Short reads on the parts of running a business that quietly cost you time, money and customers.
Custom Software
Every time a customer repeats something he already told you, he learns something about how organised you are. Usually not what you want him to learn.
Automation
Four calls to find out where one order has reached. It feels like managing. It is mostly just collecting information that should have been visible.
Business Growth
Nobody decides to ignore a customer. The enquiry simply arrives on a busy day, and by the time anyone remembers, he has stopped waiting.
Digital Presence
When a site is not working, everyone reaches for a redesign. The real problems are usually older, duller and much cheaper to fix.
Business Growth
Not the big ones. The small ones. The discount, the leave, the extra material. Each takes a minute of your time and costs a day of somebody else's.
Custom Software
Almost every owner has one bad software story. It is worth looking at honestly, because the reason it failed is usually not the reason you remember.
Automation
When one fact lives in three systems, you do not have three records. You have three opinions, and no way to tell which one is correct.
Data & Reporting
Not how it is doing this year. Today. Most owners need two days and three people to answer a question about their own company.
Custom Software
Nobody notices ten minutes. That is exactly why it survives for years, and why it is usually the most expensive thing in the office.