1. Consider what you are doing that isn’t effective. Do you make many mistakes? Does it tire you out? Would you rather go to the dentist for a root canal than complete the task? Get real with yourself and stop doing these tasks. Find someone else to do them faster, better or cheaper than you can.

2.  Stop learning how to do things that aren’t high ROI (Return on Investment). I always tell people that I make it a point NOT to learn how to update my website. If I don’t know how then I won’t be tempted to try to figure it out. It’s a waste of my time and money to do it myself and I know better. There are very good website development businesses out there who could give you a cost-effective alternative.

3.  Become ruthless. It can be a lot of little seemingly insignificant things that add up to big time wasters. If you were determined to create more time for what’s important then what would you cease doing immediately? Buying office supplies? Figuring out whom to do your product distribution? Doing all those social marketing posts?

4.  Create an exit strategy. For the bigger roles that you are more integrated into (like project managing or handling the operations) you may need to follow the steps of many successful CEOs and create an exit plan from these tasks – what can you do over the next 6 months to replace yourself in that role?

5.  Change your mind about what’s important. If you are a control freak or regularly find yourself holding on to something because no one can do it as well as you, then it may be time for a reality check. I guarantee that in one Coaching Session I’d be able to find at least 10 tasks or roles that you could get off your plate. So start being realistic about what you can really accomplish and remove yourself from the rest of it.

Be willing to clear the decks of everything that is getting in your way of the most important things. When you look around at the people who really do enjoy a lifestyle business, who make consistent income in the high 6, 7 or 8 figures and are enjoying some level of sanity in the process, you’ll see that they never try to do everything and often they do very little. Sir Richard Branson said in an interview once that it is easier for him to run his multiple billion dollar companies today than it ever was to run a small company.

Something tells me he figured out how to remove himself from a lot of tasks! This analogy is important in realising that there is more to business than just doing it all yourself. You may actually start enjoying being in business again. Remember that with the right information and expectations communicated to others the tasks can be done just as well or even better than you. Try thinking outside the square and think of virtual assistants that can help with on- and offline tasks or even get interns to help out when certain tasks need to be performed, usually at no extra cost to you as these people need the experience.

For your business to grow and be successful, you have to eventually settle on the one with the best fit, and pass the others off.

We make a strong distinction between the following

• The Business Owner creates the Vision.
• The Manager creates the Systems.
• The Technician creates the Results.

Each person requires a different hat.

All business owners have qualities of each, but where they most often lack confidence or expertise is in that of The Manager. Makes sense though, right? Most businesses are started by a technician that thinks he/she can be an entrepreneur. Being a manager doesn’t even come up in that scenario.

After careful deliberation a business owner will conclude: “What I really need to do is to hire a Manager.” It is here though that many business owners think “I can do this myself”. That thought does not leave the possibility of creating a business that can operate without the business owner being present. A business is only an effective business when the owner can stand aside and see that the vision is being implemented through a manager and the technician. It is this type of business that will create wealth for the business owner over time, not to mention the freed up time to invest somewhere else.

What a Manager Needs to Be

An effective manager certainly has the potential to take on some of the accountabilities that command so much of the business owner’s time. But how is this by itself really going to move your vision any closer to reality–and without causing too many hassles?

Back to the hats: In the development stage of your business the business owner wears all of them. You must be able to look at your business from each of the three distinctive points of view. As The Entrepreneur, you have the sole authority and responsibility to determine the direction of the business. How will the business be positioned in the eyes of its customers, employees, lenders, vendors and the larger community? The Entrepreneur must determine and constantly communicate and reinforce the company’s intention.

The business owner’s vision is The Manager’s follow-up orders; the vision is the high standard set. The Manager’s duty is to communicate, enforce and manifest the vision.

Managerial work ultimately bridges the space between the business owner’s vision for the business and the daily technical efforts needed in moving the business toward that vision. Effective managers, those who can encourage and motivate employees to reach their full potential while working on important tasks, are instrumental in building turnkey, systems-dependent businesses.

What a Manager Needs To Do

A Manager must have several critical characteristics. One is “know-how.” Some managers arrive with some “know-how” intact–knowing what to do and how to do it—getting work done through other people, i.e. technicians. Effective managers will, as a minimum, have the ability to find out how to do that. Knowing how or knowing how to find out how is one of critically required skills of a successful Manager.

Another essential characteristic of a successful Manager is the ability to communicate and implement that know-how into processes and systems that will enable people to get the desired results.

The only effective processes and systems are those that will achieve the Entrepreneur’s vision. Those processes and systems are the tools the Technicians use to get the results that fulfil the vision. The Manager does not manage people per se. The Manager manages systems.

People respond to orchestrated patterns. Within those patterns (systems and processes), people can manage themselves! People are effectively unmanageable. Systems are not.

A successful business must begin with the vision. The effective business owner creates a compelling vision and communicates it throughout the entire organisation. The effective business owner lives the vision. The effective Manager transforms that vision into systems, and delegates the tasks to the Technician. The effective Technician operates within the system to create the results that move the vision forward.

A successful business owner does not wear all the hats at once. The owner of a successful business must practice the art of discrimination. The owner of an effective business must know what hat is appropriate at any given moment, what characteristics are essential when wearing that hat, and when it is time to pass it off.

Obviously, as the business owner and leader, you have a unique stake in the success or failure of the business because it is tied to you as an individual. You therefore go though the tough times filled with the excitement of what is to be once your vision for the future is realised.

“Business Strategic Objective” is an entrepreneurial exercise that forces you to describe with conviction what your business is all about. You, as the leader, must be clear about where you want the business to go, and what it will look and feel like when your vision is realised. Why is this concept so important? That is because you are not alone on this journey. Your employees will also require this level of clarity if they are to commit to going there with you.

Your People Strategy

After developing your Business Strategic Objective, you are then faced with the task of taking it to the next level. This includes communicating your vision to, and getting buy-in from, all of your staff members. This is where it gets challenging. As employees of the business, they will not have the same relationship to the business as you do, and will therefore not have the inherent personal connection that drives you.

So how do you motivate them to take a personal interest in, and ownership of, the goals and objectives presented in the Business Strategic Objective? The answer is that you must strive to understand their needs, and then position the opportunities within your business so that it touches them on a personal level.

What Employees Want

Any company has the potential to be a source of personal satisfaction for the people that work there. And your business is not exempt from this important aspect, no matter what the product or service it provides, be it cleaning services, adventure travel or dentistry.

Take a step back and think about it from an employees’ perspective – would you want to work for your company? Wouldn’t you want to know such things as whether personal and professional growth opportunities were available; whether other employees were proud to work there; and how the business is known and understood by its competitors, customers, and suppliers?

Think back on your own work experiences: How did you feel when you worked for a company that you truly believed in? And what was it like to work in a company that simply provided you with a pay check? The bottom line for most employees is not just about the money, it’s also about personal fulfilment and achievement.

Fulfilling Needs, Reaching Goals

In order to engage your employees in your Business Strategic Objective, you must concentrate on their needs and find something about the business that will provide personal satisfaction for them. Maybe it will be in the customer focus systems that you have created, or your unique company culture, or the exciting projects they are assigned based on their individual skill sets. Take the opportunity to find out more about them as individuals, and what drives them, what turns them off. Then review your Business Strategic Objective and make sure you have created opportunities that will attract the right people.

Remember, the business must not only serve you. In order for it to be truly amazing, it also must serve those who work in it. Engaging employees in your Business Strategic Objective should be seen as an important, strategic, and necessary task to successfully reach your goals. Not only are fully engaged employees beneficial to the business, they will also be more actively involved with their families and community. These happy employees can certainly help the business with future referrals coming into the business.

But “Tibor” I hear you say ” how can I be more effective in my marketing if I have so much work to get through?”

Well it is all about setting up a system or systems of finding the right customers you wish to serve and then setting out to get them. This is done by way of your marketing plan and – system so that you have some involvement but not overwhelmingly so.

It is generally assumed by the public that professional services firms deliver a quality job so how do you make it easier for them to decide to choose you?

Here are some common errors that professional services businesses make:

1. Unrealistic expectations for the marketing tactic used and results obtained.

2. Spending money on campaigns that are “vanity exercises” or don’t produce ROI.

3. Relying on one tactic only, e.g. local paper advertising.

4. Lack of decision making to implement marketing tactics.

5. Poor implementation, e.g. weak copy

6. Not sustaining a marketing effort over the longer period.

7. Not communicating value in their marketing pieces.

8. Not nurturing leads or dropping them.

9. Poor planning for lead generation.

10. No or poor marketing integration tactics.

These errors can often be overcome with a proper plan and implementation process. This process, if implemented well, will ensure that you will always have clients and more importantly, the clients that you want.

For more on professional services firms growth, please call or e-mail Tibor Mackor. if you would like a free copy of our 101 Marketing Tips and Tactics for small businesses then please send us an e-mail at tibor@bbstrategies.co.nz.

1. An entrepreneur is an inventor. Not all inventors are entrepreneurs though. What do I mean exactly?, well entrepreneurs look at the world with open eyes and and asks “what’s missing?”. Once identified the entrepreneur thinks about how to fix this gap. What an Entrepreneur does next is to create a new business instead of new products.

2. Entrepreneurs do not buy business opportunities, they create them. Sorry guys, this includes franchises. You may be successful in a franchise, but your creative juices are stifled by the rules of the franchise. For the true entrepreneur who is creative he/she will be doomed to disappointment as the entrepreneurial passion is doused by the rigours of the franchisor. Franchises can become successful jobs for those that buy them.

3.Invention is contagious. People love the feel good factors involved when other people experience their invention (business). The more significant the invention the more likely it is to succeed.

4. An entrepreneur measures the success of the business by its growth. The faster it grows, the better the invention. It shows that people love to interact with this business. Those that do not experience this growth should not continue as less and less people will want to interact with it and will ultimately lead to financial ruin.

5. Everyone can become an entrepreneur. Everyone can create and develop an new invention if they follow their passion. In order to achieve this an entrepreneur needs to develop patience while developing the skill to drive the invention forward. This calls for the practice of developing new business ideas before actually implementing them. Entrepreneurs are made, not born.

From the above it is clear that many business owners are not entrepreneurs. Many business owners actually own a job that pays for their current lifestyle. It is important to realise that entrepreneurs create businesses for their clients and staff. They create a culture that everyone wants to be part of and are excited by it every day. When this happens the entrepreneur can stand aside and let his business boom with him/her only steering the business in the right direction.

One of the best time-saving strategies I’ve implemented is my client conversion system.  You know the drill; a potential client comes along and emails/calls you asking about your services.  You spend time responding, maybe even putting a detailed proposal together, and then you never hear from them again!  Not even a thank you for your email!

This is one area that’s a huge time drain for service professionals, but one that is so important – you need paying clients so you have to spend time responding to them.

What if there was a way you could respond to clients yet at the same time not waste hours of your precious time on this activity only for it to result in never hearing from said client again?

Well, there is! And I’m going to share it with you in this article by giving you my three steps on how to create your own client conversion system.

Step One – Capture Their Name/Email Address

If a client comes along and they’re not quite ready to work with you, you need to have a way of capturing their details on your website so that you don’t lose touch with them – that way they’ll get to know more about you and your services, and when they are ready to work with you, you’ll be right there!

You do this by giving away a free taste of what it is you do.  This could be a report, audio, mini e-course, or some other type of freebie that is given away automatically in exchange for them giving you their name and email address.  This is known as building your list.  Once you have your list in place stay in touch with them regularly through publishing an e-zine.

Step Two – Have a Defined Process for Working with New Clients

Look at what you currently do when you receive an email/phone call from a new client.  Write down all the steps in that process, and come up with ways as to how it can be systemized.

For example:

Do you find that potential clients are asking the same questions again and again?  If so, set up a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page on your website that answers all of these questions.  (Hint:  this could also be your free taste that the client will sign up for.)

Do you require that all new clients have a telephone consultation with you beforehand to ensure that you are a good fit for one another?  How can this process be streamlined?

Or, do you require a potential client to fill in a questionnaire prior to speaking with you on the phone?

List everything that you currently do and come up with a system for streamlining the whole process.  You could also include elements that you would like to do but haven’t yet implemented.

Step Three – Put Your Client Conversion System in Place

Now that you have documented the process for handling enquiries you need to put your system in place that will allow you to handle client enquiries in the most time-efficient manner.

This is the system I use and recommend, and one that will filter those enquiries for you:

On your website tell clients what your process is for working with new clients, i.e. contact me to schedule your complimentary client consultation.

Have a contact form on your website that client’s can fill in when they’re ready to schedule a complimentary call with you.

Create an email template to respond to those clients who would like to schedule a complimentary consultation.  You can also use this template for those email enquiries you get, or as a script for a phone enquiry.

If you have a series of questions that you would like answers to before your call with your client put these together into a Pre-Consultation Questionnaire which you can send to your potential client ahead of your call.  (This again is a good way to filter the serious from the not-so-serious clients – the not-so-serious clients will not want to spend their time filling in a questionnaire prior to your phone call.)

Create a document/email template for your questionnaire – put it in a format that is easy for the client to email back to you.

When they respond to you to schedule their call attach your questionnaire, confirm the appointment, tell them when they need to return the questionnaire by (24 hours before the call is a good timeframe) and tell them what number to call you on.

Having a process like this in place will filter the serious from the not-so-serious clients, saving you a huge amount of your time and streamlining the whole client conversion process.

Remember: You are the expert at what you do.  Your clients are coming to you for your expertise, so lead them with your systems.  Tell them what your processes are.  Let them work to your systems.

For further help in selling your products or services please call Tibor.

Please call Tibor Mackor so that I can assist you and your business in hiring and retention programmes.

See also the article in the New Zealand Herald on this issue.

Call us if you want to exit your business for the maximum value.

5 Growth Limiters

Through discussions with various business people we distilled the five top growth limiting factors as:

1. Leadership skills on the part of the owner(s)
2. Systems
3. Marketing skills within the business
4. Available capital
5. External expert support to management

While leadership skills will probably always be a regular topic in this blog, it was the Number 2 item on the list that caught my eye as I began work with an existing client who had done an excellent job in more than doubling her business over the past few years but who then realised that she had reached the end of her personal resources (as she put it, “I’ve gone about as far as I can on my own!”) and came looking for “external expert support.”

We were fortunate to meet, go coaching, and we’re making further solid progress already, much of it due to our both recognising that, at this stage of its growth, it’s vital that she develop and introduce systems into her business.

What Are Systems?

Now, some people may think of “systems” as sets of technically sophisticated interacting parts, designed to accomplish some complex result (and, in some cases, they may be all of that) but in the vast majority of cases in business, systems can be simple, little things.

For example, you might develop “systems” for answering the phone, handling emails or running meetings. So, one definition of a system might be: “A plan for achieving a desired end result in an efficient and certain way.”

You may develop a simple system for answering the phone so that you consistently create a positive impression. You might develop a more complex system for opening your office in the morning so that no time is wasted; the alarm is turned off (saving a call from the security firm); your “Open for Business” sign is switched on (saving you a half hour of lost business before someone remembers it); and so that the coffee machine is turned and is up to speed when your staff feel like their first fix of the day (with a coffee break that runs to time).

In business terms, a system can be thought of as a routine proven way of maximising a desired result while minimising the resources required achieving it. Anything that you do (or make) more than once in the course of a business day, is a candidate to have a system created to manage it.

Why Bother with Systems?

Early on in the life of any business, a few people (we’ll call this early team “the pioneers”) do many tasks. If the business survives its infancy it’s usually because those few pioneers discovered efficient ways of doing those many tasks (they probably had no choice!), and were able to do lots of them, thus making a profit in the process.

At first, those “efficient ways” may look more like common sense solutions than “systems” but, as Voltaire remarked, “common sense is not all that common”. They are systems, but they are often instinctive ones, known and understood only by the pioneers!

As the business grows, and less driven or talented or experienced people are invited on board to handle the growing workload, it’s essential that what were previously instinctive systems are broken down, documented, then taught to others as routine systems, so that the quality of the product or service upon which the business was founded continues to be delivered with consistency and then constantly improved upon.

Is This the Reason Systems are Resisted?

As business coaches, we often see in pioneers resistance – and sometimes downright opposition – to the systemisation of what, to them, is instinctive and over time we’ve developed a few insights into why this occurs.

One observation is that many business pioneers reach a level of “unconscious competence” in the key tasks upon which they build the business – they just know how to do it, usually without even thinking. The major problem with operating at this level is that it is almost impossible to teach others other than by repeated demonstration and, if others lack some of the teacher’s basic talents or unconscious background knowledge and why things must be done in a certain way, it can be completely impossible to pass on skills in this way.

To teach effectively requires the teacher to step beyond their own level of unconscious competence and to become consciously aware of what it is that they do unconsciously so that they can lay it out in pieces or steps that are understandable to followers who lack their background knowledge and experience.

This can be hard! It can be time-consuming! Rather than stopping to create systems for lesser mortals, it may be quicker and less frustrating to just put your head down and keep doing the job yourself! And that’s what often happens, with the pioneers coming under more and more load until either the business reaches its maximum size under that constraint – or until something breaks! And that “something” is often the founder!

Sound familiar?

Creating Systems the Easy Way

Given that what I have described is a “common challenge” you should not be surprised that, as Business Improvement Specialists, we have devised systems to guide our clients to develop systems!

Here’s the short version.

Step One: Create a form (another system)

On your form, record:

1. A list of recurrent tasks.
2. The estimated time presently required performing each task (this includes “getting ready”, “thinking about or remembering how”, “doing” and “cleaning up” time.)
3. Estimate the time required to complete each task if you had everything needed to do it, and you were doing it for the tenth time.
4. Calculate the potential time saving for each individual instance of each task.
5. List the number of instances each task would be performed in a working month.
6. Multiply the potential time saving by the number of instances to estimate the total potential time saving per task.
7. Rank each task according to its total potential time saving if it were systemised.
8. Estimate the time required to systemise each task.
9. Order each task for systemisation.

Step Two: Break the task down into its simplest steps

Henry Ford is reputed to have said, “No task is particularly difficult if you break it into sufficient steps”. When you consider that he broke the building of a complex machine (the T Model Ford) into sufficient steps that it could be assembled by the farm hands and labourers who manned his production lines, he certainly demonstrated the truth of that fact millions of times over.

So, Step Two in the systemisation process is to take your first task and to break it down into as many tiny steps as you can, and to look at each step and consider how you could do it quickly, cheaply and certainly.

The Other Steps

That’s all we have space for here, but if you can see that a lack of systems is a constraint on your growth – or on the quality of your life when it comes to enjoying your business – then now might be a good time to contact us.

Tibor Mackor – tibor@bbstrategies.co.nz