In this episode, we talk about the process of selecting the right system for your business. The power of the rule of three. Identifying the purpose, user experience, budget and creating your custom process documentation.

Investing time to understand what you are aiming to achieve before you commence your search, will assist you to avoid getting stuck in the endless cycle of comparisonitis.

Remember the rule of three

1. Shortlist three systems
2. Compare, test, ask for user feedback
3. Make your final selection and understand how it works inside out

To assist you on your journey access your copy of | Selecting The Right Systems For Your Business download.

If you have any questions around selecting your business systems please send me a message and also come over and join us in the Take Control With Nicole Facebook Community.

Connect with Nicole on Instagram.

Visit Nicole’s Website.

Get the Action Takers Guide to ClickUp here.

Join the Take Control with Nicole Facebook group here.

Join the waitlist for The Members Lounge here

——————————————

Full Episode Transcription

Welcome to take control with Nicole, as business owners, we experienced firsthand the fine line between our personal and business lives. During our conversations, we will look at simple hints and tips to create time, reduce, overwhelm, and help you to navigate through your journey to where you want to be. If you’re looking for smarter ways to work, and create space and time freedom in your day, then you’re in the right place. All right, let’s go.

Hello, hello, and welcome back to the next episode of take control with Nicole, I hope you’ve all had a fabulous week so far and ready and raring to talk about selecting your business systems. That’s what we’re going to be diving into today. It’s an area that I get asked about quite frequently, there are so many bright and shiny objects out there and which one to select ease can be quite daunting and quite overwhelming. So I wanted to create some space today just to run through some of the key areas that you should be focusing on when you are looking to introduce a new system into your business. And what are the what’s the process? How do we actually go around selecting the one that’s suitable for us? So what do I actually need? Where do I start and are there are so many choices. The one thing that I suggest to anybody who is searching for that elusive system that is out there for the purpose of your business, is to remember the rule of three shortlist that mountain and growing Excel list of options down to three key contenders that meet the criteria that’s going to suit the purpose that you are searching for. Once you have those three, compare the functionalities, test the user experience, and ask for feedback. So see who in your community are currently using that tool. And if anybody in your immediate team has had any experience with it in the in the past, once you’ve made the decision, choose the decision, you’ve chosen your system. And you should dive right in and start to really understand all the functionalities, exactly how to use it, so that your day to day becomes nice and seamless. And you can start to really build out that system to introduce simplicity and ease and automations and all the fun things that come with these beautiful systems that are available for you. So

how do we do it? Where do we start? The first thing to do is understand the purpose of your new system? What are you going to be using our system for? Are you going to be looking for a way to streamline your email automation process? Are you wanting to replace the manual creation of proposals and invoices with a one shot system where you enter in your client information? And all of that happens for you? What is it? What is the name? What is the outcome if the need could be simplify My Account Reconciliation for your business, the outcome would be a single system to manage all the financial processes in your business. Once you understand the purpose, you start to have a look at the functions, the features and the integrations that are key to your business. So you will have some really non negotiable items that you do on a daily basis that really you need to replace those you need to make those now beautifully automated. So for instance, if we’re talking about an Account Reconciliation system, you might want to make sure that it has the functionality to upload expensive states but also that the process is nice and simple. You might want to have that new system, be able to integrate with your already created CRM. Or if in the future, you are looking to introduce a CRM to your business, what integrations are currently available direct from that new accounting software. The other one as well is inbuilt reporting. So if we’re talking about accounting, I particularly use zero. And the reporting functionalities in there already pre built without customization are quite good. So having that viewpoint right at the start, the features, the functions and the integrations of what is available in this new solution is going to really help you to facilitate

Smooth selection process for this new system. The next area I like to look at is the user experience. Now this is how is it going to fit into your business? Using with the people that are in there right now? And their experience of the process? Is it enjoyable to use? Is it something that can be easily implemented with minimal disruption? Or is it completely off the path from where and how you’ve currently been working? So a few things that you should be thinking about? Is the system visually appealing? Is it nice to look at Do you want to be in there all every day? Is it easy to navigate through. So some systems have some fabulous functionalities, but the navigation and the way that has been put together is quite poorly designed, so have a think about isn’t quite intuitive in the way that you can work through the different sections in the business. The other thing is multiple accessibility, a lot of the systems now are cloud based. So you have the option to be out on the road, log into the app on your phone and to continue to action those items as you need. A great example is clickup. For instance, you know, you’ve got you’ve got your desktop, you’ve got your web portal, and you also have an application on your phone. So wherever you are, whenever you are, if I need to add a new task or a new reminder, it’s a simple click of the button on the phone and off it goes right and ready for me to action. The other thing to think about is usability and support. So when you have having a look at these systems, everybody learns in different ways. So when you are implementing a system into your business, there will be areas that you need help with. And if you have an engage a service provider who specialises in developing out these processes and systems for you, you may come across a bit of a sticking point on a particular part of the implementation process. Now, if you have a look right at the start of your selection process to the level of support that’s available, this will encourage a really positive introduction into your business, if it isn’t aligned with the way that you like to work. If you prefer to work with video tutorials, is there an online document library that has all of this sort of articles and tips there already? If there’s a help desk, what and how do you actually do that? And what is the response time? So you might find that if you do not have an SLA or service level agreement in place, what is the tight turnaround time from initially popping your request in there to actually receiving assistance? This could be a deal breaker for you if you’re implementing a new process. And the turnaround time is well not even listed. Have a think about that when you’re talking to the sales people or you’re asking your questions. Is there assistance as part of this new subscription for your implementation process? When you do have access to your support team? are they available? available via phone? Or is it online chat? And as part of your new subscription? What level of support do you actually have? This may seem like, you know, a small factor. But I can assure you that when you are in the midst of implementing this new fandangled system, and you’re really passionate and excited to get this up and running, and you hit a block, the frustrations can be quite quite painful. If you don’t have that support available to continue on your journey of implementation. The next thing to think about is your budget. So off the shelf or fully customised, you know, whatever you have, understanding your budget limitations is really key to selecting your system. And now I’m not talking about budget right now. So a lot of these systems have user subscription based models. So it’s one user equals say, I don’t know 24 US dollars a month per per subscription. And when it’s one of you, that might be manageable. But as you grow your team, what are those costs going to be as you get to two users, five users, 10 users 20 users. Thinking about these forward growth will really help you to understand if this is a solution that’s going to be with you for the long term. Selecting and introducing a system into your business isn’t something that you should treat as lightly. You will invest a lot of time and investigating in getting it set up right in in making sure

You’ll use as a trained and that in everything is in there working beautifully for your business. If you turn around in two years time and decide that Well, I’ve grown now and this is not a cost effective solution for me, you then have to repeat that entire process again. And it is doable, don’t get me wrong. But if you had the opportunity now to stop and sit about and think about your forward future growth, and be able to implement a solution that’s going to support that at the start, that’s going to save you a lot of time and a lot of money going forward. So think think about that. And make sure that that is one of those things that you do have front of mind. The other thing with budget is think about the integrations that are currently available. If you are finding that you’re adding other services such as IPL, or integromat, whatever the sort of connection software, that is an additional cost that you need to be taking into consideration as well. So all of those things, when you’re doing your three, system process and comparison, make sure you take the budgetary element into consideration. The next thing is once you’ve gone through and you selected your process your new systems, you want to make sure that you now start to document your way of running that system, you will have all of the documentation that’s provided by the system designer and the system developer. But this is now in your business. So how do you as the business owner, as the team, run and manage your processes in that system, having this opportunity right at the start and start to develop app, those processes that are stored suiting your individual business, it’s going to really help with any of your future staff onboarding, that they’re going to experience the same onboarding process, regardless of if they were there from the start of the implementation of the system, or right brand new tomorrow, you want to see if you have training with an expert in the system available. There are so many amazing service providers out there that specialise in all the different systems say dubsado or Active Campaign, for instance, having some time or a training session with them to really understand the key critical points of getting your system as set up correctly from the start. And best practice to use that system for your purpose is money well invested. So have a look out there. Once you’ve chosen your system, asking your community who is the expert, and where you can find that training for your team and for yourself. Remember to also have time for questions. You want to be able to allow your new system as it’s being implemented, to have the opportunity for your team to ask questions. And to be able to understand fully the reasons why we’re introducing this new solution as your business and the purpose that it’s going to resolve. Is it going to will it will bring more efficiency into your business? Are you looking to streamline x y Zed, so it’s going to set you up. So you’ve got now space and time to be working on x project over there. Remember with your documentation, keep it detailed and keep it step by step. So you want to make sure that your documentation is going to support the different learning styles. So are you going to use loom videos or are you going to introduce some text step by step both is is the best option. But whatever you can do immediately, right now will be the will be a massive improvement from having nothing at all. Remember documentation introduces consistency, efficiencies, the quality of the way that your user is experiencing the training and that system is improved, your productivity is going to be improved because they fully understand the whys in the house. And your client experience is going to be much better because it will be seamless doesn’t matter who they are dealing with within your business. Okay, so we understand our purpose. We thought about our user experience. We know the budget that was going to be suitable for now and for growth. And we started to document our process. So that really is the key four areas that you need to think about when you are looking to introduce a new system into your business. I hope that will help you get on your journey to find the right solution for your business and as introduced a successful

Journey of selecting your business systems. Now to help you along the path in the show notes, I have popped a link to my selecting your business systems download. So please go and have a look there. And as always, if you have any questions or anything, please send me a message. Or come along and join us at the Take Control With Nicole Facebook communtiy where we talk about all these sorts of things and more on a weekly basis. Radio then have a wonderful rest of your day and enjoy creating space and time freedom by now. Well, there we go. Thank you so much for joining me today. It’s been such a pleasure having you on board. Have we connected on social shares? If not, please come on over Say hi, I’m on all the platforms @TheArtisansSolutions. So I really look forward to seeing you over there. And if you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to tag me and I’d love it if you could leave a review. And of course share this with others so others can come and join us next time. All right, then everyone have a fabulous rest of the week and until next time. See you then