A few weeks ago, my family was in the drive thru at Starbucks® for a post church coffee. My wife leaned over my lap and shouted her extremely complicated order (double pump with a half decaf something) to the barista on the other end of the microphone. The total for her small drink was $3.95.
Why would any person in their right mind pay nearly $4 for a small coffee? Can it really be that good?
One of the reasons we continue to visit Starbucks® by millions each and every day is that they provide something that we all crave – predictability and consistency. It has very little to do with the taste of the coffee.
How does Starbucks® deliver such a reliable experience every single time? It’s for the same reason that a Big Mac® served in Houston, TX tastes the same as one served in Vancouver, British Columbia. Both McDonald’s® and Starbucks® have developed and implemented a simple set of systems in each of their stores around the globe.
If you’re interested in building a successful small business you had better be prepared to follow in their shoes.
Michael Gerber, the author of the bestselling book, The E-Myth, points out that “the true value of the business is the business itself”. What he means is that it doesn’t matter if you sell coffee, groceries, accounting services or printing. All that matters is that you have developed systems that can deliver predictable results (profit being the most important) each and every time.
Like just about everything in small business, intellectually speaking, building systems is easy. Unfortunately, disciplining yourself to do it is difficult. Here are a few simple tips to get you started.
First, you will need to put together an outline or table of contents for your systems. While every business is different, they all share the same fundamental components. I would star with the following – marketing, sales, product/service delivery, customer service, operations and accounting.
Next, pick the area where you believe developing a system will add the most value. The area you choose depends on what’s going on in your business. For example, if you are generating a ton of leads but unable to convert them into clients you should focus on a sales system. If these clients aren’t returning to buy more products/services or referring you any new business, you may need to consider building a product/service delivery system.
Once you have selected the first system, schedule a meeting with everyone in your company who is involved with the process. Get them all around a table and start from the beginning documenting every single step in the system. A big white board is often helpful because it allows you to visually map out the process.
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