Taming the Chaos in Business Operations, One Process at a Time

I have to tell you about Frank (real name withheld). He has a great business providing and installing stone finishes. He has a healthy pipeline of work because of the partnerships he has with many realtors and a few luxury home builders. He also sells his affordable stone finishes through local home improvement stores. His business is very successful.

What you don’t see is the inner workings of his business. His billing process is “an absolute nightmare” (his words, not mine).

He has been struggling with three main things.

• Timely and accurate invoicing: Frank has an assistant who would manually prepare invoices. Bless her heart, she was a darling. However, there were errors on the invoices particularly during high volume seasons. On top of that, she couldn’t generate the invoices quick enough so there was a delay in getting them to the clients soon after a project was completed.

• Payment tracking and reconciliation: When invoices were sent, they needed to be manually tracked and followed up for payment (guess whose job that was), and reconciling payment records with bank statements was also painstaking.

• Collections process: It was a tedious process trying to collect all outstanding payments that were past due. This made tax season even more burdensome.

The overarching reason for Frank’s problematic situation is that his business operations were not streamlined.

“Streamline” is a word that gets tossed around a lot, especially in corporate settings. But for the average small business owner it’s referring to the way you do things in your business (processes and procedures) and how you can make them faster, simpler, or more convenient to get the same or even better results (i.e. more efficient and effective). It involves simplifying tasks, reducing waste, and improving overall productivity.

In Frank’s case, his billing cycle would be faster with technology improvements, his team would be more productive with better processes, and his revenue would increase since collections would be more efficient.

That being said, I will be highlighting three challenges that can hinder you from streamlining your business.

1. Poor planning

2. Not having repeatable processes

3. Lack of proper delegation - to humans and technology

Let’s dive in.

1. Poor Planning

When I looked at Frank’s operations, I realized he didn’t have a plan for achieving his revenue goal for the year. He knew how much he made the previous year and he knew how much he wanted to make in the current year.

That’s it.

Though he had the data, he wasn’t using it to make decisions.

(Check out my previous article, Looking for Business Growth? Data-Driven Decisions might be the answer)

After studying the data on his billing cycle and his company’s financials, he realized that it was taking too long to collect payments when a job was completed. (Bruh was …*checks notes* taking L’s).

But, now he could implement a plan to reduce his billing cycle time, which would automatically increase his revenue in the current year. With proper planning, he would be able to streamline his business to drive growth. (Here for this!)

2. Not having repeatable processes

Frank’s assistant, who shall be named Linda, was the only person who knew the entire billing cycle from start to end. Imagine the chaos that ensued when she took four weeks off to recover from an injury. No one else knew exactly where she stored contacts or how to create the invoices on the system.

Instead of wasting time trying to figure out how Linda did everything, another employee ended up using a Google Docs invoice template. The follow up was not followed up, the reconciliations were incomplete, and collections… What collections 👀. (Where was the business continuity plan, Frank?!)

Needless to say, Linda had her hands full when she returned to work, and Frank was so happy that his business did not crash and burn while she was away. So, of course, it benefitted Frank and his team to have a step-by-step approach on how to complete a particular task. (Oh wait, that’s a process).

Bottom-line, any activity in your business that you have to do regularly should have a process. Not just any process, but rather a process that is clearly documented and can reproduce the same quality output every time when used.

3. Lack of proper delegation - to humans and technology

People generally delegate for two reasons:

1. Because they want to focus on higher priority activities that only they can do

2. They have no clue what they’re doing and they need someone who does

If it’s the second reason, then more than likely they have no issues delegating. However, for the purpose of moving the plot along, let’s focus on the first reason.

The first time I heard that I needed to delegate, I was thinking: “Delegate what, to whom, and how? Who is going to do [X] exactly the way I envision it in my brain?”

Lots of business owners and managers get caught up in that line of thinking. Rest assured, you will never find anyone who can do the “thing” exactly the way you do 🙂.

So, for the sake of your mental health, it’s better to relinquish control and trust that it will be done well or even better when delegated. You hired competent people (and systems).

Now, back to the story.

Oh Linda, she was very passionate about her work and very kind. She was more likely to take on additional work than to delegate. (You see where this is going, don’t you). Her noble yet misguided views prevented her from delegating. That’s one of the reasons no one knew anything about the billing process when she was out of the office.

When she was back in the office, she finally got it together and created a continuity plan. Equally as important, Frank and Linda implemented software that could create and disseminate invoices as soon as a job is completed. It would also send reminders and reconcile payments. Additionally, Linda delegated the collections process to other team members who were better able to monitor and follow up.

Any apprehension Linda had about delegation swiftly abated when there was a noticeable reduction in the billing cycle time and revenue increased during the year.

Let’s Wrap Up

This was Frank’s story. I’ll bet there are many other “Franks” out there who have great businesses and make good money, but can be more successful if they can streamline their operations.

Don’t know where to start?

• Plan your activities properly so that you know where to focus your efforts

• Create and document your processes so that you can maintain a standard of quality

• Delegate as many things that make sense for your business so that you can boost your productivity.

If you're done duct-taping your business together and ready for systems that actually support you — we’re here for it. Whether it’s smarter planning, cleaner processes, or building a team that just gets it, we help service-based businesses run smoother (and saner).

Curious? Check out our services (click here). Let’s make your business make sense.