Systemising your business — It will change your life!

Andy
We did.

Ange
And you might go, okay, so what’s a system? I know I want them or need them, but what actually is it? And the best way to describe a system is pretty much the way that we do things around here. And for you, tradies, it’s all the stuff that’s tracked inside your head. It’s how you do things, but what we’ve gotta do is get it out of your head, which we call all the IP, and put it into a position whereby others can actually learn from you and actually follow the processes. Literally have them written down and you can follow them step by step about how to do something.

Andy
Yeah, I think in our business today, we have systemized every single process and we have 260 systems, I think, to be exact or over that. But I think the big thing is you need a system for everything. We have a system for how we answer the phone, how we enter a client into our job management system, what stock we exactly have in every single truck. You know, we have a system for everything. And the best thing about systems is it provides the framework. The process for the entire team to follow. So they have to only think once. And I think that’s a big thing. You need everyone to think once and do it exactly the same way. You know, step by step catch everything and everyone in your team does it the exact same way.

Ange
So that being said, I’d actually like to take you back a step if that’s okay, and have a conversation about how trade business owners and contractors kind of get themselves in trouble because they don’t have systems in place inside their business. And the first one is the fact that the team do their things their own way. Right? So, what happens when you employ a new tradesman? You stick them inside your car and new verbal diarrhea at them. Do this, follow this walk inside the house and show, I’ll show you this. You get back in the truck and blah, blah, blah. You pretty much explain your entire system through words and that tradesman, it doesn’t matter how qualified he is, can only remember so much, but you as an owner have an expectation that they will do things your way and copy you based on the fact that that’s how you’ve communicated. And then you can’t blame them, but they get to a point where they forget what you’ve actually told them and they go back to their old ways. You know, you have a team. Steve does it one way. Nick does it another way. Fred does it another way. And you as an owner go, oh my God, why aren’t they just doing it my way? It’s crazy.

Andy
And you think to yourself, I’ve told them time and time and time again, but they still do it their way. And you know, when everyone does it their way, it just leads to costly mistakes. And if you’ve got it all stuck up in your head, how can you get your team to follow those steps? Because they just don’t know. And I think as a business owner, we just expect sometimes that our staff should be mind readers and they should remember every single thing you know? And then all of a sudden you’ve trained them to ring you whenever there’s a problem. And then you can’t even take a holiday. You go on holidays and it’s like the good old days. I just remember. We were like that, and I’d have the phone stuck to my head and the kids would be in the pool and Andrew would be sun baking and be, and I was like, oh my God. I’m meant to be on holiday and I’m problem solving constantly for my team, but that was my fault because I trained them to keep ringing me time and time again.

Ange
Yeah. And you’ve come back from that holiday and you say to yourself, oh my God, why did I even go away? This has just been a nightmare. You’ve got to a point that you are literally tired of the business. And that’s why you need to ensure that you pull this information out of your head, this IP that’s stuck there, and actually put it basically on paper for want of a better explanation so that other people can literally follow exactly what you do.

Andy
Yeah. I’ve got a story that I like to talk about when it comes to systems and we have one of our tradies and the girl in the office, um, at the time said to me, Hey, Andy, we’ve got one of the boys. He’s stuck in the middle of the Harbor Bridge. And I’m like, oh, yeah, okay, well obviously the tracking company or something, something’s gone wrong. And he’s there and she’s like, okay. And, and then in the next minute the phone rang and it was one of our boys, and he said, I’ve just been in a crash on the Harbor Bridge and she’s like, oh no, and what happened after that was just incredible and why systems are so important. He said, I’ve talked to the car in front. I’ve got their driver’s license. I’ve grabbed all their details. I didn’t have to call a tow truck because I’m on the Harbor Bridge. They are definitely coming. Mm-hmm. I’ve rung Amy. I’ve told ’em my policy number. I’ve told ’em my Ute, and they’ve told me to bring the car to Willoughby so it can get assessed. I’m on the way, the car’s on the tow truck and I’m heading there right now. I’ve rang Thrifty car rentals, I’ve organized the van. The tow truck driver’s gonna drop me off. I’m gonna throw the tools in the van and I should be at the next job in a roundabout an hour to an hour and a half.

Ange
Wow.

Andy
Wow. . Yeah. And you think about what would happen in your business, you know most people, they have a crash. They freak out. Mm. They ring you, they freak out. They can’t get you. They ring everyone else in the team and freak out and just a massive palava, isn’t it?

Ange
Totally.

Andy
No one knows what to do. So that’s the importance of systems. And everything we do in our business has a system and the only times that we have big issues in our business is when systems actually fail.

Ange
Yes. Some people might go, oh, but aren’t you just being a control freak because you’re literally dictating what you want them to do? Well, kind of isn’t that the point that you wanna ensure that your entire team do exactly what you want because it is your trade business? And guess what? You’re actually setting your team up to succeed because they know absolutely without a shadow of a doubt the expectation that you have on them as a business owner so that they can’t fail. They absolutely are going to succeed, especially if they follow every single step. Makes a huge difference.

Andy
Yeah, I’m a rule believer and you can’t grow your business correctly without the right systems in place. I just wanna touch on one thing that I constantly hear. You know, it’s a bit of a buzzword out in the arena at the moment where people are like, I just need to system my business, and you know what you do. But what you really need to do is, and you’ve heard us say it before, is get your business model right first, get your business humming right first before you build all these systems. Because otherwise, all you are doing is building a shit business. You know, if your business isn’t running that well and you’re trying to build systems around that, it is definitely not the right way to go. Get your business right first and then build the systems. Because everything we do in our business underpin. Every hour of our business, every division of our business, you know, you’re talking marketing, hr, admin, the tradesmen, like everyone has a flow chart for these roles. Now, not every one of our members have to see the marketing section and the HR section and the admin section, but you just go to the irrelevant parts. It’s for you. And this all holds them accountable. And we also have another product that connects with that as well, that holds ’em completely accountable. So systems, massive things in business.

Ange
So we’ve just told you that systems are critically important inside your trade business and that we must have them. However, it sounds really overwhelming. So I guess the question is, so where do you start? A good way to think about this is what do you repeatedly do within a day or within a week that you could actually delegate to someone else in your team? Maybe there is a task that you’re doing consistently, as I said, either every day or every week, that you could actually hand over to someone else, which gives you back that time specifically where you can actually start spending the time on profit producing tasks inside your business, specifically tasks that no one else is actually gonna do because they’re not the business owner. Or alternatively, where you could start is by looking at tasks that you absolutely hate doing. And these are the ones that you start with first and hand them over.

Andy
So then what you need to do is write the steps down, convert them into the flow chart, and get someone else who doesn’t know how to do the task to test it out. You know, for admin tasks, you could even record yourself completing the task on your computer so you can simply save the video and share the link to the video with your entire team.

Ange
Yes. Then from here, what we need to do is get really smart about providing the team access to these flow charts or to these videos. The question you might be asking is, well, where are these hows and how do you give your team access? We like to use the internet, especially for our admin department, so as you can imagine, if you have marketing people, they only have access to the marketing section. If you have HR people, they only have access to the HR section. That way they don’t need to have access to all the IP for your entire business. And with our tradesmen, these guys have access to the tradesmen specific flow charts and videos directly loaded onto their devices.

Andy
You can have all the systems in the world, but you know the one thing you need, and that is accountability. How are you keeping your staff accountable to actually following these flow charts and they understand what comes next? You know, you might even consider using a daily, a weekly, a monthly, and a yearly checklist.

Ange
Exactly. If you want a more detailed guide on how to create your own systems, then click on the link in our show notes and download our free systemizing for better productivity and performance guide. It’ll take you through the exact steps with worksheets and examples on how to systemize your business.

Andy
Am I a little weird Ange? Or is this sexy, sexy stuff? This is a kind of thing that gives you a well-oiled, highly profitable machine. The kind of machine that allows you to step outta your business like I have only working one hour a week. Or the kind of machine that increases the value of your trade business and means you can actually sell your business.

Ange
Absolutely right. If anyone can easily step into your business and start running the day-to-day operations, then that makes your business highly saleable.

Andy
We’ve worked with a lot of business owners and helped them systemize their business and if quite a few of them have been able to get out there and sell their business. But I do just wanna talk about one of our guys over in New Zealand, he was selling his electrical business and he told me the figure that he sort of expected at the time that he would achieve. Once he systematized his business, that was three times he ended up selling his business for three times what he first thought it was worth. Unbelievable. And I think a lot of people forget. No one wants a business that runs crap with no systems.

Ange
Or is it wrapped around, just you as a tradesman?

Andy
There’s no value in that, but if you can get a business that can run without you, that’s completely systemized. Look out Bingo. That’s where the money is.

Ange
Absolutely incredible. Some of the best stories I hear from our Lifestyle Tradie members is the fact that they’ve implemented systems and are able to go on a family holiday without the business falling to pieces while they’re gone. In fact, they’re heading away every single year and for sometimes weeks at a time.

Andy
Sometimes months. But, uh, yeah, a hundred percent agree with that. And you know what, reflecting back on our journey, Ange too, one of the proudest moments that I’ve had in business is, You know, my dad was diagnosed with cancer and he was given three months to live, and I was able to just stop, have a chat with the team, tell them what was going on, and I walked away from the business and it was completely systemized. Everyone followed their steps and actually the business probably ran better when I wasn’t there.

Ange
That’s pretty powerful stuff, right?

Andy
That’s all from us today on the topic of systems. Thanks for tuning in. If you’re struggling with systemizing your trade business or getting your staff to follow systems, let’s chat. You can book in a free strategy session with me and we can work out the best action plan for you and your business.

Ange
Until next time, see you later.