It's time to start getting strategic with your time. Your aim should be to free up at least one hour of your day every day. Create your future by scheduling this strategic time in your diary. When you have done that, you can begin to work on your growth plans and the systems that will streamline the work that needs to be done. Your goal is to use that time just to develop one system, so at the end of the week you would have five systems; at the end of the month, 20 and so on.

Remember these systems do not have to be perfect because you will be continually improving them over time, to guarantee your results are aligned with your vision. Incorporate into your planning the key areas your business will need to cover to ensure that the growth will be steady, managed and sustained.

The key areas of your business are the ones that make it work. For example, financial, administration, human resources, and marketing, etc. Once you have a plan and created your thinking and development time, look at what your business will need in order to grow.

If the answer is more sales, then maybe you should be looking and analysing your marketing strategies. If you have enough enquiries but are not converting them to customers, then examine what is happening in your conversion process. Are you confident that you and your team can deliver your products and services faultlessly and seamlessly? If not, then start looking at re-developing your distribution systems.

Remember there is absolutely no point in developing a marketing strategy to bring in more business unless you know your business systems can deliver on your promises.

Think of your business as having four key strategic areas: These could be Management, resources, marketing and production. Then break each of those areas down into key areas, such as leadership, finance, market research and delivery systems. Manage your time with these to begin with, as you are going to be responsible for developing the strategies in all these areas. To discover how to make this whole process easier we have put together an ebook which leads you through each step of the way.

"How to Systemise Your Business"

To get your copy click here

From Peter Philipp – Director, TechOnline Pty Ltd

1.  A computer is a computer.

Wrong!  You get what you pay for.  A cobbled together car from various parts is not a Commodore – let alone a BMW.  You would not even consider purchasing a clone car.  Don’t purchase a clone or white box computer – go for a brand (Dell, HP, Toshiba, etc.) and always get a 3 year warranty.  Otherwise you will pay dearly for possibly saving a few $’s upfront.

2.  My son/husband/niece is a computer guru.

Correct – until your computer crashes and you lose all your data.

Use an IT professional – just as you would use a lawyer or accountant for your legal or accounting work.

3.  Computers are easy.

Except when they’re not.  If only I knew what to click on, I could do this myself.  Why not give it a go?  And now that it is really screwed up and I have lost all my data,  ……

4. If it’aint broke – don’t fix it.

Wrong!  Cyberspace and cyber threats have changed dramatically with hacks/scams growing exponentially for the last 5 years.  In the last 3 months 46%, 24%, and 83% of web-based malware was new malware in that month.  You must have the latest protection in place.  And remember – home and small business computers are the easiest and most often hacked (because they have the least protection deployed).

5.  Computers last for ever.

Wrong!  It is an electo-mechanical device and it will eventually fail.  It’s just a question of when.

Businesses should plan on replacing their computers every 3 to 5 years.  It makes sense financially and for reasons of productivity and efficiency.

6. I didn’t touch anything!  And now ……I can’t ….. I’ve lost …… this has never happened before.

You should know by now – computers DO fail.

And do you remember receiving an email, clicking through to a website, etc.  Yes.  But …….

7.  I can look after my own computers – and only call you when I have a (major) problem.

Do you wait until your car breaks down on a freeway and then decide to get it serviced?

A computer is x100 times more complicated than your car.  Get your computers regularly serviced.  And use an IT professional – not your son, daughter or Joe Tech.

8.  I have not had a problem with my computers for the last 3 years - until you (IT company) came on board/did something.

The 2 events are rarely connected.   You might have been lucky in the past and your time is up.

Or, you just did not recognize that little things (signs, error messages) in the past were pointing to a major issue in the future.  Good luck – but your time is running out.

9.  My computer is fine – it does not need to be replaced.

In 3 years, the performance of your standard PC will increase over 300%.  It can pay for itself with improved performance in less than 4 months.  And you will have fewer or no hardware and support problems for the next 3 years.

Note:  a 3-year old computer is like a 10-year old car.

10.  Of course we do back-ups.

Most small businesses do not do regular backups.  They need to be done regularly – best is daily, no less than weekly.  But also vitally important is what is being backed up?  Are emails (which are now deemed legal documents), or your accounting/financial (MYOB, QuickBooks) data included? Have you checked?  Is a copy stored off-site?  Have you tried to restore from your back-up?

Note:  tape back-ups fail 30% of the time – so don’t rely on them.

Note:  disaster recovery and back-up are quite different – you need both.

Peter Philipp – Director, TechOnline Pty Ltd. (=61 3 9886-9630)

TechOnline focuses on “proactively managing” and not “reactively fixing” your computers.  It does this by delivering a daily, fully automated and cost- effective service for small business.  A recent Telstra Business Awards state finalist, winner of Comm Bank “Small Business CHAMPION Award”,  listed in AFR’s “25 Rising Stars” and winner of  “Business Excellence” and “Innovation” awards, TechOnline’s service provides:

-          security and monitoring

-          offsite backup

-          disaster recovery, and

-          24 x 7 helpdesk to provide technical advice and resolve (fix) problems.

Don’t wait for your next computer incident. Protect your business now.

Are you a business owner who has spent years trying to work out the secret of business? Perhaps you’ve attended seminars, read books and magazines or listened to CDs on the subject of business systems and improvement. Afterward you return to your business and get swamped by the never ending stream of events that throw up pressures and challenges every day and never actually get to implement the ideas you saw and heard.

What are business systems?

One of the most often repeated words of advice is to ‘systemise’ your business. This is probably the most important project to complete in your business to ensure short and long term success…and it’s simple, yet most business owners avoid it and then miss the secret that systems contain.

Quite simply systemisation starts with documenting how you do what you do. This task may be referred to as completing a systems manual, operations manual or polices and procedures manual. Whatever you call it, the purpose is to capture the collective intelligence or ‘know how’ of everyone in the business. The why, what, when, where, who and how of your business. Your business system!

What are the most important business systems?

The top three critical systems are

1. Your Sales System – This system describes how your business finds prospects, presents, quotes and closes your sales

2. Your deliver or fulfilment system – This details how your product or service is delivered to your customers

3. Customer service systems – This shows how your business stays in contact with your customers over time

An example sales system would look like this…

Step 1. The system starts with an inquiry by a potential customer or by a sales person prospecting

Step 2. Meet with customer and assess their needs

Step 3. Present your product or service solution

Step 4. Create and deliver a proposal with a quote or invoice

Step 5. Follow up the contact and ask for the sale

Step 6. Acceptance by the customer

Step 7. Sale processed

Step 8. Payment received, system ends

Very simplistic and generic, but this is the start. This example system is one of probably 10-20 that exist in your business. Others include

• Advertising and marketing systems
• Accounts payable, receivable and payroll systems
• Recruiting, hiring, inducting, training and performance systems
• Customer service systems
• Production, warehousing, inventory and logistics systems
• Safety and quality systems
• Administration, reception and record keeping systems

How do you start systemising?

To get the ball rolling, start a document in Word for your sales system and write down the simple steps that show how your company does this. Now expand on each of the steps with a paragraph or two of the critical elements involved so that it starts to become individual to your company. Write it as you would say it as if you had just hired a new sales person.

For each step identify in bullet points the instructional documents that may be needed for extra detail; i.e. “How to arrange a meeting with a customer” would be a instructional document that may be required in order to train new employees.

After that write the instructions in detail, once completed you may have 5-20 pages which explain all of the actions required and the rules and guidelines which govern the decisions made along the way. Typically when one system ends another starts, in the case of sales the next system is your product/service delivery or fulfilment system.

How to measure the effectiveness of your systems?

When a system is working you’ll know it! No customer complaints, no late delivery, no staff complaining about things or each other…just harmony and productivity in action and all targets being met.

To test your systems try

· Asking two different staff members to explain a system and compare those against your own interpretation

· Interview your customers to determine their satisfaction

· Ask your customers to explain their experience with your business, good & bad!

At each step in any system you will be able to analyse the effectiveness by looking at the inputs and outputs of a step and measuring the result. In many cases you will have to determine what your goals are for certain steps first in order to determine if the system is delivering upon those targets.

In the sales system for instance, how many new customer proposals end up as sales. If you have set a standard or goal already you will be able to consistently measure the result and determine if the system requires changing.

Developing your systems?

Once you have a library of documented systems you will be able to focus your attention on any particular area so as to review and update it to ensure that the system delivers upon you goals.

So now you’re well on the way to being a market leader in your industry through the implementation of systems. It’s time to reap the personal benefits on offer that are inextricably linked to business benefits. Once you have documented the systems that you are personally managing and involved with it is possible to remove yourself from each responsibility methodically and meticulously without creating a chaos in your business.

Once you are spending less time doing the actual work of the business you are free to do the most important work of all. Commonly referred to as working on it, not in it! Which leaves you time to focus on things like: business purpose and cultural development; strategy development and planning; market identification, measurement and product development; development of your team and its collective skills; innovation and improvement; financial planning and investment.

Why develop systems?

Consider that a systemised business with an up to date operations manual will experience…

• Higher productivity through staff not carrying out tasks incorrectly or needing to continually ask for confirmation or clarity
• Greater customer satisfaction and confidence resulting in higher average sale process and increased repeat business
• Better accountability of staff through easier measurement of their performance against the systems
• Ease of movement of staff in, out and around the business
• Less reliance upon key individuals, most of all the owner, as a result of systems being in place and available for training and up-skilling others
• Greater control over the flow of information throughout the business leading to less double handling resulting in a reduction of errors

Beware of the traps of systemisation

The literal task of writing documents, creating folders, files, forms and checklists, manuals and all others contents of a system. You may find yourself quickly developing another problem of just how to organise and deliver the contents in a logical way to the people who will benefit most, your staff. There are many tools available to assist you to control the development of your systems manual, such as software applications. This can and will be a low cost undertaking provided you research the tools and plan the project effectively.

Making a plan of just how this whole project will look at the start is critical. Research the available tools and expertise required to evaluate your intended method before jumping in too far.

As a reader you are invited to evaluate TKO (Turn-Key-Operation) business modeller software. This tool is specifically designed for businesses of all sizes and industries to create, edit, review and publish your complete business system. TKO will easily and effectively enable you to create a manual with policies and procedures, job descriptions, organisational charts, to do lists and training systems. It also has the ability to output manuals for the entire business, single department or an individual in several formats including HTML web manual, PDF or printed.

All the best with your system development and may your business deliver you the life you deserve.

EFTPOS has quickly become the preferred method of payment for businesses and their customers alike. Creative Business Builders can assist you to find the EFTPOS solution that best suits the requirements of your business – whether it be a fixed line or the innovative Mobile EFTPOS.

By offering your customers cash free convenience, your EFTPOS facility can help to grow your sales… and your business.

Paying by plastic dominates our buying habits so it makes sense for our major banking institutions to offer small businesses EFTPOS terminals that accept credit and debit card payments. Here’s what you need to know about getting and using them.

What’s an EFTPOS/credit card facility?

The fixed Line EFTPOS facility is a counter-top unit of similar size to a modern fixed line telephone handset. It contains sophisticated software that facilitates the processing of Credit card or Eftpos plastic card transactions. The terminal requires a fixed telephone line to connect the terminal to the issuing bank for card authorisation. The latest and innovative Mobile EFTPOS does not require a telephone line to operate, as it works using a mobile telephone network and can be used anywhere there is a signal. This all happens in seconds, helping banks better protect vendors and consumers against card fraud. The terminal displaying whether or not the transaction is authorised or not.

How do you do it?

Most new terminals are “plug and play” units. This means you simply connect them to telephone and power lines. If a spare telephone line (eg: A fax line) isn’t available it is advisable to have your phone company install a dedicated line. Vendors will then either swipe a customer’s credit, debit or EFTPOS card or take the card details over the phone and punch them into the machine. Security-conscious customers will be pleased to note the terminals don’t store their card details or other data. The merchant’s transaction print-out, which the terminals will print, do not include the customer’s name or card number. What it does record is the name and card number of the merchant, the terminal ID, an authorisation number and the transaction amount, for the customer’s and merchants records.

Why do it?

An EFTPOS terminal is not only a convenient, efficient and relatively safe cash management system, it can help build customer traffic and profits. These machines are very popular with all sorts of businesses who want to improve the way customers to pay them. Such as convenience stores, retail, manufacturers, Internet Marketers, Network markers, Tradesmen, Man in a Van businesses, Service stations, hotels and clubs and entertainment venues, the list goes on.

The benefits to your customers

• the ability to pay electronically using the card of choice reduces the need for your customers to carry cash, making it a safer alternative

• is a safe and secure way for your customers to pay – the transaction is confirmed by a receipt and on bank account statements

• the payment can be authorised quickly via the EFTPOS network saving time for your customer

The benefits to your business

• potential to increase sales by offering your customers a more convenient and secure way to pay

• Promotes impulse buying because there is less need for your customers to carry cash

• Improves cash flow by eliminating the need to provide lay-by, store credit or accept personal cheques

• Reduces the need to keep cash on the premises thereby reducing security risks, particularly beneficial to businesses operating late at night or on the weekend.

• Saves time, money and effort by reducing paperwork and the manual processing of payments

• Gives you more time to concentrate on running your business

The machines can also help those business models with next to no customer contact. Russell and Verena Cunningham, owners of the Australian Institute of Self-Development, based in Australia. Russell’s business supplies high-quality Training, Coaching, Emotional Freedom Technique and NLP services to assist their Client to achieve your personal and business, success goals.

Russell says “Our business is conducted primarily with Personal Consultations face to face or by telephone (Adults, Teens & Children) dealing with, Relationships, Stress & Anxiety Release, Weight Management, Success Coaching for Study & Work, Sales & Communication Training & Coaching, Goal Setting for Success, Trouble Shooting Consultations & Conflict Resolution.”

“I decided to get advice from Ian regarding an Eftpos terminal because we were using a ‘click-clack’ machine at the time, I thought we were on a good rate. I was amazed at the rates he was able to offer us! We are a progressive business, and could see the value of allowing people to pay by credit card, as it allows us to up-sell our products and other services giving our clients extra time to finance a purchase.”

Russell added fast payment is another plus. “With cheques, you wait for it to arrive by mail, time to go to the bank and wait in line and there’s the clearance period. With Visa or MasterCard transactions are processed overnight, plus we know that the purchase or payment has been approved.”

“The systems and services that Creative Business Builders provided has saved us time, effort and lots of money. In fact, the credit card facilities he organised for us have saved us over $3000 over the past two years. If you are in Business and you haven’t contacted Ian yet, then it’s costing you money.”

“Now we recommend all our graduates, trainers and coaches to give Ian a call when they have finished their training, so they too can have their businesses running at peak performance.”

Russell Cunningham
Australian Institute of Self-Development
www.selfdevelopment.com.au

The pitfalls

Running out of paper in the middle of a busy period, or power blackouts can throw a spanner into the processing works. There are manual paper vouchers businesses can use as well as 24/7 card authorisation lines, which merchants can ring to seek approval to process a transaction over their floor limit.

Russell says the merchant service fee (MSF) for processing and administration can be a nuisance, however it is like your mobile phone contract, you get your first $20.00 of transactions for free. “However, I only lose less than one percent of sales in fees to the credit card company, I can live with that.”

Set-up costs

Most terminals can be rented for $10 to less than $40 a month. Some banks charge an establishment fee, covering delivery of the machine plus some training, set-up servicing and maintenance. The banks might waive this fee to attract your business or encourage you to switch from their competition. Check with Ian at justaskian.com for the best deals. All banks have an ongoing monthly service fee. However, this is re-imbursed by offsetting it against your transaction fees as explained earlier. Again similar to mobile telephone contracts, you pay a set fee and get same amount back in free transactions.