Double Your Profits Part 3 The Magic Words

When you were growing up I bet your parents spent a lot of time teaching you the magic words. You probably know those words asplease and thank you. Now I agree, those are magic words. You get and give a lot when you use them.

But come on, can we be real for a moment? These days as a busy small business CEOs there are new magic words and we all want to hear them, all the time.

Here’s what I mean. Back in the day I used to get nervous about getting sick. When it was just me if I got sick, things pretty much just stopped. I’d crawl out of bed, hack my way over to the computer and send out emails to reschedule appointments.

Today I’m not nervous at all about getting sick, heading to Palm Springs for a girls weekend or heading out for a lunch date in the middle of the week. Why? Because with a solid operations plan my team says the magic words to me all the time.

Those magic words? Don’t worry about it. I got it all handled. Ah, music to my ears. And the best part is I don’t even have to ask, my team just says that to me all the time.

Are you ready to set up your team to give you the magic words? I knew you would be. One of the most common things that prevents the CEO of an advancing business from hearing the magic words is the lack of acommunications hub.

A communications hub is the home of all major company information. This is a place where your team can find a master calendar of events, key documents, processes and instructions, tasks, to-do lists, databases and anything else team members need to be able to work independently. It’s a networked or web based tool that all key team members have access to. We spend a lot of time with our one-on-one consulting clients identifying what needs to be in their hub. Here’s how to set yours up.

  • Determine what should be in the hub. Make a list of all the things your team would need to have access to. Things like a calendar that notes dates announcements need to be sent to a group, instructions for scheduling client appointments, regular to-do tasks so you don’t have to keep all that information in your head. Essentially you are identifying the key information you need to keep track of in your business.
  • Who needs to know? Now that you know what needs to be collected, determine who on your team needs access to the information. For example, my office manager, Dana has full access to our communication hub, but my web person doesn’t have access at all because it’s just not necessary. Determining the number of users you actually need can save you a bunch of money because you are not buying more than you really need.
  • Pick the right tool. Now that you know what information you want safely tucked away in thehub, pick a tool that supports what you need. Need simple calendars and document storage try something like Google calendars and Google Docs or Officezilla. Want something that has tasks and databases attached to it look at something like Outlook Exchange or Web Office. There are a ton of different online workspace tools. Look for the one that best suites your needs.

    • Set your team up for success by giving them access to what they need so they canjust handle it. Ah, the magic words that never get old.

    2009 Beth Schneider, Process Prodigy, Inc.

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    Beth Schneider, President of Process Prodigy Inc., www.processprodigy.com, along with her team of highly sought after operations consultants, reveal the insider secrets billion-dollar corporations pay thousands of dollars for. Specializing in process creation, Process Prodigy tools and techniques have helped entrepreneurs increase productivity by as much as 600%, and revenues by as much as 250%. Visit www.processprodigy.com/ezine and grab your FREE systems starter kit valued at $297.00