Landscape Management, October 2012

BUSINESSPLANNER2013 Establish business systems By Paul WolBert s business owners or managers weve spent years trying to implement the secret of success by attending seminars reading books and magazines and listening to CDs about business systems and standards When were done with those things we return to our businesses and are swamped by real life events that pose everyday challenges and we never get to implement the ideas we just learned about All of us have heard advice from others We need to systemize our businesses and set standards This is probably the most important project to complete because it will go a long way to ensure short and long term success Systemization starts with documenting how we do what we do This task has many names systems operations and policies and procedures manuals Whatever its called the purpose is to capture the collective intelligence or know how of the business the why what when where who and how of what a business does Hence the business system LANDSCAPEMANAGEMENT NET OCTOBER 2012 76 The most important processes to capture are SaleS which describes how your business fnds prospects presents quotes and closes sales Delivery or fulfillment which details how your product or service is delivered to your customers CuStomer ServiCe which shows how your business stays in contact with your customers over time Others systems might include advertising and marketing accounts payable receivable and payroll recruiting hiring inducting training and performance production routing and scheduling safety and quality and administration reception and record keeping To start capturing this information start with a basic Word document and write the simple steps that show how your company works through the process Then expand on each step with a paragraph or two about the important steps involved so it starts to become specifc to your company Write it as you would say it if you just hired a new salesperson There is no wrong way to do this For each step continue to identify the steps needed Example How to arrange a meeting with a customer could be the title of a document that might be required to train new employees Next expand the detail Once completed you might have three fve or more pages that explain the actions required Dont forget about the rules and guidelines that govern the decisions along the way The bottom line is you need to make a proft Typically when one system ends another starts Be careful and follow the plan Measure the effectiveness of your systems When your systems are working youll know because youll have no customer complaints high customer satisfaction on time service no team complaints high productivity met goals and objectives and a bottom line increase Now for the test Ask employees to explain a system Then compare what they described to you with your interpretation Additionally conduct a customer satisfaction survey you need to know what theyre thinking and ask your customers about their experiences with your business You want to hear it all positive and negative SaleS SyStem example Heres a simple generic sales system 1 receive an inquiry from a prospect or prospecting salesperson 2 meet with the prospect and assess his or her needs 3 Present your product or service solution 4 Create and deliver a proposal with a quote 5 Follow up with the contact and ask for the sale 6 the prospect accepts and becomes a customer 7 the sale is processed