Identifying your Business Processes

A process is any set of repetitive steps. It’s important to have a process starting and ending place that makes sense for your size business. Every small retail chain has these processes that make them money.

• Purchasing process – starts with a decision by the store manager to replenish the inventory, through the receipt of goods by the store and ends with payment of the vendor’s invoice by the accounting department.
• Sales process – starts when a potential customer enters the door and ends with their commitment to buy.
• Delivery process – starts with the customer commitment to buy, through their receipt of goods and ends with their payment in the bank, including all the necessary accounting.

Additionally, there are a number of other processes your business may have, such as:

• Payroll
• Media buying
• Store cleaning
• Return Goods Process

Shaving just a little bit of time and cost off any of the process steps has a significant impact when viewed over any 12 month period. If lean mean operations are your goal, the process steps is where you need to be focused.