Business Systems

[Dave Kaminski]

I hear the eMyth book is a good book on this topic. I don't know much about business systems, but would love to learn to develop them. They seem to be the key to making money long term, e.g.: sales scripts, formulas for purchasing businesses and investment property, implementation of sales systems, hiring systems, customer retention systems, etc.

Anyone have any extensive knowledge as to where I might begin my search to learn more about what makes franchises work? That seems to me where business systems would be most prevalent.

[Jill]

You are right about the e-Myth. I totally recommend The e-Myth Revisited as a great read. It completely turned the way I think of my business around as I grow it.

e-Myth also has a great website and leadership training courses, as well as other interesting products. I won one of their "scholarships" to gain access to their e-learning tools, but haven't had a chance to try them out yet. Will definitely be doing this over the next year. I'm going to try to possibly leave my Friday afternoons to do things like that.

[JiriNovotny]

Dave, definitely get E-Myth. I've finished reading it yesterday actually and I can recommend it. Some stuff it contains is not probably really applicable to my internet business, but it was still very enlightening. Two thumbs up!

[Dave Kaminski]

Originally Posted by Jill

You are right about the e-Myth. I totally recommend The e-Myth Revisited as a great read. It completely turned the way I think of my business around as I grow it.

Originally Posted by JiriNovotny

Dave, definitely get E-Myth. I've finished reading it yesterday actually and I can recommend it. Some stuff it contains is not probably really applicable to my internet business, but it was still very enlightening. Two thumbs up!

Could you guys give me some insight into some of the busines systems you have in places? I'd love to learn from somoene who knows!

[Jill]

Well, I don't actually have any in place at the moment!

I was just beginning to implement processes and procedures at one of my companies, but I've since disbanded that company and am basically back working on my own right now.

I do have expansion plans and also plan to put the e-myth stuff into place as I grow, so I'll keep you informed!

[Dave Kaminski]

Originally Posted by Jill

Well, I don't actually have any in place at the moment!

I was just beginning to implement processes and procedures at one of my companies, but I've since disbanded that company and am basically back working on my own right now.

I do have expansion plans and also plan to put the e-myth stuff into place as I grow, so I'll keep you informed!

Well I'm working on the same so I'll keep you informed too! What are you working on implementing now? I don't know if this stuff counts but:

CRM with a tickler file of contacts and prospects and potentials (any suggestions on software?)
Follow-up eMail templates (work on those today)
Calling scripts (they say there's only one best way to sell something)
::shrugs:: can't think of the other stuff right now.

[JiriNovotny]

Well, I am a Micro-ISV (independent software vendor) so right now I do not need any advanced systems. I just use technology instead of employees. Automation was one of my priorities while creating my business. Technical support is the only thing that's not automated, because I always disliked these stupid answer bots that some companies use. I once took a month off, "worked" just like 10 minutes / day and... it was my best month (financially).

I still don't use these email marketing bots so I can't really help you with that. However, I plan to try some new marketing techniques and this will be definitely one of them.

My business is still small, but it's growing. In a year or two I will probably get some peopleware

[Dave Kaminski]

I guess this post kinda shows that I've not been in line with Steve's ready-fire-aim approach. I'd love to do it but I'd rather develop my image as a small business computer consultant and I feel crazy promoting myself without having a good idea of what I'm going to say. I'm working on selling points and scripts today so that should help a TON. Then i have to HIT THE STREETS!

[Greg]

Just to touch back on the E-Myth Revisited. I'd also recommend the book. The main point I got out of it was how important it is to work ON your business and not just IN your business. In other words, your business is your business (if that makes sense).

Found a nice little summary of the book for those who are interested.
http://www.coachkevin.com/page/page/727516.htm

[Dave Kaminski]

I just bought a copy, although I'm swamped with work this weekend. I'm actually wicked excited to be so busy. XD

[Sadhana]

Originally Posted by Dave Kaminski

Follow-up eMail templates (work on those today)

What kind of templates do you have?

Calling scripts (they say there's only one best way to sell something)

Are these the scripts that you basically repeat verbatim when you call prospective clients?

[thadroe]

Just to touch back on the E-Myth Revisited. I'd also recommend the book. The main point I got out of it was how important it is to work ON your business and not just IN your business. In other words, your business is your business (if that makes sense).

Emyth looks like a a great read...I think I'll check it out.

The concept of working ON your business and not just IN it is something I just listened to a great podcast about on iTunes.

It's from Internet Business Mastery...or something like that.

They talked about how there is a big difference from being self employed vs. being an entrepreneur. The key is that so many people who set out to be free from a job by starting their own business just end up creating a job for themselves...that's self-employment. The real entrepreneurs constantly work on setting up systems to put in place to keep freeing up their time to work on new systems. Sounds like what eMyth is all about.

Thad

[Nathan]

The E-Myth was the first book we were told to read in my entrepreneurship degree and it covers the fundamentals of the business system very well, mainly in relation to franchising. It is definately a starting point.

[ahimel]

Dave:

What do you do? What kind of things do you think you'd like to systemetize? What stage is your business at right now?

As you'll understand as you read through E-myth, when I think systems, I think McDonald's. I worked there a few years ago, much to my shame at the time, but it's proved an incredibly valuable resource as I develop businesses. Those people systematize EVERYTHING. I can't tell you how many times I got in trouble for assembling a hamburger incorrectly -- I let the pickles touch. You know you've got yourself a franchise when you could train a monkey to do the job.

As for developing them, I find that training is the easiest way to do that. If you have a partner, ask them to show you what they do. They'll whip through it and it will all make sense at the time .... but the next day, you'll find that you have no idea what they said. So have them go through it again, and write it down this time. That's your system.

To systematize the stuff you do, find someone to train. This can be your partner, your wife, or some random kid off the street (the younger the better. If your 5-year-old son can do it, you've got yourself a franchise.)
Walk them through the process, and then write down what you want them to remember. They'll smile and nod, and think they understand... and the next day, you'll find that they have no idea what to do, because your lovely, neat, carefully written checklist means nothing to them. Rewrite it. They'll learn. That's how you get systems.

I'm currently VP of Operations (an impressive title that means I answer phones and try to keep our finances together) of a small computer-repair company. We hope to roll out a turnkey (franchisable) low-cost computer-repair business in January. The systems we know we'll need so far are:

• How to deal with customers What do you say when the phone rings? How do you set an appointment? What do you do after you set the appointment? How do you keep track of appointments, so you can follow up afterwards?
• How to deal with money When do you ask the customers for money? What do you do when they send it to you? What do you do when they don't send it to you? How do you purchase hardware and software? How do you collect sales tax? How do you tell if your business is about to take off or go bankrupt? How do we create a budget?
• How to deal with employees How do you find them? What do you want from them? How much do you pay them? How do you train them? When do you know that it's time to get another employee? How do you determine when it's time to let someone go?
• How to deal with corporate requirements When do we have shareholder meetings? What do we do there? When do we file paperwork? How do we pay taxes?
• How to deal with marketing How do our clients find us, anyway? How can we encourage that? How do we tell what's effective?

Don't feel bad if you don't like the ready-fire-aim approach. While there will always be a certain amount of on-the-fly tweaking, there's nothing wrong with preparing for it also. Steve's strength is optimizing systems, so he chose a method that plays to his strength. My strength is creating systems, so I use a ready-aim-fire-aim approach. (In an ideal world, it would go ready-aim-fire, but in the real world, there will always be adjustement after the fact.) Do what works for YOU. The only approach that's wrong is ready-aim-aim-aim-aim.....

For telephone scripts, I would use Steve's method of recording yourself. Make a call, and then write down what you said. Decide what worked really well, and what sounded really stupid. (And what sounded really stupid, but also worked really well.) If you missed something really big, decide where would be the logical place to insert it.

I don't ever use them word-for-word; it makes me sound like an automaton. My scripts often look something like:

Hi, this is Amanda...
Bad time?
3 questions
Computer fixed?
Did he listen?
Him again?
Questions for me
Thanks!

Then when I call, I would expand it with my own language to something like,

"Hi, this is Amanda with 21st Century Computing... did I catch you at a bad time?

I'm just calling to make sure you're still pleased with the service you recieved yesterday. Could I have 5 minutes of your time to ask you 3 quick questions?

Did we get your computer fixed, and is it still working the way you want it to?

..."

This is one of my favorite things to do (I know this makes me sick and twisted) so PM me if you want to talk more about it.

[Dwane J.]

The E-myth does a good job of discussing how a brick and mortar business can be run as a system but does little to cover the needs for internet businesses.

Several month's back the Internet Marketer, Rich Schefren, had several popular downloads addressing the systematization of an Internet Business. He directly addresses the E-Myth in some of these free downloads.

Here is a link to a good write up of them

The Internet Business Manifesto + Missing Chapter » Internet Marketing | Entrepreneurs-Journey.com - by Yaro Starak

Two More Great Internet Business Resources From Rich Schefren » Internet Marketing | Entrepreneurs-Journey.com - by Yaro Starak

Rich Schefren’s ‘The Final Chapter Of The Internet Business Manifesto’ » Internet Marketing | Entrepreneurs-Journey.com - by Yaro Starak

[Vanessa]

Dwain --
Just wanted to say thanks for passing along those links to Schefren's free ebooks.

One of the biggest frameworks for me to adjust was that his book was written for information marketers who sell products online. While I don't sell info products, there was still a lot of useful information that was built upon the eMyth. It kept me busy re-organizing my company processes and objectives.