Howdy folks!
Today: the 9 best systems I’ve found for small businesses.
If you’re getting deja vu — sometimes I send this as a freebie PDF to new subscribers. But most people don’t read it, and I honestly think this can be super helpful for your business!
One thing I’ve learned: pretty much all business tastes like chicken.
85% of it is the same everywhere.
Only 15% varies by industry or market.
The result is that most businesses face the same set of issues:
- Hiring
- Strategy/vision
- Good meetings
- Managing
- Culture
- Etc.
The problem: there are a million ways to solve these problems. So every CEO wastes a ton of time reinventing the wheel.
That’s why I’m constantly on the lookout for the best systems I can find. Because someone out there has found the “best” way, and I can stand on their shoulders instead of building from scratch.
I’ve looked at hundreds of systems over the years.
So here are my 9 favorites.
The coolest part? Most of these systems came out of $15 books. Except for two, which are expensive but still worth it.
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SYSTEM 1: EOS
SOLVES FOR: Process, strategy, vision, organizational design
The Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) is a practical guide that gives your SMB a roadmap.
Think of it as “business by worksheet”.
This system will guide you all the way from a 10-year vision down to what you’re doing each week.
Buy the book: Traction by Gino Wickman / Read more: eosworldwide.com
SYSTEM 2: Storybrand
SOLVES FOR: Marketing
What EOS does for its areas, Storybrand does for marketing.
Think of it as “marketing by worksheet”. (Seeing the pattern here?)
It uses the same Hero’s Journey that resonates with everyone (think Star Wars), then turns that into highly effective marketing.
Buy the book: Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller / Read more: storybrand.com
SYSTEM 3: Net Promoter Score (NPS)
SOLVES FOR: Customer Satisfaction Measurement
All the customer satisfaction systems are broken. NPS is just the least broken one.
The good news is that it’s gotten really easy to implement with all the SaaS systems out there. Many are free.
It’s a powerful tool in determining how viable your business is, especially for software.
Plus, once you’ve nailed a high NPS, your customers start doing your marketing for you.
Buy the book: The Ultimate Question 2.0 by Fred Reichheld / Read more: Hubspot’s NPS breakdown
SYSTEM 4: The Effective Manager
SOLVES FOR: Management
What EOS is to running your business, The Effective Manager is to managing people.
It delivers a set of principles to be a great manager and follows up with detailed steps on how to live those principles.
This is a must for every first-time manager (and most experienced ones).
Buy the book: The Effective Manager by Mark Horstman / Read more: manager-tools.com
SYSTEM 5: Q12
SOLVES FOR: Employee Engagement
If your people are engaged, they get outsized results.
Gallup (the polling people) studied the these high-performing teams and created a 12-statement survey that you should run regularly.
Then leaders can address problem areas directly.
Here’s the survey:
- I know what is expected of me at work.
- I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right.
- At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.
- In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work.
- My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.
- There is someone at work who encourages my development.
- At work, my opinions seem to count.
- The mission or purpose of my company makes me feel my job is important.
- My associates or fellow employees are committed to doing quality work.
- I have a best friend at work.
- In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress.
- This last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow.
Gallup breaks down the science behind each statement, and what the best managers do for each situation.
Read more: gallup.com
SYSTEM 6: Culture by Design
SOLVES FOR: Company Culture
There are so many vague books about “let’s build your company culture”.
I wanted a system to follow that defines and spreads the culture I want. This is it, in very concrete terms.
- Defines behaviors, not values.
- Explains a system to roll them out.
- Makes it top-down (a CEO crafting their culture).
Follow this system, and you’ll have a great culture. Simple as that.
Buy the book: Culture by Design by David Friedman / Read more: culturewise.com
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The last three systems make up my holy trinity for hiring. One’s a book, and the other two are software… which aren’t cheap.
But the cost is nothing compared to the money you’ll waste by hiring the wrong candidate.
Here they are:
SYSTEM 7: Topgrading
SOLVES FOR: Foolproof Hiring Process
This system takes all the common, broken ideas in hiring and does the opposite. You get a process that only high performers get through.
It has a several-hour interview. I’ve learned that bullshit cannot survive more than 2 hours in this format. Most can’t make it an hour.
I use Topgrading interviews for every hire I make.
(Caveat: The book is not good. But the ideas are like finding business religion.)
Buy the book: Topgrading by Bradford Smart
Read more: topgrading.com
SYSTEM 8: Culture Index
SOLVES FOR: Personality Assessments
Culture Index is an assessment that tells you whether a candidate is really “wired” for the job.
And unlike Meyers-Briggs, DISC, and others, CI is scientifically backed.
Read more: cultureindex.com
Cost: Thousands/year (sorry!)
SYSTEM 9: Criteria Corp
SOLVES FOR: Skills/Cognitive Assessment
These are my favorite pre-employment assessments. I use these to find out:
- Do they have the job skills?
- Are they quick thinkers?
My most successful hires all scored very high on these assessments, and I’ve seen a correlation to how quickly people can learn new things.
This is a pretty commoditized space now, but of the 20 or so systems I looked at, Criteria Corp did this best.
Read more: criteriacorp.com
Cost: $1-2k/year
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That’s it!
These 9 systems have been key to growing my businesses. They gave me the “how” so that I could work on what matters (and what interests me).
What systems have you used? I’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for reading!
Michael
