While in Toronto in early November at the Professional Organizers in Canada annual conference I attended a workshop delivered by Deanne Kelleher from Kaos Group called “Essential and Powerful Business Tools”. The session made me realize how many systems all of us small business owners should have in place and perhaps don’t, myself included. If only I could find the time!
Here are the key areas of our business that Deanne suggests we have systems for:
- Customer Relations Management – simply using the Notes field in your existing customer contact database to record conversations, TY notes sent and referrals is a good place to start. Also keep track of who subscribes to your newsletter.
- Marketing and Networking – set goals for your newsletter distribution and track how many subscribers you have, how many you want and how much business comes from your newsletter. Track how many business cards you give out in a year. Look at your website analytics regularly. If you write articles which ones create the most website traffic?
- Email – create an FAQ section on your website to handle potential customer inquiries and create a standard email in your ‘Drafts’ folder for respond to routine inquiries. Create a thank you email to send to each new person you meet asking them to subscribe to your newsletter. Consider including a link to your newsletter in your email signature.
- Process and Procedure – create an Operations Manual (ugh!) which includes administrative procedures, communication processes, goals, year end procedures, and much more.
- Social Media – think about what you are saying and to whom. How often are you saying it and where. Does it work? Is your goal to educate or acquire? Are you connected to your ideal clients?
- Tracking – what will you track and when? How will you track it? Why are you tracking it?
I don’t know about you, but I think I need to hire Deanne to help me figure out how to get all of this done!
