Whether you realize it or not, your business has processes, and they define how things are done. You may not have defined these proactively, but they developed as you grew your business. Understanding your processes can help you build a more stable business that can take on more work, with less effort. Ensuring you, your employees and your clients are taken care of in the best way possible.

Whether you realize it or not, your business has processes, and they define how things are done.

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You may not have defined these proactively, but they developed as you grew your business.

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Understanding your processes can help you build a more stable business that can take on more work, with less effort. Ensuring you, your employees and your clients are taken care of in the best way possible.

What is a process?

A process is made up of all the different steps you, your employees, and your clients go through from the initial point of outreach until you deliver the product and they pay you. Some will also include what happens after as well.

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The thing about a process is that it’s actually made up of several steps.

For example, your sales process includes all the steps your potential clients go through from reaching out, qualifying the lead, meeting with you (or a team member), signing a proposal, contract and/or NDA, and until they pay you an initial deposit.

Once you sign on your clients, another process can include all the steps you and your employees take to complete a project and deliver it to a client. It can also include weekly meetings or updates to the client directly. 

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You can go deeper and break down processes to even smaller stages, but this is the general idea.

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Understanding and defining your process gives you

  • clarity and consistency - your employees will know what is expected of them and have a clear understanding of how things are done. And your clients will know what to expect as well.
  • efficiency - Eliminates guesswork and reduces time spent on non essentials. 
  • improved teamwork - communication and understanding of what each person does within the team helps the work flow from one team member to the other, without having things fall between the cracks.

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Define your process

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The first thing you need to do when defining your process is to identify the key stages.

These are the steps from point A to point B. For every step, try to see if you can go deeper and break it down into even more steps.

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Here’s an example process for a sales pipeline:

  • Initial outreach (social/ website, email, whatsapp)
  • Qualification (optional)
  • Invitation to book in a call
  • Initial call/meeting
  • If no call booked follow up on day 3
  • Send proposal
  • If no response follow up on day 7
  • Confirmed proposal and next steps
  • Send contract/invoice
  • Check payment
  • Send onboarding client email

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After you identified the key stages in your process,  ask yourself four questions for each stage:

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  • Who does it? (The answer doesn’t have to be a name of person, it can be job position or role in the company)
  • When is it done? (At what stage in the process is it done? Is it dependent on other stages?)
  • How long will it take to do? (This is important for workload management, as well as time management and client updates).
  • When is it due? (A task can start on one day but be due later. The due date is important for understanding the flow of the process)



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Identify opportunities

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Once you have defined your process, you will notice patterns emerging. You will find repetitive tasks, emails, documents and other things that you often use.

These are opportunities to delegate to people or to tools (depending on the task, its complexity, and your personal preference).

Creating templates will save you time on copying and pasting data over and over again. In addition, it has the benefit of forcing you to clarify the different variables in the templates and finessing your offer and process. 

Repetitive tasks can be automated. For example auto sending follow ups for proposals, contract templates auto filled, invoices created. 

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You can also automate much of the data entry. Use forms to collect information and then based on the answers you can have actions created automatically (or semi-automatically if you prefer more human interaction. For example, you can have potential clients submit qualifying questions before a call and then based on the answers offer them various solutions. 

You can also set up notifications for task reminders for you and your team. This can ensure that no important tasks are overlooked.

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Track and review your process

A good process may seem perfect for you now, but you have to define measurable goals to ensure it is serving you in the best way possible.

Regularly review and refine your processes.

What to measure 

  • Time to set up vs time it saves you - measure for 6 months 
  • Sales conversions 

What to measure - examples

  • Qualifying questions for new enquiries - what questions meant what? How many converted to a paid call, an instant proposal, or a discovery call invite?
  • Discovery call checklist. Review to ensure your calls include everything you need to convert sales.
  • Template emails with personalisation for initial enquiry, after call and follow up. Do they include everything you need? Are you constantly tweaking them?
  • Contract sending automation - is it still working as defined? Does it include everything you need?
  • Invoice sending automation - is it still working as defined? Does it include everything you need? 
  • Contract nudges automation - does it lead to quicker signing? Are the nudges at the right time?

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Results

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Defining the expected results in advance will ensure you’re on track with your process. Make sure you define things that are measurable.

For example, improved engagement on socials, new members, better internal teamwork and flow through the process, in a sales pipeline - less time on discovery calls that don’t convert.

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Summary

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Understanding your process will help ensure that your employees know what they have to do, when they have to do it, and how it needs to be done.

A good process will also ensure that your clients are taken care of, know what to expect, and are updated regularly.

Adding automations to a process will save you time on data entry, as well as repetitive tasks. Delegating to a tool also cuts down on human error.

Once you have completed defining your process, it’s time to find the right tools to help you implement it.

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Oh, and remember, a process changes and shifts as your company grows. It should be reviewed every 6 months to a year (depending on the size of your company, and the speed of your growth).

Not sure where to start? Let’s hop on a call to review your current process and identify potential points for improvement.

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