Automatic online business
Table of Contents
1: Systemization An OverviewChapter and Benefits
What is Systemization
Why You Need to Systemize Your Online Business
Chapter 2: Begin from the Start Making a List of Most Recurring Tasks
Step 1: Identifying Recurring Tasks
Step 2: Organizing and Prioritizing the Functions
Step 3: Developing Policies and Procedures
Step 4: Documenting the Processes
Step 5: Implement the Processes
Step 6: Diagram the Flow of Your Business
Chapter 3: Systemization Tools for Your Online Business
Asana
Ontraport
Slack
Deadline Funnel
Lead Pages
Calendly
GoToWebinar
DropBox
Google Docs
Google Calendar
Webinar Jam
Screencast-o-Matic
HootSuite
Infusionsoft
MailChimp
Needls
Salesforce
IFTTT
Chapter 4: Documenting Your Processes Creating SOPs
How to Document Your Business Systems
Develop Naming Conventions
Writing Your First Procedure
Numbering the Steps in the Procedure
Creating the Action Steps for Your Processes
Implementing Your New Standard Operating Procedures
Get Employee Buy-In
Chapter 5: Outsourcing Your Tasks Effectively
Step 1: Identify Your Outsourcing Task
Step 2: Write Your Project Description
Step 3: Eliminate Unqualified Bids
Step 4: Pick 3 to 5 Qualified Candidates
Step 5: Pick the Most Qualified Freelancer
Chapter 6: Automation Tools for Systemization
Zapier
Flow
Pipedrive
TextExpander
Alfred
IFTTT
Shortcat
Robotask
Tallyfy
Intercom
Delivra
Autopilot
mHelpDesk
Chapter 7: Scale-Up Your Business to the Next Level
Create the Right Strategic Plan
Measure Effectiveness with Accounting
Focus on Sales and Marketing
Five Steps to Build a Baseline Lead-Generation System
Implementing Marketing Controls
Hire the Right People
Conclusion: The Final Words
Chapter 1:
Systemization An Overview and Benefits
The Internet has changed the way people think about companies, especially when it comes to owning a small business. Millions of people have tried to start an online business, with many of them finding success. While there are several reasons why one might fail to get their online business off the ground, one of the main reasons is because the owner was unable to systemize the company and utilize the available resources.
People who have found success with their online business know that they need a great idea, as well as the resources to cultivate a customer base for that great idea. They also understand that the same daily activities that are done in a brick and mortar business, also apply to an online business. They know that they will need to take the necessary steps to either learn those skills or outsource them to trusted and reliable sources is about combining the vision with the practicalities of the business world to become successful. The process of systemization is no great mystery. It is possible to learn how to effectively systemize your business and position yourself to run a successful online business that makes a profit on a consistent basis.
What is Systemization?
Many online business owners, when they hear the word systemization, turn to the idea of an endless array of meetings that create a ton of action items that must be followed up on at the next meeting so even more action items can be created. In short, people believe that systemization is nothing more than an ongoing, convoluted series of processes that only make running a business more complicated. This couldnt be further from the truth.
Having a systemized business doesnt mean that youll be caught up in so many policies and procedures that you lose all ability to work on anything productive and its not about filling time or creating the illusion of being busy. Systemization is not about creating a machine and being dominated by that machine. Systemizing your business doesnt have to be complicated.
True systemization is about creating a stable functioning procedure that knows what needs to be done, has a way to do it, and gets the job done. When you have a truly systemized business, you free up more of your time to focus on more important aspects of your business, like marketing, strategy, and product creation.
When your company is systemized correctly, the procedures make sense and always have a purpose. With systemization, everyone in the business knows what to do and when to do it. There are no endless meetings to deal with, no complicated policies to follow, and no time wasted with spinning the wheels.
This isn't to say that all the processes within an adequately systemized business are going to be fun. However, when organized properly, the tasks can be completed in a reasonable amount of time, leaving the rest of the day to work on something more interesting, like converting more prospects to buying customers, creating a new product line, or writing new sales copy. True business systemization, frees you, while a lack of systemization creates endless work and stifles your ability to succeed.
Why You Need to Systemize Your Online Business?
There are many benefits that you can gain by systemizing your online business. With a sound system, people in your organization have a clear understanding of the work they need to perform and what is expected of them. Without policies, there are many unanswered questions, and quality and service cant be guaranteed. Now that you understand why it's good to have a systemized business let's explore the benefits that you can gain.
Reduce Costs
Managing your email inbox or reading through piles of mail isn't the most efficient use of your time. As the business owner, your time would be better spent analyzing new business opportunities or developing new product lines. Delegating many of the days to day tasks that are required to run a business, can free up your time so you can focus your energy on the activities that will allow you to grow your business and increase revenues.
Without clearly documented business procedures, you cant delegate those daily tasks that eat up most of your time. By recording your processes, you can easily delegate tasks knowing that they will be done correctly, allowing you to free up your time to oversee more projects, which brings in more revenue for your growing business.
Increase Efficiency
Documenting procedures allows you to discover any unnecessary steps that you may be taking. When you record your systems, you provide yourself with the opportunity to improve the process, which can result in cutting costs and freeing up your valuable time to grow your business. It can also help you complete tasks with fewer mistakes. Taking the time to document new procedures and re-document existing procedures can provide you with opportunities to make the daily tasks more efficient and freeing up your time to focus on growing business revenue.
Improve Performance
Businesses that lack procedures often have employees that have their own way of handling tasks. While this can make your employees happy, it can also lead to inefficiencies. Not having documented procedures can lead your team to complete the same function in different ways. Recording the best way to perform the task will allow everyone to become more efficient in his or her jobs and improve their performance.
Improve Communication
One of the biggest killers of time and profit in a business is miscommunication. When there are no documented procedures in place, internal and external communication becomes a huge issue. When you have clearly written procedures, there are fewer arguments over how things should be done.
Scale Your Business
Having procedures in place for training new staff will reduce the stress your current staff endures when training new team members. Following documented hiring procedures will allow you to hire the right people for each job and they'll be able to follow procedures without requiring additional assistance.
When your new hires receive better training, they can become more productive at their jobs. They can be trained in a way that reduces the number of mistakes being made and improve their overall performance. When your employees perform better, you can gain more sales and have fewer errors to deal with, ultimately cutting costs.
Measure Your Progress
While the money coming into your business is one way to measure your progress, being able to measure your marketing efforts or the development process of new products will provide you with a better picture of the health of your company. If your business is organized and has clear documentation of your procedures in place, you will be able to quickly check on these things, as well as other areas of concern and obtain real-time data on how they are doing.
Meet Deadlines
Without having a basic plan in place for each day, the daily activities that are needed to keep your business operating can begin to build up, eventually creating a bottleneck and bringing other essential tasks to a halt. For example, if you aren't posting your Accounts Receivables and Payables on a regular schedule, you can find yourself with a lot of work when it comes time to pay your employees or calculate taxes for the current quarter. Having an organized, well-documented system in place, ensures that you won't run into situations where you have to drop other tasks to play catch-up.
Free up More Time
When your business is systematic in its functions and operation, it frees up your time, so you can focus on the activities that will help your business grow. Instead of spending the afternoon responding to emails, you can work on your marketing efforts or promote your business at local business events. Business systemization provides you with the opportunity to spend your time on those endeavors without having to worry that your company operations have halted because you're away from the office.
Take Time Off
Being able to take time off from the business is one of the main benefits of a systemized business. When your business is systematically organized, you can take a vacation knowing that your company will still be able to run, even in your absence.
Now that youve been shown the many benefits of having a systemized online business, its time to take a moment to evaluate your circumstance and make a list of what you want to accomplish with your online business. Write everything down, no matter how small, vague, or inconsequential it may seem.
One of the easiest ways to become burned out before your business even has a chance to succeed is trying to master everything yourself and doing it all. No matter how good you are, this line of thinking is just not realistic. Developing a logical and workable business system will allow you to build and run a successful online business.
Chapter 2:
Begin from the Start Making a List of Most Recurring Tasks
Whether you already own an online business and find yourself constantly exhausted from the daily work, or you are planning on opening an online business in the future, there is still plenty of time for you to get into the swing of systemizing your business. Once you start working on the steps outlined in this guide, you may begin to realize that many of them are simply common sense.
Step One: Identifying Recurring Tasks
To start systemizing your business, you need to begin by listing all the general functions that you do both daily and through the course of the week. It doesn't matter if you are a brick and mortar business, an online business, or a hybrid business that involves an Internet presence as well as a physical site. Here are some of the more common tasks that will apply to every business.
Accounting
When it comes to your businesss income and expenses, you have to create some sort of process for keeping track of what comes in and what goes out. Having business systems in place for your accounting tasks will allow you to ensure that you are profitable, as well as making sure you have the appropriate records to back up your tax filings, that you have paid your vendors, and that your customers are paying you within your set terms. It is also essential to make sure that your paying your employees on time and have the right amount of taxes being deducted from their pay.
This is one of the systems in your business that you have to keep a close eye on. However, this doesnt mean that you have to do the work yourself. Financial management systems will allow you to keep track of everything from tracking credit card purchases to invoicing clients, to following up on past-due accounts. Here are some of the other accounting systems that can be systemized.
Purchasing
Tracking credit card purchases
Accounts payable
Accounts receivable
Deposits to the bank
Cutting checks
Payments on taxes
Profit and loss statements
Invoicing
Daily cash out
Petty cash
Employee expenses
Payroll
Putting these systems in place will help to prevent employee theft and allow you to have a clear picture of your businesss numbers. They will allow you to control your purchasing and ensure that you sign-off on each decision that is made.
Administration
Somebody has to ensure that the day to day tasks are being accomplished. Depending on the size of your business, this may involve a central manager or supervisor, or several managers who oversee one or more departments.
Administration is an essential area of your business to systemize because of the high turnover rate that most administrative roles see. Implementing a series of systems can help to reduce training time and keep you from having to explain to new hires how the phone needs to be answered every time a new employee joins the team. Here are the administrative tasks that should be systemized.
Opening and closing procedures
Phone greeting
Mail processing
Office maintenance
Filing
Paper management
Document production
Inventory management
Order processing
Creating orders
Marketing
No matter how good your products are unless people know that are around, there is no chance of ever getting your online business off the ground. Marketing involves creating strategies, learning how to reach niche markets, how to position your product, writing compelling marketing copy and general marketing collateral. Marketing your business is probably one of the areas where you spend most of your time. You are most likely focusing your efforts on generating new leads and getting more people to call you. These efforts can be efficiently systemized and delegated to other members of your staff. Here are some other marketing systems that you can systemize.
Promotions
Marketing calendar
Advertising
Direct mail
Advertising creation system
Social media
Content creation
SEO systems
Newsletter templates
You can use systemization to create simple systems for your business's primary promotional efforts. Any of your team should be able to pick up your marketing manual and implement a successful email marketing campaign or create a purposeful advertisement.
Sales
Many people tend to lump sales and marketing together. However, to create a truly systemized business, they must be treated as different functions within the company. While marketing is about getting the general word out about your business, sales are about following leads and converting prospects into paying customers. Some of the sales systems that you can systemize are as follows:
Referral program
Customer retention
Sales procedures
Lead generation
Lead management
Sales script
Technology and Data
It is almost impossible to operate any kind of business without having reliable resources in place that can help you keep your website functioning correctly, your servers running, and your workstations from losing critical data. Your business needs to have clear systems in place for managing both your paper and electronic organization to ensure that your sensitive business information is protected and easily accessible.
Implementing data management systems in your business will help you stay organized. When everyone on your team knows where information is supposed to be stored and how it should be handled, you can reduce enormous stacks of paper from forming around the office. Here are some other data management systems that can be systemized to ensure your business continues to run.
IT management
Data backup
Computer repairs
Electronic information storage
Client files
Project files
Point of sales system
Financial data management
You need to ensure that your data management systems include a data backup system. This will ensure your data and business are protected in the event something happens to your server or computer software.
Human Resources
Even if you only have one other person involved in your online business, someone has to make sure that you are functioning within the guidelines and regulations that apply to the kind of business you are running. Managing HR policies and procedures can get very involved, so it is essential that this particular function is controlled by someone else who has an eye for detail and who can assimilate a lot of data.
Along with creating systems for hiring, firing, and training employees, your HR systems will include documented processes for the following:
Recruitment
Retention
Incentive programs
Employee reviews
Employee feedback process
Employee training
Professional development
Ongoing training
Job descriptions and role profiles
Uniforms and dress code
Employees with clear expectations and clear structures are happier and more productive in their positions. Establishing a clear training manual will save you the time of training each new staff member.
Communication
Communication is an essential aspect of any business and is often one of the most time-consuming pieces. Sales letters, fax cover letters, internal memos, newsletters, and reports are all types of communications that need to be created on a regular basis by different people within the organization.
Most of the time the communication systems that you use in your business arent much different from one to the next. However, each one is created by a different person, from scratch. Your communication systems provide a massive opportunity for systemization. Systemizing these communication systems ensures that you will have consistency in your business.
Internal memos
Fax cover template
Letterhead
Team meeting agenda
Internal emails
Newsletter templates
Sales letter templates
Meeting minutes
Reports
Internal meetings
Scheduling
Customer Relations
Another critical area that you need to consider systemizing is your customer relations. This includes everything that a customer sees and touches in your business, along with the interactions they will have with your staff.
Establishing a system for your customer relations will ensure that any new employees will understand how your business handles customers. This allows you to maintain a high level of customer service. Theses customer relations systems are perfect for getting your business systemized.
Incoming phone call script
Outgoing phone call script
Customer service standards
Customer retention strategy
Customer communications
Ongoing customer communication strategy
Customer liaison policies
Purchasing
No matter how lean your run your online business, you will be required to purchase items for your business from time to time. While you may only be buying general office supplies, a software program from time to time, or promotional materials, having a process in place can ensure that you never run out of the items that you need. Some of the purchasing systems that you can systemize include:
Inventory
General supply orders
Shipping materials
Evaluating pricing
Policy compliance
Filing paperwork
It is essential to have someone in your company that is capable of establishing relationships with your vendors and can maintain the rapport to ensure that you are getting the best prices on the goods and services that you are purchasing.
Your initial list needs to encompass all of the essential functions that are related to operating your business. Once you have the list in place, you can begin the next step of the process.
Step Two: Organizing and Prioritizing the Functions
Once youve identified all the recurring tasks in your business, it is time for you to organize and prioritize those functions. Depending on the size of your business, you might be able to combine some of the tasks into a single, general category, as long as your business remains relatively small. It's also important to remember that you can always split categories later on as it becomes necessary. Here are some examples of how you can prioritize your essential business functions.
Product Development
Before you can even start a business, you need to have a core product or service that you can offer to potential customers. This makes product development one of the most critical functions in your business and thus should be placed at the top of your priority list. Product development is likely to continue to remain high throughout the course of business since you will need to continually improve and refine your product over time for it to stay competitive in your market. Coming up with new products that will compliment your core line will also be a function that you will have to perform throughout your time in business.
Administration and Accounting
For small businesses, combining the administration and accounting functions makes sense. You can hire a single office manager who can take care of the day to day clerical tasks as well as posting credits and debits to the books. As your company expands, you can split these two functions into separate teams. Before you can start selling your product or services, these two areas of your business must be structured and in place.
Tech Support
You cant successfully run an online business if you dont have a functioning website or if you have problems with your equipment. Having someone who knows how to build and manage a site and keep your equipment running is essential to have in place before you make your first sale.
Sales, Marketing, and Customer Support
When you are first starting your online business, these business functions can be combined and handled by one or two people. Over time, as your business gets off the ground and continues to grow, you will need to split these functions into their own department and have separate policies documented for the processes that go along with each task.
After youve analyzed your list and prioritized the functions according to their importance and need for getting your business up and running, the next step is developing the policies and procedures that will be essential for keeping your business running, even when you arent in the office.
Step 3: Developing Policies and Procedures
When you have your priorities in order, its time for you to begin developing the policies and procedures that will be at the core of your business. These policies and procedures will keep each of the essential functions of your business running smoothly so you can focus your time and effort on growing your business. It is necessary for you to keep in mind as you work through this step, that even if you are combining several functions under one umbrella initially, that each of these functions must be clearly defined with their own specific processes and responsibilities.
Developing policies and procedures is nothing more than creating a logical process that can be documented in a training manual. They must be as relevant for a team of three as they would be for a group of three hundred. Here are some examples to help you begin crafting the procedures for each of the essential functions of your business.
Accounting
You should have policies in place that include guidelines to how frequently posting should be done to Payables and Receivables, when taxes should be determined, how to handle employee payroll, and how to track expenses.
Administration
The administration policies and procedures should include guidelines on how to schedule employees, how to draft letters and general correspondences, how to arrange and maintain the filing system, booking travel for department personnel, and ordering office supplies.
Sales, Marketing, and Customer Support
The sales, marketing, and customer support departments will need to have clearly defined instructions on how to interact with the public. Marketing will need guidelines for how to create compelling ads that appeal to consumers while the Sales and Customer Support departments will be representing the company when approaching prospective customers and taking care of existing ones.
Step Four: Documenting the Processes
For your business systems to work correctly, they need to be clearly documented so that there is no opportunity for miscommunication or confusion on what should be done in any given situation. While recording your processes and procedures can be intimidating, there are some excellent resources for managing this.
Your new hires, presumably, will have some experience in the area where they will work. Draw on this experience to help you create the policies and procedures for your business. To cut down on the time you spend writing down the processes, turn to templates and samples found on the internet or obtained from other companies. There is no point in your spending your valuable time reinventing the wheel. A lot of the information that you need has already been written and can be customized to work for your company with minimal effort on your part.
If you genuinely don't have the time or resources in your company to help you document your policies and procedures, you can always hire a business consultant to help you create a training manual and a workable employee manual. The money you spend on this type of service will be well worth it in the long run.
Step Five: Implement the Processes
Once you have started documenting your processes and procedures, you'll want to take them for a test drive. Start implementing the processes to determine if the basic structure is sound. Don't be upset if you run into bumps along the way, no business, no matter the size, gets it completely right the first time. As you do a test run on the processes, consider whether the process has the potential to be tweaked along the way to ensure that your company is capable of running smoothly when youre away.
As your company grows, you will find it necessary to add positions to various departments, adjust policies and procedures to accommodate new laws and regulations, or create new departments by splitting older ones. If your primary system is sound, these new developments in your company will be relatively painless to deal with and won't require you to overhaul the way you do business entirely.
Step Six: Diagram the Flow of Your Business
It isn't enough for you to merely identify and prioritize the functions in your business. You also need to ensure that there is a logical ebb and flow between each of these essential areas.
While this may seem redundant once you've figured out what each department is supposed to do, you can think of it as creating the jewels that go into the necklace. They may be beautiful in their own right, but if they aren't correctly linked, nobody can wear them.
Here are some ideas to help you with the diagramming and definition of the communication flow within your business.
Start with diagraming how things flow through each department. For example, a new customer order begins with Sales, makes its way to Order Processing, then finds its way to Shipping, and finally ends with billing. At some point, Customer Support will need to be involved in following up and making sure the customer is happy with their purchase.
Next, identify who is responsible or accountable for each progression in the flow.
Evaluate how long it takes for the flow of the order to make its way through the process and determine if any areas need improvement.
Taking the time to diagram the various processes will help you in a couple of ways. First, it will make it clear whether or not the policies and procedures that you have implemented are working correctly. Secondly, it will help you and your team spot any areas where you can improve communication, more clearly define procedures, and which steps can be streamlined to save you both time and money.
While this may seem like a great deal of work, it is relatively easy to accomplish. The degree of detail and time that you spend developing these procedures will depend on the size and nature of your business.
While some of the steps will be able to be completed in a matter of minutes, others will take days or weeks to accomplish. Building a solid foundation when you are first starting your business will save you a considerable amount of time and money once you have your company up and running.
Chapter 3:
Systemization Tools for Your Online Business
If you want to build a successful business that is capable of generating steady, predictable sales, then you need to develop systems that will allow your business to continue to run even when youre not in the office. If you are feeling stressed by the overwhelming number of tasks, email, projects, clients, and social media marketing that you are tackling on a daily basis, several tools can automate your tasks and free up your time.
The following tools will help you to automate many of the essential daily tasks that are required to run a successful business. By utilizing some of these tools you can free up your time, so you can be more productive and focus on those tasks that you need to work on.
Asana
Asana (https://asana.com), is a tool that helps you move your work forward. It is the easiest way for your team to track their work and get results. Asana can help you free up your email because any conversation that you have with your team happens in the app. While asana was designed to be used by organizations, individuals running their own business can also benefit from utilizing the tool in their business. Here are a few highlights that make this an excellent tool if youre trying to systemize your business.
It splits your to do list into actionable tasks based on when those tasks are due, who was allocated to work on the project, and by the project themselves. This feature will allow you to collaborate on larger projects with your team or focus on small, individual tasks.
It allows you to delegate tasks more efficiently.
It works with Google Drive and Dropbox, so you can easily share files within the project.
Its free.
Ontraport
Ontraport (https://ontraport.com) is an all-in-one business automation tool that brings together all your business tools, customer information, and data into a single application. It is a true marketing automation system that will allow you to market your business using email, postcards, SMS, and more. It also has a feature that will enable you to sell your programs, products, and services seamlessly with a payment processing option for PayPal or the merchant provider for your business. Here are just a few of the reasons why Ontraport is a great automation tool for your business.
It allows you to map your entire customer journey. While most marketing tools show you either how your email performs or how your pages convert, Ontraport shows how your whole business performs on one single campaign map.
You can see whos converting when, where they are coming from, and their lifetime value through the tools campaign reporting feature. The data you receive can then be tied back to your marketing activity, so you know which campaigns are working.
It allows you to build your campaign from scratch or choose a campaign from its vast library of turn-key templates that include emails, pre-designed pages, and everything else you need to launch your campaign.
Slack
Slack (https://slack.com), is a business tool that allows your team to kick off a project, hire new employees, review a sales contract, finalize your budget, measure and A/B test, and more; all from its easy to use interface. The program will help you save time when collaborating with your team by providing you a single place for messaging, files, and tools. Here are just some of the features that Slack has to offer your business.
Organized conversations, utilizing channels to bring conversations together. The channels can be organized by team, project, or client and allow team members to join and leave any channel as needed. It also features threads that keep side conversations from derailing the project or topic at hand.
Slack also allows you to search conversations and turn them into common knowledge. Users can explore everything that has been posted in channels to see if their problem has already been solved.
Deadline Funnel
Deadline Funnel (https://deadlinefunnel.com) is a program that will allow you to sell your programs live through webinars, as well as allowing your customers to enter into mini-launches, which are fully automated, using timers that countdown to the expiration of the cart. The countdown timers that deadline funnel uses are personalized to each visitor, allowing you to add a sense of urgency to your marketing funnel. With deadline funnel, you can build real, evergreen campaigns that provide each of your subscribers with their own deadline. Here are several reasons why businesses utilize deadline funnel in their companies.
You can create deadline campaigns for your product launches, with the ability to set the same deadline for everyone.
It integrates with several powerful business systems including ActiveCampaign, HubSpot, MailChimp, and Ontraport.
Lead Pages
Lead Pages (https://leadpages.net) helps businesses to build stunning opt-in campaigns easily allowing them to quickly capture leads, convert customers, and integrate their campaigns across all their favorite digital marketing tools.
Create mobile friendly templates that seamlessly adapt to your audiences favorite connected devices.
Easily build ads with the integrate Facebook Ad Builder that pulls content directly from your page to create compelling ads instantly.
Fine-tune your campaigns quickly and create maximum impact by testing multiple versions of the ad, side-by-side, so you can keep what works and get rid of what doesn't.
Calendly
Calendly (https://calendly.com) helps businesses schedule meetings without the back-and-forth emails. Calendly allows you to create simple rules and share your Calendly through links via email or embedded in your website. Calendly works with your Outlook, Google, iCloud, or Office 365 calendars, so you never become double booked. Here are some of the features in Calendly that business owners love.
They have complete control over their schedule. The program allows you to set buffer times between meetings, prevent last-minute meetings, create secret events, and more.
The program is extremely flexible and supports joint availability meetings, round-robin meetings, and one-on-one meetings.
It works with all your favorite business apps like Salesforce, GoToMeeting, Zapier, and much more.
GoToWebinar
Webinars have become a massive part of many online businesses. GoToWebinar (https://gotomeeting.com) lets you quickly and more efficiently communicate with employees, prospects, and customers. It can easily handle large groups of people and turn your presentation into a conversation and the conversation into sales.
Both large corporations and small businesses can tell their story with GoToWebinar and reach their audience. The following features make GoToWebinar an indispensable tool for any business.
The email automation feature allows users to create custom email invitations, confirmations, and reminders. With automated email templates, you can let the tool do all the work for you.
To indeed make the webinar yours, GoToWebinar allows you to display your company logo and custom image on all the material used in your webinars.
Add the ability to share videos to make your webinars more impactful. Upload MP4 files or share video clips on YouTube or share a promotional video and more with high-quality video.
DropBox
With Dropbox (https://dropbox.com) business, you can grow your company without limits, while maintaining complete control over your companys sensitive data and other activities. Flexible storage plans and team storage management are just some of the features of the powerful file sharing business tool.
With the administrator dashboard, you can monitor team activity, view connected devices, and audit sharing activity from one place.
The remote wipe feature allows you to clear files from lost or stolen devices to ensure that all your company files are kept from getting into the wrong hands.
The Dropbox paper feature is a simple, yet powerful way to create, share, and keep all the members of your team in sync, with the added benefit of admin controls.
Google Docs
Google Docs (https://docs.google.com) is a robust document sharing and editing tool that allows team members to work on documents in real time. With immediate syncing capabilities, the program reduces the chances that someone will over-ride someone else's contribution. Google Docs brings all your business documents to life with smart editing and styling tools that make it easy to format text and paragraphs. Other features include:
Hundreds of templates that are designed to make your work more professional and your life much more comfortable. With a wide variety of report, resume, and other pre-made documents you can get a head start on all your document creation needs.
Since Google Docs is a web-based tool, you can get all your documents anytime and from anywhere. You and your entire team can access, create, and edit documents from your favorite devices, even if there isn't a connection.
All the changes that are made in documents are automatically saved as you type. The program also keeps the revision history, so you can quickly view old versions of the report and sort the changes by the date they were made or who made the change.
Google Calendar
Make the most out of your days with Google Calendar (https://calendar.google.com). The newly designed app helps you spend less time managing your schedule and more time enjoying it. All of the events that you add to Google Calendar are stored online so you wont lose your schedule if you happen to lose your phone.
With the assists feature, you can create events in just a few taps. With smart suggest, you can quickly and easily generate event titles, add people, and places to your calendar.
Get multiple views of your day, week, and month. Easily invite guests to your events and view your calendar on the web.
Events from your Gmail account are automatically added to your calendar.
Webinar Jam
Webinar Jam (https://webinarjam.com) offers business owners unmatched flexibility and high-tech precision at a value that cant be matched. With the ability to invite up to six co-presenters Webinar Jammer is one of the best collaboration tools on the market. The program is compatible will all browsers, operating systems, and devices, making it easy for anyone to attend your webinar.
Draw and mark up directly on your screen and turn your whiteboard ideas into reality. You can quickly highlight and write annotations on the screen as you run presentations, training, software demos, lectures, or share mind maps.
Screencast-o-Matic
With Screencast-o-Matic (https://screencast-o-matic.com) you have everything you need to create, manage, and share videos with your team. The integrations allow you to use the platform end to end or as video editing and screen recording tools. Screencast-o-Matic is an intuitive, powerful screen recording and video editing tool for businesses of all sizes.
It features an advanced screen recorder to capture your screen or webcam while you add text annotations, shapes, or draw freehand. You can also import or export and mix in other video and audio media seamlessly.
With advanced video management and sharing, you can efficiently manage all of your videos and how they are viewed. Quickly set up channels by topic, set user options like comments and notes, and set permissions for who can see the videos.
Easily integrate your workflow into your training, communications, support, and learning management system with API.
HootSuite
Do more with your social media with HootSuite (https://hootsuite.com). HootSuite is dedicated to not only enhancing your social media engagement but helping you automate it across more than 35 global networks like Twitter and Facebook. It identifies the social media influences in your industry and automates social media strategies for you.
Save valuable time by scheduling all your social posts through an easy to use interface. Keep your business's social presence active around the clock by automatically scheduling hundreds of social media posts at once.
Track and prove your social return on investment (ROI) with the programs social analytics feature. Quickly measure the impact of your social media campaigns with comprehensive reporting. Measure each social channels conversion rates and separate ROI between paid and owned media.
Infusionsoft
Infusionsoft (https://infusionsoft.com) is an all-in-one marketing solution specifically designed to help small businesses. It allows you to automate lead scoring and capture and a segment with the tool's powerful customer relationship management (CRM), features. Quickly integrate with hundreds of third-party business services through the expansive marketplace of apps.
Get more organized with Infusionsoft. All of your customer information is gathered in one place, which allows you to review all of your previous customer interactions quickly. The simple dashboards and reports show you exactly how your audience is responding to your campaigns.
Get more customers by creating follow-up email campaigns that are targeted to your customers.
The marketing automation feature allows you to work leads down the sales funnel and build a sales pipeline that works. With easy to read analytics you can quickly see whats working and whats not.
MailChimp
MailChimps (https://mailchimp.com) primary focus is on email marketing and is one of the most affordable automation tools on the market. Its marketing automation features allow you to target customers based on specific data. Create customer workflows with scheduling and segmentation tools with their application program interfaces (API), and it easily integrates with numerous Web technologies.
Connect your store to one of the hundreds of e-commerce integrations offered by MailChimp to create targeted email and ad campaigns.
The robust marketing automation in Mailchimp ensures that your emails are getting in front of the right people at the right time. It allows you to target customers based on preferences, behavior, and previous sales.
Reach a wider audience with Facebook, Google, and Instagram ads to grow your bottom line in fewer steps.
Needls
Automatically create, target, and optimize all your digital advertising with Needls (https://needls.com). All you have to do to get started is upload your images, videos, and primary message, and let Needls do the rest for you. Stop spending hours trying to come up with the perfect ad. Arm yourself with all the tools you need to turn your visitors into sales.
Needls will quickly identify your ideal customer as they post their wants and needs to their social media accounts and then display timely ads, so you have the best chance of gaining their business.
Automatically optimize and retarget your ads, 24/7, 365 days a year.
Create simple, high converting landing pages that capture more sales, inquiries, and phone calls.
Salesforce
One of the leading business automation and customer relations management companies in the world, Salesforce (https://salesforce.com) can be leveraged by businesses to enhance your digital marketing campaigns. The powerful marketing and sales automation tools can integrate with hundreds of third-party business apps through its vast market of APIs.
Manage all your contacts and track opportunities from any desktop or device.
With predictive scoring, actionable insights, accurate forecasting, and intelligent automation turn your customer data into closed deals with Sales Cloud Einstein.
Build a single, comprehensive view of every one of your consumers to power one-to-one journeys.
IFTTT
Standing for If This Then That, IFFTT (https://ifttt.com) is a streamlined automation tool that allows businesses to create recipes that perform specific actions based on triggers that are predefined. There are currently more than 240 third-party app connections for you to automate your business across the web.
Get all your apps and devices talking to each other in new ways with a touch of a button.
These automation technologies enable you to free up the time you spend on completing redundant processes, so you can start to focus your attention on those tasks that are needed to grow your business. With the team collaboration tools and tools for documenting, you can easily stay on top of projects and work seamlessly with your employees, no matter where they are located.
Chapter 4:
Documenting Your Processes Creating SOPs
To truly systemize your business and ensure that it continues to run smoothly, you have to document your processes and create a Standard Operation Procedures Manual, or SOP. Standard operating procedures are an essential part of the operating system for any company. The idea is a simple one and is used by the US military and successful businesses like McDonald's.
The SOP guidelines are created to facilitate the entire way that you do business. They are designed to make things run smoother and more effortless and help to prevent costly mistakes from occurring. Not only do SOPs simplify and formalize every task in your business, but they also make it, so no process in your company rests solely in the hands of a single member of your team.
The lack of SOPs in your business creates a condition that if key people were to leave, their knowledge and expertise wouldn't disappear with them. Without these systems in place, you are running the risk that your business may eventually be crippled because you have an operational reliance on the expertise of a handful of individuals who are the only ones who know the secret sauce of your business model. Having SOPs in place means you wont have to worry that the loss of key people could cripple your business.
How to Document Your Business Systems
When documenting your business systems and creating an SOP, it is essential to include both how the task is done and the reason why the task is done and the importance of the task to the overall success of the business. Your employees must understand that no matter how menial they might think a function is, it is, in fact, an essential part of the overall design for the success of the business. The initial draft of each procedure should include the following:
The Title of the SOP
The reason for the SOP
The specific action steps that are required to complete the task
These three items must be covered in the draft for the process to be successful. The method of drafting the document is simple. You want to think about it as having a conversation with a person that you want to complete the task. You are essentially having a written communication and covering every step of the process from inception to completion. You may find it helpful to include photos in the document. Illustrating the tasks could be essential for the person to be able to comprehend the task. Videos of the process can also prove to be helpful in showing a multi-step process. Your goal, when documenting your methods is to completely illustrate the task to eliminate any potential questions that might be raised as to the how and why.
Develop Naming Conventions
The first thing you need to do before you even put pen to paper, is to develop a standardized naming convention for the documents you are going to create. Having a standardized naming convention will allow you to remain consistent and will make it easier for employees to find the correct material. While you may only have a few documented procedures to start with, as your business grows, so will your SOP. Here are some tips for developing naming conventions that will help you control how procedures are written, reviewed, published and archived.
What are Naming Conventions?
Simply put, naming conventions are how you name your documents in a structured manner. The key is to have consistency across the SOPs. Your primary goal in adopting a naming convention is so that you and others can quickly identify the type and purpose of all the SOP documents. You want to make sure you use a naming convention that is easy to follow, understood by everyone in your team, and that is meaningful. You want to avoid using obscure or cryptic terms because if they aren't practical, those tasked with writing the SOPs may stop using the guidelines. The following are important guidelines that you should follow for naming your SOP documents.
Client Name or SOP Document Owner - e.g., RAM
Project Name e.g., PUR for Purchasing or ADM for Administration
SOP to show that it is a standard operating procedure
Abbreviated Title e.g., ReceivingProducts
Version Number e.g., v1_0, v1_1, v2_0
Document Number e.g., 21
Using these guidelines, the official name of the SOP would look like this:
RAM_PUR_SOP_RecievingProducts_v1_1_21
Before you start writing your SOPs, it's essential that you give some thought to how they will be managed in the future. You need to consider how hundreds of documents, with different versions, and status controls will be managed. Be sure to create meaningful conventions and document them so that if someone takes over the process of creating SOPs, he or she will be able to use the same standards and keep your documents uniform.
Writing Your First Procedure
Your standard operating procedures are nothing more than instructions for completing a given task. To fully understand the process that youre documenting, you need to put yourself in the shoes of those who will be performing the task and write the document from their perspective. When you start recording your procedures, you'll want to keep the following in mind.
Write in the present tense. Keep in mind that the person who is following the procedure is performing the task now.
Avoid being vague with your instructions.
Be concise.
Get to the point and keep the words short.
Keep the steps in a logical order. Steps should follow each other logically.
Highlight any exceptions. You can use a symbol to flag the exceptions and how to go about handling those exceptions.
Highlight warnings. Warnings that the user must use caution when performing the task, have to stand out. If you have warnings in your procedures, use a larger font or different color to highlight these areas.
Include the meaning of acronyms before placing them in the text.
Number each step in the process.
Finally, the process of writing your SOP requires you to consider all the action steps in the procedure and perform a risk assessment before any work can begin.
Numbering the Steps in the Procedure
Every procedure should list all the actions that need to be done to complete the task. To keep things simple, record the action steps in sequential order, starting at 1 and continue working upward. The most critical aspect of numbering the actions steps is keeping the style consistent. Don't change styles in the middle of creating your SOP.
By numbering each step in the procedure, you ensure that the reader will start in the correct place and it removes any ambiguity or misunderstanding that could happen if you dont number the steps. Numbering also ensures that there is an agreed upon way for all employees to perform the same task.
Creating the Action Steps for Your Processes
The action steps are nothing more than the individual steps that are performed in each procedure. Most of the systems that you will document will be presented as a sequence. However, you also need to consider other factors, like multiple choices when performing a task, any secondary functions that may need to be completed, and other related procedures. To finalize the system, it can help to put it in context. You want to consider where the system occurs in the larger scheme of things and if there is anything the user should complete before getting started and things that should be avoided.
Procedures for Creating Action Steps
Include a summary sentence. Before you write any steps in your procedure, you will want to open with a summary sentence that explains what will be achieved by performing the process. The summary sentence helps to orient the reader, so they know with a quick glance if they are on the correct page. You want to keep the summary sentence short and concise. Below is an example of a summary sentence for receiving products.
When receiving products, there are several steps that you must take to ensure the correct quantity of products have been delivered and that the number of products ordered, accepted, and paid for are accurately reflected on the invoice.
Identify the main task. In the procedure heading, you will need to identify the primary task. Identifying the main task defines the starting point for the procedure. It should be written using a verb that ends in ING. For example:
Receiving Product Orders
Write out the action steps. Clearly write out each step in the procedure, making sure that each step is numbered in sequential order.
To verify that the items that are being received match what was ordered, you need to perform the following checks.
Confirm the product quality matches your products specifications.
If everything meets your expectations, accept the order by signing the invoice. If you are not satisfied with any of the product, follow the procedure for rejecting product and request a credit memo for the product you are refusing.
Once you have accepted the order, move the product to storage. You will need to deal with all refrigerated and frozen products first.
Include any sub-steps. If the procedure requires a series of options, instead of continuing with the numbering, you'll want to create sub steps, for example, 1.a, 1.b and 1.c. This helps the reader see that these steps occur under step number 1. To highlight this even further, indent each sub-step like the example below.
To verify that the items that are being received match what was ordered, you need to perform the following checks.
Check the product quantity and weight to ensure that the amount that is stated on the invoice matches the order that you are receiving.
Check the product unit price to ensure that the unit price on the invoice matches the unit price on the purchase order.
Identify secondary tasks. Identify any secondary functions that might need to either be performed with the primary task or if the task is complicated, the second series of steps. This shows the reader that the procedure is really two parts, preparing them for whats coming up.
Include warnings and notes. You want to be sure to highlight any potential risks that the reader may encounter while performing the task and any notes to provide the reader with more information. For example, if dangerous equipment is being used to complete the procedure highlight those dangers using icons to make them stand out.
Include Related Information. Each procedure is a part of something larger; no one system stands alone. At the end of each process, create a "For More Information" section that lists any related process.
For More Information:
Checking Temperatures of Key Items
Storing Products
Chemical Storage
Rotating Products
Your goal is to ensure that the reader has enough information to complete the task without having to ask for help or look at another document. One of the challenges that you will face when writing your procedures is being able to determine the readers experience and knowledge of the system. Here is what a process for creating a sales receipt in QuickBooks would look like.
Creating Sales Receipts
Open QuickBooks
One the QuickBooks homepage, select the Create Sales Receipt icon.
Track the sale by entering a customer or job name into the space designated Customer Job.
For existing customers, use the arrow next to the space to select an existing customer from the pull-down menu.
Click on the item column to enter the item sold. Either select an existing item from the drop-down menu or enter a new item name in the space provided.
If the item is new, select the item type from the Type menu located in the New Item pop-up window.
Enter a description of the item in the "Description" window.
Select the account type that the income from the sale will apply to using the Account menu.
Enter the price of the item and tax code in the appropriate box.
Press the Save & Close button to return to the sales receipt window.
In the Sales Receipt Window, select the quantity sold.
Click on the Payment Method arrow to select the payment method used for the sale.
Place a check in either the to be printed box or the to be e-mailed box to select whether to print or email the receipt to the customer.
Click on the Save & Close button to save the receipt for your records.
Implementing Your New Standard Operating Procedures
After youve documented your business systems, you will need to begin implementing them in your daily operations. Before you fully implement them, you will want to take the time to test and measure each documented process to ensure that it works, without your involvement.
Implement the new systems for a period, like a week or a month. Allow your employees to use the documentation that you've created to follow the new processes. At the end of the agreed upon timeframe, speak with your staff, vendors, suppliers, and customers and ask them for their feedback. Use this feedback to revise and improve the systems. You will need to do this on a regular basis to keep all of the processes up-to-date.
Get Employee Buy-In
As you develop and revise your new business systems, involve your employees as much as you can. Your employees are the ones who have been completing the tasks and will be the ones who will be using the newly documented systems moving forward. You can even have the employees develop the initial draft of the processes, leaving you to review and establish the final versions. This can help to speed up the process and gives your staff ownership of the process.
Developing and documenting processes for your business will allow you to systemize your processes to help free up your time to focus on the more critical tasks related to running your business and keep your business running smoothly when you're out of the office.
