Using Systems vs Tools
There are many entrepreneurs out there that look to tools to solve there problems. Have you ever thought… Maybe I need to invest in a twitter client to help me promote my business on twitter. Or maybe you've thought about installing a wordpress blog to help get your product or services out there on the internet. Maybe you're actively engaged with an SEO company to help your website come up better in Google. Maybe you invested in a banner ad on a highly trafficked website to help promote your company. Should we even start to go into the logistics of filming a commercial and putting it up on YouTube?
All of the above tools are designed to do 1 thing, simply create buzz and drive traffic to you as a business owner. Tools are great, but they are designed with a specific purpose in mind. A system on the other hand, is designed to help you use the tools you have and create a workflow to maximize their effectiveness.
Imagine you're building a house. What tools will you need to get the job done? Surely you'll need a hammer and a screwdriver. Maybe you'll invest in a nail gun really get the job done quickly. Having a nail gun will help you get the project done faster, but what if you don't have the blueprints? What if you don't have the map in place to show you what goes up after the framing? Without a system in place to help you manage the project, you'll likely spend a lot of time with that nail gun putting up walls all over the place and while it may feel like you're getting work done, when you take a step back and look at the house, you'll find you're no where closer to having finished then when you started.
Systems come in many shapes and sizes, the key is that you have one. Systems are the underlying structure that helps you get the most out of the tools you decide to use to help you grow your business. There are follow up systems, contact management systems, accounting systems, fulfillment systems, social media systems, and the list goes on and on. How would a system work in a perfect business plan environment you might ask? Let me paint the picture for you:
Let's say you use a popular social media tool called hoot suite to create buzz about your company, your services, or your products. Once you have people interacting with you, maybe you invite them to attend a webinar where they can learn more about what you offer. You have a lead capture form that captures their contact information. At that point your system takes over and educates/nurtures them about your company, what you offer, and what they can expect by attending the webinar. The system alerts you or a sales rep to call the prospective client and qualify them prior to the webinar. The system records if they attend the webinar and executes follow up strategies accordingly, letting you or your sales rep know how to follow up with them based on their attendance and engagement in the webinar. Once they become a client, the system auto bills them and they are routed to a customer service sequence that encourages them to give you referrals and testimonials.
In the above scenario, you might use several systems to accomplish the entire workflow. You would probably use a contact management system, an email auto-responder system, a webinar system, (Including the webinar tool itself) and an accounting system with tools that let you create quotes, etc.
In evaluating systems to help you automate your business there are several things to consider. In other pages on this website, we discuss how to evaluate systems and tools to help you find what's right for your business.
Before you evaluate your own systems and tools, you should map out your business lifecycle. To find out what that entails, read our post about the perfect business model.