7 Business Systems Every Growing Startup Needs to Define

Every business is different, and whether you’re a tool & die shop, a SaaS startup, or something in between, consistently achieving success requires applying a set of core business systems.

As your business grows, define processes and systems to help you work smarter and avoid the pitfalls many companies fall into.

These repeatable processes and procedures allow for easier management of day-to-day and strategic business activities. Removing the bottleneck created by a founder or manager provides more consistent results.

Although it’s essential to experiment with what works best when starting, every growing startup needs to define these seven business systems.

List of Business Systems

1. Strategic Management

Strategic management is about defining the overarching systems and goals for your company. Without establishing these systems, you might struggle to get the entire team pulling in the same direction.

Your strategic management system should cover everything from product development plans to financial forecasts and marketing strategies. Clearly defining your goals and what you’re measuring builds accountability and helps everyone know what they’re working toward.

2. Cash Flow

Cash is the life force of your business. Running a business is nearly impossible without a cash flow system creating predictable liquidity.

Cash flow management will help you measure and manage your ability to pay bills, pay employees, and invest in your business. This system is responsible for managing money going out (expenses, salaries, and other payables) and money coming in (invoicing and other receivables).

The best way to measure cash flow is through a cash flow statement. Track where your money is coming from, where it’s going, and if there’s enough available for future spending.

3. Marketing

Marketing is a critical aspect of any business. A system for constantly generating new leads by managing marketing campaigns drives business growth.

Marketing is more than advertising. Regardless of how great your product or service is, marketing is necessary because it’s hard to sell something that no one knows about.

Your marketing processes include SEO and social media marketing to content creation and public relations. The system begins by defining the actions necessary to achieve your marketing goals and should be flexible enough to grow and adapt as your needs change.

4. Sales

Sales are the lifeblood of your business, and your sales system is closely linked with your marketing system. Without robust processes in either of these two systems, your business might struggle to grow.

Every growing business needs a strong sales team to convert leads generated by marketing. Bringing in new clients and generating revenue means having salespeople who can sell your products or services efficiently and effectively.

Sales are the engine that drives your business and where you turn prospects into customers and customers into repeat buyers. Implementing a system to track and analyze your sales data helps you make informed decisions about how to grow your business.

A well-planned sales process that everyone on the team can easily follow helps consistent lead conversion.

5. Operations

If sales and marketing are responsible for generating customers, operations are what keep customers coming back. The operations team keeps things running smoothly and ensures customers receive quality services each time they order.

The operations systems keep your team on track, from managing customer service to ensuring quality customer deliveries.

You need an operations system that tracks their tasks, responsibilities, and deadlines as you start hiring employees and contractors. Depending on your business operations, these systems can run in a simple spreadsheet or a robust CRM like Salesforce depending on your business operations.

Whatever the technology behind it, the core focus of the system of your operations is delivering high quality to your customers.

6. Administration

Founders and managers focused on execution occasionally neglect activities falling into the administration bucket. But a smoothly running business requires a system for administration covering the processes and procedures running in the background.

Document management, scheduling, and travel arrangements can be dry but essential topics that allow your business to meet customer obligations and keep employees engaged.

7. People Management and HR

The people on your team are essential for making your business run well. A sound people management system allows your team to operate efficiently and effectively. HR systems also help you scale faster by reducing the time, energy, and resources necessary for recruiting, hiring, and managing employees.

Happy and engaged employees are more likely to stick around and give your customers a great experience. Sound people management system requires putting the right tools in place.

Ready To Improve Your Business Systems?

As your business grows, it will become harder and harder to manage everything in your business by yourself. Systems that create repeatable processes and allow you to delegate tasks can free up the founder to focus on high-level execution.

Look at your business systems if you’re feeling stressed or tapped out from running your business’s day-to-day operations. If you can’t identify and describe all of your systems, perhaps it’s time to start.

Founder’s CPA has a lot of experience with startups and new businesses.