Growing a business can be difficult, and it can be hard to know exactly what areas you need to improve.
Browning a sustainable business should be exciting, but it can be easy to lose control and let tedious tasks get in the way of your business plan.
If you don’t have business systems in place, this problem will most likely present itself – as a business owner, you may be working long hours and not reaping the rewards.
But what exactly are business systems, and how can you implement them into your business strategy?
Keep reading to learn more about business systems, and how business systems can help you to grow a sustainable business. We’re also going to talk about the top 5 popular systems for growing your business.
5 Popular Systems For Growing A Sustainable Business
If you’re wondering what a business system is, it’s a group of tasks that meet your business objectives. Each business system should be documented each step to ensure that everything is being done to optimise your business.
Anything you do for your business should have a purpose and should generate results – strategizing these tasks should generate better results and streamline your entire operation.
Once you’ve identified which business processes and systems are best for your business, you can implement them into your training process or simply give a list to all new starters.
Some business systems can include lead generation, bookkeeping, sales, HR, or even training.
1. Lead Generation
Lead generation is identifying and acquiring potential customers, whether it be for your product the action or process of identifying and cultivating potential customers for a business’s products or services.
It’s a marketing process that should be an integral part of any business and can help to capture interest in whatever products or services you provide.
No matter the size of your business, or whether you’re predominately B2B or B2C, lead generation should be at the core of your business – 60% of marketers state that lead generation is the main part of their company.
There are various ways you can do this, whether it be digitally using email blasts, writing guest posts, or advertising.
However, many of the more popular methods are used in abundance, and competition is higher than ever – so it’s more important than ever to understand the best way for your business to generate leads.
Identifying a good lead can be difficult, and many marketers make the mistake of spending too much time on ‘dead-end’ leads, instead of making the effort to narrow down the selection.
A quality lead generation system can help to increase the awareness of your brand, build quality business-client or business-business relationships, increase brand credibility, and of course, generate more sales.
2. Bookkeeping
Bookkeeping systems are behind all successful businesses. A bookkeeping system is a way to record your business’ finances and transactions.
Staying on top of accounts can be difficult and time-consuming, it’s recommended to have somebody doing this whether you’re a small business or a large business.
Most businesses in 2021 will stay on top of their accounts digitally, and some have automated systems to help streamline the process and cut out the tedious aspects.
A simple bookkeeping system is the best place to start if you’re a small business. The majority of small businesses will use a single-entry system, which is best if you’re just getting started and don’t have many transactions to account for.
This system only reports to one account and records the sales, purchases, cash receipts, and cash disbursements.
3. Marketing
In 2021, it’s more important than ever to have a quality marketing system in place if you’re trying to grow a sustainable business. A marketing system is an operation that will allow your business to market your products and services.
Whether it be through advertising, promotion, sales, or anything else, your marketing system should help to grow your business as well as generate sales.
Market research is important when growing your business – it involves researching your target audience or demographic to learn how to implement your marketing strategy.
Once you’ve researched your market, you may want to decide on your advertising and promotion – driving the right people to your business.
For best practice, you should reevaluate your marketing strategy regularly so you can see what is working and what needs improving.
4. HR
As your business grows, you may want to consider implementing an HR (human resources) system to store and manage employee records, produce necessary fact sheets or graphs, allow employees to request holidays and ensure employee wellbeing.
Larger businesses generally use automated systems, but smaller businesses will often conduct the work themselves and hire an HR professional to implement and manage the HR spreadsheets and databases.
Having a quality automated HR system in place is sure to save time, and allow your human resources employee(s) to focus on more important and less tedious tasks.
5. Training
Training systems should be a key part of any growing business – especially if you’re expanding and hiring new employees.
Having a quality training system in place can identify any gaps in performance, address any negative patterns, and improve employee productivity.
Selection training is a common and efficient approach and can help to improve the business as a whole. It’s generally offered to employees who show promise and would benefit from taking it a step higher.
However, many employers will use hierarchical training to ensure their employees are fully trained.
It’s generally provided when an employee starts a new role or progresses in their current role – but even managers can benefit from this form of training.
Outside training is becoming more common with businesses – this type of training involves your employees attending seminars, webinars, or workshops, and can be great in terms of employee progression.
Anybody in your business can benefit from outside training, and there are training opportunities available for pretty much any role.
Self-development training can also be excellent in regards to employee progression, but often, employees will be required to do this in their own time.
Mark is a multi-award winner in business networking and relationship building. He is passionate about coaching and mentoring business owners and professionals through 1-1 & group coaching, team performance workshops and group mastermind sessions.