Pilots use pre-flight checklists. Juries follow jury instructions. You use a checklist (or program) each time you open a new client file.

In my practice, I had forms (and form letters) for everything. They helped me get new hires up to speed quickly. They helped us run a tight ship because everyone knew what to do.

Systems make our work easier and more likely to get good results. They make sure we don’t miss steps and we do the work efficiently.

Systems (workflows, checklists, forms, methods, etc.) document best practices for recurring tasks. It takes time to create them but it’s time well spent because you can use them over and over again.

I encourage you to take inventory of the systems you currently use and look for ways to improve them.

What can you cut? What could you add? How could you make it better?

Then, consider systems you don’t use but should.

Talk to colleagues and see what they do. Talk to your staff and see what they suggest.

Consider creating some simple scripts or checklists for how the phone should be answered, how a client should be greeted at the front desk, how to get more prospects to make an appointment, and how to talk to clients about referrals.

To start, schedule one hour a week to work on this. Involve your team. Do this for 30 days and then schedule one hour each month to do the same.

If improving your systems allows you to save just one hour per week, every week, how much would that work out to in a year?

Enough to buy pizza for everyone at your next meeting?

Don’t forget to document your systems for marketing