Reviewing 2022: Project Management, Reducing Paper and Profitable Pricing

As we continue our review of 2022 topics, we now turn to the second quarter of the year, where we focused on project management, going paperless in your business, and pricing your products and services.

Project Management

Usually, when we think of Project Management, we think of large businesses. However, the truth is that it is also very relevant to small businesses.

Using these systems will assist any business to be more efficient and reduce costs. The goal here is to develop a profitable and efficient company.

This topic is relevant across all pillars of business, particularly in business fulfillment when projects relate to meeting customer expectations.

How Project Management Works

The key here is first to understand what a project is. A project requires more action than your everyday routine tasks and activities.

A project is a temporary endeavor that involves planning, organizing, and managing resources to achieve specific goals and objectives within a set timeline.

Projects can be used to improve business processes, develop products or services, or provide solutions to complicated problems, and are typically composed of tasks that must be completed in order.

The differences between large and small projects boil down to the duration, amount of risk, the number of stakeholders, and the team size.

Every project requires coordination between team members and stakeholders to ensure success.

Project managers are responsible for setting goals, identifying resources, evaluating risks, and allocating responsibilities throughout the project. They also determine how progress will be tracked and reported on as the project progresses.

Once a project is complete, it should have tangible results, such as products, services, or improved processes that meet defined requirements.

Project Planning

With proper planning, businesses can ensure that projects meet both internal and external expectations.

Project planning provides structure, organization, and direction to a project, ensuring that objectives are met promptly and efficiently.

This process allows businesses to identify the scope of a project before execution while also taking into account all relevant stakeholders, including those who will provide resources or be affected by the project’s outcome.

Project planning involves mapping out each step of the process to ensure that nothing is overlooked and includes tasks like defining objectives and goals, creating schedules for completion, and identifying necessary resources.

Additionally, it helps manage project risks by providing time frames for implementation, monitoring progress along the way, and assessing potential outcomes if certain aspects don’t go according to plan.

Project Management Tools

In our final blog in this series, we reviewed various frequently used tools in managing projects. Here is a link to the article.

Reducing Paper in Your Business

One area of business that frustrates many self-employed people is the paperwork you have to deal with. However, the administration part of the business is critical to the longevity of your business.

It makes sense to be as paperless as possible in your business. The world is becoming increasingly aware that resources are finite, and reducing or even eliminating paper helps your business; it also helps our planet.

Benefits of Going Paperless

• It frees up space and reduces the costs of handling paper
• Improves response to needs of customers and enhances customer satisfaction
• Reduces risk
• Increase productivity and return on investment

Tools to Help your Paperless Transition

Determining the tools you need starts with an evaluation of the documents that you generate, along with who receives and who handles the various documents that flow through your business.

Typically you will need document management and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software systems along with hardware such as scanners and shredders.

Paperless Tips

Our final article in this series provides a list of habits and tips for transitioning to a paperless office.

Rather than list them again, you can read them here.

Profitable Pricing

Our final series for the quarter was on developing profitable pricing strategies. This comes under the marketing pillar of business, as price changes can drastically affect your results.

Having an effective pricing model is critical to your success.

Your Target Market

Identifying your target market is a critical part of determining your pricing strategy.

For example, Tiffany & Co and Mejuri both sell fine jewelry. But their target markets and, consequently, their pricing strategies and markedly different.

Developing a customer profile (or avatar) is key to setting your prices.

Know Your Competitors

Understanding who your competitors are and how they price their products and services is also essential in developing your strategy.

For example,

• How do they price their products and services?
• How do they market?
• What is their point of difference?
• And so on.

The article addresses how to find your competition, research the information you need, and how it affects your pricing.

Positioning your Business

Earlier, we spoke about the different target markets of jewelry stores. Knowing their target markets, they then position their products, services, and business brand to that customer profile.

“Positioning refers to the place you want your brand or product to have within a particular target market. More specifically, the process of market positioning and brand positioning involves how you market your brand or product to consumers to achieve that position.” https://squareup.com/au/en/townsquare/brand-positioning

Positioning relates to theperceptions your customers and prospects have about your business and your products and services.

Customers tend to buy on value rather than price. However, value is very subjective and varies from person to person. For example, a client of Tiffany and Co will likely have a different view of value than a customer of a store in a regular shopping mall. That is why it is so important to identify your target market.

In setting your pricing strategy, you should first resolve the value to your target market before you fix your prices.

Read more about the process here.

Selecting Your Pricing Strategy

In our final post for this quarter, we reviewed various pricing models regularly used to set prices and select the best model for your business.

The four standard pricing models are:

• Cost-plus,
• Value-based,
• Competitor-based, and
• Service-based.

Choosing the best strategy for you involves selecting the pricing model that best suits you, considering your target market, competitors, and positioning.

For a more in-depth look at this vital topic, click here.

In conclusion, a price strategy is essential for any business. It is important to take the time to consider how customers will respond to different prices and understand the competitive landscape. Additionally, companies should remember that pricing is not fixed but should be adjusted to remain competitive and profitable. Finally, a successful pricing strategy must be tailored to the needs of both the customer and business, allowing a maximum return on investment.
 

This article is part of our series reveiwing 2022 articles. Other articles in this series include:
2022 in Review: Mindset, Processes, Selling Skills and Growing your Business
Holiday Survival Tips for Self-Employed Small Business Owners
2022 in Review: Marketing and Leadership