TYPES OF BUSINESS SYSTEMS

 Please, take your time and read this, and you will never regret it. 

Yesterday, we hosted a group of investors at our Owerri branch. We took them through Pamtech Autoland and Autoparts.

They saw vehicles being repaired, our equipment and spare-parts operations.

They met members of the team and watched the business at work and they were impressed.

As I walked around with them, one thought remained in my mind.... Investors do not only inspect what a company owns. They study how the company works.

You know, a company can record billions in sales while the founder is still borrowing money to pay salaries.

You can see big buildings that looks valuable, but the system determines whether the value can be repeated.

Yesterday got me thinking as I remembered years ago, when Pamtech depended heavily on me.

I knew the customers, I solved all the difficult problems, I followed up on sales and I approved the expenses.

If something went wrong, somebody called me and It felt good to be needed always at that time but it was also dangerous.

The company was growing, yet too much of the business was still living inside one man’s head.

I once read a simple meaning of the word SYSTEM..... Save Yourself Time, Energy and Money.

That definition stayed with me.

A system is simply the agreed way work should move from beginning to completion.

It tells people what to do, who should do it, when it must happen and how the result will be measured.

Its purpose is not to remove human thinking. It removes repeated confusion so people can use their intelligence for more valuable work.

A weak company uses people to fight the same fires every day but a strong company uses systems to prevent those fires, then allows people to think about growth.

From building Pamtech, I have discovered SEVEN SACRED SYSTEM every growing business must take seriously.

The first is the MONEY SYSTEM

An investor wants to know how money enters, how it leaves, who approves spending and how every transaction is recorded.

It is not enough to say, “We made N900 million in sales.”

Where is the money?

How much belongs to suppliers?

How much is still inside customers’ accounts?

How much can be safely reinvested?

If the owner is the only person who understands the money, the business is not yet ready for serious investment.

The second is the SALES SYSTEM.

Every lead should have a journey. In your business, you should know all these.....

Who received the leads/enquiries?

Who followed up?

Was a quotation sent?

What is the next contact date?

Why was the sale won or lost?

Many companies do not have a sales system. They have a hardworking founder and a WhatsApp inbox full of forgotten customers.

When the founder becomes busy, sales slow down because everything is dependent on the owner. 

The third is the CUSTOMER SYSTEM.

How is a customer welcomed?

Who gives updates?

What happens after payment?

Who handles complaints?

Who calls after delivery?

A customer should not receive excellent service only because the CEO is standing nearby. The experience should remain strong even when the founder is in another country.

That consistency is what turns customers into believers.

The fourth is the PEOPLE SYSTEM.

How do you recruit?

How do you train?

How do you measure performance?

What behaviour gets rewarded?

What behaviour has consequences?

How does someone earn a promotion?

Without clear answers, the company becomes political. The loudest person gets noticed while the most dependable person becomes tired.

Good people need clear expectations.

The fifth is the OPERATIONS SYSTEM.

This is where promises become results and that where the investors paid more attention. At Autoland, a vehicle must move properly from reception to diagnosis, quotation, approval, repair, quality control and delivery.

If one stage is skipped, the customer may return angry.

Operations should not depend on one brilliant technician remembering everything.

The work must follow a clear path that can be taught, checked and improved.

The sixth is the INFORMATION SYSTEM.

Growing businesses usually suffer from a lack of useful information.

People are moving everywhere, but management cannot answer simple questions.

What did we sell today?

What is delaying delivery?

Which customer has not paid?

Which product is moving fastest?

Where are we losing money?

A good report should help somebody make a decision. If it does not, it is just paperwork.

The seventh is the FOUNDER SYSTEM.

This is the one many business owners avoid because the founder system decides what must reach the founder and what must never reach the founder again.

Some decisions truly require the founder.

A major investment may require the founder as I attended to the investors Which was a move capable of changing the company’s direction. 

But should the founder approve every small purchase? Should every customer complaint reach the founder? Should a manager need permission before solving a familiar problem?

No.

If every decision must pass through you, your business can grow only as fast as you can answer phone calls.

The founder becomes the ceiling and this is why investors study the system more than profit.

Profit tells them what happened but the systems help them judge whether it can happen again.

They want to know whether the business can receive more money without producing more confusion.

They want to know whether ten new branches will multiply the company’s success or multiply its mistakes.

They want to know whether the team can think, decide and deliver when the founder is not in the room.

Today’s visit reminded me that Pamtech has come a long way, but it also reminded me that systems are never finished.

Every new level exposes another weak process of which new branch creates another communication problem.

We keep hiring and every new team members tests the Pamtech culture.

So we keep improving.

If you need investors, do not begin by preparing a beautiful speech about how passionate you are. Please, repaire and prepare your business 

You know that investors may enter your building because of what you own. But they will invest because they can see how it works without depending entirely on you.

I am the Billionaire Mechanic. 

#OluwaIsInvolved