Sometimes Is Not a System
Sometimes Is Not a System
Sometimes we follow up with leads.
Sometimes the invoice goes out the same day the work's done.
Sometimes the phone gets answered, the quote gets sent, and the new customer gets a proper welcome.
And SOMETIMES none of that happens.
Sound familiar?
Four Systems That Only Work Sometimes
I talk to business owners every week, and I hear the same word dressed up as a process.
We've got a system for follow up. It works sometimes.
We've got a system for invoicing. It goes out sometimes.
We've got a system for returning calls. We get to them sometimes.
Here's what I need you to hear.
SOMETIMES is not a system. Sometimes is a hope.
A hope that today's not too busy.
A hope that you remember.
A hope that the person who usually handles it isn't sick, or on vacation, or quitting on Friday.
Hope is not an operations plan.
If It Works on Tuesday and Falls Apart on Friday
Let me put it another way.
If your process works on Tuesday and falls apart on Friday, you don't have a process.
You have luck.
And luck doesn't scale.
Luck works right up until the week you get busy, which is the exact week you needed the process most. Then the follow up stops, the invoices sit, the leads go cold, and the owner ends the week wondering why a busy week somehow produced no money.
The business didn't have a bad week.
The business ran on sometimes, and sometimes ran out.
Where Sometimes Hides
Sometimes is sneaky. It rarely lives in the work itself. Your crew does the work fine. It hides in everything around the work.
1. Following up with people who contacted you
Someone asked about your service. Think about it, did anyone get back to them? How fast? What happens in your "system" if they don't reply the first time? If the answer to any of those is not what you would expect, you are probably running on sometimes.
2. Invoicing and getting paid
Work gets done and the invoice waits a week, or maybe a month. The worst is when it never goes out at all and nobody notices, until the bank account does. Money you've already earned, sitting there because the "system" failed because it lives in somebody's memory. (I had an attorney that had not billed his clients in 6 months and couldn't understand the cash flow issue?!?!)
3. Returning calls and messages
Your customers are judging you on this one whether you like it or not. A call returned in an hour says something about your business. Solopreneurs I am talking to you here! A call returned in three days says something totally different.
4. Scheduling and showing up
Service providers I am talking to you here. Confirmations that go out when someone remembers to send them, or jobs that start late, that is a death sentence and you will become known as unreliable. (I had a client in the plumbing business that had that reputation and within 1 year was out of business.)
5. What happens right after a customer says yes, and right after you finish the job
This is the one almost nobody pays attention to. The customer agrees, pays, or signs, and then hears nothing until the work starts. That silence is where buyer's remorse lives. A business with a system fills that space. A business running on sometimes leaves it silent. You finish the job and then move on, NEVER do this, send a follow up a day or so after to check in to see how things are going. (I have a pest control company that now sends a text to see if everything is good 3 days after and then if they have to go back out to treat again sends another 1 and 3 days after. This little change led to consistent 5 star reviews.)
When There's No System, You Are the System
Here's why this should matter to you personally, not just operationally.
When a process lives in your head, you can't leave.
You can't get sick. You can't take a vacation. You can't hire someone and expect it to keep working, because the system walks out the door with you every night and walks back in every morning. I assure you this is NO way to live because you have a J.O.B. not a business.
That's why everything still comes back to you.
Not because your people aren't capable.
Because sometimes was never written down, never made automatic, and never built to run without you smack dab in the middle of it.
What a Real System Looks Like
A real system isn't complicated. It doesn't require expensive software or a binder nobody opens.
A real system works every time.
No matter who runs it.
No matter how busy the day gets.
It's written down, or built into the tools you already use, so the steps happen in the same order, the same way, whether you're there or not.
And you can't fix all five of those areas this week. That's how owners hit overwhelm and fix none of them.
Pick the sometimes that's costing you the most money. In most businesses I look at, that's follow up. Start there. Make it work every time. Then turn the wheel and fix the next one.
One problem. One system. Then the next.
Because your business doesn't need more hope.
It needs a process that shows up on Friday the same way it showed up on Tuesday.
I'm Michelle K. People call me the Business Fixer.
I help new and established business owners uncover the actual problems holding their businesses back and figure out what to do next.
And many times, those problems are hiding in places the business owner has stopped paying attention to.
What if you're fixing the wrong problem?
If you're ready for a fresh perspective on what's happening in your business, book a 15-minute Business Clarity Call: https://links.themichellek.com/widget/booking/MhXKki6KLf8cTVFuTv5P
More practical business insights at themichellek.com.
