Systematize For Expansion

Having trouble scaling and growing your business? Here’s how to systematize for expansion.

Jason Swenk was 2 weeks away from shutting down his agency: “Because we didn’t have a clear vision of where we’re going. We didn’t know that ideal customer, what their biggest challenges were. We didn’t have the right things in place. We had the wrong people in the wrong seats. We weren’t charging enough. So there are many different things that we were doing wrong.”

It’s not entirely uncommon for business owners to feel like Jason was when he was in the midst of building his business.

When your vision isn’t clear, when you aren’t sure who your customer is, when your team members aren’t doing the work they should be doing, and when you aren’t charging enough for your products or services, things can get out of hand pretty fast.

So what do you do if you find yourself in this position? Here are three simple steps you can follow to start systematizing for expansion.

Identify Bottlenecks In Your Business

Do you know where the slowdown in your business is? If you aren’t systematized, then there is definitely slowdown – you just have to find it.

More often than not, it’s either a specific task or person that’s at the root of the problem – it could even be you.

Jock Purtle, founder of Digital Exits said, “Me, I was the problem. Me being the bottleneck, me trying to do to too much stuff whereas I should’ve been. That meant that the most valuable tasks weren’t being addressed.”

It’s important to recognize that bottlenecks occur when people aren’t good at something, don’t enjoy a specific task, or are already too loaded down to handle more. Business owners typically fall under one of those categories, if not all.

Document Repetitive Tasks

Every business has tasks that have to be performed more than once on a recurring basis. These tasks absolutely need to be documented.

As Neil Brown of Burkett Financial Services, LLC says in reference to his employees, “It needed to be a documented workflow to give that person the steps on exactly what they have to do.”

You empower your employees when you give them a way to deliver their work consistently. When it’s always up to your standards, you and your team members both win.

Establish Clear Standards For Your Employees

Documenting processes is just one way of establishing clear standards for your employees. You can also use policies and procedures to further guide their actions and daily responsibilities.

Furthermore, you should also have a way of tracking and measuring the results being delivered by your team. It doesn’t matter whether you use a CRM or have key metrics that you look at on a weekly basis – your goal should be to make it easy for you to audit the work of your employees. This keeps your finger on the pulse of the health of your company.

It’s Time To Get Ready For Expansion!

“The business needed me for certain things, they didn’t need me for the things that I used to have to do. That was probably the turning point, or that’s when I knew that the business would run without me. We did that, that’s when we started getting inquiries to buy the company. Because someone doesn’t buy a company that is totally tied to the entrepreneur.”

So there was a happy ending for Jason after all.

But what about you? Is your business systematized?

Systematization allows your business to thrive during times of growth instead of slowing you down.

If you want to scale up, it’s time to start documenting procedures.

Owen McGab Enaohwo is the CEO and Co-Founder of SweetProcess, an app that enables you to quickly and easily document how to accomplish repetitive tasks so that your employees can do their best work.

Categories: Best Practices Coaching FINANCES Productivity

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