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Systemization, Automation & Outsourcing

Systematize your roofing business

Systematization is the foundation of a great organization. When there’s organization throughout, and when you and your employees know what’s going on each day of the workweek, it’s much easier for team members to remain on task.

When there’s a great system in place, it’s easy to track how your business is operating, where it needs to improve and allows business owners to figure out ways in which they can optimize and streamline processes, to maximize efficiency. When there’s a great system in place, organizations can also figure out areas in which they need to bring in more employees, to further speed up how tasks are being performed within the workplace.

Regardless of the organization, the processes, or what tasks you entrust your employees with, systemization is critical for all cogs to work together efficiently, and maximize profit margins,

What Benefits does Systemization Bring to your Organization?

In most organizations, systems are developed unconsciously by managers, CEOs, and leaders in the organization. This may occur because

• The same processes are completed day in and day out, so they become the norm
• The company is following a formula which was developed by another executive which worked well and led to success, so the company implemented it within their team’s infrastructure
• Or, some leaders learned processes and systems which worked in a previous place of employment and brought them along to their new organization.

Regardless of where you learned the processes, you’re currently utilizing within your organization, teams are unconsciously following a systematic approach towards completing their work each day. Then, some systems aren’t working. In such cases, organizations will try something new each day or every other day, to find things that will eventually work for the organization. Then, this becomes the systematic approach the team follows for future projects they tackle.

When you begin systematizing tasks, you’re making a conscious effort and paying attention to documenting the processes which are working. In turn, companies can

• Figure out where they’re doing well and which areas need improvement
• Learn areas where the organization can combine steps or simplify processes
• Figure out ways in which moving to a different system will improve efficiency and result in the smoother internal operation

It will require time, dedication, effort, and you’ll have to document the systematization processes you’re trying as a manager or business owner. However, doing so allows companies to improve their efficiency which will eventually increase profits for the organization.

What Should Companies Systematize?

Where should you begin? Here are a series of steps you’ll want to take as a business owner to learn what you should systematize to improve operations.

1) Create Operational Lists

By creating lists of duties such as call taking, schedule making, sales, production, and so forth, you get a better understanding of the operations your company engages in each day.

2) Break the Operational List Down into Regular Tasks

Once you have a list with major categories, create timeframes. Which tasks do you perform daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, bi-annually, and annually? This creates a framework for your systems.

3) Break Down the Steps of Each Task on your List

At this point, you’re going to create a list of steps required to complete each task. Let’s take sales for example. Under this task, you’d list the steps in this area, which might look like

• Creating an follow up list
• Making sales calls
• Sending out updated proposals, and so forth

Of course, every company is going to follow a different set of steps for each task on their list. But, you’ll want to list the steps you take for each major category. With your steps in place, you’ll organize this into an organized/bulleted list. By looking at each task, step-by-step, you might realize ways you can maximize efficiency. Maybe you can combine two steps, or reorder the steps to avoid future mistakes. It’s a great learning process and allows you to create a mind map of how you’ll complete similar tasks in the future.

4) Document Each System

For each of these systems you’ve created, build an independent document for each one. Label it, identify the contents of the document, and store it properly. What this allows you to do is

• Share the information with new employees or contractors
• Utilize these new processes for training and making sure all employees are on the same page
• Reference different systems when you see things aren’t being done properly

With each document, you might choose to print it out and add it to a company binder. It’s also a good idea to label the documents and save them as a Google doc folder in the Cloud. This ensures employees have access to it, and everyone in the organization understands the systems which are in place.

5) Add & Refine

As a business owner, you want to continue growing. So, as your business grows, you’re going to add new tasks, meaning create new documents. And, you’ll refine old processes and ways in which you did things in the past. Over time, you recreate processes and allow new team members to introduce their ideas. If your systems only focus on how tasks were completed 5 years ago, what good will that do for your future growth? This is where adding and refining, and continually improving, results in greater growth.

Systems Benefit Organizations as a Whole

As a business owner, systems are your friend! They help you maintain operational flow, focus on areas that require improvement, and continually recreate how your team operates. From the outside looking in, it seems like a daunting and tedious task to systemize how your company operates. However, it’s simply a method of recordkeeping. It’s a way to write down the things your team/company is already doing. Plus, it allows you to share it with future team members and employees, and continually add to the tasks, resulting in continual growth for your organization.

Automation

Why Your Company Should Automate Tasks

Customer satisfaction results from organizations doing things right. Automation helps your company on its journey to create an environment of excellence, dedication to clients, doing things right, and ultimately, turning higher profit margins over time. What is business automation? It’s a process by which companies utilize technology to complete processes/tasks the organization completes regularly. It helps to

• Reduce manual labor
• Cut costs/material
• Improve efficiency
• Speed up processes and improve the outcome of those tasks

Apart from these above-stated reasons, these are some additional reasons organizations should consider automating their business processes.

Streamline

When you automate tasks become streamlined. It’s easy to gain valuable insight, increase accountability, receive notifications when tasks are complete, and improve turnaround time. Furthermore, it helps eliminate waste and allows employees to focus on more specialized tasks, rather than performing mundane processes.

Standardize

With automation, also comes increased standards. Since you know the quality/product is always the same, it eliminates human error. Plus, it allows your company to set a higher quality standard, which your customer base will view as reliable and dependable.

Increase Customer Satisfaction

When quality is greater, you’re more reliable, and tasks are done properly, you increase customer satisfaction. That’s the end goal, isn’t it? With happier clients, you avoid loss/bounce rates, increase profits, and become an industry leader in your roofing niche. All of this can help increase market share and improve your visibility as a roofing company.

What Tasks can Companies Automate?

There are several tasks organizations can automate. Some criteria which will guide what processes you automate are as follows. If tasks require multiple people to complete or are something your company does in high volumes, you can automate. If tasks are time-sensitive or undergo auditing, continue automation. Lastly, if the task impacts other areas of the business, you might choose to automate.

If all of the above criteria are met, automation might benefit the organization. Let’s highlight several tasks you might choose to automate including

• Helpdesk tasks and customer email responses
• Push notifications
• Aggregating or migrating data
• Time off requests by employees
• Procurement processes and tasks within a call center
• Tracking time, attendance, sales, orders, and inventory
• Payroll, accounting, collections, and invoicing… and, the list goes on!

What Can you Expect?

Your business will see many benefits after you automate multiple tasks. Cloud-based systems automate and store data online, this allows easier access for all employees/staff of critical company information in one place. It’s easier to track and monitor progress, and organizations become more transparent (employees/employers know what’s going on everywhere). Accountability and visibility are also heightened.

Companies can monitor progress on the go; if they spot errors, its easier to fix them immediately rather than allow them to continue. Performance reports will also indicate insights, so companies can implement preventive measures to reduce errors going forward. With fewer hands/people and more automation, turnaround is faster, meaning products/services are pushed out the door faster. This results in happier clients! This also allows companies to allow employees to do more specialized jobs. By automating mundane tasks, employees can focus on other aspects that require human touch/interaction.

Ultimately, automation improves efficiency, speed, and corrects inaccuracies and inconsistencies. Continuous process improvement results in increased efficiency, and increases in response time.

Outsourcing

Why Should Companies Outsource Duties/Tasks

Think about it for a minute. As a small business owner, you want to maintain full control of your operation. But, is it possible for you to wear every hat within the organization? Are you a

• Bookkeeper
• Marketer
• Digital/online expert
• Copywriter
• Salesperson, and any other professional duty you want to add to the list?

The answer is no. You simply can’t do it all and manage an effective business. You need people to help you in areas they specialize in, which you don’t have the expertise in.

If you’re answering phones, replying to client emails, and going out on sales pitches/visits you’re not utilizing your time or resources effectively. You might even be losing money on some deals. This isn’t something you strive for as a business owner. Sure, you’d like to give personalized attention to every task. From tweeting to calling vendors, and writing email responses. But, this daily minutia hinders your growth. It doesn’t allow you to focus on the big picture, which is growing your business. What’s even worse is if you aren’t skilled at certain tasks (like writing web copy or social media management), and you make errors along the way. This will cause your business to appear as if you’re incoherent, and don’t know what you’re doing.

These are a few of the instances where outsourcing can benefit you. Think of it this way; if you can spend your time doing something else, which will create greater profits, you’re wasting your energies and potential in doing the smaller tasks. Or, if you are spending more money trying to do everything on your own, you might consider outsourcing to third-party specialists.

Should you Outsource with Employees on Staff?

In some cases, yes, it’s still beneficial. In a Deloitte survey, the results indicated that several tasks were commonly outsourced by major organizations. IT was the most outsourced task, followed by marketing, tax work, accounting, and other financial duties/tasks. Why? These tasks require specialization or knowledge which most employees don’t possess (unless they’re marketers, accountants or IT pros). Hiring a specialist means

• You’re paying an employee benefits
• You’re onboarding a new team member
• You have to train the worker
• You’ll realize increases in payroll costs
• You now have to manage another employee

So, instead of hiring a full-time staff member, many companies choose to outsource these specialized tasks instead. It’s cheaper and doesn’t require companies to increase payroll each year.

So, Which Tasks Should you Outsource?

Outsourcing will increase your operational costs for a few months or even a few years. However, it allows you to take on new challenges and pursue other business opportunities you otherwise would have to forego. It frees up your time as a business owner, so you can focus on business growth, rather than the small tasks. So, even though it costs a little more initially, as time passes, outsourcing pays for itself! It’s a worthwhile investment for any business owner to incur.

The tasks you choose to outsource will vary for each organization. Especially those on a tight budget, you need to consider highly specialized areas, to determine the best areas to outsource. Some of these areas include legal services, IT, marketing, data services and technology, and data security. It would be extremely expensive to hire full-time staff to perform these duties. However, outsourcing is cheaper and you only pay for it when you need it.

Don’t choose the cheapest professional when outsourcing. Make sure you hire a true specialist who knows what they’re doing. You’re going to get what you put in. So, if you hire a company offering services for well-below the market rate for other professionals, expect poor performance to results. Invest wisely, and take your time to find the best professionals when you outsource. It’ll pay dividends for your organization in the long run.