Top 6 Reasons to Document Your Processes Now
Episode 003
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Points Covered
What is a process
The main reasons to document your processes
Episode Transcript
Today I want to have a chat to you about documenting your processes within your business. So, a process is simply the steps that you take in order to execute a task, an action, a service. And today I want to take you through the main reasons I find it's important to document your processes. So let's get into it.
01. we want to get it all out of your head
Particularly if you have a repeatable process. We don't want you having to remember all the steps in your head at any one time, particularly if you might be executing that process for more than one person at a time, for example. If you're onboarding someone you don't need to try and remember in your head where each person is at in the onboarding process, for example.
02. creating a consistent customer experience
So that leads directly into the next benefit, which is creating a consistent customer experience. So again, using the onboarding example, if you have this process documented, you can create consistency across clients as well as getting it out of your head, and everyone will have the same experience, and you won't miss any steps.
03. documenting your processes
The next reason is onboarding new staff members or VAs. So documenting your processes now, when you have the time will help you onboard a new staff member because by definition, if you have hired a new staff member, it's likely because you are under the pump, and don't have time to do all the things and that's why they're being hired. So we want to make sure that you can give them the best start to working with you as possible. And so having your processes documented now when you've got the time will ultimately set you and your new staff members up for success when it's time to induct them into your way of doing things.
04. templating and automating
Next up is one of my favourites - templating and automating. Okay, so once we have documented the process once, we essentially have a checklist on how to do it moving forward. And then once we have that checklist we can start to look at within each of those steps, are there things that can be templated or automated.
So for example, when you onboard a client, you might send them a welcome email, can that welcome email be templated? So the step is to send it, but we could further template it and create an email that we can just tweak to send to every new client rather than creating a new email from scratch.
Further to that if we have some automation software such as Zapier or a CRM, you might actually be able to send that email automatically. I'll go through some of these things again in a future episode, but templating and automating can't really start until we have documented our process at least once.
05. understand where you're spending your time
The next reason to document your processes is to understand where you're spending your time. Now, when I do this with my clients, when I document one of their processes for them, this is probably the biggest eye opener for them. It's not necessarily how many steps is in a process, but rather how long it takes to execute each step. And once you know how long a process takes you to do, you can start to get some real valuable information on where you're spending your time, whether it should be you executing that task or whether you might need a new staff member or whether that that task could potentially be given to someone in your team already or a VA or whether the process itself actually needs changing. You'll also just be able to better manage your time in general, manage your calendar better once you know realistically how long something takes you to execute.
06. monetize your process
And finally, one other reason to document a process is something that people don't actually consider. And that's to potentially monetize your process. So for example, if you are an online course creator, you will likely have documented the process that you go through in order to create your modules, market your course and launch it into the world. You might then be able to actually sell that process as a product in itself.
So there you have it, six reasons to document your processes right now. Number one, get it out of your head. Two, create a consistent customer experience. Three, onboard and induct your staff. Four, template and automate where you can. Five, understand where you spend your time, and six, monetize your process.
your podcast hostess
Lauren Stratford
Hi, I’m Lauren and I help overwhelmed creatives like you embrace their strengths, get clear on their customer journey and maximise their impact (without adding to the never ending task list!).
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