What are our processes? Do we even have them? Get excited…. we are chatting about how to document everything that happens within your company. I can tell you, we are super pumped about this!
At The It Crowd, we call this The It Crowd Way! We also have Bibles for each department. Everything we do is in these 2 things. When someone new comes on board, they are given these and told: “Get ‘ta learning!”
Try to tame your relations and let’s get started….you know it’s important.
Get together with your leadership team and come up with your core processes. These are going to be your big ones like (try to keep it to less than 10)
- The Marketing Process
- The Business Development Process
- The HR Process
- The Accounting Process
- The Customer Retention Process
- The Production Delivery Process
Now Document these processes – you need to give each process to the person that does these tasks day in and day out. They have now become accountable for getting this done.
Instructions for this section – In the end, it should be around 4-6 pages.
- Use the 80/20 rule, you do not need to go into every nitty-giddy detail of each.
- You need to document the steps of this process at a very high level with several bullet points under each step, which are procedures.
- Use checklists if needed
Now put it all together – a binder, a folder, somewhere in your project management software, and put a visualization around this. We like Prezi for these types of things.
Show your team how everything relies on each department and the connections between them all.
- Pick the date
- Determine the revenue goal
- Determine the profit number
- Determine your specific measurable
- NOW, With your 3-year picture in mind, discuss debate, and decide on the 3-7 most important priorities that must be completed this year for you to be on track with your three-year picture.
This is a bit different than our WAY in the fact that it is more in-depth! This goes into the nitty gritty of each department and allows for a new hire to understand the majority of their job role. Items This includes:
- Where do I start?
- What am I responsible for?
- Important Dates and Deadlines
- How to Stay on Top of Your Job
- Tools you will need, what each tool is used for, and how to use each tool
- Extra resources
- Checklists
- File Management
- Relationships with other departments
- Tips and Tricks
Welp! There you go….put your head down with your departments and get this done. You will be glad you did – promise promise promise! While going through these exercises you may see what is working, what is not working, and you will most definitely strengthen your company!
Remember, the name of the game during this time is to get stronger! Get ‘er done guys!
(tips and tricks this week are brought to you by Traction)
This week we’re taking a look at your website! As we start to think about and look towards what our new normal is, it’s crucial that we have a plan in place for our customers. Whether you need to have a portal that your existing clients need access to or a better way to tell people about your company, your website can be a one-stop shop.
Here are some questions to ask yourself to help get you started:
- Where’s your website? Do you have access to edit it? Do you know where it’s hosted? If you answered “no” or “I have no idea” to any of these questions, then let’s change that! You should own your website and no one else (that you aren’t aware of) should have access to it.GoDaddy, Siteground, and WordPress – are all good places to start. We strongly recommend getting your website off of Wix if you can! And we definitely don’t recommend having a website that’s not on a CMS platform.
- What about your Google Analytics (link to analytics.google.com)? Do you have this setup? If not, this is so important! Google Analytics shows you your website traffic – numbers, audience demographics, where people are coming from, how long they are staying on their site, what pages they are clicking on, etc. It’s hard to make improvements on a website if you don’t have any clue what your website visitors are doing!
- If you do have your Google Analytics set up, then you have a jump start! Take a look at what’s been happening on your website for the last few months. Is your bounce rate high? Are people calling you or filling out your contact form from your website? Are the right people visiting your website? What are your most popular pages? Now you can start making changes.
The foundation is so important to the success of your website. You don’t want what we call a “duct-taped” site and you certainly don’t want to waste time, resources, or money on a site that isn’t benefitting your business.
