Taking repeat work off the team · CONSTRUCTION AND HOME SERVICES
Taking repeat work off the team · DENTAL AND VETERINARY CLINICS
Taking repeat work off the team · ESTATE AND LETTING AGENTS
Taking repeat work off the team · GARAGES AND CAR SERVICING
Taking repeat work off the team · MANUFACTURING
Taking repeat work off the team · PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
Taking repeat work off the team · RETAIL AND ONLINE SHOPS
Your team is stretched, and you’re covering the gaps.
‘Sunday nights go on job sheets and ordering materials.’
‘I spend every week rebuilding the rota and ringing round for cover.’
‘Friday afternoons go on landlord update emails.’
‘Half the morning goes on the phone ordering parts.’
‘Every order gets typed in twice.’
‘We spend half of January chasing clients for paperwork.’
‘I can’t get staff, so I’m on the till and doing the orders after closing.’
What Changes
The journey for taking repeat work off the team in a construction and home services business. Today: 3 steps you do and 1 times it waits. With the fix: 1 and 0.
Construction and Home Services: job sheets and materials.
The journey for taking repeat work off the team in a dental and veterinary clinics business. Today: 3 steps you do and 1 times it waits. With the fix: 1 and 0.
Dental and Veterinary Clinics: the rota.
The journey for taking repeat work off the team in a estate and letting agents business. Today: 3 steps you do and 1 times it waits. With the fix: 1 and 0.
Estate and Letting Agents: landlord updates.
The journey for taking repeat work off the team in a garages and car servicing business. Today: 3 steps you do and 1 times it waits. With the fix: 1 and 0.
Garages and Car Servicing: ordering parts.
The journey for taking repeat work off the team in a manufacturing business. Today: 3 steps you do and 1 times it waits. With the fix: 1 and 0.
Manufacturing: typing in orders.
The journey for taking repeat work off the team in a professional services business. Today: 3 steps you do and 1 times it waits. With the fix: 1 and 0.
Professional Services: chasing client paperwork.
The journey for taking repeat work off the team in a retail and online shops business. Today: 3 steps you do and 1 times it waits. With the fix: 1 and 0.
Retail and Online Shops: supplier orders.
Today
- You: The same task, every week, by hand.
- You: Copying from one place into another.
- Waiting: The real work waits.
- You: A late night to catch up.
- Steps You Do
- 3
- Times It Waits
- 1
With the Fix
- Runs on its own: The task is drafted from records you already have.
- You: The team checks and approves it.
- Runs on its own: Done, and the hours come back.
- Steps You Do
- 1
- Times It Waits
- 0
- A short look at where the team’s hours go, task by task.
- You pick the one or two repeat tasks that take the most time.
- Those tasks come off the team: supplier orders drafted from stock, the rota built from availability, forms filled from records you already have, the inbox sorted with replies drafted.
- Your team checks and approves the result.
Illustrative example. Today: [Name] types the week’s job sheets and materials list from texts and photos, [n] hours on a Sunday. After the fix: “Week of [date]: [n] job sheets drafted from bookings. Materials order for [supplier]: [n] lines, £[x]. [Approve]”.
Illustrative. Your business carries your own details.
What It Costs You
Recruitment is a major obstacle for 44% of construction firms.
Source: DBT LSBS 2024
What You Do
Picks the task and approves the output until they trust it.
Illustrative example. Today: The rota on a whiteboard, rebuilt every [day]. [n] calls to cover [shift]. After the fix: “Rota for week of [date] built from availability. Gap: [shift] on [day]. Free: [Name], [Name]. [Offer shift]”.
Illustrative. Your business carries your own details.
What It Costs You
What the Task Costs You
An estimate. Before we start, we count your real numbers for a week.
What You Do
Sets the rota rules and approves each week’s rota until they trust it.
Illustrative example. Today: [Name] writes [n] landlord updates by hand from viewing notes. After the fix: “Landlord updates for [n] properties drafted from this week’s viewings and notes. [Approve all] [Edit]”.
Illustrative. Your business carries your own details.
What It Costs You
What the Task Costs You
An estimate. Before we start, we count your real numbers for a week.
What You Do
Picks the task and approves the output until they trust it.
Illustrative example. Today: [n] calls a day to look up and order parts, job by job. After the fix: “Parts for tomorrow’s [n] jobs: prices from [supplier] and [supplier]. Best in time: [supplier], £[x]. [Order]”.
Illustrative. Your business carries your own details.
What It Costs You
What the Task Costs You
An estimate. Before we start, we count your real numbers for a week.
What You Do
Picks the task and approves orders until they trust it.
Illustrative example. Today: A customer order arrives as a PDF. [Name] types it into [system], then again into the production sheet. After the fix: “Order [n] from [Customer] read from the PDF: [n] lines, delivery [date]. Entered in [system] and the production plan. Check: [line] price differs from the price list. [Approve]”.
Illustrative. Your business carries your own details.
What It Costs You
Recruitment is a major obstacle for 46% of manufacturers.
Source: DBT LSBS 2024
What You Do
Picks the task and approves the output until they trust it.
Illustrative example. Today: [Name] emails [n] clients one by one for missing [documents], then checks who replied. After the fix: “Missing documents: [n] clients reminded. [Client] uploaded [document] on [date]. [Client]: [n] reminders, needs a call.”.
Illustrative. Your business carries your own details.
What It Costs You
What the Task Costs You
An estimate. Before we start, we count your real numbers for a week.
What You Do
Picks the task and approves the reminder wording.
Illustrative example. Today: [Owner] walks the shelves on [day] with a clipboard, then rings the order through. After the fix: “Order for [supplier] drafted from this week’s sales and stock: [n] lines, £[x]. Running low: [product], [n] left. [Approve]”.
Illustrative. Your business carries your own details.
What It Costs You
71% of convenience stores find it hard to recruit, 54% are cutting staff hours and 21% of owners take no holiday.
Source: ACS
What You Do
Picks the task and approves orders until they trust it.
What It Runs On
The systems you already use for those tasks.
Agreed Before We Start
Hours a week on the chosen tasks, logged for one week before and measured after.
What We Agree Before We Start
| Measure | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Hours a week on the chosen tasks |
We fill this in with you before any work starts.
Questions Owners Ask
- Which tasks?
- The one or two that take your team the most hours, picked with you after a week of looking at where the time goes.
- Does the team still check the work?
- Yes. They check and approve instead of doing the task from scratch, and anything that spends money or goes to a customer is approved at first.
- How many tasks in one job?
- One or two. Keeping the job small is how it gets done in the agreed number of days.
Read next
Pick One Problem
Tell us which one. We’ll tell you whether we can fix it and how long it takes.