‘Need is the mother of invention.’
And there is no time like the present for invention of alternatives to improve the bottom line.
The rising cost of fuel is undoubtedly having an affect on local businesses. Margins are being squeezed and prices are rising across industries. Like businesses across the country, we have begun looking to our customers to pay more and, in doing so, solve our problem of shrinking profits.
But what about looking internally?
When profits are growing, it is easy to rationalize that all of our practices and systems are as efficient as they could or should be. Unfortunately, difficult economies are generally the impetus for serious scrutiny.
Addressing the cost of fuel is not the only issue this time around. Although the price per barrel of oil has doubled in the last year, it is the ripple effect of that increase on all aspects of business that is creating the need for inventive solutions throughout our companies.
In addition to alternative fuel solutions, we need to look at the structure of our organizations, redundant practices and archaic job designs and be willing to make changes based on what this scrutiny reveals.
An effective manner of looking at our own business is to begin by asking everyone in the organization these three questions: What should we stop doing that we’re currently doing? What should we continue to do and what should we start doing anew?
The first question is self evident. If a practice doesn’t make sense any longer, then save the resource and stop it altogether. The second question requires a bit more analysis.
At first it is tough for some to separate comfort from necessity. A few follow-up questions here might be: How does a product or service contribute to our customers’ satisfaction? Is it profitable? Is someone else doing this or something similar, too?
Then there is the proposition of what to start. In difficult economies, sharp companies are watching for best practices they can implement, line extensions or new markets as ways of improving sales, market share and, ultimately, their profit margin.
During this introspection, we should take the opportunity to consider sustainable practices in a different light. Too often we overlook sustainable business practices believing they are more expensive than continuing our current practices.
Sustainable practices around electricity and water use, recycling, reuse or repurposing can provide immediate and persistent savings.
One sustainable practice available to all of us is the practice of doing business with other locally owned firms. This has the added effect of improving the local economy and it’s green – having smaller carbon footprints is one of the easiest ways local businesses can create efficiency and participate in the sustainable-practices revolution.
The need is present and we’re an inventive lot when we needed. What an opportunity to create our own solution.
