Notwithstanding the fact that the title of this column betrays the fact that I’ve watched too many episodes of Special Agent Oso with my children, my point is that the things business owners need to do are ultimately quite simple.

Best practices are called “best practices” for a reason: They’re things that you do because they work, and they help rather than harm your business.

Most of all, best practices are things that you should be doing all the time, not just when business slows down and you need to find a way to keep everything working.

In fact, if you are always mindful of these best practices, in both good times and bad, the bad times won’t be as severe, and the good times will last longer.

First, standardize your processes, all of them. Everything your people do should be done the same way, every time. That includes not only design, install and programming, but all your back office functions, including payables and receivables.

The only thing “custom” about “custom install” are the minor details in any project. Have a standard template for how you design and wire projects. As one of my old mentors was fond of saying, “proper procedures produce predictable projects.”

Following install standards on the jobsite means less time wasting and head scratching, and completing projects either on schedule and on budget or even under budget, which is even better!

Next, and related to the first, manage your labor efficiency. Years ago I had a PDF of a white paper (now lost in a hard drive failure, and I’ve never been able to find it again online) that outlined the efficiency of car dealership service departments.

While no company in the real world can ever operate at 100 percent efficiency (as measured by hours billed less wages paid) the study claimed that profitable service departments operated at between 45-55 percent efficiency. It contrasted profitable departments with unprofitable ones: those that operated at an average of 28 percent efficiency were costing their dealerships money.

It’s a lesson that I took to heart. Sit down with your bookkeeper and figure out how many dollars and hours of labor you pay in payroll vs how many dollars and hours of labor you’ve billed to clients.

The answer might shock you. One friend of mine ran just such an analysis on his company’s install labor and learned that $300 grand in install labor revenue was exactly offset of by $300 grand in payroll.

On the bright side, he learned that he needed to charge more for labor!

Lastly and most importantly, have a receivables policy and stick to it.

Common among small and medium sized companies that have failed or are struggling is that they were lax on collecting the money they were owed. With deposits, you need to be fair, but you also need to collect enough to get started on the new job. With progress payments, your contract with your client needs to be explicit about the terms required for work to proceed.

Crystal clear communications up front, and as the job progresses will help prevent disagreements. If there is a dispute, having your ducks in a row will help you find a resolution. Doing a bunch of work up front for free, and then getting stiffed because you didn’t take care to look after your end of things isn’t a particularly good business model.

As a wise panda and his team of helpers said, three simple steps, that’s what you need.