T:+44(0)1202 640223
Log in managed for us by Serif
How To Grow Your Business Systematically
You are about to discover the secret
of how to set up your business
to grow, even to run itself
With the way the economy has been it’s incredible that so many small businesses, like yours, have kept going. Survival has been totally down to the huge amounts of time effort and energy that you’ve put in.
Frustrating isn’t it. Back in the beginning it was great. Running your own business was supposed to mean being your own boss, with freedom to do it your way and to enjoy work. It’s not like that at all. It runs you.
ProcessMembership - A membership programme. Click here for more information.
ProcessGuidebook - 9-Step process improvement. Click here for more information.
ProcessConsulting - direct 1:1 support. Click here for more information.
If only there were more hours in the day. If only you had time to think. If only you had more energy, even more than the efforts you already put in. You need more time to get the message out there to find new customers, to make the breakthrough and get the business going and growing. It’s so nearly there, but not quite. So you try again and again.
Think of the effort it takes to get out there networking on those cold wet mornings making happy smiley faces over a hurried breakfast. Not to mention those high stress ultra quick self introduction speeches. So many others trying to find business just like you. Loads of business cards gathered, but so few will turn into business. It takes longer and longer to convert any leads into orders. Even then, every hard won new customer demands special treatment.
Ask yourself:
How many customers or referrals could be slipping through your fingers
right now because you don’t really have a follow-up process?
Think of the time it took to win those leads.
In a micro business you almost have to reinvent your business for every new customer, you have to deal with everything, make all the decisions, know everything and have all the answers at your finger tips. You’re too busy fighting fires to think.
Even if you have great people working for you it somehow just adds to those demands on your time. You can’t slow down. But no matter how many hours you put in it’s a struggle to keep everything running and to find new business.
What if that expensive advertising campaign really paid off? How would you have managed the rush of customers? You might have struggled to serve any of them well, lost them and damaged your reputation too.
You put in a hard day’s effort often with little to show for it at the end. Long hours, worry, stress and lack of restful sleep are taking their toll. You can’t afford to be ill, but your workload is doing just that – draining your reserves. You are running on empty.
ProcessMembership - A membership programme. Click here for more information.
ProcessGuidebook - 9-Step process improvement. Click here for more information.
ProcessConsulting - direct 1:1 support. Click here for more information.
Do you work from home? Then I guess you know about phone calls at all hours. Not to mention the domestic interruptions, rows and door slamming when home and work collide. Your business makes enormous demands on your time. Is there any left for family or friends? Do you have any energy left to relax and enjoy yourself?
Try not to count up the number of special events you’ve missed or been to with your mind still at work. The birthdays, anniversaries and family events where you may be in the photos but were not really there. Then there’s the parents’ evening, sports day and prize giving. They all add up.
And, if that’s not enough there’s all the outside problems that come from just trying to run a business. The officials, the rules and regulations, tax and financial worries, employment law and all the rest – nothing you can do but struggle on. But there is something you can do.
And here’s the secret in a nutshell......
“It ain’t what you do,
it’s the way that you do it.
That’s what gets results.”
The most important difference between a successful business and one that is struggling is:
- not the product or service; easily copied
- it’s not the prices; easily beaten
- it’s not just marketing; despite what everyone will tell you
- it really is about how you do things, how well you are organised
In this highly competitive marketplace it is less about what you do or sell than it is about how you do it. It defines your business. Good systems can bring results that are truly transformational.
At ProcessCoach we help our customers
get organised for success.
My name is Ned Seabrook, I run ‘ProcessCoach’. Helping businesses get better organised is what I do. As a systems and training manager I’ve worked with large organisations and with small. I’ve run my own small business through two major recessions. I enjoy what I do and I have time to enjoy life. Like you I have a business to run.
Through networking, asking questions and listening to other business owners I’ve learned that good systems and well tuned processes can be rare in smaller businesses. Great at what you do but struggling to make the business run, to get really well organised.
Processes are not an area you’d normally pay attention to when trying to grow the business. The main problem stems from lack of processes, ‘winging it’ over and over again. This can work but is highly risky and inefficient. Too often it leads to inconsistency and errors. You need rock steady processes in your business; foundations on which to grow.
The big companies I’ve worked with paid a lot to have their processes developed and fine tuned. Now you can share the benefit from some of that work. Many of the processes and ideas we’ll be using have been adopted and developed from procedures used successfully in larger organisations, now thoroughly revised to meet the needs of smaller businesses.
I know you are very busy. So I’ve worked out 3 different ways for you to systematically grow your business. Each is tuned to the needs of different sized businesses and budgets, but open to all.
ProcessMembership - A membership programme.
Designed to meet the needs of busy small businesses with a small team of people.
A regular delivery of ready to run processes designed to cut-and-paste straight into your operations. Plus a big say in deciding what processes get worked on first. It’s a truly customer driven process.
Click here for more information.
ProcessGuidebook - A 9-Step process improvement process.
This inexpensive e-guidebook is the ideal solution for micro businesses and professionals. It comes complete with templates and examples to use in your own business. By applying this 9-Step process you’ll be able to transform your business for yourself. Click here for more information.
ProcessConsulting - direct 1:1 support.
This solution works best for the larger ‘medium-sized’ UK/European based businesses seeking significant performance gains from radical process improvements. We have a well proven process we use for these bespoke engagements.
Click here for more information.
Remember that with good processes in your business you’ll start to enjoy
- Making more money through doing less in your business
- Having time to take better care of yourself
- Being sought out by other business owners in search of your secret
- A sense of achievement as you work though a process
- Being able to relax secure in the knowledge that it all works
- Having finally rid yourself of all that stress
- Simply having some free time and
- Having fun at work and out of it
- Customers noticing how full of energy you are, telling others how great it is to work with you
Here’s an easy decision for you -
Would you like to continue to pedal away furiously
wearing yourself out doing things in a chaotic
‘look how busy I am’ way
- Or -
Would you prefer to change up a gear,
step up to a calmer more organised level?
To help you decide, see how we’ve helped these small business owners already.
Here are their stories:
- Theresa’s small bespoke design and printing business. Every job was different, far too much detail to remember everything. Far too much time taken to dig it all out from the paper work. She found paperwork and admin cramped her creativity. Now she has a simple ‘job wallet’ system with a progress chart on the outside. The small amount of time she has to spend setting up a new job is saved by easy administration and billing later. She’s buzzing and business is great.
- Paul was worried. He asked me to help him think about how to price his work for his part time venture. I worked with him through a series of simple questions; a price setting process. On one side of A4 paper we jotted down some rough answers. Later, he did some research and reworked the numbers using the same process I’d given him. Now he has a steady little business with customers coming back for more, just what he wanted.
- Now Steve was different. He’d taken over his parents’ business and wanted to make money selling franchises. He called me out of the blue. Now when you buy a franchise you’re really buying proven methods systems and processes. So I explored with him how his business worked. No sign of any kind of method – beyond a loose production process. But there were staffing problems. I pointed out the key things he needed to address; processes and employment issues. But as I told him franchising is not a quick fix cure all!
- Then there’s James. If you’re an architect and you want to sell a really big project, then high quality 3D computer graphic models are perfect. You pass your plans to James, and ask how much, how long etc. Well where do you start – every job is different? I spent an afternoon with James and left him with a simple process to help him estimate project time and price up each job professionally. James is now able to concentrate on his graphics, safe in the knowledge that the process works.
Every process you implement means more time to think, to do what you are good at, to run your business and enjoy your life. Even in a one person business good processes mean that you don’t have to think about how to do everything. That’s done. Now you can put all that energy into what it is you are actually doing.
Good processes will reduce your mental workload and free up thinking time. It’s a huge load off your mind. Then you can concentrate on important things like:
- finely tuned marketing
- real customer care
- working on growing your business not just keeping it afloat
- living your life and being with your family
“Time is perishable; its use by date is always NOW.”
Now, it’s time to get organised..... ‘How?’ is up to you.
Your choices are ....
ProcessMembership - A membership programme. Click here for more information.
ProcessGuidebook - 9-Step process improvement. Click here for more information.
ProcessConsulting - direct 1:1 support. Click here for more information.
There is a fourth choice....
You could decide to do nothing. It’s totally up to you. You already know that without good systems you’ll struggle to grow the business, spending your time fighting fires. Perhaps you are too busy to decide right now for this very reason. Come back when (if!) you get a moment to think about it.
Just remember that it’s your choice. If you do nothing it will leave the way clear for my happy customers...
Thanks for your time,
Ned Seabrook
MA, Chartered MCIPD, ACIB
ProcessCoach & Managing Director
Insight Consulting & Development Ltd
P.S. Give it a try and you might amaze yourself, you might even get home in time to relax and enjoy yourself.
P.P.S. Don’t take any risks – act now. The longer you leave it .....
P.P.P.S Did you know ... Branded fast food outlets don’t sell food. This is not a criticism of their food. What they sell is a consistency of service that meets customer expectations. They achieve this across the globe through thousands of otherwise independent franchised businesses. How? By having a complete set of well thought out systems and processes. What do you sell? Or more important - what do your target customers want to buy?
ProcessCoach is part of Insight Consulting & Development Ltd.
24 Highfield Road, Corfe Mullen, Wimborne, Dorset BH21 3PE www.insightconsultdevelop.co.uk
08454 63 40 63 or 01202 640223 Email: Contact@processcoach.co.uk
© 2010 Insight Consulting & Development Ltd. Registered in England Co No 06130212
