Every business owner strives to succeed and grow, and many look for a sure-shot method to make it happen. We are here to tell you that you already have access to that magic formula.
What is it?
It’s putting systems in place within your business.
It seems too simple, right? It is and it isn’t at the same time. Systems are the means by which we create consistency and structure within our businesses. This ensures a predictable customer experience, predictable job responsibilities for employees, and — should everything go well — overall predictable growth for your business.
Systems You Can Put in Place At Your Business
There are five aspects of any business that can benefit from utilizing systems. These are:
Client Management
A client (or customer) management system (CMS) is software that helps you to manage your clients. It can be used to maintain a database of all your clients and their contact details, track the status of each client, and also manage their invoices. A CMS helps businesses stay organized, provide better service, and make sure they don’t lose any potential customers.
Talent Management
It helps businesses with employee retention, recruitment, and development; maintains their workforce; and keeps them happy. A talent management system can help companies maintain the quality of their employees by providing them with benefits like training or company-sponsored education.
Every business needs a talent management system because it helps them retain their employees. When an employee feels valued and appreciated, they are more likely to stay at the company instead of seeking other opportunities elsewhere.
Operations Management
The operations management system provides a clear overview of how the business is running and what it needs to do to make sure that it stays on track. It’s a vital tool that helps you see your company’s performance and identify the areas where you need to improve. This system also makes your work easier by providing an overview of all the tasks, goals, and other things that have to be done in order for your company to grow.
Financial Management
No business can go far without a robust financial management system in place. It helps the company keep track of its finances and manage its budget. These are the systems that they use to maintain records of their income and expenses and to track their cash flow. A financial management system also allows you to keep an eye on your profits and losses, so you can make sure that you’re making enough money without risking too much in the process.
Sales Management
A sales management system is software that helps to track the sales process and manage it. It can be used by any type of business. Businesses can use the system to track sales performance and evaluate the effectiveness of different marketing campaigns. It helps in generating reports on sales performance, including cost per sale, number of units sold, and average selling price. The system can also help in forecasting demand for a product or service, which is crucial for planning production.
How to put a system in place
Start by creating a roadmap for your business. You likely already have a business plan, but if you don’t, this is good inspiration to create one.
- Take the who, what, when, where, and why of your business and begin defining them in the context of how.
- Determining how you will find your people, how you will produce your product, and so on. Write these down.
Next, consider the physical aspects:
- What do you need to accomplish what you have defined so far?
- Specific equipment, tools, software, or supplies? Specific skills, knowledge, and talent in your employees? A particular amount of space, location, or setup for your office?
Now it is time to create your system. Combine your how and what into defined steps, procedures, policies, and instructions. Ultimately, a company with effective systems in place would be able to continue business as usual whether you are there.
Hiring a Business Coach
Creating and implementing effective systems takes time and practice. Even the most perfect system design will be ineffective if you haven’t trained your team on how to use it. This in itself is a topic with thousands, perhaps millions, of books, blogs, and videos, but if your team doesn’t know how and what to do, none of your hard work and forethought will matter.
By hiring business consultants to help put the right systems in place, you can step around “teething troubles” and have a perfect business system running from the get-go.
They will also include your team’s inputs in the creation of your systems, and provide insight into processes and aspects you may not have thought of. We all know that two heads are generally better than one.