Business is all about decisions. And the speed at which you can make them effectively has a direct impact on the growth and stability of your business.
You make decisions all day. The minor decisions are but a blip on your radar and don’t really register as a “decision”. Major decisions, those pivotal points in your business, can be quite monumental and, sometimes, not even deliver a result.
So let me ask you this? Are you sabotaging the big decisions in your business by not having all the relevant information at your fingertips?
Want to make speedy decisions in your business? You need the necessary information. Here’s what you can do:
1. Make sure you have systems for the following:
- Marketing – methods you are using to capture the interest of your ideal client and how you are keeping tabs on the leads (software: a Customer Relationship Marketing (CRM))
- Sales – defined sales process and relying on the CRM
- Admin – client communication and organising of deliverables (utilises CRM and project management system (PMS))
- Client Services – developing the client relationship and management of deliverables (software: PMS)
- Resources – planning in relation to sales forecasting (software: PMS and accounting system)
- Production & Delivery – the actual product or service and completion (software: scheduling & PMS)
- Accounting – the end result of all the above business processes, which can show the problems and successes of all.
2. Make sure your fab accounting system is up to date – all of the time.
3. If numbers are not your thing, make sure your have a great support team around you – bookkeeper, CFO, tax accountant.
Sounds daunting? Particularly if you don’t have all of those systems operating effectively yet. They’re all as important as each other, but if you require a starting point do the marketing (ie CRM) first, and then accounting system. In the early stages of your business you can get by with systems just for those two, and work on the fly for the rest.
Without those two your decisions will neither be fast, nor effective. If you have all of these functions in place, your decision process will be much more effective with relevant and timely information at your fingertips.
And my best tip – when creating these systems in your business, pick software that allows integration between all of those functions. This ability skyrockets effective decision making to another level entirely, making it super-fast superman type decision making. No excuses.
What systems do you have in place?
