Adopt a simple framework for building & growth:
The 4Ps
Purpose
Everything you do in your life and business has a purpose. Explicitly stating this purpose avoids huge confusion, inefficiencies, or wasted development time later.
The first step in repeatable, successful systems is to know why we are doing them. The why is our rock, the thing we come back to and use to evaluate each of the other 3Ps against. We use it to make sure we are on track and not creating something that is out of alignment. If we are changing a process, we make sure the new process still fits the original purpose of the system! Otherwise, we either need to re-evaluate the changes, or perhaps the purpose of what we are building has changed. Likewise, if the purpose changes, we must then re-evaluate all the other Ps below to make sure they still function and fit our new purpose.
People
Almost every aspect of business eventually comes down to your team. Do you have the right people, in the right position? Are they capable of doing the things you need?
That may sound obvious, but a shocking number of businesses think that people problems can be overcome by better technology. This is a critical error.
If you are trying to grow or revamp your business, first evaluate your people! This will immediately reveal processes you might need to change to better fit your people, systems you need to support your team, or even people who are sitting on the wrong seat of the bus.
Processes
Processes are the things that people do. They should be as consistent and repeatable as possible. Once you know who’s doing what, you can evaluate if what they are doing makes sense. Do you have processes that require constant firefighting? If so, address those first as they will hamper your growth the most. Then look at processes that keep your people from doing what they are best at. E.g. Having your sales team typing data into your CRM is an important process, but a total waste of their time. To scale effectively, you’d want to figure out how to delegate that.
Pro Tip:
Run everything through the 3Ps constantly. If you need to change a process? Go back to people and make sure that they can run the new process! Too many times, we change processes because we discover inefficiencies- only to then create more problems because our people cannot execute the new process effectively.
Platforms
This is the thing your processes run on. CRMs, Workflow Management, Software, Hardware, etc.
Platforms should always be your last step. Why? Here is a secret to technology no one ever tell us: technology is an accelerator. It lets us do things faster. Does your business already have issues? Do you have the wrong people doing the wrong things? If your business was a car heading toward a cliff, when you don’t address the People and the Processes, all the tech will do is make your business drive over the cliff faster.
Platforms should really only be used when you have a clear, codified process that works repeatably. Then you can use software, automation, etc. to make that process as efficient as possible.