Systems for success

Could the (often scary) word system be the key to you achieving greater success?

When you look at others you consider successful, have you noticed the systems they have in place and follow? A frequently overlooked key to success is the power of having a system for things.

When I meet prospective clients, almost 100% of them have two things they share with me they desire – greater success and more money.

I have a long history of helping clients achieve both of these; however, one of the biggest things we have to help them with is overcoming the resistance and misconception of the word system.

Success driven

In most businesses, greater success and more money are driven by management, leadership, sales, customer service, and communications.

It is incredible that when I ask them to explain the systems they use in their organizations for managing, selling, communicating, and taking care of customers, they seldom have an answer for me. When they do, it is along the lines of – “We cannot systemize these aspects because they are too complex or vary too much.”

This is typically followed by me asking them about their accounting, purchasing, logistics, inventory, or other applicable systems for their industry or structure.

Most of the time, they can tell me about each of them – what they do, where they came from, how they work, and most of all, how they help save or make money.

It is crazy that many business owners/leaders spend tremendous energy and resources to systemize the organization’s back end but not the front end.

On the right track

In my usual approach to discussing a business, I use a metaphor of a train with its different departments represented as cars, such as accounting, purchasing, sales, and management. Then, I ask which department would be the engine if one car had to take on that role. The answer is almost always “Sales or management” since no established systems exist for these departments. It is commonly heard that implementing systems for these areas is challenging and challenging.

Which I hate to say is wrong – if you look for the correct guidance, you can put a system in place for each of these critical things, and quite honestly, you should. Without a system – you cannot figure out where you are, what is going on, what is working, and what is not.

Most critically, We need help understanding what things we should continue doing or stop doing.

Trust in a proper system

So, let me ask – would you trust your tax preparation to an accountant that did not follow a proven system? Would you trust a doctor who did not follow the proper system of diagnosing your ailment? Would you trust an architect/engineer to design a building if they did not follow the appropriate system?

The obvious answer is that you would not trust them, so why should anyone trust you if you are not following a proven system of leading, managing, selling, servicing, or communicating?

Understanding and embracing proper systems for these things will lead you to the greater success you seek, and that will help ensure you make the additional money you desire.