If you really want to get things done and work efficiently, you need business processes in place. But not just any business processes, the right ones. That’s where you can really benefit from increased productivity. Building a business is something that takes time and dedication… and sweat and tears. Sometimes you need to go through all the pain before you can really build a process that works for your business. Processes need to take into account everything you do in the business and the interactions that have an impact.
If you have that panicky feeling every time you think about your business and making sure your customers and your employees are happy, then that probably means your current business processes aren’t working for you. Evaluate how you do business and the processes you have in place on a periodic basis to make sure they still make sense. What worked for your business ten years ago, may no longer be relevant. Don’t keep doing the same things over and over again if they aren’t bringing any value.
Oh.. you say you don’t have any business processes in place? Oh my.. that is a much bigger problem. Well, not really. You do actually have processes in place, but you probably follow it differently each time or feel like you don’t have a process because you’ve never actually spelled it out. It’s pretty much impossible to run a business with absolutely no processes in place. If you look hard enough, you will see that there is a process there already. Taking the time to evaluate how you are doing things will give you the opportunity to see it more clearly and improve on it.
5 Steps For Evaluating Your Business Processes:
Document them. Write them down, even if it is just with pen and paper. List all the different processes in your business.
Define the process. For each process, list all the steps it takes to go from beginning to end. Use numbers to keep it simple… just like this list.
Determine if you have more than one process that has the same set of steps at some point in the process. These are the processes you can start looking at to see if you can bundle them together somehow. For example, maybe you find that you have three different ways to complete a sale because the products are slightly different.
Analyze and rework the processes to make them more efficient. Maybe you can use one order form with slight modifications to handle all three different types of sales. If you identify an area that takes up a lot of you or your employees’ time, maybe there is a way to make it more efficient. Evaluate opportunities for training, technology, and resourcing.
Put it into practice, and re-evaluate periodically. Make sure you communicate the process with everyone and put it in place. It may not be perfect, but after working through all the kinds and re-evaluating the process on a regular basis, it will get better.
While documenting your processes, see if you can convert any of them into ‘How To’ guides for your staff to follow. Knowing what’s expected and having something to reference keeps everyone on task and helps employees be more productive. When you have something to start from, it’s much easier to improve on how you get things done in the future.
And don’t forget… keep it simple and easy to follow!
Most small business owners have the same top complaint….. I don’t have any time!
It’s easy to fill your time with non-value added tasks. Such as aimlessly tweeting, counting your inventory three times a week, manually keying invoices, and using an old-fashioned cash register instead of a point of sale system.
The problem is that you can’t just easily jump into running more efficient systems until you really understand your business and how it works. You need to understand the business of your business. You need to understand how data flows, who your customers are and what your overall objectives are.
Depending on your business model and objectives, some small business owners may find that the systems they build from the beginning are actually their competitive advantage because it makes them get things done quicker than their competition.
Typically, you should at least consider and plan for improvements to your business systems before you even open your business. Your business plan should include a section on how you intend to operate your business and that should include any technology, tools, processes or resources that can help give you a competitive advantage.
The reality of the situation is that most business owners that are just starting out are not going to have the capital to invest in higher-end systems. They also won’t have the volume of sales or transactions to justify the cost until they ramp up their business. Keeping in mind that you will eventually have the sales, ability and need to justify these systems, try to keep your initial systems as simple and straightforward as possible. I highly recommend tracking as much as possible either in Excel spreadsheets or in a free tool that allows you to export all your data to .csv. This will ensure that you are easily able to convert your data to a more sophisticated system once the time comes.
What are some signs that you could greatly benefit from improved processes or business systems?
Most business owners will just know when the right time is. No one knows your business better than you. Five key indicators that can show you should consider improving your operations:
1. Your business is in growth mode. Things are going well, you have some extra money to invest back into the business. You want to keep growing and know that in order to do so, you’ll need to be able to better analyze your data to make decisions. This means you need a better way to track it and report on it.
2. Your staff (or yourself) are maxed out and can’t keep up with the demand of your customers. Improving your processes can free up more time, build employee morale and streamline operations.
3. You aren’t using any technology! Are you still using paper and pencil to track any of your data?! Eeek! There are some great simple tools available that will make your life so much easier and save you so much more time. Perhaps you’re only doing a few things manually… if so, they should really only be a short term solution or absolutely necessary. If manually processes account for more than 10% of your overall systems, then you need to systemize quickly or you will fall behind your competitors!
4. You have more than 10 employees. That number can very between organizations. But basically, if your staff is growing and you aren’t able to track and report on their details to maintain government compliance, you need to look at a better solution. Any company with more than 10 employees can easily benefit from having an HR and Payroll system to manage their employees.|In most cases, you can still benefit from a system if you have only one employee!
5. You are reading this article. Whatever drew you to this article is likely a very good reason for looking into better systems. Even if you are already using technology, there is always room for improvement. You should conduct regular system audits annually to ensure that your systems still support your current business processes. Sometimes our business changes, but we don’t update our systems to work efficiently with the new processes. Taking regular inventory of our systems and technology can be a great competitive advantage!
Customizing your WordPress theme is not as hard as you think. I have been building websites on WordPress for over a decade. It just keeps getting easier and easier! There are so many themes to choose from, and the automated setup guide makes it really easy to pick a great looking theme as your launching point. WordPress has even taken the guesswork out of installing an online store! You can pick a theme with a storefront and the setup process will automatically install WooCommerce on your site.
Check out my video walkthrough of a WordPress theme customization. This is a nice high level overview covering some of the basics to editing a page and some of the basic back end settings you should update.
Stay tuned for more videos. Looking for help with something specific? Send me a message and let me know what you’d like to see a video on next!
Want customers to be able to instantly chat with you via Facebook Messenger? Installing a Facebook Messenger bot on your WordPress website is easy. This short video shows you how to configure the bot on Faceboook to reflect your business. You can choose to send the code to a developer to install it for you.. but why pay for it? Follow along to see how easy it is to install the Facebook Messenger chat bot on your WordPress home page. It just takes a few minutes!
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