How to Automate Your Business and Boost Productivity
As an entrepreneur, automating your business to boost productivity is the ultimate goal. Any task that can be automated to give you more time and freedom is a huge plus! In the beginning, launching a business requires all of your time, attention and effort. However, once it begins to pick up and establish a consistent flow, is when things can be streamlined and outsourced. If you’re on the verge of burnout, or just want to gain back some of your time, then this post is for you!
Create Standard Operating Procedures
Creating a standard operational procedure document is imperative when you begin to outsource tasks. This is the easiest way to educate and train new team members on the processes of your business. The best way to automate a task is to take a look at the tasks you do repetitively. This might be as simple as responding to the same exact customer service email to something more challenging like sales calls.
Create a standard operational procedure document, that gives your team member step by step instructions on how to complete the task. For example, you can have a document that lists the most common questions that customers ask. When your team member receives any of those questions, they can utilize the standard operational procedure document and know exactly how to respond. Additionally, if you’re more of a visual learner, you can utilize free tools like Loom. This software gives you the ability to film your desktop therefore, you can record yourself completing the task and share it with the necessary point of contact.
Streamline Communication
Streamlining communication is key for productivity and business growth. Utilize free platforms like Google Docs, Voxer, Slack and Trello to centralize communication and tasks. Google Docs is great because you can easily share files within your drive and grant access among team members. This also helps boost productivity as any of the team members can edit documents while in the drive and it’ll save automatically. Slack is similar in nature, as it’s a collaboration software used for real time messaging, file sharing and you can even connect services or tools!
Voxer is a great tool that combines a walkie talkie with text messaging. It’s a live push to talk system that can save you loads of time! Instead of writing out all you need to say, you can easily push the button and record yourself instead. It sends immediately to the receiver and they get a notification to check the app. I currently combine Voxer with Trello as they both help to streamline communication between my team members and I. Trello is great to have all your information in one place. You can add checklists, files, add comments, due dates and much more! Another great feature of Trello is that it’s mobile friendly and the app can be downloaded on phones and tablets.
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Generate Leads on Autopilot
Generating new leads on autopilot and turning them into a loyal buyer is the goal! You can easily do this by utilizing your current email provider. Set up your landing page to gain opt-ins and create your sales sequence emails. Once they’re all created, you can schedule them to automatically send to potential leads and build your know, like, trust factors all on autopilot! The top email providers are ConvertKit, MailerLite and MailChimp.
Link All Apps
Link all of your apps and let them “talk” to each other to further automate your business. Nowadays, most software platforms have the ability to link programs like your email provider to your sales page. So when a customer checks out, your sales page will “talk” to your email provider and notify them to send out a welcome email. Additionally, if someone doesn’t check out but has made it to that page, there’s tools that’ll notify your email provider to send them a retarget message.
Utilize Outsourcing
Outsourcing is key to gaining more time and boosting your productivity. Anything that you don’t need to do anymore, outsource it! Additionally, anything that you’re not an expert at, outsource it to someone that is an expert. This takes time because you need to audit the tasks that can be done cheaper, faster or better by someone else. You also need to clarify what your time is worth; ask yourself if doing a particular task is worth your time and effort or can be outsourced. This will free up more of your time while quickly boosting your productivity.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Before you take the plunge to outsource anything, make sure that you know how to thoroughly perform and complete that task first. You do not have to be an expert at it but know all aspects of executing it. I say this because you want to make sure that you don’t get scammed or taken advantage of. Furthermore, you should understand all functions of your business anyway!
Until next time ASSASSINS. . . Stay Disciplined!
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