Want to know a secret? The most successful, efficient, and profitable businesses don’t have luck…they have business systems.
When you work to implement seamless business systems, you can handle everything on your plate as you strive to grow your business. Regardless of your business’s size or niche, systems are the key to maximizing productivity and efficiency, delegating to your team, and focusing on your goals as you work to grow.
What Are Business Systems (& Examples)?
Business systems are processes that we put in place to run our businesses smoothly. They take some effort and time to put together, but once a system’s in place, that specific process should be able to happen quickly and efficiently every single time.
And the best part? When you create systems properly, you can delegate that process to other people as you build a team or outsource, and see really great results aligned with your expectations.
If you want to be able to:
- Take time off from your business when you’re not feeling well
- Go on a vacation with your family
- Grow your business without exchanging dollars for hours all the time
Systems are the key!
It’s actually possible to set up systems in a number of different areas of your business. But these three types of business systems are a great place to start.
HR Systems
The people you bring into your business are probably the most important thing you’ll need to manage. After all, for many of us, our businesses are like our babies—and we don’t trust them to just anyone.
That’s why HR systems are so important. These are the systems that you create for things like onboarding and training new team members, celebrating team wins, and supporting your team members through challenges they may face.
If you haven’t already systemized your onboarding and training, now is the time! Even if you aren’t quite ready to hire your first team member, having this stuff thought out and ready to go will make that process so much easier when it’s eventually time.
You can systemize everything from reviewing applications to sending over contracts and onboarding information. And once it’s systemized, you can rest easy knowing that everything is totally seamless.
Sometimes, making decisions is stressful…and for things like promotions, having a system in place saves you a LOT of headaches.
Accounting Systems
Making sure that you (and your team members) get paid is SO important. But accounting business systems are about more than payroll. They also handle things like taxes, invoicing for clients, paying bills on time, and more.
If you systemize your accounting, you’ll save time and energy…and stop seeing things slip through the cracks. Whether you hire an accountant, outsource your accounting, or handle things yourself, you definitely need some kind of system in place for this.
Customer Service Systems
Customer service is one of the most important umbrellas of business systems you need. After all, what’s more important than making sure your customers are happy? That’s the key to keeping them coming back.
Systemizing your customer service makes sure that as you grow, everyone’s on the same page about how to respond to customers and solve problems. You can use a platform like Zendesk to handle customer inquiries easily or design your own system to save a little money.
3 Reasons To Implement Business Systems
Now that you know what types of systems are helpful when getting started, let’s talk about why you should take the time to implement business systems. If you want to grow, systems are really going to help. Here’s why!
You’ll Save Time
Business systems seriously save you time. Of course, they take some up-front work to set up. But once they’re in place, parts of your business will run on autopilot or be easy to delegate…which frees up YOUR time as the CEO.
Plus, you’ll see fewer mistakes. When systems are in place, things don’t get forgotten. Especially as you grow and have more on your plate, this is really important.
Related: 6 Secrets To Help You Learn How To Prioritize Tasks Efficiently
It’ll Be Easier To Outsource Work
Want to start outsourcing work to someone else? Whether that’s hiring your first employee, building your team even more, or working with a virtual assistant, you need a system in place to make handing over that task easy.
Plus, you’ll be able to see the results you expect—because everything is laid out, prepared, and clear for whoever’s taking over that task or process.
Standardized Systems Help Your Business Run Smoothly No Matter What’s Going On
Let’s say you unexpectedly get injured or sick. Right now, could your business go on without you?
What about taking a vacation—how does the idea of a week or two away from your business make you feel?
Business systems make it easy for someone else to step up and handle what needs to be done in case something happens. Maybe you’re swamped with an upcoming launch and can’t handle something that you normally take care of…with a system in place, delegating will be easy.
How To Easily Set Up Business Systems That Work
Ready to set up business systems? Don’t worry—it’s not as daunting as it sounds.
Here’s how to start systemizing different processes in your business.
Start Writing Out What’s Involved In Repetitive Processes Inside Your Business
First, let’s think about what processes happen on-repeat inside your business. Of course, we all have one-off tasks once in a while. But for many business owners, there are things that need to happen every single day, week, month, or quarter.
These are the best place to start when it comes to systemizing. Once you know what tasks you do repetitively, create a blank Google Doc for each one. Then, the next time you work on it, write out the steps from start to finish.
See if There Are Any Opportunities For You To “Batch” Tasks
Once the steps are written out, it’s time to analyze our time. A huge reason to implement business systems is to save time, and batching your tasks is a great way to do just that.
For example, could you record multiple Instagram Reels in one day? Could you “triage” your emails in the morning and then have dedicated time blocks to respond to, rather than letting them distract you throughout the day?
Batching tasks makes it easy to systemize. Let’s say you need to come up with social media posts for your business for the week. Keeping a spreadsheet or Trello board with tons of ideas makes it easy to repeat this process every week, rather than doing tons of research and brainstorming every single day.
Find The Perfect Tools
When you’re creating business systems, you need to make sure that you have the tools you’ll need to complete that process. What tools will work best for your team, business, and needs?
Finding the right tools makes it easy to complete processes. Project management tools, email marketing software, and invoicing tools are all examples of things to consider here.
Write Out Your Business Systems As Clearly As Possible
Next, you need to write out your business systems as clearly as possible. Put together processes that are easy to follow.
Once you finalize your systems, print out hard copies! That way, someone can access them if need be, even if you aren’t around to log into your computer.
Explain more than you think you need to.
See If You’re Ready To Hire, Delegate, Or Outsource
Now you get to share your business systems by delegating! Whether you already have a team and you’re delegating something new, or you’re brand new to delegating, you have systems in place that will make it a smooth process.
Remember to update your business systems as the need arises. As your business grows (or as you delegate and see where challenges pop up) add more detail and make updates to your systems and processes as needed.
Systemize Important (But Easy-to-Avoid) Things Like Metrics Tracking
Systemizing tasks means that you can prioritize what matters. Systems make it easy to get important things (like metrics tracking) that we often forget or procrastinate accomplished.
Systemize the way you track metrics. This will help you be more consistent! Consider adding a systemized process for analyzing your metrics to your project management software as a weekly, monthly, or quarterly task.
Implementing business systems is a great way to grow. You’ll save time and energy accomplishing to-dos in your business and be able to confidently, successfully delegate.
Want to be more strategic in how you run your business? Start understanding your website traffic so you can prioritize what matters with our Traffic Insights Dashboard.
