Business Documentation
The most successful businesses I’ve worked for have had detailed, step by step guides of everything that they do in their business. These guides set the stage for consistent customer service, precise task management and transparency for financial audits. At larger companies business documentation is very important because a variety of people may be responsible for providing different aspects of the final product to customers. A new employees in the chain of tasks can sometimes make or break the customer experience depending on how they executed their task. By relying on precise documentation that clarifies complex projects both customer satisfaction and employee empowerment can be achieved.
Here are a few examples of business processes to be documented:
• Record New customer data, their Industry, geographic location, payment preferences and business contacts
• Track purchases, phone contact, complaints and escalation, remediation steps
• Define refund process, including customer appreciation offers/incentives
The best way to improve your brand’s reputation, bottom line and customer experience is by understanding the steps between first contact and the desired service or product.
Are you still wondering whether you should invest time and energy into documenting your processes? The pay-off can be very rewarding.
Consider benefits like:
• Improved operating efficiency
• More time to devote toward other projects
• Flexibility to hand off tasks to assistants (i.e. so you can regain control of your day)
• More time to devote toward the things you love
If you’d like to get started, here are a few steps to get you on track:
- Define the process you want to start with.
- Identify process owners (those who perform the task) and customers (those who receive the service or product)
- Write a step by step list of each task for the process under the headings “Owners” and “Customers”
- Review your assumptions with owners and key customers to determine if any steps have been missed
- Update the document, determine and eliminate redundancies
- Determine if the task can be automated or outsourced to an assistant.
- Keep the flow of communication open regarding changes that impact vested parties
Lastly, remember that if you need any help with projects like this, DEN has the experience and desire to help. We are just a few clicks away!
