The Importance of Business Systems
Ever try driving to a brand new place without a smartphone or a map?
For most of us, that seems crazy! I would equate that feeling of craziness to running a business without the help of sound business systems. Business systems are incredibly valuable! Systems can help you get out of the weeds and recenter you into the CEO you are.
But if you have never seen the power of systems in action, you might wonder why business systems are essential.
When we run our business WITHOUT systems, it can feel like a lot of reacting.
Systems can help you regain control of your business so you can proactively manage all the things. Systems in finance, project management, email management, schedules, and more. With systems in place, even in just a few of these areas, you can save TIME! It also allows you to delegate tasks to other team members efficiently and streamline your overall processes.
Are you starting to see why I am so passionate about systems? They help you take your business to the next level. And as they become a part of your routine, you will use most of them daily or weekly. Here are a few areas I LOVE to systemize. These are easy to implement and pay big rewards to your business.
Onboarding Process
With the suitable systems in place, onboarding new clients can be a breeze! I highly recommend a good CRM (customer relationship management) system. I love using Dubsado. With Dubsado, I can create templates for all aspects of my onboarding. I have templates built for canned emails, proposals, contracts, and even invoices. It even includes a scheduler option where clients or potential clients can see your calendar availability easily. Almost all CRMs also allow you to build workflows. So imagine this, someone fills out your lead form, and they automatically receive an email to book a quick chat. They book using your scheduler, you jump on the call with them, and it's a great fit all around! With a few easy clicks, you can create a contract (all from your templates) and send using a canned email template. What maybe used to take you hours and tons of back and forth is instantly simpler and quicker.
Client Management
A Project Management system is beneficial to help you stay on track with tasks and projects. It also is a great way to pull those tasks out of your inbox and organize them - something that can save you tons of time! My team and I use ClickUp. I love how in ClickUp I can customize the platform to fit my needs. I can create spaces for each area of my business (Headquarters, Marketing, Clients, Etc). Within these spaces, I can create folders to house each separate section of the space. Then within the folders, I can create tasks and subtasks. I can customize tasks and subtasks with unique statuses to easily track the stage the task is in. It makes it easy to track and complete tasks for my personal life and my business. My clients and team also utilize the platform, which lets us comment or assign ownership to each other. ClickUp has a great free version, too, so you can get a feel for how it works without starting on the paid plan. The only caveat is the learning curve can be high, especially if you don't consider yourself tech-savvy.
Client Communication/Networking
If Instagram stopped tomorrow, would you have a way to reach clients? That's where your email list comes in. If you send a lot of emails (or want to in the future), whether it's check-in emails or promotion emails for your service, having an email marketing platform can help save you time and energy on these emails. I use Flodesk to send newsletters to my list. I love how easy Flodesk makes it to design stunning emails. Mailchimp is another excellent option for email marketing. I recommend trialing both to see which you like better. And if you aren't ready to pay for an email marketing program, you can utilize your current email provider.
Implementing systems in these three areas can significantly affect your time and energy. If you aren't sure where to start, I can help! My mini systems audit is perfect for those feeling overwhelmed in their business. In this audit, we will get to know you, your business, and your business systems. From there, we put together a customized recommendation plan so that you can turn your overwhelm into fierce productivity. Finally, we share exactly WHICH systems we believe are best for you to implement. Learn more at the link below!
