You can’t turn on the TV these days without hearing the phrase (which I’m already tired of) “tough economic times”.Yes, it is accurate but times have been tough for a lot of businesses for a long time.But there are businesses that are currently thriving.Sure the lows are lower than normal the highs not quite as high.It seems as though many businesses have decided this is a time to do nothing, to just “hunker down” and wait out the general economy.I think this is a bad strategy for most businesses.Don’t forget there are two sides to the business equation; revenue and expenses.If you are having trouble increasing revenue, then now is a great time to look at those expenses.

From what I see many businesses, especially small/medium businesses haven’t taken a serious look at their processes in a long time.If that is case for you, then my experience tells me that you can earn a quick and perhaps substantial ROI (how long has it been since you heard that promise?).Business regularly take a look at their expenses.They try to find someplace to buy cheaper office supplies, get better deals on package delivery and quite buying lunch for the staff.That is not the kind of expense analysis I’m referring to.I’m talking about finding out how much it costs you to perform the tasks it takes to provide for your customers.

Do you know all the tasks it takes to make your business run?Do you know who is involved of each of those tasks?Do you know how much value is driven from each of those tasks?Do you know what kind of value is being driven?Is it of a direct value to your customer?If you don’t REALLY know how much your spending and what value that spending drives then you don’t know if you are targeting the right processes.

The right kind of cost cutting can bring more value to your customer (if for example you cut out something unnecessary to your customer).Cutting the right kind of costs can bring more value to your staff (if you can eliminate busy/boring/unproductive work).The returns for cutting those costs last for years!Cutting costs by sorting your expenses in Excel and then knocking off the biggest ones can lead you to both internal and external turmoil.You don’t have to cut your staff to save money.If you go into your project with that goal, you will have problems (you don’t need a consultant to tell you why!).You can likely find better ways to utilize the personnel you already have, you can probably give me more meaningful work to do and you might actually give them more job satisfaction.

Process improvement projects are fairly easy to scale to match your current needs.Starting with an overall spending analysis will help you target the processes that are most likely to produce the best return.A process that doesn’t cost very much but produces good direct customer value is not a place to start.A process that costs a lot to operate but produces only indirect customer value…now there is a good target!And it is always best to do the spending analysis for the entire organization, you can chose to dig deeper in some areas than in others, but don’t just look at one function or department.

If you will take some time now, spend a little money now, you might just benefit now and be positioned to take advantage of the upturn that we all know is coming!