In our little series about business process mapping we started last time with the concept of forecasting in your business overall. Now it’s time to begin breaking down the experience into “buckets”. We will dive into the details of the experience next time, but for now think about each of the “departments” that your company has. This is true if you are a sole proprietor or a large corporation. Most of these are obvious such as product or service sales prospecting, order taking, the sales process, returns, monthly billing/Accounts Receivable, purchasing and Accounts Payable, inventory management, etc. Some of these may not be so obvious but could be important such as customer retention, insurance billing or customer feedback / product or service improvement or shipping.

No matter how large or small your business is, think about the different parts of it which make the whole. The temptation will be to start looking at the steps but don’t do it. Just the sections which involve more than 1-2 steps to do or wait on interaction from others such as customers or suppliers. If there are special components that come around seasonally from last post then take that into account (example: holiday light install service for a lawn maintenance company). On that note, unless a product or service is so similar to the others it gets its own bucket. Later when you break down the process you will see differences.

That’s enough classwork for now. We want to create a lasting, and living, business process when done which is set down for sure but able to be adapted with a concentrated effort by process if needed. You can then refer back time and again, especially if problems arise so you can fix them quickly as a plumber sees where the leak is coming from and fixes it. Learn more about your business process and how it can bring you many more customers if done correctly by scheduling a 20 minute call with us.