Why your company DESPERATELY needs Policies, even if you are just starting
Hey Savvy business owner
I am back again with another great business tip for my entrepreneurs and business owners who are ready to take over 2022-
TIP:Publish Policies and Procedures to your company website.
If you are like me, you may think your company doesn’t need that yet, and honey, like me, you are very, very wrong. If i have one regret for this year it is not taking my policies seriously from day one. What I didn’t know then, that I know now, is that your company policies are what makes your company tick, it is what sets you apart from competitors and actively protects you from miscommunications, issues, and complaints. By setting it up early you will be able to be proactive rather than reactive, as i was all of 2021.
This year, I have learned so much, and gained so much wisdom. I am so excited for what the year will bring me, but before I walk into the new year I wanted to take a moment to reflect over the last year and update my policies and procedures to better reflect the direction I want my business to go in.
As i said earlier, throughout the year I thought I didn't need to create policies and procedures for my business. After all, I do web design, I figured a strong onboarding procedure, great customer relations, and open accessibility will be enough to successfully honor my client desires and needs. and perhaps it was. However, it simply wasn't enough to protect my own desires and needs.
Problem # 1: The indecisive client
The first indication of my error started months ago and I literally could not bring that train back on track until the end of November. The client changed her design implications, she changed the nature of her store, she change the name of her store, and the function she would need to be successful. Honestly, at one point I simply deleted the website and started from scratch, that is how all over the place things had become.
However, because I didn't have a strong handle on how my business operated, I honored all of her requests without charging her anything extra. These request changes and lack of synchronicity on the website ended with her website crashing, and me working additional hours to bring everything back on board.
What was worse was I received dozens of phone calls and angry messages from the very client. One may say that this was her fault and you may not be wrong however as a business owner I made a promise to come through and all I could think throughout this entire process was how for 2022 I would create a very strong and open policy program so that my clients and I both understand what the expectations are and what the consequences will be if something of this nature happens in the future.
Problem 2: The theft of content
But that wasn't the end of it, I still didn’t have procedures in place and another client, whom I helped early in my design business, found himself hating my work and commissioning a new web designer. This in itself hurt my feelings so much, and I remember sitting up at 3 a.m. racking my brain, simply wondering how I could be better and how I could have better served this customer, even though he never specifically told me what it was about his design he didn’t like and what changes he would need in order to be happy.
But what truly upset me most was in his new site he commissioned all of my content writing and all of my copy in order to present his company and credited a different designer for the work.
I was shocked, this is complete theft of my intellectual property. When I asked about it he simply said I feel like I paid for it.[ This is not true though this is not how the service business works, and so by updating my policies I again I'm able to better service myself and show where the error in judgment lay.
Problem 3: The Manipulator
Of course there's always a straw that breaks the camel's back, and this happened when a client of mine tried to change the entire design process in the middle of the project this woman changed her company name and had me go and recreate all of her Graphics to reflect her new company name, she also asked me to commission her a new domain for free at no additional charge and tried to convince me that I have made a mistake.
This time, I was able to better protect myself from issues of this nature because I made sure to keep our correspondences via email and go back to those very correspondences to show the discrepancies in her communication. However, this could have been avoided in entirety if I had created strong policies and procedures that are proactive rather than reactive.
The FIx: Policies and Procedures
With December being a slow month for web design, as many people are preparing for the holidays , I decided to do just that, be proactive and prepare myself for the upcoming year. On one slow Monday morning, I was able to craft and draft five pages of policies strictly connected to my l company outline.
I was able to think of all the different problems that we see when websites are being developed, and ensure that I had procedures and policies in place to better protect myself and communicate with my clients so that they are aware of exactly what is going on.
Where in the past I simply depended on “Common Sense” and assumptions I am moving into the future with clear actionable goals that can make my company grow and succeed beyond my wildest dreams and I want the same for all of you!
Its your turn
So, what types of policies and procedures do you have in place for your company today?
Do your current policies and procedures reflect the issues and questions that commonly come up in your day-to-day business operations?
If the answer is no then it's time for you to take a moment to reflect on what policies and procedures will best help your company grow and last throughout the future. This isn't an opportunity to be selfish or greedy, but an opportunity to better service your clients with fundamental information that will make them feel welcomed, understood and valued while also following the code of ethics and expectations that will better service both of you. If you have time feel free to take a moment and look at my own companyl policies and procedures for my agency and think about how your company, whatever it is that you do, can adapt certain policies for your own particular business.
A few other ways to develop policies:
1.Reflect over past issues. What types of policies can you put in place to avoid them
2.Review Competitors. If you are just starting you probably don’t have any horror stories just yet, so check out websites from competitors, see what policies they have in place, adopt the one’s that work best for you.
3.Adopt a general set of rules and add to them as you go.
Enjoy this post? My name is Brianca Jay and you haven't already guessed it...I love business! I love reviewing & discussing business ideas & just talking about it in general
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