4 Ways to Shift Your Business into Auto Pilot

My friend Ronald has a gift – he is amazing at unraveling the mental blocks people have to satisfying relationships but is clueless when it comes to figuring out how to increase his revenues without working harder.

My client William is brilliant when it comes to creating marketing strategies for his physician clients but struggles to grow any bigger as he’s always running out of time.

Then there is Sherie who is a sought after office and home organizer who dreads having to market and sell (it’s just so “used car” salesman to her.)

Every passionate entrepreneur I meet says pretty much the same thing – if I could focus on my gift all day long I’d be the happiest person on the planet.

But most of us can’t because we have to run our business to make money. We spend a majority of our day doing things that drain us.

Whether you are running your business on your own, have an assistant or even a team, I’ve got some techniques to help you shift out of spending time in the “weeds” of your business operations by putting your business on auto pilot.

Here are four ways you can start shifting into auto pilot:

1. Create an opportunity filter.
How much time do you spend ruminating about whether or not you should pursue an opportunity? Or even worse, pursuing a great idea only to find out it was a complete waste of time. In my Fast Track to Lifestyle Business Coaching program every member starts by creating their own opportunity filter by determining the criteria for an excellent return on investment.

By using an opportunity filter, you’ll save time and money by following a predetermined checklist of questions to ask to quickly decide what should get your attention.

2. Reinforce your ideal client criteria.
Similar to opportunity filters, ideal client criteria is essential for you if you tend to take on clients who later become energy drains or you procrastinate their projects. The problem is you are probably saying yes to the job because you want the money, rather than it being a great fit.

By automating client evaluations with a checklist or assessment prior to start up you’ll eliminate the temptation to take on a “unaligned” client before the challenges drain you and your resources.

3. Systematize routine email and phone follow up.
Hours are wasted by most service professionals who have to sift through hundreds of emails every day. If you delegate it, you can still get pulled into “what should I say” questions from your team. Systematizing routine follow up questions means creating templates to most common questions as well as defining who should receive what.

This one simple step can save you a lot of hair-pulling moments – and free up your time for what’s fun and profitable.

4. Utilize the marketing machine technique.
This technique is one of the fastest ways to get into auto-pilot so you can get back into what you are passionate about. By creating a routine set of monthly marketing action items and delegating them you benefit from ensuring your marketing activities are done properly.

The benefit is you have a marketing machine that constantly generates new leads so that you can focus on enrolling and serving your ideal clients!

These are four of the hundreds of ways you can get your business into auto-pilot. If you are struggling to grow faster or feeling burned out, exploring these types of “time freeing” techniques can free you up for your real passion in your business.

<< Ready to Fast Track into Auto Pilot? >>

I’ll be leading a small group of people through the process of putting their business operations on auto pilot so they can spend more time doing what they love. Join me in the Fast Track to Lifestyle Business Coaching program starting July 1st, 2010.