What defines success? How do I support my employees? When is it time to grow? Running a small business can spark a lot of questions.
In this Newsroom Spotlight, ADP’s Matt Farwell and Erron Stark discuss the big questions small businesses need to know.
For more information, visit ADP.com/SmallBusiness
Transcript:
Tina Wang
How do small businesses know when to plan for growth, or when it's time to double down on their core product? What factors should they be thinking about as they continue to shape their dreams? To answer these questions and more are ADP's Matt Farwell, and Erron Stark. Thank you both for being here.
Both
Thanks for having us. It's great to be here.
Erron Stark
It's a pleasure.
Tina Wang
Matt, as someone who has run a family owned business, how can small businesses balance growing their businesses while optimizing operations?
Matt Farwell
You know, when I was running, the small business that I was involved in was really a construction company.
And what we found is when you have massive call it condensed time frames, where you're growing very rapidly, it's very challenging to balance out the operational efficiency side of your business. Most of the time the way that we grew was we added more labor or more workforce to enable us to get through the amount of work that we had.
As we started to expand and mature, what we found is we had an opportunity to actually pull technology into our solutions. I'll give you a real example of that. In the past, we used to have create tickets every time a loader would load a, a bucket of material into a truck.
What we did, because that was so labor intensive, is we actually got software that weighed trucks as they came into the pit. And then ultimately we eliminated all the ticketing and the invoicing in the back office process, really helping us to not only grow in scale, but to also drive operational efficiencies at the same time.
Tina Wang
As I heard a lot of the word balance in your conversation, in terms of what you shared between the growth and, you know, the workforce and the technology there. So, Aaron, how can you how can small businesses make sure they have the tech and the tools they need as their plans evolve?
Erron Stark
So what we've seen is there tends to be two options. Option number one is the fire hydrant approach. So you can go online. And there is just a flurry of different options that you can select from the challenges that if that's not your domain expertise, you may not know which one is the right one for your business. Which one is the most cost effective for your business?
So the second option, which tends to be typically the most effective for small businesses, is having a trusted advisor and not just somebody that knows your industry or your profession or, you know, even the the scope of what tools that you could potentially take advantage of. But it's also how do you implement them and then how do you get the most out of them, like how do you make sure that you're, you're utilizing them to maximize whether it's your inputs or your outputs for your business, too, whether it's driving margin, driving the best experience for your employees.
Having an advisor that can point you in the right direction and then handhold you through that process. We've seen to be one of the best options that you can select from.
Tina Wang
So ADP recently collected advice for about 18,000 small businesses. And one huge theme was around data and understanding how to measure success. So Matt, how can a small business decide what success looks like to them and then track it?
Matt Farwell
Well, just like we heard from those 18,000 small businesses, success is really measured through the eye of the beholder. If you're a brand new startup, success may look like fulfilling your first big order. If you're a generational family, business success may look like how many generations have we handed the business down to? If you're a franchisee, success may look like how many new locations did you add?
Or if you're a mature small business, it may look like how many new markets have you entered into? It's really hard to put a single stat or a key performance indicator on what success really looks like, because it varies so much by business maturity and industry. But the stat that I would tell you sticks out the most to me is improvement.
If I was judging the performance, or the progress that my small business was making, I'd want to make sure that we were moving in the right direction. It kind of goes back to that, that age old adage of getting 1% better every day or every week, every month, every quarter and every year.
Tina Wang
I don't know if you know Matt, but I'm actually the daughter of a small business owner. So when you talk about measures of success, my father actually started his small business in the medical field. And when he started his practice, it, one of his measures of success that he looks at today is around his waiting list of new patients. When they call in versus how much money he's making.
Matt Farwell
Yeah. That's great.
Tina Wang
So another popular topic was building a strong team. One business said you want longevity in an employee because their knowledge is expensive. And it takes time to acquire. Aaron, how can small business owners build a culture to keep their people happy and productive?
Erron Stark
I actually thought maybe the best voice to hear from are the employees themselves. And ADP recently did a sentiment survey from employees of organizations of all shapes and sizes, and 80% of them said that if you provide me with some level of benefits, whether it's comprehensive benefits or for one K plan, any type of employee assistance program, or even a perks program, I feel valued in the organization that I work for today, and anytime that I feel valued within the organization that I work for, I tend to stay a little bit longer.
And if I'm happy, I tend to do my job just a little bit better. And that ends up yielding better productivity for the organization that you work for. And, you know, in the spirit of all the technology conversations that we're having, there are different tools and partners out there, because sometimes the benefits may seem like it comes with a hefty price tag, but there's actually ways that you can implement programs within your business where you can take advantage of, certain tools that will enable you to provide those benefits without necessarily the extreme cost that I think historically, most people have the impression that they have.
Tina Wang
And culture is really important for an organization so that all of those benefits build on the culture of that organization.
Erron Stark
That's exactly right.
Tina Wang
Small businesses can range from family businesses passed down, multiple generations to rapidly growing startups. From both of you, what's your advice for wherever they are in their journey?
Erron Stark
Regardless of where you're at in your journey, don't go at it alone. Even if you think that you've reached this apex of success, there's probably somebody out there that's doing it better or there might be somebody out there that's doing a little bit different.
So whether it's having the advisor that I mentioned before, having a mentor, and, and ultimately focus on what you do best and finding partners that could help you do the rest.
Matt Farwell
Yeah, I love that answer. What I would say is, don't forget why you got into business in the first place. Every small business owner that I know, or every small business owner that I get to speak to commonly has started their business because they were passionate about something. They loved cooking. So they opened a pizzeria, or they loved baking. So they opened a bakery. They loved being outside, so they started a landscaping business.
And what happens over time is they get caught up in the actual running of the business, and they lose sight of what's the reason that it started that passion. And what happens when that when in that instances they just lose their way just a little bit and they get caught up in the, in the, in the business itself. They get caught up in the numbers and they don't have that same burning sensation in their gut when they wake up in the morning to go out and do what they're passionate about.
So I'd say make sure you remember why you started and keep that passion alive.
Tina Wang
I think it's, again, keep the passion and it's all about grit and wisdom. So thank you, Matt and Erron for joining us today.
For more information go to ADP.com/SmallBusiness.
