B104.1 - Introduction |
Physical 101 was all about personal organization and the tools needed to be efficient in business on an individual level.
Physical 102 was about taking your show on the road.
Physical 103 was about the routines you need to be mindful of on your quest for a fulfilling and balanced life.
This section, Physical 104, identifies the general processes, procedures and/or systems that every Sole Proprietor actually has (or should have) to some degree or another. Obviously these vary depending on the nature of your business, and for some, some of your systems might be so simple you've never thought of them as systems, but thinking in terms of "systems" will go a long ways as things get more complex. If you hit a bump in the road and find your simple system is no longer working for one reason or another, this kind of thinking comes in handy.
New Customers Experience
Appointment System
Order Entry System / Sales Order System / Sales Receipt System
Order Fulfillment System / Production Orders / Pick-up Orders
Cash Register / Point of Sale System / Revenue Collection Process
Returns / Refunds / Rework
Negative Experiences / Negative Reviews
Ability to Say No
Scanning
Faxing
Network Management/Wireless network/Computer Management
Inbound Mail receiving process
Inbound Package Receiving Process
Outbound Mailing Processes
Outbound Shipping Process
Designated Office Admin Time
Marketing Dial
Customer Review Process
Perspective
Paper Files and Paper filing Systems. Digital Files and digital filing systems
It's all a Big Deal if you want to become a Master of Your Own Business (a MoB for short).
Physical 101 was all about personal organization and the tools needed to be efficient in business on an individual level.
Physical 102 was about taking your show on the road.
Physical 103 was about the routines you need to be mindful of on your quest for a fulfilling and balanced life.
This section, Physical 104, identifies the general processes, procedures and/or systems that every Sole Proprietor actually has (or should have) to some degree or another. Obviously these vary depending on the nature of your business, and for some, some of your systems might be so simple you've never thought of them as systems, but thinking in terms of "systems" will go a long ways as things get more complex. If you hit a bump in the road and find your simple system is no longer working for one reason or another, this kind of thinking comes in handy.
New Customers Experience
- How does the new customer come to know that you, your product and/or your service exist?
- Do you have business cards? Are they used? Do they provide relevant info related to your product or service? Should they? Do they provide the URL for your website (if you have one)? Should it?
- Do you have a website? Does your website provide clear and simple info related to your products and services at a minimum?
- If you have a physical location that customers might come to (regularly or infrequently), is it easy to find your place of business? Is it easy to find the door to your business? Does the door to your business concisely share the basic info that all new customers might need to do business with you?
- Do you have a new customer form (paper or digital) that captures all info you'd like to have for future reference? Should you? Do you have that info stored in a database for future reference? Do you have that info stored in a database so you can add notes and other fields to their record for more complex customer management?
Appointment System
- If your business uses any type of appointment system, is the process well laid out and consistent for all involved?
- Are you using a digital appointment system? Should you be?
- Do you have an appointment reminder system? Should you? What does not having that cost you?
- Do you start on time and end on time, generally speaking? Is the customer wait acceptable and appropriate?
Order Entry System / Sales Order System / Sales Receipt System
- Do you have a process for documenting what was ordered/sold to each person?
- Do you have a process for documenting retail pricing, discounts, and sales tax as it was collected at time of sale and/or due at time of completion?
- Do you have a process for properly managing pre-payments, partial payments and/or "on account" sales?
- Do you have a database that provides totals for sales and sales tax for reporting purposes? Alternatively, do you have some other system that enables you to get that aggregated data easily as needed?
Order Fulfillment System / Production Orders / Pick-up Orders
- Do you have a standard form, template or way of writing up the details related to custom orders or pickup orders that is consistent?
- Do you have quality checks built into your process to ensure what was/is delivered is what was ordered -- and makes sense... ? (needed even if you are working solo)
- Do you have a staging area where completed orders sit waiting for pickup?
- Do you have an easy way to identify the customers goods when times comes for shipping/pickup?
- Do you have an easy way to provide a bill for the goods at time of pickup/shipping?
Cash Register / Point of Sale System / Revenue Collection Process
- Do you have an appropriate system for efficiently checking out customers?
- Does your automated or manual system generate sales orders, receipts and other documentation as needed?
- Can you easily reference old orders if need be?
Returns / Refunds / Rework
- For those in product based businesses, do you have a process for efficiently handling returns, refunds and/or rework issues?
Negative Experiences / Negative Reviews
- Do you have a system for handling folks with negative experiences and/or negative public reviews?
- Do you know how to identify the customers who may potentially lead to this situation and avoid them to start with?
Ability to Say No
- Do you have the ability to so "no" to customers in an appropriate manner?
- Do you have the ability to "fire" customers in an appropriate manner when appropriate?
Scanning
- Do you have full control of your digital scanner and your scanning process? (these can be some of the most finicky of the digital equipment)
- Do you have a resource you can call on for dependable and affordable help when needed?
Faxing
- Do you have full control of your fax machine? (is it easy to use when needed?)
- If you are using a fax server, do you have full control and familiarity with the scanning process needed to send faxes?
- Do you have a resource you can call on for dependable and affordable help when needed?
Network Management/Wireless network/Computer Management
- Do you have full control of your wired/wireless network?
- Do you know how to troubleshoot when needed?
- Can you tell the difference between a problem that is likely specific to a machine versus truly bad networking equipment?
- Do you have a resource you can call on for dependable and affordable help when needed?
Inbound Mail receiving process
- Is all your mail coming to one address? Should it be?
- Do you have an "inbox" to aggregate new mail and other documents?
- Do you have a "tray tree" to very clearly triage items into all relevant categories
Inbound Package Receiving Process
- Is all your mail coming to one address? Should it be?
- Do you have a place where UPS, Fed Ex and the USPS can safely leave packages at all times? If not, is there a sign on the door redirecting to another local place where someone can sign? If not, do you have a UPS Store Box or something comparable? If not, should you?
- Do you open all boxes and check contents immediately? Does the person who ordered items unpack them, to confirm initially all ordered items were removed from the box?
- Do you check all electronics immediately to avoid problems down the road on back up items that were bad from the factory?
- Do you save important boxes and packaging for a few days on important items to enable easy returns if needed?
- Do you have a place to store boxes/break them down and store them before disposing of them?
Outbound Mailing Processes
- Do you have a return address stamp, all relevant envelops and stamps to make prepping regular mail as fast as possible?
- Do you know when to use USPS vs UPS vs Fed Ex vs other?
- Do you understand cut off times and deadlines?
- Do you understand what can be put in mail boxes and drop boxes and what can not?
Outbound Shipping Process
- Do you have a tape gun?
- Do you have boxes on hand that can expedite shipping? Should you?
- If you ship regularly, do you have a small shipping station setup to make the packing process as efficient as possible?
Designated Office Admin Time
- Do you have a designated office admin time weekly or biweekly? Should you?
- Do you have a checklist of all items you need to touch or check during this time? Should you?
- Does that list include Sales Review, Cash Flow Management review and a general accounting review?
Marketing Dial
- Do you have a system you can use to ramp up business if needed, as needed, with some level of control as to the increase?
Customer Review Process
- Do you have a process in place to solicit reviews regularly or on an as needed basis? Should you?
Perspective
- Do you see your business the same way a new patient, an existing patient or a prior patient sees it?
Paper Files and Paper filing Systems. Digital Files and digital filing systems
It's all a Big Deal if you want to become a Master of Your Own Business (a MoB for short).