“Trust the process” is one of the most overused and cliché expressions that coaches tell their athletes, entrepreneurs tell themselves, and parents tell their children. The interesting thing about the saying is that it means different things to everyone. If you were a fan of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers during the 2013 season, it meant that even though your team is going through a rough patch there is a plan in place to make it better. In the addiction recovery book Trust The Process, readers were encouraged to trust what you can control (aka the process) rather than worry about the end result.
Realtors® encourage buyers and sellers to “trust the process” when the housing market is unpredictable or their pending deal is not so certain anymore. This process is supposed to bring client’s comfort because they know that, in the end, the process will work out.
Ironically, too many real estate agents do not even know their own business processes. How can buyers and sellers trust the process if the process itself is not strong or consistent?
Taking a step back, a process is any series of steps and decisions involved in the way work is completed. Basically, processes are everything that you do to get something accomplished. There is a process to making coffee, getting gas for your car, and numerous processes to building a successful real estate business.
Many of these processes live only in the agent’s head. They know exactly what type of email they send after their first meeting with a client. They have a preferred gift they give when a deal gets closed. But what happens when they want to grow their business and bring on a new member of their team? How do processes get shared if they only reside in the brain of the agent?
The simple answer is to write it out. Or better yet, have someone interview you about your processes. By recording the interview, the questions serve as the what, why, where, when, who, and how of your business. Start with the beginning: What is your process when you onboard people who want to do business with you? What are you saying, why are you saying this, when are you saying it, who are you saying it to, and how do you convey your message? How are you explaining your value to your clients?
That’s one process of the many, many daily processes agents do. It can be overwhelming to think of writing out every single step to every work activity you do. You have a lifetime of experience, so how do you even begin to document all of that?
You build a plan to identify and improve your business processes using these seven tips.
- Make a List - What apps and software do you use? Start with writing down all of the subscriptions you use for work. Document your login information and when you use them. Write down all of the functions of the software and if it is used multiple times when you are conducting business during different stages. This list will be the beginning of your process documentation.
- Prioritize Your List - Now that you have your list, you need to put it in order of importance. Using the Eisenhower matrix you can identify tasks that are important but not necessarily urgent. One key to determining which process should be first to be documented is to make a list of which software and processes you spend the most time doing. Taking time to organize your processes before you start documenting them will keep you from feeling overwhelmed by the quantity of processes you are currently doing.
- Identify Handoffs and Responsibilities - Who does what at your company? If you are a solopreneur and are thinking of hiring an assistant, then outline what you would want them to take over. This is also the beginning of your new hire’s job description. Also, outline who the stakeholders are in each step of the processes. In other words, who benefits from (client) and who helps (you or your team member) with each step.
- Create a Timeline - How does each process start? What happens next, then next, then next, and so on. How does each process end? By writing this out, you see all of the steps that get you from Point A to Point B to help identify ways to improve efficiently.
- Learn From What You Already Do - In your email, you have a treasure trove of information at your fingertips. Every time you recreate the wheel to write an email you often send, you waste time. Go through your sent emails and build templates of emails to correspond with steps in your processes. Also create signatures in your emails that you can select and send when it is relevant to a specific client. Not only does this streamline your efforts, but it also allows you to outsource or automate this task and provide consistent, high-quality care to your clients.
- Outsource It - You’ve started writing your processes and building a folder of your email templates. Now you have no idea what to do next. This is where finding a partner to help you finish your processes and analyze your workflow is critical to creating an effective and growing business. There are amazing companies that you can work with to identify processes that you didn’t even realize you did. They also provide recommendations for improving your processes so you can decrease cost, mistakes, and wasted time.
- Analyze Your Processes - After you have documented your steps, it is time to find out where you can make improvements. Go over your timeline and ask yourself what you are not doing enough of and what you do too often. Find templates online and compare your steps to what others are doing. Ask a mentor or someone you respect to look at your processes and see where you can make improvements. Have them ask specific questions about each step to make sure you covered all of the tasks within the process. Make sure that your processes are more than a basic checklist. Have you thought of the rebuttals, objections, and problems that you face? Your processes should include the push backs you receive and plans to face adversity in your business (like say a global pandemic that prevents in-person meetings).
Without strong processes in place, your growth is limited to what you can get done - and you only have so many hours in the day. Documenting processes and testing them, creates consistency in your service, improves your effectiveness (and success), and ultimately, gives clients a reason to “trust the process.” All of this work builds a solid base from which you can sustainably scale your impact and results.
