Renee Matlock, the owner of The Private Practice Coach, shares with clients her wealth of experience, gained over 30 years of building a profitable, multi-disciplinary private practice.
BLOG: Is Your Business a Well-Oiled Machine?
Is Your Business a Well-Oiled Machine?
We often hear, “It runs like a well-oiled machine”. Just what does that mean? Simply put, it means everything is running smoothly–it just hums! In your business, it means everyone knows what to do, when to do it and how to do it. It means your business infrastructure (processes, procedures, systems) is in place.
Developing your infrastructure is an important task whether you are in the start-up phase of your business or you have been in business for several years. Having a solid business infrastructure will improve your efficiency and ensure a high quality of service delivery, no matter who is delivering the service. It is important to your business whether you are a solopreneur or have a staff of 20 or 200!
Follow these five steps to build your infrastructure:
Step 1–Make a list of everything that needs to be done in your business on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual basis. This includes everything from answering the phone and greeting the client as they enter the office to processing payroll to billing for services.
Step 2–Group similar tasks and assign responsibility. This will lead to the development of job descriptions.
Step 3–Write down the process step-by-step for completing each task. This is where the task begins to feel a bit overwhelming. Define the process to complete one task, move to the next one and before you know it your procedure manual–and your infrastructure–will be in place.
Step 4–Train appropriate staff on the process/procedures.
Step 5–Evaluate your processes frequently. Are they working for you, your staff and your clients? Nothing is written in stone–revise as needed.
Building your business infrastructure becomes manageable when you break the task into 5 steps. Your business will be humming in no time!
P.S. Because I have a solid infrastructure in place for Speech Plus (my private practice), I am able to sneak away and spend the month of January in Florida. I know that my administrative and clinical staff have everything well under control. When your practice runs just as well when you are away as when you’re there, you have created the “Well Oiled Machine”. Now that’s what I call “humming”!
Your Time is Now!
If you need assistance moving your business to the next level or want to start a new business, I can help!
