By: Cathie Ericson

Every small business is bombarded with competing priorities. But as you hustle to put out fires, are you really missing opportunities. The best way to keep your eye on the prize is through prioritizing strategically.

Here are three questions to ask yourself to determine if you are focusing on your top priority every day.

1. Am I duplicating efforts?

Any business only has so much time and money, and small businesses can feel the pinch even faster. That's why it's important for team members to communicate with one another so they know who's doing what. Take a cue from software companies that routinely use daily scrum sessions, where a group has a short meeting to discuss what each person is working on and then heads off to accomplish the tasks. A scrum helps cross-functional teams enhance productivity and ensure that everyone is focusing on what they do best.

Another area where duplication routinely occurs is with marketing efforts. By sharing best practices and repurposing various marketing materials among departments, you can streamline your output and maximize everyone's efforts.

2. Am I wasting money?

You've probably found it's much easier to stay on budget in your personal life when you identify wasted expenses, like realizing you could cut your cable bill by ditching nonessential channels, or that you're spending hundreds of dollars on takeout.

Nothing can boost a budget faster than finding unexpected cost savings: Small expenses add up fast, so consider a regular audit. Here are three places you can probably make some changes:

• Tech: Are you deploying the latest and greatest, just because If so, you're not alone a study by Genpact Research Institute found that U.S. businesses waste up to $400 billion per year on IT initiatives that don't deliver sufficient ROI. Conduct an audit of your hardware, software, data and phone plans to see if there's duplication something as simple as getting rid of a landline you no longer need could add up to major savings over the year.

• Suppliers: Reducing the number of vendors you work with can reduce costs due to volume pricing and consolidated delivery fees. It can also be a huge time saver since you only have to deal with one account manager who knows your business inside and out. After all, time is money.

• Travel: If meeting with customers or suppliers or attending conferences on your own dime is a must, see where you can save money on travel costs, from a cheaper airfare to a hotel that's a little outside the main drag.

3. Am I maximizing opportunity costs?

Sometimes it's not just the thing you are doing that's most important, it's the thing you are not. Stay with us: We're talking opportunity cost, which Investopedia defines as the benefit that a person could have received, but gave up, to take another course of action.

So before you decide to focus all your efforts and budget on marketing Service A, think long and hard about whether it's truly a better win than potentially offering Service B, or dividing resources to focus on both options at once and cross-sell. In other words, it's not just what you are doing, but what you gave up to choose the other option which can have a huge effect on your business success.