Process isn’t sexy, I know. But if you want to grow your business (or even maintain your business with less effort) it is the #1 thing you can focus on.
I love watching the TV show The Profit, and one of the things he focuses on for successful business is process.
Here is why I love processes so much.
1) Invest in Process Once and Get Rewards Later
A number of years ago I mapped out a client sales process. We built really good proposal templates (with a fair amount of effort) and focused on a system that we could apply to all clients.
2) Systematically Do What Works
As a business owner you are probably very busy (if not, congratulations). The benefit of a process is that once you figure out what works you can systematically and continuously do it. Without thinking. Basically processes allow you to scale. Someone else can come in and learn the system.
3) Save Time and Effort
A good process saves you tons of time and effort in the long run. It is like approaching a game with a plan already in place vs. trying to figure out how the game is played. Replicating a good system (that you took time to build) will save you TONS of time and effort in the long run.
I’ve invested in a lot of processes over the 10+ years I’ve owned my business and they have saved me tons of time, money and energy and also brought me better results.
Here are some of the areas where process in my business has really paid off:
• Sales process – clearly map out how a lead becomes a client and have templates and systems for every step of the way.
• Proposals – we have a clear process for proposals based on a template. I invested in great design for a powerful proposal template upfront and have gained 1,000 times the return on it easily.
• Client documents & onboarding – We have a process for client onboarding and documentation. We have documents, templates and steps to get started with a client, so we seem organized and we don’t forget a step.
• Task management – We use Asana to manage tasks and projects across the team. This is amazingly helpful as we can all easily get on the same page and have a system in place to hand off tasks and track if we are delivering on time.
• File management – I am a stickler about managing our company dropbox account smartly so we can all easily find what we need. Design files, video assets, images, training materials are all organized and easy to find so that we don’t waste time re-creating or emailing files back and forth.
I’d love to hear from you – how has process helped your business? Where do you drive processes and what has paid off the best for you?
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