Improving Business Productivity: Top Tips For Different Sectors

9th March 23

When it comes to improving productivity, the aim is to free up more time to focus on the things that add value. For some sectors, the priority could be customers. More time for the things that drive value for your business could come from minimising time spent on essential tasks. Or it could be minimising ineffective time. 

With that in mind, here are a few top tips specifically tailored to improve business productivity for individual sectors.

Productivity tips for retail

• Be available – Make sure you prioritise your business’ busy customer times so that your teams are there when they are needed most
• Be aware of your priorities – Every business has essential tasks that have to be carried out. Fit these around your core customer times so that your team (and ultimately, your sales) are protected
• Be flexible – By optimising the mix of part-time and part-day shifts within your business, you will achieve the flexibility you need to manage the periods of peak activity

Productivity tips for hospitality

• Make the most of peak times – By increasing capacity at peak times, your business can maximise revenue; this can be difficult if your business has short, intense peaks such as rush hour or lunchtime etc
• Be organised – Ensure you have a set structure in place and plan tasks so that you are prepared for the peak hours – don’t fall victim to the old saying, “Fail to plan, plan to fail”!
• Call in the cavalry – Team members that work on a part-time or short-shift basis can be extremely useful if you require additional help to cope with an increase in demand
• Clean as you go – Even during busy periods, make sure your team is on top of clearing tables. Otherwise, you could inadvertently reduce your capacity if customers are waiting around for a table to be cleared 

Productivity tips for logistics

• Optimise your workload – By carefully matching available hours to your workload, you’ll find productivity increases naturally. As humans, we tend to work better in the daylight meaning night shifts are commonly less efficient. You may find there is less work at night too, so optimising your resources and workload will help to minimise downtime
• Reduce travel – Reviewing the travel time used moving around your warehouse and minimising travel distances where possible can create a big impact. When putting stock away and picking orders, nearly half the time can be taken up by travel. Taking steps to review your layouts, your positioning of essential equipment and implementing a one-way system could see you significantly reducing travel distance

Productivity tips for the service sector

• Use specialists efficiently – If you use qualified experts to deliver your services, be sure to optimise the time they spend being specialists rather than allowing them to carry out general tasks that could be done by others
• Technology is your friend – Consider what options are available to you that will enable you to automate paper trackers and data entry

Productivity tips for contact centres

• Find the balance – Balance demand and resource so you right size your team for when most customers want to talk with you and avoid down time at quieter times
• Focus on first call resolution – Getting things sorted in one call works for the customer and saves you time too. What barriers to first call resolution can you identify and remove?
• Minimise admin – Making it easy for your team to log their call notes as they go reduces the admin time between calls when time could be better spent helping the next customer

Over the years, our business improvement consultants have worked with clients across various sectors. We understand the challenges faced by different industries and use our expertise to identify productivity insights that make a positive difference.

Want to find out more about how we can help your business? Get in touch with our team.