Be Guided by your Pain Points
Be Guided by your Pain Points
When your business is humming along with everything in sync it makes life much better.
Often it is not like this though.
In the same way that “Success leaves clues” so does A niggly business operation.”
We tend to think that it is due to a person not doing their job well, but that is usually not the case.
The most usual situation arises from a process that is not working properly. Sure, the unworkable process may lead to a person being so overworked that they make mistakes or omit things but this is still the fault of the process.
The process can sometimes be dramatically enhanced by looking at the supporting software that it requires and how that software is being used.
Take a simple example. A person writes out their full task list every day. It takes a lot of time and is a repetitive task. Using a Task Manager software that eliminates the completed tasks and displays the added ones will always maintain the current set of tasks without the repetitive writing and it will probably have a prioritising function so it can display the tasks in the most efficient and important order that they should be actioned.
Asking yourself the question “How could I improve (or fix) my business?” is a question that is very hard to answer – and there is a better approach.
Divide your business into Functional Areas. Here is a typical List for a Real Estate Agency:
Administration
Financial Management
Team and Training
Marketing
Residential Sales
Residential Sales Support
Property Management
Rent Roll Growth
Assess each one. Use the “Traffic Light Thinking” – Is that part of the business working Green / Orange or Red.
Identify specifically the tasks that are not running smoothly.
Review the Written Procedure or Flowchart that these tasks operate to. If you are like most businesses there will not be a specific written procedure or flowchart.
Call a meeting of those involved in the process and map it out – what happens first, what happens next etc. until all the flow is determined.
Discuss how your current system interfaces with existing software – or the lack of it. Specifiy the features you are looking for to make your process work correctly. Determine if your current software has these features ( but they are just not being used correctly). If this is the case then schedule training for those involved to be trained in the use of the software.
If you don’t have the correct software check out what software solutions are on the market using Software Showcase and the go through the software selection process which is the subject of another blog on this page.
If you need assistance with any aspect of creating or documenting the operating systems of your Agency, call us at Ultimate Agency for a chat and some guidance. Ph 0149 70 70 22. We have been building Systemised Agencies since 1997 so will be able to assist.
