Lisa Sinopoli is a Broker and Realtor specializing in helping seniors and their families make the right move at the right time. She is located in Vaughan and serves the GTA. Lisa recently celebrated having her realtor license for 30 years.
The Project:
Lisa has been a client for many years, and we helped her with several projects as her business grew and adapted. As with most realtors, keeping track of contacts and ensuring you have an automated way to reach out to them is incredibly important.
Lisa was struggling with keeping track of all of her contacts in an effective way and ensuring her marketing processes were streamlined and were reaching the right people.
The Result:
All About Systems worked with Lisa, her admin team and her marketing team to coordinate efforts, document process flows and create SOPs for her recurring tasks. Once that was complete, we worked with Lisa to select the right Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system to meet her needs and her goals. We worked with external vendors to implement the CRM and then provided training and documentation to get her team operational.
Lisa was also looking to create a custom lead magnet to help her clients looking to invest in real estate in the GTA. We helped her design a custom Real Estate Investment Calculator to help her clients make better informed investment decisions.
Examples of Process Flow Map, SOPs and Custom Real Estate Investment Calculator
Sandra has done a variety of different things to help my business for over ten years. Everything from managing and implementing my CRM, web and marketing projects to training me and my admin staff. Sandra has been very instrumental in helping me streamline all of my systems, selecting the right ones and using my vendors and service providers effectively. Her honesty, patience and especially her knowledge have been exactly what I required to get me to where I am today. I plan on keeping Sandra on board so that I can keep up to date with all things digital. She is definitely an asset to have! Thanks Sandra.
Die-hard fans of Wunderilst will be sad to learn that it is is going away on May 6, 2020. Are you ready? We can help you export your tasks and select a new alternative if you are stuck. Just book a call with us, we can likely get it done during your 15-minute FREE Problem-Solving Session. CLICK HERE TO BOOK.
So, what can you do to manage your tasks and lists without Wunderlist? Well.. the possiblities are endless really… but here are a few options you have
Most users will likely move to the new Microsoft To Do that is replacing Wunderlist. I have yet to try this out in much detail as I tend to use the other alternatives below.
When you first install To Do, you get the option to import your Wunderlist tasks. So this should make for an easy move so that you don’t lost anything you have in progress.
A quick review of Microsoft’s To Do looks promising. I like that it integrates with Outlook and Apps. I have been relying heavily on Outlook tasks lately, so I’m definitely going to give it a test spin!
Other options, if you’re looking to make a switch, are not in short supply!
Other than the popular options of Trello, Todoist and Asana, I have one more option for you…
Agantty. Huh? You’ve probably never heard of it. And to be fair, Agantty is less of a task and list management system, and more of a project management tool. However, it does have an import feature, so you can move over all your tasks with just a few clicks. Find the full instructions here: https://www.agantty.com/en/blog/rip-wunderlist/
Wondering what you can do with Agantty? Read my full review by CLICKING HERE. Oh, and did I mention it was FREE?
Another option to look in to (and I only just learned about it, so stay tuned for a review), is Quire.io . Quire is a modern collaborative project management software made to help visionary teams with big ideas. Like yours.
Have you been putting off those projects because you don’t know where to start, or you don’t know how you’re going to keep track of all the moving parts?
Many business owners take on projects, without getting organized or having a clear plan on how to get from project conception to completion. Not everyone is naturally good at planning, but it is something that can be learned.
If MS Project scares you or is too expensive, Agantty is a great free alternative for small businesses, or even for individual use. This article will help you determine if Agantty is a good fit for you and your business. Click on each heading below to read more.
Overview
Agantty is a free and easy to use online project management tool. Using a Gantt-chart style interface, you can plan, organize and manage an unlimited amount of projects, tasks and teams with a single account. It helps make project management easy and fun!
Key Features
Gantt Chart Creation
Create unlimited projects
Tasks with overview
Drag and Drop
Collaboration and teamwork
Rights Management
Reminder Lists
PDFs
User management and admin settings
Create reminders and lists
The Good Stuff:
Easy user interface: The whole user interface of Agantty is very intuitive and easy to learn. I didn’t even have to look at any of the very useful training materials they have to figure out how to create a project or add tasks.
Colour Coding: Each project can have a different colour, which means you can categorize them and easily see each category. I’d expect this to be useful to either visualize projects by Department, or you can use the colours to define project state. For example, I’d set all the projects to green, if they start to slip, they would change to yellow and if they are behind they would be marked as red.
Dashboard View: I love that all tasks across all projects appear on my dashboard and I can easily see what needs to be done today or this week. It also allows you to view by a custom date range, so you can easily plan ahead. It is basically a list view or task view and can also be used as a checklist for projects.
Gantt Chart View: Being able to see everything at once is a bonus. Agantty allows you to customize your view by easily collapsing or opening the tasks for each project, viewing the chart by days or months and quickly getting to specific task details by double-clicking on elements on the chart.
Drag and Drop: The Gantt chart has drag and drop functionality, so once you create a task, you can easily change the duration of it by dragging the ends of the bar, or you can drag the whole bar to new dates, or reorder them to make them easier to view. You can even move the whole project around
Task Assignments and Notifications: This is critical for managing projects. The ability to assign a task to a specific person will ensure everyone knows who is accountable for what. And using the personal dashboard, each person can easily see what they need to get done to meet project deliverables.
Teams: A team is used to group projects together. You can have a team for each of your departments or functional areas. For a software project, you can create a team for Designers, another for Developers, and another for the testing team so that tasks can be assigned to each team.
Dependencies: What? A free project management tool that allows you to EASILY set dependencies?
Upload Documents: Agantty allows you to upload documents from Google Drive or Dropbox to each task. It’s not the MOST collaborative solution out there, but at least you can point to a shared document to work on if necessary. Or to provide additional details for the task, like linking to testing workbooks or requirements documents.
Export and Sync to Google Calendar: Using the Export feature, you can export your calendar tasks from Agantty and import them to your own calendar… and sync them so that your tasks are always in your calendar! You can also export to excel if you need to.
Sharing with stakeholders: As is the case with many projects, you need to communicate with stakeholders. I love that Agantty lets you create a public shareable link so that you can share the project details with whoever may need to know, but not necessarily has any tasks assigned to them.
The Not So Good Stuff
Printing: You may find it a bit challenging to get complex projects printed to PDF to be sharable wish stakeholders.
Collaboration: While Agantty is great for seeing what everyone is working on, it doesn’t work too well for actual collaboration… as in talking with each other. One of the things I really liked from some other alternatives, is the ability to have chat streams for each task or project. That is missing here. Although, not a huge deal because you can always use something like Slack or another to quickly share messages with your team. Another alternative could be to use the description field on the task to link to a shared space, or provide single line updates.
Recommendations
Recommended for:
Individuals who want to plan out personal projects or keep track of goals.
Consultants working on multi-step projects for clients that want to track resource time for each step.
Small to medium-sized business owners with simple projects
Project and Program Managers
Not recommended for:
Larger complex projects
If you need to print visual calendar charts
Multiple projects lasting more than a year if high-level reporting is important.
Want to try it out for yourself? Visit https://app.agantty.com and let me know what you think!
Although many businesses do have a social media presence, they don’t all engage their communities efficiently. Engaging your social communities takes some effort and practice. There are a ton of courses and books out there that go into detail about why you need to share, how to share, when to share and who to share with. That’s great… but do you want to spend hours a day curating content and publishing to social media?
As a systems thinker, I know there has to be an easier way! And I’m not the only one who thinks that. In doing research to find my own social media management tool for my small business …. I found at least 30 popular ones… and there are hundreds! How are you supposed to select the best social media management tool for your small business?
The first thing you need to do is figure out what is it you really need in a Social Media Management System. It really helps if you have a social media strategy here… I promise. But let’s say you don’t… you should answer just a few questions before you get started.
Pick 1 to 2 social media platforms to get started.
What social platforms are your customers using?
Which social platforms might they be most receptive to your messages?
Determine how much content you want to share.
How often do your customers want to hear from you on each platform?
How much content do you have to share each week?
How many posts per social profile do you expect to make?
How will you generate new content and manage it?
Are you creating new content via blog posts on your WordPress Site?
Do you want to share links from other social accounts you follow? If so, do you want that included in the Social Media Management Tool you are looking for? Or will you do it separately?
Will you be sharing You Tube Videos you created?
Do you want to share your Mailchimp Newsletters?
For any of the above…. do you want this integrated with your Social Media Management Tool, or will you add the content and links manually to the tool?
How much are you willing to spend?
Are you only interested in a Free tool?
Do you want a tool with a pricing plan that grows as your business grows?
How much are you willing to spend now, and how much are you willing to spend when your business reaches it’s current social media strategy goals? Don’t pick a Free plan that has high paid package pricing if you can’t afford it down the road.
Now, if you’ve gone through and answered most of those questions, well…. you’re pretty close to having a social media strategy now! Way to go! Now you just need to figure out what type of content to share. 🙂
Hopefully you also have an idea of what you are looking for in a Social Media Management Tool, or System. Jot down the answers to the questions above, and use them to evaluate different social media management tools.
A google search will bring up the most relevant lists of possible tools, but I also use these sites to evaluate options and narrow down the search when helping clients select the best system for their business.
If the thought of going through all the various possible vendors out there is too daunting or time-consuming for you…we can do it for you!
Select a System
Not sure which application is best for your business? Are there too many possible choices and you don’t know how to narrow it down? We can help make it easy and stress-free! After an initial consultation, we will do all the heavy lifting and provide you a list of 2 to 3 options compared against your specific business’ needs and evaluated against criteria we will help you come up with and refine.
You’ve had enough of Excel spreadsheets and writing things on paper! It’s time to get serious and finally get a system that will make your life easier. Maybe it’s a new Human Resource Management System, Finance System, Marketing Software or CRM. Are you ready for it? Have you heard the horror stories of how your colleagues implemented a new system, only to find out it didn’t meet their needs… or worse, cost them more money than they expected?
Selecting a new system is a lot like shopping for a new cereal… but much more critical!
Never fear! All About Systems is here!
All jokes aside, these 5 (not necessarily easy, but very do-able!) steps will help guide you and ensure you make the best decision for your organization
STEP 1: Make sure you actually need a new system.
Yes, I know this sounds silly, but it is REALLY important! Do you know what the problem is that you are trying to solve? Or do you just think you need a system because you figure you should have one, or that it will miraculously increase your sales or improve efficiency? The last thing you want to do is implement a system that won’t solve your true problem.
Before you start, it’s important to have a Project Charter. That’s just a fancy word for a document that justifies your intent and sets clear goals and expectations so you don’t get side-tracked.
Basically, the Project Charter will give you these key things that will ensure help towards making a new system a success:
A solid reason for implementing a new system.
A budget and timelines to work towards.
A list of stakeholders (these may be funding partners, employees, senior managers, specific departments, governement agencies etc.)
STEP 2: Identify your MUST HAVES.
In my world, these are called requirements. You can call them whatever you want… but make sure you write them down clearly. It does take a bit of practice to get this right, and there are different ways of doing them. Keep in mind that once you get to Step 4, you’ll need to determine which of your potential solutions meets these needs. They should make sense to you and the project. ‘Business Analysts use ‘user stories’, but for small businesses, I’d say it’s sufficient to just state what your needs are keeping in mind that each ‘must have’ should be:
Unambiguous
Testable (verifiable)
Clear (concise, terse, simple, precise)
Correct
Understandable
Feasible (realistic, possible)
Independent
Necessary
Not specific to any vendor
There is no limit to the number of requirements you can probably come up with. In fact, I’ve worked on projects with thousands of requirements. But keep it simple and manageable. Come up with as many as you can and as many as are relevant to the size of your overall project. I’d say 20 to 30 is a good starting point for most small businesses.
Some examples of good requirements:
Must cost under $10,000 to implement.
Must be available on mobile devices (Apple and Android).
Should cost under $5,000 a year to maintain.
Must be able to track historical data for up to 10 years.
Ability to have an audit trail of all transactions.
Store up to 1T of data in the cloud.
STEP 3: Narrow Your Criteria.
Once you have your list of requirements, go back and look at the list above and re-evaluate them. Identify which are truly must-haves, and which are nice-to-haves. Keep the list for reference in Step 5 and for future implementation. Pick your top 10 critical ones (give or take a few, no one is going to check up on you.).
Create a chart with all the criteria listed in the first column, and then all the systems you’re planning to evaluate in the top cell of the table like this:
Criteria
SystemA
SystemB
SystemC
SystemD
SystemE
Under $10,000to implement
YES
YES
YES
NO
YES
Has 1T storage
YES
NO
NO
YES
YES
STEP 4: Evaluate systems that meet your criteria.
Using the requirements you listed in step 3, start evaluating various systems and fill out the chart. Hmm.. I bet you’re wondering, “But where do I find the systems in the first place?!” How can you know which ones to consider in the first place? Depending on what kind of system you are looking for, there are two sites that could be useful (in addition to a Google Search of course):
https://www.capterra.com/
https://www.getapp.com
These sites both let you search for and compare different options and even let you refine your search by your criteria. Also, be sure to look at the reviews. You may want to add a row for that in your chart. It’s not just about evaluating the software solution, but also the vendor and support you will get post-implementation.
You can also use social sites like LinkedIn or specific Facebook Groups related to your industry or need to ask for recommendations. Networking is a great way to get some ideas of what is already working for others.
Fill out the chart above with the information you find from these sites, as well as the company websites. More detailed requirements may not be easily identifiable. Don’t be afraid to ask for a demo, sign up for a free trial or speak to a sales representative to get more information… just don’t sign anything yet!
STEP 5: Make a decision.
By this point, that is all that is left to do. You have taken the time to give each step it’s due diligence, and now you can rest assured that you have all the necessary information to make an educated, well-informed decision. That said… don’t get stuck in the process. Sometimes, we can keep refining and refining our requirements or adding more alternatives to our list and it gets harder to move past that. Sometimes, good enough, can be enough.
Gather your stakeholders to help you make a final decision. Not only can they provide valuable insight, but if any of them need to be users of the new system, it will help to have their buy-in early on. No one likes change… unless they are at an arcade…. in the 80’s!
No system will match all your needs perfectly, but the right system should be a perfect match for your organization… kind of like finding your life partner. A new system can be a big commitment too. Hopefully, these steps will help you decide which is best for you.
