Benchmarking and Best Practices

Today’s small business owner is faced with new challenges daily and often requires finding business solutions and ideas from others. Below we provide some guidelines for benchmarking and best practices.

A best practice is a proven method, process or technique in a given area that has consistently achieved successful results better than other means. Best practices are often used as a benchmark because they provide businesses with time-saving techniques. Small business can use best practices to identify what works, and avoid losing time and money trying other techniques that might not prove as useful. Learning from what others have done can save a business owner from committing a detrimental mistake and improves performance to propel the company forward.

So what methodology do you use to study best practices?

1. Identify one process, area of business or service that you want to improve.

2. Find one metric with which to measure success

3. Create a list of competitors and other businesses in your industry

4. Compile information for each one on what best practices they have used as well as what has not worked.

5. Adapt each best practice to your specific business. Best Practices are not one size fits all and have to be tailored for each company.

6. Evaluate your current situation so that you will have a standard to compare to after you implement the best practice.

7. Implement the process and measure the results.

Borrowing and implementing best practices from other successful businesses and industries can considerably grow your small business. Take the time to learn the factors of success and your business will excel.