speed up processes and free up our time by removing more repetitive and menial tasks from our plates. An example of this is marketing automation which can include social media scheduling, email marketing, and managing ad campaigns.

Digitizing allows us to store our resources and documents efficiently by putting them in online systems. Some folks may be skeptical to move from traditional paper systems. However, the benefits of moving to digital include reduced costs, improving access to information and document scanning, which makes it easier to transfer from traditional to digital.

Before implementing and investing in any programs or systems, we must implement software testing to ensure we are investing our money in the right technology.

Audit All Activities & Processes 

We all have our processes in our business that are aimed to make us efficient and minimize errors. But what if we can make them even more efficient? We don’t know unless we audit these processes to evaluate just how effective they are.

For example, let’s look at our customer relationship strategy. This involves activity that deals directly with our source of profit, our customers. We should streamline the processes related to this to best cater to them. We can enhance the customer experience if we remove redundancies and unnecessary activities. This will keep them returning.

Review Neglected Areas 

Let’s look back at the inventory that we previously made. It should include areas we may not have allocated a lot of time and resources to that took lower priority to more pressing areas. We should revisit these areas and evaluate if they can be more effective for our business or if we should expunge them. If we find they are valuable to our business, we should allocate more resources to that area. If not, we should take the resources we have dedicated to those neglected areas and put them towards other areas.

Freshen Up & Consolidate Customer-Facing Documents 

Let’s think about the materials that we give to customers. These can include business cards, pamphlets, information packets, or catalogs. Now would be a good time to revisit and refresh those documents. We need to ensure our customers are getting the most updated materials that best position your brand and business.

This will grab customers’ attention and increase brand recall. It will also allow you to address any new procedures, introduce new team members, and highlight any new products or services. This includes print and digital marketing.

We should focus the depth of our spring cleaning on improving the customer experience and improving profits. Working with a certified and professional ActionCOACH Business Coach will help speed up the journey to refresh your business. Schedule a Business Strategy Session to get connected with a coach before the season is over!