INDUSTR Y NEWS

neighborhoods, highways, empty lots, and construction sites.

Your staff can snap a picture or two and send them along with the address and business name to you or into your designated system for sales processing of such leads. Incentivize this system!

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There’s a major process or procedure that your team performs routinely that can be improved. If you think it takes too much time to deal with that right now, consider how much time can be saved over the next month, 3 months, or 12 months by cutting wasted time from the schedule. There’s never an ideal time for a busy team to make adjustments that distract from the headlong rush to get the basics done every day. So, pick a day to bite the bullet and just make it happen.

6. HAVE YOU MADE A SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT TO YOUR WEBSITE IN THE PAST YEAR?

Spotlight Index

Your business website is the first place your current and prospective customers go to get information about your business. That’s the way choosing a vendor works these days. Even though you may be located just down the street, a business manager who is interested in your services is likely to check you out online before calling to inquire. So, be professional online. Make your very best impression there. If you haven’t made any improvements lately, think about what could be improved.

7. CAN YOUR TEAM RUN YOUR BUSINESS EFFECTIVELY IN YOUR ABSENCE?

Do you have one or more employees groomed to take your place during hours, days, or weeks when you cannot be at your office? If you become ill, need to go out of town on business, or want to take a family vacation, what do you need to do to get one or more people ready to manage various parts of your operations effectively while you are away?

8. DO YOU HAVE A SCHEDULE FOR SITTING DOWN WITH EACH OF YOUR EMPLOYEES FOR 1-ON-1 TIME?

If you’re experiencing difficulty in attracting and keeping talented employees, review your overall way of managing your team. There are many things you can do to increase your appeal as an employer. But, few approaches are more impactful than giving every employee in your business dedicated time to talk with the boss directly. Discuss their work assignment load, equipment, tools, training, development, issues, areas of needed performance improvement, and their ideas for improvements.

9. DO YOU HAVE A VIABLE STRATEGY TO ACHIEVE DIGITAL MATURITY?

The future is for digital business competitors. Achieving digital maturity continued on page 36

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must be a priority for all small business operators with plans to grow in the modern environment of remote ordering and payment transactions. The efficiency of everything you need to do is best facilitated by digital systems. That includes responsiveness to customers’ needs, scheduling, processing workflows, billing, payments, quality management systems, repeat sales, referral gathering, equipment maintenance, employee development processes, and on and on.

10. DO YOU HAVE AN EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PLAN?

This may seem, comparatively, like some busy work that you don’t have time to do anytime soon. But, emergencies do not allow you to go back in time and properly prepare for them. So, the time to make time to plan for the unexpected is always now. At a minimum, get a plan in place for what you will do to protect the future of your business in a few scenarios, like a natural disaster, external economic disaster, or loss of a key person in your business.

FOR LONG-TERM BUSINESS SUSTAINABILITY

It’s an uncertain world in the business sector. Yesterday’s best ideas are tomorrow’s obsolete notions. But, keeping up is not a mysterious or elusive state. Strengthening the core of your business by improving basic processes and methods, tracking performance, and managing issues cover the big priorities. These management essentials coalesce to improve operational soundness and increase long-term business sustainability. So, the takeaway message is just consistently track your status and remain committed to analyzing and improving.

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WE CAN CREATE A RENTAL PROGRAM TO ALIGN WITH SWEEPING CONTRACTS YOU HAVE WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS

General Info

WHERE: San Diego, CA San Diego Convention Center 111 W. Harbor Dr. San Diego, CA 92101

DATES:

August 27-30, 2023

ABOUT PWX:

PWX provides a first-class multi-modal learning experience designed for professionals at all levels and across the entire spectrum of public works. Come prepared to see, hear, touch, and discuss in a variety of traditional and interactive sessions, seminars, workshops, and networking opportunities. Attendees can also spend time on North America’s largest exhibit floor for public works equipment and services—we’ve carved out generous portions of non-compete time so you don’t miss any sessions. Kick tires, talk about technology, or get the scoop on new products. To take advantage of everything PWX has to offer with more than 5,000 public works colleagues from North America and beyond, meet us in San Diego!