How To Double Your Productivity
And Results With Systems
By Eric Ruth
We talk a lot about “systems.”
Systems are what separate struggling businesses from successful businesses.
A system can be something as simple as how you answer the phone, or it can be as complex as the detailed breakdown of your entire business operation.
Recently, I was in upstate New York visiting my very good friends and my goddaughter.
They run an upscale restaurant in the Lake George area. I talked a lot with my friend, Matthew, about the operation of his business and implementing systems.
As a result of our conversations, he decided to shut down his restaurant for an entire day each week in order to work “on” his business, rather than working “in” his business.
And that is really what “systemization” is all about.
You see, most of us, including me, are generally too busy working “in” our business and don’t spend nearly enough time working “on” our business.
A couple years ago, I managed to really irritate a customer whom I value a great deal because of my inability to respond to her emails.
And that occurred because I didn’t have an operating system in place to handle my business growth on the internet. (Thankfully, that’s all solved now since NPE has several full time assistants to handle customer support).
Committing yourself to taking more time to developing the systems necessary to handle the growth of your business is important because you don’t want to let people down, and because it’s the smart thing to do. How can you expect your business to become exceptionally profitable if you can’t handle the inquiries from potential clients?
Since there are only so many hours in the day, it’s critical that you systemize our business approach.
In fact, the ONLY way to grow your business is to systematically implement systems. By that I mean that each week you should set a goal of developing and recording one system for your business.
Let me give you an example.
A couple years ago, when I actually used to answer my own phone, I used to get a lot of calls from prospects asking “tell me about your product.”
When would hear that question, I would become almost incredulous because the reason I market the way I do, by sending out a free report describing my product in great detail, is to educate the prospect about what I offer.
So I decided to just tell these inquirers that there’s so much to tell I can’t spend an hour on the phone explaining everything to them, but if they have specific questions I’ll be happy to answer them.
BIG MISTAKE.
I’m pretty good on the phone, so I’ve been able to close most of these people, but the bottom line is that I needed a simple system in place to handle these inquiries.
When someone calls my office and asks for explanation on a product, I needed to have a preconceived, practiced “pitch” that walks them through the highlights of a particular offer and leads them to “YES!” (NOTE: Now with several full time assistants on board, this hole is covered!)
AND SO SHOULD YOU.
See, the best companies – the most profitable companies – do things CONSISTENTLY. Instead of having an ad hoc approach to daily business functions, they have a very structured, detailed system for carrying out each function.
The phone gets answered the same way each and every time. Emails are responded to at 11 AM each and every day for 45 minutes.
Outgoing and incoming phone calls are handled by a script which is an effective selling tool.
Every Friday afternoon is spent visiting potential strategic alliance partners. (For a very short period of time many years ago, I was the assistant regional marketing/sales manager for an insurance replacement car rental company. My boss insisted that every Friday we bring donuts with us on our sales calls to insurance companies, car dealerships and body shops. People loved the donuts and the donuts DIFFERENTIATED us from all the other sales reps who called on these businesses. We got more referrals on Fridays than any other day of the week. This is an example of a simplistic marketing system. But the message here is that you should be calling on massage therapists, chiropractors, fitness equipment retailers, etc. at least once a month, or sending them something in the mail once a month to develop the relationship. If you call on them in person, bring some token gift with you that shows goodwill or educates them in some way. Deepak Chopra says that you should never visit anyone empty handed. Always bring something, even if it’s just a flower.)
I heard that McDonalds is testing a new restaurant that is 99% automated. It requires only one person to run the entire restaurant because they have refined systemization to such a degree that it takes people (and the mistakes they make) almost completely out of the equation.
The goal is to make your business “systems-dependent”, not “people-dependent.”
To develop systems in your business, you have to create descriptions of the various tasks you do within your business. Document exactly how they should be done and then follow the exact process each and every time you do a specific task. This way you can begin to delegate the less critical tasks to others without worrying about the tasks not being carried out according to your specifications.
For instance, if you use my lead generation marketing systems, you want to have your database updated every couple days, you need to have a system for mailing out reports, newsletters, article reprints, etc. on a regular basis. You need specific times set aside for follow-up phone calls, 2nd and 3rd notice mailings, etc.
I know this sounds a little grueling. It can be difficult and time consuming in the beginning. But the time is well invested. You want to automate your business to the greatest degree possible.
(NOTE: There is a very serious software that we use to do this all, on auto-pilot, with thousands of customers each day. But it’s a pretty significant investment- around $5K upfront, and then a monthly service charge of around $299. You don’t need this type of infrastructure right now, but when you’re ready to step up to the big leagues just e-mail the NPE office for more info and we’ll give you the full details.)
Because one of the biggest obstacles to your financial success is lack of time. Systemization and delegation gives you time to focus on the critical aspects of your business which generate the most revenue.
I urge you to go out and buy Michael Gerber’s “The E-Myth” (“E” stands for Entrepreneur.) This breakthrough book does a wonderful job of explaining the importance of systemization, and will give you great ideas for how to systemize your operation.
Your action plan for this week is to set aside two hours per week when you sit down and document one task you do in your business.
Outline how that task is to be carried out. Even if you never delegate it to someone else, you want to be sure that YOU are performing it in a CONSISTENT manner each and every time.
This goes back to what I was saying earlier about the way I handle incoming phone calls asking the general question about what my product is. I am going to outline a script that walks the prospect through the highlights of my program, asks them specific questions, and leads them down the path to “YES! I NEED THAT!”
Once you systemize your operation, your business operation becomes more consistent, and so do your results.
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