How can business owners ramp up ROI in challenging economic times? Here's how to get started using everyday business analysis to enhance ROI.
Those who own or operate a business have a few good ideas about how to increase return on investment (ROI). But as times change and the economy sours, many of the old reliable techniques no longer work as well as they once did. Fortunately, business analysis comes in many different sizes, shapes, and styles. That's great news for entrepreneurs who want to maintain healthy and profitable returns during a recession and bear market.
How can owners ramp up ROI in challenging economic times? One general strategy is to keep an eye on core operational elements, like employee turnover, safety goals, and more. In fact, just being observant and making routine changes to everyday situations can go a long way toward not only maintaining ROI but increasing it. Monitoring customer satisfaction levels and regularly measuring the effectiveness of advertisements are additional approaches that can deliver positive results.
Other techniques include getting serious about budgeting, making specific commitments to hold planning sessions, and doing in-depth research on competitors. Running a company involves putting capital at risk. The goal of every diligent owner is to extract as much profit from those investments as possible. Here's how to get started using everyday analysis to enhance ROI.
Safety of Fleet Vehicles
It pays to maximize fleet vehicle safety. Managers in the transport industry put safety at the top of their priority list for many reasons, one of which is related to profitability. Just by using fleet dash cams, supervisors and fleet managers can strengthen general safety programs that include in-cab coaching, monitoring road conditions in real-time, and more. If you oversee a transport fleet, it's essential to understand the potential value of dashcams. Now is the time to find out first-hand how the devices can deliver several benefits at once. Not only do dashcams have the ability to bump up the company's ROI, but they also contribute mightily to the general level of safety throughout the fleet. How to measure this factor is to list the percentage of vehicles that are equipped with dashcams. Aim for 100% coverage.
Employee Turnover
Turnover varies widely between industries and companies. The main thing to watch is for changes in the rate from year to year or month to month. Generally, higher rates are detrimental to long-term profitability in any organization. What's the best way to measure the variable? Compare the number of workers who have left in a given time span to the number who are still in place. Always perform exit interviews to find out why people leave. Sometimes the reason is related to money, but usually, it's something else. Use these interviews to make changes in company policy, hiring practices, and rates of pay.
Customer Satisfaction
Perhaps the most overlooked business growth strategy and component of long-term profitability is customer satisfaction. Even some of the largest and most successful corporations in the world have negative reputations in this area. It's because they either fail to follow up with buyers or ignore questions from potential clients. For entrepreneurs who don't have millions of customers to keep track of, the situation is somewhat better.
In fact, it's possible to measure and monitor this essential parameter regularly and for a very low cost. What's to measure? Construct simple surveys that inquire about whether recent customers had an easy or difficult time navigating websites and shopping carts.
There are many other questions you can ask to ascertain how someone's experience was when they interacted with your company and made a purchase. There are no universal benchmarks. But, try to follow and attend to any changes in the kinds of responses to survey questions. Of course, a related goal is to deal with complaints, suggestions, and questions from prospective and current clients on a regular basis.
Ad Effectiveness
The digital age has made it much easier to evaluate how effective advertising campaigns are. Some of the largest search engines on which sellers place ads offer a wide array of tools and diagnostics with which to determine whether a given advertisement is worth its initial cost. One way to gain traction with this kind of parameter is to set financial goals before every promotional campaign. Base results on whether or not the marketing technique increases sales or not.
Competitor Research
There is no substitute for studying your competitors. The best part is that you can do all of the chores online and gather a vast amount of information in a short period of time. Study your rivals' websites carefully, paying close attention to how they arrange their pages, design their shopping carts, and advertise on some of the major outlets. Spend at least one hour per week collecting as much data as you can about the competition.
