How to Systemize Your Business
What would happen if you picked up and went to the airport right now, flew off to a hot sunny resort for a few weeks, and left your cell phone, blackberry and laptop at home? How would your business fare? Would it keep operating without you?
Systemizing your business is about putting policies and procedures in place to make your business operations run smoother – and more importantly – without your constant involvement. It’s about not working in your business anymore, but focusing on your business and its growth and development.
Why Systemize?
A system is any process, policy, or procedure that consistently achieves the same result, regardless of who is completing the task.
Clear systems will free you from the day-to-day functioning of your organization. Your company will run more smoothly, turn a higher profit, and provide a higher level of service – regardless of your involvement.
Any task that is performed in your business more than once can be systemized. Ideally, the tasks that are completed on a cyclical basis – daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly – should be systemized so much so that anyone can perform them.
Systems can take many forms – from manuals and instruction sheets, to signs, banners, and audio or video recordings. They don’t have to be elaborate or extensive, just provide enough information in step-by-step form to guide the person performing the task.
To learn more about how having systems in place for your business check out the lessons from our Academy.
Business Results Academy Inspirance, LLC
Life
“Life is about becoming more than we are.”
Oprah Winfrey
Your action for today is to reflect on an area where you would like to “become more than you are.” Ask yourself the following two questions: What would that look like? What would I need to do to achieve that?
Have an extraordinary day!
Maximize Your Resources – Part 2
In the last post we talked about six ways you can work on maximizing your current resources. They included:
- Recognize the obvious
- Unconventional breakthroughs
- Face the facts
- Reveal your business’ soul
- From breaking even to breaking the bank
- Stand up and stand out
Today we’ll talk about the last three areas you can work on to maximize your current resources. They are:
- An offer they can’t refuse
- Would you like fries with that?
- Stay away from the edge of the cliff
An Offer They Can’t Refuse
The secret to success is to stay ahead of your competitors – maintain the competitive edge. To do that you need make it easier for your customers/clients to say “yes” rather than “no”. You do this by eliminating all the psychological, financial, physical, emotional and other road blocks they may have.
You can take the risks for them by offering warranties and guarantees that make the customer feel more confident in you, your business and your products/services. You also must be serious about your offer and follow through if a situation does arise. The quickest way to the bottom is to play games or take back a warranty or guarantee.
Would You Like Fries With That?
It’s the oldest trick in the book. I mean, really, how many times a week do you fall for it? Every time you sell a product or service, you need to offer an add-on, upgrade or back-end product to go with it. These products must be complimentary to the original product being purchased and must create a higher perceived value.
Avoid the Edge of the Cliff
Continuing to test and measure your systems, products, marketing methods and all other aspects of your business allow you to see problems before they happen and therefore avoid falling off the edge of the cliff.
Here are a few specific areas you can test for potential improvements:
- Marketing
- Sales Copy
- Customer Service
- Sales Letters
- Sales Presentations
- Employee-Customer Interaction
Through testing these different areas you will find products/services where you can raise the price, maybe others where you can lower the price or offer that product as an incentive item, and find many others areas for improvement that will better utilize your current resources.
This wraps up our series on how to maximize on your current resources. If you need help working through any of these or the previous areas, try our FREE test drive at www.businessresultsacademy.com.
Maximize Your Resources
We’re going to talk about how to take a hard look at your current resources and get the most out of them. This will help your capital go further and increase your profit margin.
Today we’ll cover six different ways to maximize what you already have. These include:
- Recognize the obvious
- Unconventional breakthroughs
- Face the facts
- Reveal your business’ soul
- From breaking even to breaking the bank
- Stand up and stand out
Recognize the Obvious
Sometimes when you are too close to something, you can’t make out the big picture. You need to step back and really take a hard look at the resources you currently have in front of you. You are surrounded by opportunities that can boost your career and help your business become more successful.
Unconventional Breakthroughs
Don’t sit around waiting for breakthroughs, you need to create them yourself. A breakthrough is merely a new way of doing things or finding a new thing to do for the same or better results. You should be having regular brainstorming sessions and encouraging your team to come forward with breakthroughs or ideas any time they have them.
Some great examples of breakthroughs are:
- A health and beauty company discovers a side effect of a product that can be re-marketed and sold.
- A company creates a roll-on deodorant inspired by the shape and size of a ball point pen.
- The founder of Nike poured rubber onto a waffle iron and created the most innovative and successful running shoe ever.
When attracting or strategizing for a breakthrough there are some key objectives you need to keep in mind. They are:
- Look for the hidden opportunity in every situation.
- Look for a cash windfall for your business every three months.
- The more value for your client, the better your breakthrough.
- Create multiple streams of ideas to find the best breakthroughs.
- Effective breakthroughs remove risk or resistance.
Face the Facts
Before you can put your breakthroughs to work you need to face the facts of the processes and systems that are not working for you and work to correct or get rid of them. System analysis is a good way to do this. Once you have a listing of your strengths and weaknesses, you need to compare those to the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors.
There are some great questions toask yourself and your team to get a handle on where your business is right now. They are:
- Why did I first start this business? Why am I in this industry?
- What products/services did I offer then? Which were the most popular?
- Why are my customers/clients buying from me right now?
- How did I generate new customers/clients then?
- Which of my marketing efforts were bringing in the best results?
Once you’ve got some answers to these questions, you’ll know better how to approach your weaknesses.
Reveal Your Business’ Soul
Every business has a soul and you likely felt it the strongest when your business was just starting. It’s that passion, newness and momentum you had at the very beginning. Sometimes that can get lost along the way as your business gets stagnant and set in its ways. You have to break out of that rut and get back to your business’ true soul.
The philosophy of putting your client’s needs above your own is the true key to success. You need to serve your clients not sell to them. They want to build a relationship based on trust, not a used car. Add to these responsibilities your ability to solve problems, handle special situations, be a friend to your clients and focus on offering valuable, high quality products/services. Only then will you get back to the basics and find you have more resources than you thought.
From Breaking Even to Breaking the Bank
One of the classic and most used ways to attract clients is to offer them a ridiculously low price on their initial purchase and lock them in for future purchases. You see this approach with movie or book clubs and even credit card companies who offer lower interest rates for the first six months.
Essentially, you are offering them a deal on their first purchase and then you offer them back-end and add-on products along the way. These are naturally higher prices and will bring them in to more of an intimate relationship with you and your company.
Stand Up and Stand Out
You need to stand out from the pack among your competitors. They only way you can do this is through consistency and value. You do this by discovering what your USP (Unique Selling Proposition) is and perfecting it. Here are some tips to help you find and develop your USP:
- Look for unfilled needs in your industry.
- Use preemptive marketing.
- Use a technique that is clear and to the point.
This wraps up this post. If you need help with any of these areas and techniques, try our FREE test drive at www.businessresultsacademy.com to access a wealth of resources and tools.
5 Killer Sales & Service Mistakes
There are 5 big mistakes you can do that will kill a deal with a big fish. They are:
- Not meeting the client’s expectations
- Mishandling a client crisis
- Taking on more than you can handle
- Putting all your eggs in one basket
- Up cash creek without a paddle
Any one or combination of these can not only kill the partnership, but have the ability to take down your company as well.
Not Meeting Client’s Expectations
It’s essential you give your client’s exactly what you promised during the negotiation portion of your relationship. If an event does happen where there is no way to meet the client’s expectations, not only do you have to find a way to fix the situation, but you also have to find out where it all went wrong.
A couple of things could have contributed to this problem:
- Bad salesmanship. This could mean the salesperson was trying too hard to seal the deal and didn’t listen to the client’s needs.
- Lack of communication. This breakdown occurs between the salesperson and your operations department.
In order to avoid these mistakes, you need to put a clear plan of action into place that all of your sales staff needs to follow:
- Think before you speak.
- Give yourself a break.
- Perfect your process.
- Pre-format over-deliverables.
- Stay hands-on throughout the entire process.
- Define success.
Mishandling a Client Crisis
Crisis’ will happen, but how you respond and fix them will define your company and interaction with your clients. You need to respond quickly and effectively. This will help you gain even more trust and confidence from your client.
Some simple tips can help you deal with any client crisis:
- Take responsibility and apologize no matter who is at fault.
- Act swiftly and effectively.
- Step in and take control of the situation.
- Never point fingers or place blame.
- Stay in constant communication with your client.
- Stay calm throughout the situation.
- Keep your eye on the ball.
Taking on More Than You Can Handle
When you take on too much, your business can’t keep up and therefore you can easily lose control of everything and find yourself barely functioning. You want your business to be successful, no doubt, but you need to have a plan for how you will handle the growth. Your clients expect great customer service and highly quality products/services, they don’t know or care about your behind the scenes operations to get those things done.
Look for these signs that you are taking on more than you can handle:
- Clients’ needs aren’t being met.
- Employee morale is low, clients are upset and you’re in a panic.
- You have to react in emergency mode to save accounts.
- Your current clients are suffering from trying to keep up with new business.
- Profits are going down.
- You are just trying to pick up the pieces of your business.
- Your clients/customers leave.
- Resources are being reallocated.
Here is an idea called the Mock Fish Plan. This plan can help you react positively when you are facing some or all of these issues and help you get your business back on track. This plan will:
- Help increase sales in a short period of time.
- Alter your products/services for the better.
- Fulfill promises you made to your clients.
There are six steps to this plan:
- Bring in your best team and have them all help to meet the fish needs.
- Review your operational system.
- Anticipate future problems better.
- Communicate better.
- Include costs in your quotes.
- Always have a back-up plan.
All Your Eggs in One Basket
You can allow your company to become dependent on any one fish. Eventually or for certain periods there is going to be a slowing down period with your fish. In order to stay in the game you need to diversify.
If you’ve ever mishandled a fish, you could drive away potential fish as well. In order to keep balance and prepare for a strong future, there are a few things you can do.
These things include:
- Stay in the loop and try to know what’s going on inside your fish company.
- Constantly reinvent yourself and stay at the top of your industry.
- Stay exclusive.
- Try to secure multi-year commitments and contracts.
- Spread your contracts out.
- Price your products/services correctly.
You also need to work to reduce your dependency on your fish. This can generally be measured in sales or profits. Take a look back at the process we’ve used thus far to snag more fish to keep this all in balance.
Up Cash Creek Without a Paddle
Even when business is good there’s still a chance of running out of cash flow. You have to always be prepared for a slow in sales or a surge in expenses. One of the keys to balancing your cash flow is to get your clients to pay on time. This can seem like a nightmare, but is absolutely essential to a successful business.
Here are some tips to speed up the payment process:
- Always send invoices on time and adjust your records for potential audits.
- Learn how the client processes payments on their side and find out precisely where to send invoices.
- Find out who’s in charge of processing orders and payment, so you know who to contact if needed.
- Have a follow-up procedure in place, just in case.
- As a last resort, call your contact to ask questions.
- Always make sure your invoices are correct before sending them out.
You also need to make sure your cash flow is protected. You can do this by:
- Always know which accounts need paid and when.
- Negotiate with your suppliers for the lowest cost possible.
- Have a bank contingency plan in place.
- Build your own inventor network.
These are the ways you can help avoid the killer sales mistakes that can make you lose it all. If you need help with any of these tips or tricks, try our FREE test drive to get the help you need fast www.businessresultsacademy.com.