A focus on productivity for your business

The expression ‘time equals money’ is never more true than when you are running a small business. Increasing your business productivity is the perfect way to achieve both more each day and a higher balance in your bank.

Here are Tyro’s top tips for taking your business productivity to the next level.

Systems

Any business activity that is done regularly will benefit from having a system developed to ensure it’s done as efficiently as possible. This can be as simple as creating checklists or standardised procedures for tasks. Tech can help you develop systems ranging from shared calendars and file storage all the way through to setting up standard emails that go out to customers who are interested in your service.

Whether you prefer low- or high-tech, thinking through an efficient way of doing an often-repeated task will minimise the risk of error and save you precious moments each time that task is done.

Delegation

By finding out what others in your team are good at (even if that team is small), you can free yourself up for tasks you excel at.

And, it means your team member can play to their strengths and feel empowered by your acknowledgment of their ability.

Insights

Information is gold when it comes to increasing your productivity. Insights based on real information puts you in a position of power when it comes to making clear and objective decisions.

For example, the Tyro App allows you to stay on top of your business with real-time EFTPOS data. You can see an instant overview of the transactions in your Tyro Bank Account as well as more detail. Would seeing hour-by-hour transactions for each of your business locations give you insights into your sales?

These insights mean you can spot sales trends, which can then inform decisions such as staffing, opening hours, marketing and location-specific inventory.

Your Tyro Portal allows you to access all the information you need in the one spot, including past invoices, reconciliation reports, and merchant service fee breakdowns. When you log into the Tyro Portal, you can take a deeper dive to see finer details such as card details and verification methods, cancelled or declined transactions as well as create reports of transaction amounts for each EFTPOS machine over a specific period of time. Visit merchant.tyro.com to get started.

Schedule

Planning is a powerful tool for efficiency. Try blocking times in your calendar for different activities, remembering that you’ll likely need to leave some time free for troubleshooting and the unexpected. Even if you don’t end up sticking to them perfectly, you might find you learn more about your habits, which can then help you refine your planning for the following week.

As well as scheduling yourself, you can also schedule set times to be on email so that you’re not being constantly distracted by messages landing in your inbox. And, scheduling your social media posts in blocks is another productivity powerhouse move.

Balance

It’s tempting to spend most of your time on immediate-win tasks. Some experts even advise you to always prioritise activities that have tangible outcomes. However, it’s also important to schedule some time for those tasks that are less urgent but important.

On a bigger picture level, it’s wise to put aside occasional time for sessions of more detailed analysis, reflection, and planning. You never know what insight will strike you that might be the key to your next stage of business efficiency and growth.

Self-care

When you’re running a small business, it can be hard to focus on your own needs. But looking after yourself can be just as important as helping your customers and staff.

To boost your physical or mental health, try identifying one activity, a food, or habit that you could add into your life in order to make a positive difference. And, then choose one thing to subtract from your life that you know will see an improvement in your health and wellbeing.

The Tyro App and Tyro Portal can be used as tools in your quest for business productivity. Valued existing customers can explore insight-giving features in the Tyro Portal. Or, if you are new to Tyro, find out more at tyro.com or call us on 1300 00 TYRO.