Whether you’ve been binging Marie Kondo on Netflix, or you just feel the need to do a bit of light organizing, spring is the perfect time to rid your business of unnecessary clutter and set some things straight. It can often be challenging to look at the hard facts about our companies but being realistic regarding opportunities for growth and improvement have to be done sometime. Why not embrace the spirit of spring cleaning and do it now?

If you’re not sure where to start, take these suggestions for freshening up your processes. They’ve worked for companies of all sizes, leaving you feeling like you can move ahead in the next quarter poised for success!

Tips for Spring Cleaning

1. Learn and Move on from Taxes

Tax season is a brutal reminder of what you did right last year – and what could use some refining. This makes spring an ideal time to plan ways to improve for next year’s taxes. Make a list of things you wish you had done better in 2018 to prepare for tax filing and use it as a strict to-do list for 2019. This could be anything from requiring better employee tracking, digitizing credit card receipts, perfecting trend reports, or assembling your financial records earlier in the year. Use those “doh!” moments as the springboard for crushing next year’s tax requirements. If you need suggestions on where to start, connect with your CPA or tax professional and inquire about the pain points they had when preparing your taxes.

2. Do Some Actual Cleaning

Yes, this is literal (not figurative.) Even if you have hired the best cleaning service in your area, you probably aren’t taking full advantage of all that they have to offer. Ask about deep cleaning specials that you can use to save money on the deep cleaning jobs you avoid the rest of the year. Many cleaning services are prepared to jump on the spring-cleaning trend and have offers to help sweeten the deal and get you to make the jump.

You’ll also want to motivate your teams to do their part in making a cleaner work environment. Give each cubicle or desk pod a recycling bin for a week, and encourage them to get rid of things they know they don’t need to keep around. Go over the proper method for ditching sensitive information, provide a shredder, and get to work. Do a thorough dusting and disinfection before those summer colds come into the office.

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3. Revamp your digital assets

Is your website glitchy? Were you slow to make a move to https? Have you heard that your mobile site is a bit lackluster or challenging to use? Now is the time to bite the bullet and invest in those digital properties that define your business on the web and bring your most distant customers into your world. Get serious about doing the things that will make connecting with your teams easier, including updating social media accounts or creating a simple method of reaching customer service reps.

Start by asking your employees and teams to use your website and mobile apps. You may be surprised to learn that many of them have never tried it from the perspective of the customer. Get a feel for what’s needed for a seamless digital experience, and separate it from the “nice to haves” that are of lower priority. Stop making excuses for online resources that don’t work as they should.  

4. Get a Handle on Credit

Even if you don’t need financing now, you never know what the future holds. Getting a grip on your creditworthiness is a practical way to ensure you’re ready to apply for credit at the moment it happens. Get your free business credit score (you can get it from Nav), examine your weaknesses, and take steps to correct fatal flaws before you need cash. You could boost your business score with something as simple as paying off a small line of credit or asking your vendors to report on-time payments to the credit bureaus. Since it’s easy to put off dealing with credit woes, making a point to tackle them every spring gives you no excuse to forget.  

5. Harness Holiday Momentum

It’s easy for businesses to live for the winter holidays; the hype around Black Friday and Christmas is hard to ignore. There are just as many opportunities to sell during the late spring, however, and you would be wise to capitalize on the buzz that surrounds these popular (and some lesser-known) events:

• Mother’s Day
• Graduation
• Good Friday and Easter
• Passover
• Take your Child to Work Day
• Administrative Assistant Day
• Cinco de Mayo
• Ramadan
• Armed Forces Day
• Memorial Day

Whether you run sales, offer perks, or launch new products and services to commemorate the event, holidays are always an excellent way to build buzz and get your business in front of new faces. Start planning now for the April and May holidays that are most likely to give your sales a boost.

6. Ditch Digital Clutter

Finally, there’s much talk about clearing desks and giving the breakroom fridge a going over. When is the last time you ordered a digital cleanse for your workplace? This is the time to de-gunk email accounts, desktops, phone photos, and unnecessary voice mails. Give your teams a list to go through their electronic clutter and do away with the excess. If you don’t want your employees handling this on their own, meet with your I.T. department to discuss the best ways to ditch the electronic bloat and get your systems lean again. They will know the best ways to provide secure backups in case things go awry.

Does this office plant spark joy? Maybe not. However, spring cleaning your workplace has more to do with getting rid of the weight that’s holding you back. For business leaders, this may also require some time away to prioritize projects and get your head cleared after a busy new year. Schedule the time you need to get the problematic stuff done.

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