How Systemising Workflow Software Can Help Grow Your Trades Business
Starting a trades business can be challenging at the best of times but this is especially true without having any workflow software in place.
From getting to grips with running your own company to managing to stay ahead of the competition, it can sometimes be overwhelming.
Whilst the starting up stage can be pretty tough, growing your business is often a whole lot harder.
So once you have established yourself as a fledgeling business, how do you take it to the next level?
How can you take what you’ve already built and expand upon on it?
As you can expect, there are more than one ways to grow your trades business. Including; better marketing, hiring more staff and offering more services.
But none of these methods will work half as well if you don’t have systemised workflows in place.
What Is A Workflow?
Every business in the world has its own unique workflow, whether you realise it or not.
A workflow is simply the process of how things get done in your business.
It’s how services are delivered to the client.
You may not have defined them as such, but the simple process of receiving a call from a client, providing them with a quote, completing the work they’ve specified and receiving payment is a workflow in itself.
So why do you need to systemise these workflows?
What are the benefits?
The simple answer is that when workflows remain undefined like this, they can create a range of problems for your business.
- First of all, if there is no defined method or workflow for a task, it can lead employees to do things differently. If a client orders two separate services from you, they might end up having two totally different experiences with your business – there’s no consistency.
- Undefined workflows are inefficient. Workflows take away the guesswork and simplify all the different decisions you make daily while at work.
Optimising and systemising your workflows helps to drive productivity – and the more productive you are as a business, the more you’ll be able to grow.
Systemising workflows also mean that every action taken in your business is logged.
This obviously has dozens of benefits.
- You can analyse that data to identify further inefficiencies.
- Your paper trail is replaced with a much more reliable digital trail.
- You can offer better customer service, deal with payments and invoices quicker and have an accurate record of staff training.
- With a systemised workflow in place, the business starts to ‘run itself’ – leaving you with more time to focus on what matters.
Creating A Workflow
Creating your first workflow is like building a roadmap for your whole business.
You can map out the steps of every process in your business so that you can better understand them and see where improvements can be made.
By looking at this roadmap, you can see where inefficiencies lie and stamp them out, creating new, more efficient processes that will help keep your workforce productive.
Systemising That Workflow
Once you’ve built your first workflow, you need to consider how it will be systemised.
This means building those workflows into the technology that you and your team use daily.
Perhaps the most famous example of workflow systemisation is McDonald’s.
Every single one of McDonalds’ 36,000 restaurants across the world runs using the same systems, standards and processes.
If you were to purchase a McDonald’s franchise for yourself, you’d be trained by the company and taught how to run the restaurant using the same workflows as someone in New York, Paris or Cape Town.
The systematisation of your business allows you to create repeatable systems that don’t require micromanagement on your part.
These repeatable systems are streamlined and efficient. Giving your business space it needs to grow and expand.
Not convinced?
Here are just a few more reasons why systemising your workflows can help you grow a trades business.
- Future -proof your business. By systemising all of your workflows, you’re ultimately future-proofing your business. As the world moves away from paper trails and into the digital realm, you’re ensuring that your business is perfectly positioned to make that transition and enjoy all the efficiency benefits that come with it.
- Automate basic, repetitive tasks. One of the key benefits of systemising your workflows involves the automation of the simplest tasks. This means automatic alerts sent to employees when they need to take action. It means records of all tasks are automatically stored and archived, rather than being lost or damaged. It frees up a lot of your employees’ time.
- Systemised workflows also encourage collaboration. Your staff will be encouraged to work as a team, with everyone given access to the tools and resources they need to contribute to the group effort.
- Both employee autonomy and employee accountability are increased when workflows are systemised. Employees have the freedom to approach a job in the way they see fit, but they’re still held accountable by the basic workflows and processes laid out for them.
Choosing The Right Software
As with so many business processes these days, the success of your systemised workflows will often rely on the software you choose.
You should be looking for a solution with an intuitive, user-friendly interface, to make your mapping as straightforward as possible.
Your workflow software should be flexible enough to allow you to make improvements wherever necessary, and preferably should be cloud-based, so that workflows are accessible to any employee, on any device.
Are you looking for a way to help your business run itself?
Software Buddy provides comprehensive training in all areas of workflow systemisation, so you can learn how to create efficient processes that will transform your business.
Book a consultation today to see how the right software could help you grow your trades business.