Today was my first day “back to school” so to speak.  One of my favorite clients and close friends came back to work today and we had a long meeting to cover what he missed in his four months away.  Then I spent the rest of the day writing up notes and recommendations based on my experience of being in the hot seat for a few months.  I called it “I Know What I Did This Summer” and sent it off to my happy client who was esctatic with the feedback and happy to hear my recommendations.  I know, I know, I rock. 🙂

I’ll be honest though and admit that one of the reasons why my client was able to take an extended leave of absence and enjoy some summer fun is because we’ve worked hard to put systems in place to support us.  He’s an online entrepreneur and most of his products are digital so that portion of the business is largely automated.  The few physical products he does carry, we have an established system for delivery and restocking inventory levels.  He never has to worry about items going out of stock or even have to worry about whether his orders will be fulfilled.  We have a system in place that manages all of that so that he doesn’t have to.

He also doesn’t need to worry about Customer Service.  That system is extremely solid and well established.  I should know – I created the entire system and am now creating the s program that will support others in replicating our success.  My new Smiling Customer Care: The No Nonsense Guide To Being An Indispensible Customer Care Specialist program is based on the years of work that I have done with clients to build a seamless Customer Care service.  Many of them never have to worry about Customer Care once a proper system is in place. 

Success doesn’t happen by accident.  It requires a systematic approach and regular commitment to growth and action.  It requires putting systems to the test to find out if they truly are working properly and making adjustments when they’re not. 

I discovered a few holes in some of our systems – we don’t have a solid system to follow up on declines or to manage our overall finances.  We thought we had a solid system but this summer has shown us where the leaks are so we’ll be dedicating some time over the next few weeks to correct it.  One of our programs isn’t delivering as well as it should be.  So time will be spent there to bring it up to snuff.  A salespage needs to be rewritten to clarify an offer.  So not everything was perfect but what did work was that I have a system for tracking everything and was ready at a moment’s notice when my client called for a review.

Having a system in place and a team that you can rely on makes it possible for you to worry less about the little details of managing your daily operations and focus more on delivering the service or expertise that is your field of choice.  When you rely on the systems you’ve built to manage your business, your growth is unlimited.  That’s why I love being an online business manager – because it allows me to help clients create systems to support their growth so that they can spend more time focusing on the aspects of their business that they love and maybe even take a vacation or two.

I know what I did this summer, I know what my client Fred did this summer.  What have you done to prepare your business for growth?