Practical Productivity: Reduce Redundancy

One of the biggest killers of productivity it redundancy. By performing the same task multiple times, you are not only wasting time, but you are also undermining creativity and ingenuity.

Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.
– Paul J. Meyer

In order to become more productive, you must find ways to optimize, systemize, streamline, and organize your activities by removing duplication.

The Common Problems

Here are some of the common areas of redundancy that we see;

Marketing – the process of promoting products and services, searching for content, and sharing content are often duplicated each week or month.
Finance – many companies have a number of reoccurring expenses and income each month.
Sales – for many companies, the sales process and even communications are duplicated for each new prospect or client that is identified.
Service – customer service is a necessity in almost any company, but if you have ever tracked the questions and issues that are being addressed, you will almost always find redundancy.

The Solutions

Here are ways to eliminate or reduce these common areas of redundancy;

Marketing – there are several solutions to reducing and eliminating redundancy in marketing. Email marketing can be made easier with tools such as Mail Chimp or Infusionsoft. Content creation can be made easier with Paper.li or Buffer which help you find relevant content. PR opportunities can be delivered right to your inbox with HARO. Content sharing can be simplified with Hootsuite.
Finance – the most effective solution to reducing redundancy in your finances is to incorporate software that can automatically send reoccurring invoices and record reoccurring expenses and payments. Quickbooks is probably the most well-known option for small businesses.
Sales – sales can be made more effective by setting up templates for commonly used communications or information collecting. Yesware and SalesForce allow you to create such templates and track performance. It’s also helpful to create a standard sales and intake process. And online form creation service such as Wufoo or JotForm allows you to easily collect needed information.
Service – customer service is the perfect place to incorporate technology in order to eliminate redundancy. Creating a simple ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ document is a simple start. You can also incorporate tools such as Zendesk or TeamDesk to allow customers to interact with a help desk, while you work on building your portfolio of information, tutorials, and FAQs. Plus it allows you to track progress and identify needs. And of course the end goal would be to find solutions to frequent problems.

When a reoccurring or redundant task is identified, it should be a huge red flag indicating a possible opportunity for implementing technology or outsourcing.

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