Why Systems Are So Important For Your eBay Sales and Business
A very close friend suggested to me to expand my eBay sales and to delegate some tasks to people. Although I have wanted to do it for a long time, I am still keeping my eBay transactions small as it is easier to manage for a one-man-show. Delegation means passing some tasks to other people and I started to learn a lot about having an efficient systems in place.
What exactly is a system?
Very importantly, systems free you from your valuable time by passing some skills onto others through a set of procedures. You can then spend more time doing more profitable tasks like marketing and planning to bring in more revenue.
Why are systems so important?
Recalling my previous post about banks, smooth and efficient systems induce customers’ confidence, build more repeat clients and put you in a competitive advantage.
Systems are a set of processes that you follow over and over again. For example,
1. Whenever someone purchases your item off eBay, what do you usually do?
2. Do you keep all the transaction details in one folder?
3. When parcels are packed how are you going to label the parcels?
4. What about stock keeping?
5. Do you stock your items neatly and label them for better recording purposes?
6. When clients tell you that items are never received, where and how do you track them?
You can organize your eBay selling activities with email folders.
This are just some example questions you can ask yourself to implement a system. When you are dealing with 50-100 transactions per day, it is essential that you have your system to keep your sanity. Systems make repetitive activities simple and easy.
Imagine you are sick or going off for a holiday for a month. Would you just shut out your business until you are back? Having a system allows you to tell people what to do, what to follow, where to get information and how to do it.
A good storage systems allows you to keep track of your eBay stocks quickly and easily.
I realized that without a set of defined system, you may make more losses than gains in your business. Say you want to stock up your items again, but because you do not have a storage system in place, you end up ordering things you don’t need that you thought you need because you can’t see them around. But in reality there are heaps lying underneath your coffee table!
Highly systematized businesses are ripe for franchising, and because of this they are worth millions. McDonald’s is a classic example. By having procedures that are fixed and simple, they can employ the lowest-skilled labour they can find, and know that the work will still be of good quality. And with that system, they can set up anywhere and know exactly what to do to succeed.
Essentially, systems allow your business to operate and function independently of you and become a business producing profits without personal perspiration. This makes such a business a cash machine. And cash machines are very saleable assets that investors pay big bucks to get their hands on. That is why Mcdonald’s is worth billions.
Source: What Rich People Know & Desperately Want To Keep A Secret
Do you have a system that you use to sell online or in blogging? Tell me about it or start implementing one today!
Here is an example of good system for blogging by Problogger: Keep Yourself Organized With A Blog Binder.
ebay, ebay profits, ebay tips, ebay strategies, ebay.com, make money online
Jenny,
Thank you for the mention. I blushed :)-
Talk about system, I am a system gal.
Have you seen anyone’s family has inventory control on their toileteries good , like toothpaste, jamban paper, tooth brush, batteries, light bulbs, and the list go on.
I don’t like shopping (I am very abnormal kind of gal). I only shop for neccessity. So, I go to do my shopping in bulk 4 times a year.
I have a list of all these things in my computer (and a printed form taped on the wall of the cabinet where I store this good.
This is how it goes :
Items name Total number bought /Date Total remain/Date
1.
2.
3.
and so on.
My hubby and I take down do inventory count once a month :):).
And I have a lot of other system set up in my household.
Managing a home is like running a business as well. You get to have system !
But, I can share with you one thing, before you set up the system, you need to have a bird-eye view and big picture of what you want to do with the system. The nitty gritty part comes easy.
I remembered taking over a person position in a school as director. I was in a very difficult situation because the owner did not think that person was capable but he did not want to let go. So I encountered a lot of road blocks from him in getting information. Even supply names were hard to get from him.
So, what I did was I let him be director , let him have power for a while. Mean while, I was doing my investigating work. Back in my brain, I was thinking of how to know everything going on , how things work. So, what I did was I told everyone I am compiling a ‘bible’ for the school. A manual that has all the department function. And the manual will be written by each person in their department. Everyone has to write a process flow chart for me. I used a very simple data base system. I asked everyone to update their part and in the end we will have our master plan of the ‘bible’.
It took me more than 9months to get that master plan out. And that is the most worthwhile project I have ever done for the owner. Everything is written down like a template.
On my 3rd year in my job, I was very very senang. I even went to have high tea every other afternoon :):) and my school was functioning without my present.
The master plan is very very important !!
Cheers !
Jamy
Yeah, if you have a procedure, then you can trace where is the problem, and improve from there
L
L Jamy… I am a total system guy. My wife is totally not. We get into all sorts of tangles because of this. 
But if there’s ONE thing I make sure I keep track of is how many toilet rolls we have left in the house!
hehe Jamy & Andrew looks like we need systems everywhere. Let’s start from our own homes!
Bee yes, we better create and program a good system for everything!
Andrew, they said opposite attract. My hubby was a packrat.
But, I psycho him until he became more compulsive system guy :).
This is a good topic on how to win a non-system person over :). Enjoy reading :)-
http://zenhabits.net/2007/07/how-to-find-peace-living-with-a-packrat/
Let me know if u have any result in the future :).
My email is jamytan@gmail.com
Well said jenny, system means systematic means good management ! What can I add to this except systems are logical processes yet in business we need lateral processes! Cheers!
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