Does anyone spring clean anymore? I remember my mother turning the house upside down annually to wash away the winter and welcome the summer.

Clearing out every cupboard and drawer, taking down and washing curtains, cleaning every item in the display cabinet and beating rugs on the washing line; this was not a one day session, it often took all week, my mother might wish she had an iRobot vacuum cleaner. Yet the result must have felt like a new start – and it was probably a good fitness workout too.

We don’t really do this in our homes anymore, but giving your install business a spring clean is well worth the effort. We all know that we have to spend time on our business and not just in our business. Taking some time out to review your systems, progress and performance is a luxury, but it is one that you need to force yourself to do regularly.

One benefit to a spring clean could be that you make your business more attractive to new customers, suppliers and employees. I guess just like the cleaning of the home it will boost your kerb appeal.

Split your business into inputs and outputs during your clean up.

Inputs

Supply chain. Who are they? Too many? Are you getting a good service, are they delivering on time? Are their payment terms favourable?

Stock. Have you got too little or too much? What are your most frequent tasks, are you covered for them? What is the lead time on the premium products?

Staff. Who is performing well? Are some people not pulling their weight? As the owner are you still wearing too many hats?

Premises. What impression does it create? Is it time to have demonstration facilities? If you run your business from home, would a small, affordable office be better?

Outputs

Products and services. Are your prices up to date? How long has it been since your reviewed your daily or hourly rates? Have you got T&Cs? Are your services current, what are the emerging smart home trends?

IT and website. Are you embracing cloud services for bookkeeping or storage? Is your website attracting enough traffic? Get a friend to give you website feedback from a consumers perspective.

Clients. Who are they? Do they value your service? When did you last carry out a customer survey? Are you gathering testimonials and not using them?

Marketing. Have you got a marketing plan? Are you seeing any payback from your marketing actions? Just how successful are your social media campaigns?

These are just eight areas to start with. We have not even looked at finances, legals, health & safety and branding?

Take some time out to give your business a spring clean and turn cobwebs into contracts.

You can find me on Twitter @Customised and @LiveInstall. #LiveInstall