Without a business map to easily show your employees and suppliers how your business works, you will be making it up as you go along. A good business map also forces consistency in how you describe and think about your business.

Business mapping brings rapid identification of what your company is doing right, areas of opportunity and segments needing immediate improvement. In a workshop to gather diagnostic information we look at your financials, sales, operations and marketing practices. Based on this information, we will put together a process map of how your business works along with areas where efficiencies can be built into your business.

At your option, we can preform a one day on-site assessment to drive even greater value into the business map. During the on-site assessment, we see your operations first hand, interview key personnel and get a better feel for how your business truly operations.

Having a business map makes it easy to train others, find problems in your business and understand where and how you can increase production and sales without breaking your business.


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Policies

Policies set guidelines of authority, responsibility and limits of both employee and customer behavior. Until policies are set, each business decision is unique. Favoritism can set in and eventually the unequal treatment of customers will become known, usually with detrimental effects.

While we recommend the development of a business map before setting policies, policies can be developed as a separate task and still deliver tremendous value. Policies can be very basic things like when employees are expected to work, how they are to dress, the level of discount provided to customers based on loyalty and dollars spent at your organization. As your company grows, one of the most important policies will be a Delegation of Authority which sets what each position in your organization has authority to do in a simple, easy to follow chart. Numerous ad hoc meetings are avoided through creation of ad hoc policy, and the velocity of decisions, and ultimately cash flow, are vastly accelerated.

Processes and Procedures

Processes that instruct how each part of your business operates, followed by detailed procedures go a long way toward a uniform customer experience. They save you training time, make it easier to bring on new staff and simpler to adjust and shift duties as the nature of the business shifts.

Think about it. What is the one thing that you can do for your business that will make it easy to operate, easier to train new employees and assure that your service is uniform for each customer? Procedures offer step by step instructions for your employees that can be followed by them without then need for repetitive clarification and communications. The more involved your business is, the more it will benefit from written procedures, reminder cards and other instruments to assure your staff delivers the service you want to your customers.

The process usually begins with both a site visit and the creation of a business map that will show you the major processes occurring in your business. From that map, you can make a decision regarding which procedures you want written first and those that you don't want developed at all.

Work product includes written procedures, development of any forms and integration to existing work and computer systems. This work is valuable at any stage in a business' life, but are best developed in the early operation of the business so development of systems doesn't hinder company growth.


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Your company isn't able to do what it once was. You can't ship on time, there are too many orders or too few. You have product but no sales, sales but no product. Customers are promised delivery dates that are ignored by staff. The quality of your product suffers tremendously, dissatisfying customers. Your resources are becoming scarce and you're not making your numbers.


Any of these symptoms could be an indication of a poor product or of broken systems. We can assist you in determining the nature of your challenge and if it involves systems, we can help get you moving again.

Many times, poor company performance is simply a matter of expectations not being communicated clearly and/or not being reinforced. A system that outlines the job to be done, how its done, who has authority for doing individual steps and who has authority to satisfy the customer, clearly in writing will go a long way toward providing a consistant customer experience and more confident and productive employees.

Our System 911 approach begins with a rapid review of your financial and marketing situations, to assure that the problem is one that is not driven externally from your company. If changes in your business practice can make a difference, we then map the business area in question, determine what authority and policies are in use by your staff, whether written or not. We then make adjustments to the policies and procedures, working with you to communicate what the changes are and what is expected of your employees.

After implementing the change, we monitor your progress and suggest additional adjustments as required by circumstances.


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Business System Self Assessment Toolkit - $100.00
Business Delegation of Authority Toolkit - $50.00


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