[SPM Group]

I'm looking to reorganize my company and I need some input from anybody out there willing to help out.

How do you guys organize your company?

There are alot of components when dealing with clients all the time
*Callbacks and follow ups
*Estimate send out and invoicing
*Scheduling

And many more. I guess to sum up, i'm having a difficult time these days trying to organize my thoughts and I want my company to run MORE like a company rather than be the OWNER OPERATOR.

What i dread about the business the most is doing office work. I dislike typing up estimates, invoicing clients, dealing with emails, etc.. Ugh. I think if i was more organized it wouldn't be as hard.

So to sum up, anybody have a flow on how they do business? For instance?
1) client calls, schedule appointment
2) send out job bid and input into quickbooks
3) schedule job or follow up to try to get the bid
4) --- if job begins, send out invoice ----

etc.. that was a terrible example i know.. I just want to hear from the veterans on how they do things.

 

[One Coat Coverage]

Wow dude, you want us to lay out everything from start to finish for you? Try using the search option to look up threads related to the topics you asked about.

 

[y.painting]

I have a very simple physical work-flow system that works very well for me.

Get yourself one of these or something similar (and also a bulk purchase of plain manilla folders)

Think hard about your typical paper/account work flow and along the bottom of each section in the organizer, label with each step in your work flow.

In the end, your first section should start out with "BLANK RFQs" and your last section should be "CHECKS TO DEPOSIT" or something similar. Fill in between with steps that are tailored to you/your business.

Use an individual manilla folder for EACH separate job/customer. As the job progresses, your manilla folder will literally physically move left to right in the organizer.

Ex: call comes in, you pull a blank RFQ and fill out and schedule appt. You then take that RFQ sheet and move to a "APPT SCHEDULED" slot. Once you do your appt and come back, the RFQ sheet goes into the "TYPE UP/SEND OUT ESTIMATE" slot.

Once you do that, it can go into a "FOLLOW UP" slot. If you get the job, get out a brand new manilla folder, label and stick your RFQ, Estimate, color samples, etc into that folder. Etc, etc until you get to "INVOICING" and finally, "CHECKS TO DEPOSIT" (which is a special section in and of itself )

This system almost never fails because every day, you simply look at each slot and see what needs to be done at each step for each RFQ/Follow-Up/Job/etc - there's a physical reminder waiting for you there instead of having to juggle multiple things with e-reminders and such. It might take some time to discipline yourself and get this going, but it really works like a charm with multiple projects/appts/estimates waiting/etc.

One word of caution: you must be disciplined with this system. Do check each slot everyday and do a weekly run-through to catch any missing things as well. Good luck!

 

[ProWallGuy]

To expands on Yaros' fabulous answer, I personally use these for each and every job:

Nebs #278 Job Folder

 

[ProWallGuy]

And comparable to Y's suggestions, I too use a flow type of system, but its all digital. In my main work folder, you see this:

 

[PatsPainting]

Whats the x-files for? jobs that dispersed or something? do you have Fox Mulder and Scully working on them? :jester:

Pat

 

[ProWallGuy]

The x-files are for jobs that I didn't get, or the person just never called back or fell off the earth or something. I never throw those away though, because I go back through them every year or so and put them on my advertising list. Hey, they inquired about a job at some point, they might need work again. And I have scored some jobs from those because by the time I contacted them again ( a year or two later) the hack's work that they hired had failed and they needed someone to do it right this time.

 

[SPM Group]

thanks for the input guys.

Yaros, i think what you said makes a lot of sense. Being dedicated to the process is important if you want the system to succeed.

My issue lately is, having to do everything. I'm sure all of you guys can relate but when you wake up by 6a.m. everyday, get to the office, place orders, be the salesman and sell, do quality control, customer service, etc... it gets exhausting.

I'm only in the office in the mornings and boy oh boy, does it get exhausting driving around 100~150 miles a day.

I know if i was in the office, this system or any at that, would be a lot easier to follow through.

Appreciate the high quality post Yaros & everyone.

Thanks.

 

[SPM Group]

Wow dude, you want us to lay out everything from start to finish for you? Try using the search option to look up threads related to the topics you asked about.

Not everything, but i did want to see what other successful companies are doing and how they operate.

It doesn't hurt to ask though and I'm glad i did. I had Yaros and others post some good quality content for everyone to see.

Search function, that i did, but i wanted to post this question for myself. No crime in that. Got some awesome content and it's a win win for everyone.. :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

 

[WarlinePainting]

SPM, If you are not yet married, I suggest you quickly find a brilliant, organized, multi-talented woman, that loves setting up systems, managing an office, dealing with customers and handling all the corporate crisis that arise in a day. Make sure she is savvy in internet marketing, social media (hopefully she comes with a huge list of FB friends all in your local business demographic), knows how handle herself in an industry predominantly made up of men, can accurately estimate a paint job of any size and of course she can do this all part time while she seamlessly runs your household and has a full time career (that provides the added benefit of a secondary income).

I think you might be out of luck though. As far as I know Chris is happily married.

 

[straight_lines]

thanks for the input guys.

Yaros, i think what you said makes a lot of sense. Being dedicated to the process is important if you want the system to succeed.

My issue lately is, having to do everything. I'm sure all of you guys can relate but when you wake up by 6a.m. everyday, get to the office, place orders, be the salesman and sell, do quality control, customer service, etc... it gets exhausting.

I'm only in the office in the mornings and boy oh boy, does it get exhausting driving around 100~150 miles a day.

I know if i was in the office, this system or any at that, would be a lot easier to follow through.

Appreciate the high quality post Yaros & everyone.

Thanks.

John Jantsch posted this up today. One of my goals is getting more organized and productive with the time I have. I admit I am very undisciplined and it causes me more problems than I like to admit.

Breaking your day down and scheduling it out helps. I am getting a dry eraser calendar board and using it along with the digital ones I use. For those of use not lucky enough to have a Heidi or Chris in our life keeping us slobs in line.

http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2011/08/30/my-daily-productivity-routine/

 

[Holly]

SPM, If you are not yet married, I suggest you quickly find a brilliant, organized, multi-talented woman, that loves setting up systems, managing an office, dealing with customers and handling all the corporate crisis that arise in a day. Make sure she is savvy in internet marketing, social media (hopefully she comes with a huge list of FB friends all in your local business demographic), knows how handle herself in an industry predominantly made up of men, can accurately estimate a paint job of any size and of course she can do this all part time while she seamlessly runs your household and has a full time career (that provides the added benefit of a secondary income).

I think you might be out of luck though. As far as I know Chris is happily married.

My fiance and I BOTH need a wife!

 

[One Coat Coverage]

Not everything, but i did want to see what other successful companies are doing and how they operate.

It doesn't hurt to ask though and I'm glad i did. I had Yaros and others post some good quality content for everyone to see.

Search function, that i did, but i wanted to post this question for myself. No crime in that. Got some awesome content and it's a win win for everyone.. :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

That's cool, I read Y's reply and he told you how he files paperwork. I thought your question was much broader than that.

 

[TJ Paint]

My fiance and I BOTH need a wife!

That might get complicated.