Adventures in Business and CRM

Do you ever have those days where you feel like everything that can go wrong ends up happening? As an entrepreneur, I’ve had many of those days.  Most entrepreneurs have an inherent need to feel like we’re in control. When the situation gets sticky, we tend to lose our focus. Losing control and losing focus isn’t even the worst part. It seems that once something ‘bad’ happens, it becomes the fat trigger to the eventual domino affect of other bad things to happen right along with it. That chain reaction is usually referred to as the’ tough life being a business owner. I say…it doesn’t have to be so tough!

Without further ado, I give to thee: “5 Steps to a Smooth Running Business”

• Be more observant: The sheer number of business owners that aren’t taking a look at the big picture is really shocking to me. I’ve learned that entrepreneurs and business owners have a tendency to be stubborn. (This is a good trait, and a bad one). It is because of this, we often overlook the true health of our business. Perhaps we’re still in love with the whole idea of our business’s concept, that we often overlook little things that could go wrong. Some business owners just can’t bear see their idea failing, and sometimes they are quick to pass off little details that could be vital to their business’s success.
• Don’t Wing-it: No more working on the fly. It’s far easier to waste time during work time if it’s not planned out in advance.  It’s time to go back to that list of goals you’ve probably written somewhere and sit down with it for at least an hour. Each goal likely has a task that you need to be working on everyday to achieve it. Your staff should be in on these goals, or at least your management team. Having everyone on the same page of what needs to be achieved is essential. Don’t let your office’s daily tasks become aimless or ‘on the fly’. Sit down with your management team, and tell them exactly what is going down for the rest of the week. Be militant! Don’t let them divert from the task at hand. Organize work time into segments that are focused on each task, and make sure they stick to it. The results will speak for themselves.
• De-Flaw your Customer Relationship Management System: If your company is one that deals with clients, customers, or some type of database of contact information for the people who generate your business’s source of money, then you are in need of a CRM or a Customer Relationship Management system. Your CRM should be highly scalable, and should be easily modified by someone on your staff. Ask yourself these three questions: “How smooth is the data flow in my company”? Is my office organized in their dealings with our customers? Are my staff organized in each step of involvement they have in the sales/service process? If you had a negative response to any of these questions, your CRM needs to be updated or implemented. The end goal is a completely personalized central data flow that will inform everyone (including you) what’s really going on with each and every client, down to the tiniest detail. This step is imperative for our next step.
• Perform weekly Check-ups: To build your business up to the well-oiled machine that you’d like it to be, you need to be honest with yourself at least once a week on how healthy your business really is. Like a growing child, your business really does need a periodic check-up. In our current economy, this is more crucial than ever. To perform a four-point check-up on your business simply take a closer look at your marketing, accounting + expenses, profits +margins, along with customer service/support. Develop a weekly worksheet or template that each department head fills out (honestly), that details the important data from each department’s happenings that week. How’s the money, marketing and customer service? Did an employee upset a customer today? Discuss what happened and how to rectify it. A few dollars are missing? Find out where your staff went wrong, and make sure it doesn’t happen again, with more than just a few dollars.
• Build Burning Passion within your Team: If no one really cares about any of your business’s ultimate goals, none of the aforementioned steps will do anything to help your business run smoothly. Slacking and complaining generally comes from employees that don’t believe in the company they work for. As much as you’d like to think that all of your employees are really in it for the long-haul to see you succeed, you are very wrong… and possibly a bit delusional. (it’s okay, it happens to the best of us). The truth is that most employees are thinking about what they’re going to get out of their experience with your company. Are they getting more money? More vacation time? More perks, stocks, or benefits? Building passion isn’t at difficult as it may seem. Right out of college, kids line up at the front door to work at great companies like Google and Apple. Why is that? Well, Google, being the “cool” company that it is, has a game room, a gym, and all kinds of other crazy perks to keep their employees happy and motivated. Their theory that happier employees work better is likely true, considering they are one of the world’s largest and most successful entities.  So ask yourself… “What is a company that I admire, and how do they create passion within their team?” Chances are, you’ll find out some great ways to keep your staff motivated and happy.

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