We build a lot of process and marketing flowcharts for our clients, and the first thing that almost every client asks is how can we automate every aspect of the flow.
I have to admit… I ❤ automation!
I love connecting multiple systems together to create a beautiful system that comes alive and helps our client to focus on what they do best. Even though automation is amazing and beautiful – it can also crush a project even before it gets off the ground.
Most projects, whether they are process or marketing, require some period of testing. I would recommend that you do NOT try to automate the flow prior to having the theory behind the flow proven. Sure you may have to do some manually data entry, but if you can get to the testing or proof phase quickly… You can save a project from being abandoned due to “paralysis by analysis.”
Follow these steps:
- Create process flow
- Test process flow for viability
- Adjust process flow
- Automate! ⚙
As a consulting company with a focus on marketing, we have used many different customer relationship management or CRM systems.
When starting with a new client we always try and make use of the systems they already have in place. We never (well… almost never) “blow up” 💥💥💥 a client’s entire system.
Why? Aren’t there some CRM systems that are simply better than others? Don’t we need our clients to use “our” system?
For the most part the answer is… NO.
There is only one question we ask our clients when it comes to their CRM…
Are you actually using your CRM?
If the answer is YES 👍, then we will bend their existing CRM to fit what needs to be done.
If the answer is NO 👎, then we will work with our client to figure out… Why not!
A CRM is just a tool, like a hammer or a saw. If you aren’t using it, then you could have the best tool in the work – and it wouldn’t matter.
It’s often said that a business is either growing or dying. And while that might be true, the vast number of businesses exist in a place where they’re doing enough…enough to pay the bills, enough to keep the doors open, enough to live a comfortable life.
If you’re one of those businesses in the middle, a business that has enough but isn’t dying and isn’t really growing, why are you in that place? And when you examine why you are in that place, it’s important to look at it from both sides.
First, why are you not dying? What is it that you do well as a business that keeps customers coming back to you? Maybe your product is the best. Perhaps your customer service is second to none. Maybe you serve a niche that nobody else fills. What are the things that you’re doing to cause the money to keep coming in?
Secondly, examine why you aren’t growing. Have you saturated the market? Is your location or reach too small? Does your process waste time and/or money? Is your product second rate?
There are probably a number of accurate answers to the questions above, but question previously posed rings true for almost every business existing in this middle ground of “enough”…PROCESS.
In business, growth is much like the human experience. The clothes that fit when you were a toddler (or a new business owner) won’t fit when you’re an adolescent. The food you needed as a baby is not the same as the nourishment you need as a teen. How you get to school as kindergartner is likely very different than how you get to school as a high schooler.
Often, your potential growth is crippled by process because making a dozen cupcakes in your kitchen to sell at a bake sale is much different than making 200 dozen cupcakes every week to feed your customer base. Getting information to your two salespeople is drastically different than disseminating information to a national sales force.
Having a process with growth in mind eliminates questions that waste your time and money. “How do we do XYZ?” or “When do we take the next step?” are questions that no longer have to be asked because the process answers them. This gives your team, or employees, the ability to function freely on their own, much as you would as the business owner or decision maker.
If you’re stuck in that wobbling world of “enough”, look at your process. Or betting yet, let the team at DBM Grow take a look at your process. It may be the very reason that your “enough” isn’t turning into “more”.
Running a business is potentially the most challenging and the most rewarding thing a person can do in their professional life. Being the decision maker and affecting the bottom line on a daily basis can be stressful or exciting, and sometimes both.
Even in situations where you have a world of knowledge about your product or service, there are times when your business acumen might fail you. Or perhaps you’re incredibly business savvy…but the product or service you provide is just a conduit to make money. Hence, your knowledge of the product or service fails you.
These are all business blind spots. Every business owner has them, but the strongest business owners are often the ones that recognize those blind spots exist. This isn’t a new idea. Many people in the business academia talk about surrounding yourself with people smarter than you or having a team to collaborate with. These are ideas that speak directly to seeing past your blind spot.
Take a minute to reflect on your business. What have you NOT accomplished yet? What have you always dreamed of doing within your business? What’s that one thing you can’t seem to push across the goal line? Chances are, some of these unfulfilled aspirations exist because you have a blind spot…something that you’re not fluent in.
If you can identify those blind spots, you can find someone who has those skillsets or visions that you lack and collaborate with them to move beyond. If you CAN’T identify those blind spots, it’s time to open yourself up to an outside perspective.
A consultant, a coach, a mentor…whatever you want to call that person…THAT is the perspective you should lean on.
So, take a minute. Identify those blind spots and find someone who has the vision where you don’t. Can’t find any blind spots? Find an ally that can locate them for you, because they certainly exist.