TheresaAs the business grows, it will run into a number of situations where the dire need of systemize their business becomes more evident. They affect you as the business owner and your employees. The level of overwhelm will impact your business functions, quality and worst case scenario, your customer experience. When is it time to consider systemizing your business?
5 Signs to Consider Systemizing Your Business
Many clients that I’ve come to work with has passed the point of painful redundancies and workarounds because they missed the opportunity to systemize their business before they needed to. When you see the signs and flags, that’s always the early symptoms showing that systemizing your business is in its prime. There’s a number of indications that will point you to this revelation.
1. 20% Increase In Your Work Day
Does it feel like you’ve been working more hours? Is it impossible to leave the office before 7 or 8 pm, where it used to be your common practice to leave at 5? It may be that there is simply more to be done than there used to be. At the same time, however, your longer workday may also be a symptom of the fact that your business is growing but you aren’t managing the transition effectively.
2. Repeating Tasks
If the same set of tasks keep popping up again and again, for example completing Purchase Orders or sending reminder emails to clients, this is a huge sign that systemizing is needed. These repeat tasks that are done on a consistent basis can be fast-tracked by creating templates which you can easily insert customer details and relevant information into without having to recreate the wheel each time. Automation software or online services can also be utilized to handle sending emails at specific times as well.
3. Out-Of-Control Checklists
Things that you once had under control now feel like they’re out of control. If the work is piling up and you can’t even count the number of items on your checklist, it’s time for a new systematic approach. You may need to re-evaluate which tasks you want to keep to yourself vs. which ones it’s best to delegate to others. Systemizing is the best way to make sure that all members of the team are assigned their fair share of the work, along with appropriate deadlines for completing that work.
4. Increase of Re-work
Re-work is a product of a dysfunctional process. It leads to frustration, delayed deliveries, and bottlenecks for customers or end users. As a result, many policies are built to mitigate these one-offs. Systemizing your business can ensure all work is completed correctly the first time, instead of wasting time on redoing the work that was already completed half-heartedly or only partially. It also allows work to be done in a consistent manner. In turn, allows the business and customer to set expectations from the very beginning.
5. Falling Behind And Can’t Catch Up
There are only so many hours of the day for you to work by yourself. If you increasingly feel like you can’t catch up to the end of your work pile it’s definitely time to systemize. Implementing systems will help organize your work and prioritize your workload. Figure out why you’re so busy that you’re not even sure what’s keeping you busy. A workload management system can help process the work that needs to be done proactively and in a timely manner.
6. Outstanding Client Work
Perhaps the most alarming symptom of the need to systemize your processes is when you begin to get increasing numbers of angry phone calls and emails from customers or clients about work that either hasn’t gotten done or has gotten done – badly. Statistics show that disappointed clients will tell 13 people about their negative experience. This is high compared to happy clients who will only tell three people about their amazing experience working with you. If you can’t get it together to finish the job in the best fashion to please your client, you’re going to have a very difficult time keeping that client or attracting new ones.
7. Communication Breakdown
The team that you put together is getting on like gangbusters and really tearing into their work. There’s just one problem: New faces are continually being added to the team, to the point where you may even begin to have trouble remembering names and faces. As a result, communication may be breaking down. Work may be piling up because you may not be sure whom to assign it to. Several individuals may be working at cross purposes on the same projects. Systemizing your business is the best way to avoid these snarl-ups. It will define your communication matrix, pathways and clarify roles and responsibilities where each party is involved.
8. Vacation, when?
Can you remember the last time you took a vacation and left all of your work behind? If not, consider systemizing your business so that you can finally get some R&R in. There are a time and place for work – at the office, not on the beach. Your spouse likely expects you to concentrate on them, not a bunch of tedious work-related details. If you can’t seem to leave your work behind even halfway across the world, this is the ultimate sign that you need to make a series of drastic changes. By having systems in place, you’ve removed what is in your head and entrusted someone you feel can perform the work without you there.
If you suffer from some or all of these problems, don’t panic. I can help you establish and define operational procedures, Consolidate multiple tools. We’ll structure you for increased productivity and start systemizing your business to get it back on the right track and for success and scalability.
Your Move
What struggles are you finding in your daily work? What processes have you put in place to combat them?
Come over to our Free Exclusive Community where you can find support from other CEOs on the same journey.
