Systems are the key to creating a profitable, sustainable business and still having the time and energy to enjoy life. Systems ultimately enable your business to run largely on “auto pilot” so that you can focus on “big picture” planning—and perhaps take that vacation you have been dreaming of.
Today, we’re going to examine five key steps to creating systems that work. Virtually every aspect of your business can be systemized—from billing your customers to marketing to delivery of goods or services. These tips are applicable to any of these systems, large or small.
1) Define your expectations. The first step is determining what the “output” of your system should be. Perhaps you’re putting a system into place that ensures each customer receives a birthday card, perhaps you’re working on social media marketing, or it could be something else entirely. Whatever it is, specifically define your expectations.
2) Create a step-by-step process for achieving the desired result. Now that you know exactly what you’re aiming for, put together a step-by-step process for getting it done. If you want each patient to receive a birthday card, for instance, the first step may be compiling a database and ensuring that you ask each new customer for his or her birthday. This is a simple, common-sense process.
3) Try it out and make adjustments as necessary. Once you’ve created your system, try it out. This is where many business owners go wrong—they come up with ideas that are great in practice but that don’t actually work. Try out the process and make adjustments in order to fit the constraints of reality! If it doesn’t work in “real life”, it’s useless.
4) Document the process. Once you’ve figured out a process that works, the next step is to document it. This may sound silly, especially if it’s for a simple task, but it’s important—because eventually this gives you the ability to create a business that can basically run without you. Rather than being bothered 20 times a day with trivial issues (which most business owners can identify with), your employees will have a “manual” that shows them everything they need to know. So document the process in a careful, step-by-step manner as if you’re giving it to someone who has no familiarity with your business.
5) Determine accountability—who is responsible for which parts of the process? Finally, once you’ve created and documented your system, assign accountability. It’s up to you to ensure that your team is executing properly, and without clear accountability and explicit deadlines, it’s hard to do this. Set deadlines and timelines as necessary, and make sure that everything step in the process is assigned to someone—even if that person is you.
If this sounds time consuming, the truth is that it CAN be time consuming. But it’s an important investment that will save you a tremendous amount of time and effort in the years to come. If you’d like to learn more, or if you’d like help getting started, please get in touch with us today!