EP302- Simplify, Document, Scale - The 3-Step System for Process Excellence with Errol Allen
EP302 Profit Withe a Plan Podcast
Released May 13, 2025
Guest: Errol Allen, Process Expert, Founder of Errol Allen Consulting
Host: Marcia Riner, Business Growth Strategist, CEO of Infinite Profit®
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Are you struggling to scale because your team just doesn't seem to follow the process?
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: What if the real issue isn't your people but your lack of a clear documented workflow on the next episode of profit with a plan. I'll be sitting down with Errol Allen, founder of Errol Allen consulting, and the master at simplifying complex operations. Errol's going to break down his 3 essential steps to process documentation, which is a powerful framework that improves collaboration, boosts morale and drives consistent results.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: You're going to learn why proper documentation beats micromanagement every time.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: how team-based flow charting leads to smarter scalable systems and why creating sops is the last thing on your list, not the 1st step. And who should own that process documentation journey hint? It's not just the Ops.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: This episode of of profit with a plan is for business owners ready to get out of the chaos and into control. So join us.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: hey? Entrepreneurs! Are you working too hard for too little profit. Well, welcome to profit with a plan podcast where we help you scale smarter, increase, profitability and build a business that's worth more whether you keep it or sell it.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: I'm Marcia Reiner, business growth, strategist and profit booster behind infinite profit. I've helped countless entrepreneurs to turn their businesses into highly profitable and sale ready assets. So they enjoy more income now, and a bigger payday later on. So join me for practical strategies, expert insights, and proven steps to make your business more profitable, more valuable, and built to last.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: By the way, today's episode is sponsored by infinite profit, where we don't just talk profit. We deliver it.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: All right. Let's jump into today's episode. My guest today is Errol Allen. He's the founder and CEO of Errol Allen consulting. He's a highly accomplished professional in the field of operations, consulting
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: with a wealth of experience and expertise in optimizing business processes. Errol has consistently delivered outstanding results for his clients with a keen eye for identifying inefficiencies and a passion for driving operational excellence. Errol has become the trusted advisor to numerous organizations.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: He specializes in helping businesses to streamline their operations, improve their productivity and achieve sustainable growth, welcome Errol to profit with a plan. Podcast I'm excited to have you on today.
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Errol Allen: Well, thank you, Marcie. I'm glad to be here with you today.
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Errol Allen: Yeah, I'm excited. Okay? So I always like to ask this question. You know. How did you get into operations? And and this kind of thing? I mean, usually you don't come out of school and go. This is it right?
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: How'd you get here?
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Errol Allen: Well, you know I I was fortunate, you know a lot of my corporate corporate career. I was like in the midst of operations, you know. So I was fortunate, and and then it's just the way my head works.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: That's it.
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Errol Allen: It's it's just the way my head works. I was always one to ask questions, you know.
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Errol Allen: They should have never taught me who, what, when, where, how, and why? In elementary school? Because it's just the way my head works. So when I left corporate America, I asked myself, What are you going to do? And then I asked myself, when was I having the most fun?
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Errol Allen: And there was when I was an operations analyst for a company here in Houston, and and I all I did all day long was, look, look at processes! How we did what we did the GM. Had said to me, hey? I want you to look at how we doing what we're doing because it's a mess. And
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Errol Allen: what he didn't know was, he was just telling me to go have fun, because.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: No, I love it.
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Errol Allen: Right. So here I am.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: I love it, you know that's the greatest. That's the greatest joy to my heart that we spend so much of our time, energy, effort, money, life in in our business. Why not do something that you enjoy right.
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Errol Allen: Right.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: And I love the fact that that's just the way your head works. And when you, when you ask those important questions, you're like, how does this work? Wait a minute. What's broken? And this is like one of the biggest profit levers you can pull in your business, and it's and it's so overlooked.
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Errol Allen: Yes.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: It's just
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: kicked to the side. So I'm glad your your corporate person said, Hey, we! Everything's broken. Let's fix it.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: you know, and and in comes the expert.
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Errol Allen: It's just fun for me mostly, you know.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Oh, I love it. I love it. Okay, so with that in mind, how do you start to look at processes? Do you start at the end. Do you start in the middle? Do you start at the beginning? Where do you start to look when you're when you're analyzing a process.
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Errol Allen: Of course you start at the beginning, but even before that you want to identify your processes. Right? What are our processes? And the easy way to do that is just to to say, what are our departments right? What are the roles in each department?
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Errol Allen: What? What are the tasks for each role? Right? Because those tasks are your processes? Actually.
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Errol Allen: when you, when you think about it right? And then a good place to start is with pain points.
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Errol Allen: Where are we having issues? What are what are people complaining about? What are our customers complaining about
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Errol Allen: what internal complaints do we hear over and over, you know. Operations wise? What are people always complaining about? Why can't we? Where is my.
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Errol Allen: how? Why do I not have right phone calls that ask the same questions, don't. Those are, they're pointing you, hey? You need to look at something to stop these these negative questions, you know.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: That's that's brilliant. 1st of all, I mean, keep it as simple as you can possibly do. But when you break down the hierarchy like that. And you say, look, it starts here. What are the departments? What are the roles? What are the tasks they're doing? And forgive me? Isn't almost everything we do. Shouldn't that be process driven right.
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Errol Allen: Well, think, think about it, Marcia.
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Errol Allen: When you get up in the morning, do you get up on an alarm clock?
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Yep.
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Errol Allen: So okay. So the alarm goes off right? Here's here's 1st question. That's the trigger for the process for your getting up process right? The the trigger is the alarm goes off my immediate question. Am I ready to get up right?
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Errol Allen: The answer is, Yes, you you turn the alarm off.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Okay.
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Errol Allen: So is no you
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Hopefully hit the snooze.
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Errol Allen: Lose button right?
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Errol Allen: Then the process will start over again 5 min later is gonna go off again right? So hopefully this time you get up, and then what's the next step after you get up? Right? We we all have. We may not do the same things, but we all have that getting up in the morning process. So in my mind everything is a process.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: I love it, and that's where I think when you look at a business and and my goal is every everything I do increases revenue or boost growth for the ultimate goal of selling your company. When they're buying your company.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: They're buying your processes.
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Errol Allen: That's right.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: So this is where the value comes in, and why I keep thinking. This is so darn important to have. But I have to say I love the idea that you equated it to getting up because we all do it, except for that one day that we don't get up.
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Errol Allen: Right.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: We're all gonna get up each morning. We all have our routine thing.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: but when we look at this, what happens is as business owners go. I can't do it.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: It's too much work. What do you mean? I gotta write down everything I do. It's all up here.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: How do we get it out of up here on the paper of sort.
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Errol Allen: You, you help them to see the value in it right? Especially like with your clients.
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Errol Allen: Their business becomes more valuable when processes are documented. Because because think about it. If you're selling the business, you're selling it for a reason, you won't do it anymore. You want to go do something else, and the people that are buying it. They don't want to be bothered with you.
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Errol Allen: you know. So if you can say, here's how we do things and it's it's documented. And and all of the employees know exactly how to do what they need to do. It's easy to train people because it was documented. You you can. You can ask more for your business when you're selling.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Isn't that the truth?
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Errol Allen: Yes, yes, but it's.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: I love it.
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Errol Allen: Tedious loss here.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Okay, so are there easier ways of doing it that aren't so tedious that we can get
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: the processes out of the business owner and the team players, because the teams, all the members all have. You know, the employees all have processes. They do as well.
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Errol Allen: Right, right.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: How do we get that out of their heads?
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Errol Allen: Well, you can't get around tedious. You can't get around it right? You just have to focus on the positive outcomes of doing it. What are the positive outcomes? And if you can, when people start to get tired from it being so tedious, you have to remind them, what's the positive outcome of doing this. That's where we're headed. That's what we have to stay focused on is the positive outcome. So
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Errol Allen: you you I have to be. I'm I'm honest with my clients. Always tell them this is very, very tedious, right?
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Errol Allen: There's no magic bullet. There's no magic peel.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: There's no AI that can make this happen for you. No craziness.
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Errol Allen: So you you just have to be willing to sit down and do it.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Okay, so is there, is there? you mentioned flow charting? Right? So is there. Is there? Is that an easier way to kind of visualize what you're doing? Or is that the hierarchy breakdown of the roles and the the departments, and and that kind of stuff.
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Errol Allen: No, the flow charting is, you're actually flow charting the process.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Tell me more about that. Please.
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Errol Allen: The key to flow charting is to
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Errol Allen: to establish the boundaries. Right? What triggers the process? What is the processing? You right. You have the boundaries now and then. Now that helps you to establish. Okay, who needs to be in this flow charting session? Because you wanna make sure you have the right people in the session, right? The people that do the work in the process, the people that are impacted by the process and the people that feed the process. Now, remember.
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Errol Allen: I said, it's tedious, right? So you don't have to repeat things. So you wanna make sure you have the right people. So you don't have to go backwards. Right? Yes, so and then, when you have the right people in the room, you have automatic buying, there's no trying to sell them on it because they participated in flow, chart it out and identify where we can improve things. So now they just go do it now. Right?
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Errol Allen: So flow. Chart is critical.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: I love that that makes it also it makes it easier. Some people are very visual, right? And they're like, Well, I don't know what I do right. And then, if you can get them putting it on a board together, working as a team going. Here's how the conveyor belt works right.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: This comes in this way and moves along that way and then leaves out that way. It makes it easier for everybody to see in and go. Oh, no, wait, wait that that right there is where where we have our problem. And Susie Q. Is supposed to do that right.
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Errol Allen: Right right? And then they also understand how they're all connected.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Hmm.
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Errol Allen: Right, because
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Errol Allen: we tend to think in isolation. Here. I just do this right. I just do this and not understand that you have an internal customer. That's cause there's a handoff somewhere. When you finish your part it's going somewhere else. So who is my internal customer? So if you, if you get your internal customer in the session. Now they can talk about, hey? When you hand it off to me. I need this, this, this, this and this
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Errol Allen: and explain why, and explains what happened when they don't get it right. Usually it's coming back to you, hey? You didn't give me, or if they can do it themselves. They do it themselves, but now they've paused. They can't even do their part yet, because they're finishing up what you should have given them. And pretty soon, if that happens over and over and over, you're gonna create some animosity within them
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Errol Allen: across departments. So you don't. You don't want to do that.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: No, you wanna have a nice working flow with that.
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Errol Allen: Yes.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: I love this idea because it's really given, it's giving me. And it's hopefully given the audience. You know that that visual connection of why this is so important, and and where you can start to see where the gaps fall through. And like, I said, originally, everything's a process. From the second, we wake up. We do those repeatable things. And okay, so
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: so you're thinking, so flow, charting and and and putting it up on the board and getting the team members together. What happens when you have somebody that doesn't necessarily follow the process.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: And they're kind of doing that rogue thing they're off doing. Well, I do it this way, because that's the way I want to do it.
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Errol Allen: I I've been a road. My fear. So the the the question to ask is, why right?
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Errol Allen: Why do you do it that way? Because
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Errol Allen: their their way might be the best way. Actually, you know. So versus saying, Hey, you! You just want to do what you want to do?
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Errol Allen: No, that their way. So just ask, why? Why did you do it that way? Let them explain. And then the only, the only thing, the only criteria I have for that rogue is is the way you're doing it. The best way for everybody involved. Right?
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: I love that, because now you're asking them to give positive input that says, how can we make this better?
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Right? Because when you can make it better, you can make the more profitable, too. It might be. Oh, we only need 2 people to do this, not 3 right or or oh, well, that supplier keeps we. It keeps breaking down. So we need to get a different supplier.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: You know. I mean, it creates opportunities.
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Errol Allen: Right, right, right, right.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Stuff.
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Errol Allen: That's why you have all of these people in the room. So you can hear all of these different reasons. They can explain and it's just magic in in, you know.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Of course it is. That's I can see why you love this part of the pulling these things apart and then asking those crazy questions, why, why are you doing it this way? Why would we like to do it? What happened when you know it's those crazy W. Questions in the how right that make things run smoother and better. So let me ask you a question. I'm a fan of
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: going through and looking at, even if we're looking at our spending right income minus expenses, equals profit.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: simple math.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: But people don't often look at their expenses and review them often enough. So I asked my clients to let's go through them quarterly.
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Errol Allen: Great. Okay. Well.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: We're looking at operational processes right? Very similar to, you know, even looking at your expenses.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: how often should we review our processes and look for opportunities to improve.
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Errol Allen: There. There's a couple of answers, Marcia. One is the the
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Errol Allen: what you hear people say most often, at least every 6 months right? But I I say, do this, Marcy. Most people have team meetings right? So in the team meeting, ask the question or your processes still working for you
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Errol Allen: right, and if and if somebody says, Hey, I wish we could do now, you have an opportunity to change something right, you know, right now.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Why wait? Right?
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Errol Allen: Yes, yes.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: I love it.
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Errol Allen: Yes.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: So one of my guests a couple years ago gave me the idea, and I just got excited with it that the person that's doing the process.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: You give them a little time each month
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: to review what they're doing. Paid time. Right? You say, okay. The 3rd Friday of the month or the 4th Friday of the month. You're going to review one of your processes and come back for a way for us to improve. I'm going to pay you the hour. If you get done early, then that's great, you know, whatever, but it's like. It encourages them, and you reward them for their creativity.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Of making your company much better run better, smoother, faster, stronger, less expensive.
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Errol Allen: Right, right? Right? Right that I I would say I like that right.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Bye feel free to steal it. I stole it.
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Errol Allen: I would say, make sure, when you're reviewing your process, that you take into consideration who's connected to you.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: I like that their side right. Who's giving it to you? And who are you giving it to afterwards?
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Errol Allen: Right cause. If you're thinking about changing something, you have to make sure you don't negatively impact somebody right?
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: That's smart. But then if you get, then then in my mind, then you need to get the whole department in play right, because there's 1 leads to another, and you got the daisy chain that's going down the going down the road.
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Errol Allen: Right. So you if you tell that person, hey, review one of your processes, you know.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Come back and give us some ideas.
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Errol Allen: So the process is that person goes through the same exercise. Right? Who who's connect? Who's feeding this process? And who's connected to this process who's impacted by this process? So so to remind themselves, I need to make sure I talk to these people. Hey, here's what I'm thinking about. Let's get together. Here's what I'm thinking about. We we can change. So let's let's flow it out. You know, whiteboard, y'all flow it out, and and we can talk about it to make sure we don't negatively impact anything. You know.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Love it. So business owners.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: here's here's the here's the little grain that I think you're missing is that you get your employees
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: to do the process building and the process improving for you. And it's not having that you have to do it.
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Errol Allen: Right.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: They're already doing the process, so ask them to improve the process, for you.
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Errol Allen: Right.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Love that idea. I think the other side. That one of my other guests came to me and said, was.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: when they have their new solution right? They don't. Just. They're not just complaining about the problem. When you come to me with this new process improvement.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: you're coming to me with the solution and the idea.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: so it's like, now, it's not. You know the the open door thing where you come in and you you know, if you got a problem? Well, don't just come in with the problem. Come in with the solution you think would fix it.
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Errol Allen: Right? Right? Right?
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Errol Allen: I have this singing, Marcia. Most people come to work to do a good job. Yeah, most people do every once in a while you get a knucklehead that wants to do what they want to do. But but most of the time
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Errol Allen: people come to work to do a good job. So they're always thinking about, how can we be better? How can I do this? How can we make this better? So we can do more, accomplish more. And and usually the employees already know little tricks to make things work.
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Errol Allen: They just waiting for somebody to ask. Really.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: You know what? And I think in today's workflow workforce. You know, they want to be involved like you said. You know, they're looking to
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: participate and add value and be recognized. And and it's not always, not always the paycheck that you reward them with. It's it's the wow you actually saved us, you know, an hour of production, and you know a hundred $1,000 on that. Guess what you get Friday off, you know. I mean, whatever it is that they want in in a reward, and that recognition that
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: you know everybody.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Everybody wants that kind of stuff.
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Errol Allen: That's right, and I.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Think that boosts the morale as well when they're not always complaining about it. Someone said, You know, yeah, we were putting. The lady was complaining because her back kept hurting, because we kept making her pick up the thing and put it in the box right. And he said so. The next thing we did is we put the box on the floor and built it around the thing so she didn't have to lift it up. So it's just thinking.
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Errol Allen: Yes.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Better.
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Errol Allen: Yes.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: About the process that you're doing that ultimately leads to more profitability.
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Errol Allen: Right and and and just asking the people in the team meeting in the team meeting. Are your processes still working for you? Right.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Yeah.
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Errol Allen: Just so easy. Just ask, and then they'll tell you when they.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Sure they will.
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Errol Allen: When they know you're serious about wanting answers, they'll tell you they will.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: And the flip side to the owner is be open to new ideas.
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Errol Allen: Just.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: I was in a meeting recently, and and I was asked for my opinion, and that person didn't like my opinion and got really ticked off on it. And I'm like, well, Buddy.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: there's a problem. 1st of all, second of all, you should. You're the problem, not not me for saying it. But you know that happens out there. So we
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: we want bright ideas we want forward thinking with from our employees.
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Errol Allen: Right.
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Errol Allen: You're right.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Because if they're thinking on how to make a better mousetrap.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: it's only gonna make me more money, as the owner.
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Errol Allen: That's right, that's right. Allow the brainpower around you. To be an asset.
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Errol Allen: Don't don't be one where you think you have to have all the answers right. You have to have all the answers, and then and then some people are just control freaks, you know.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Well, not not a complete control.
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Errol Allen: But yes.
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Errol Allen: you know. So you know it it. When you have an environment that encourages employee, input things run better.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Oh, I agree a thousand percent. And looking at your processes from
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: accounting to customer service to sales.
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Errol Allen: Yes, to marketing, to delivery, to follow. I mean every.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Everything, Errol.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Everything is a process.
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Errol Allen: Everything Marcy from from from marketing. Right? The purpose of marketing is create leads. Right? So when you get a lead, where where does that lead? Go, how do you get the lead? Right?
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Errol Allen: Could it be from a phone call? Could it be from your website? Okay? So you need to flow that out. What what happens when a person hits? Submit? What happens? Does the website say something back? Thank you, for, you know. And then where does that lead? Go? Who gets it? And then what do you do with it? And then how much time do you have to do? I could go on and on and on.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: But it's but it's perfect, and until you open your mind.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: I love the flow charting, whether it's on a grease board, whiteboard, or, you know a piece of paper, or you get one of those little mind mapping apps that you can do. But once you do that, you start to see where the gaps are.
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Errol Allen: Yep.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: And if you got a gap you're losing money because it's a it's it's a hole. It's a leak in your funnel of sort. You know of everything that you're doing in there, and that leak is costing you money.
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Errol Allen: To your money. Yes, yes, yes.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: The only 2 crazy people on the world that are excited about processes.
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Errol Allen: There's a few more of us.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Good, because this is, I mean this kind of stuff. Really.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: it is really basic stuff. But I know that most business owners are so busy chasing customers and putting out fires that they don't take this time, and I hate to use the the phrase everybody uses. I'll work on your business instead of in your business, but it takes it takes time to do this, so I would encourage, and I know you're on it with the ask. Everybody at the regular meeting.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: but take some carve some time out.
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Errol Allen: Yep, I encourage people do one a week right.
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Errol Allen: Do not.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Cheesy.
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Errol Allen: You know, mo- most people people that get excited about it. They try to just who we're. Gonna do you know? 10 or 15 a week, and I'm like, Wait.
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Errol Allen: we.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: But.
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Errol Allen: Start with one, pick a pain, point right, and and work on that process and make it make it flow it out. Make it the best that you can get it right, and then and then move to your sop
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Errol Allen: of creating because the flow chart is just the what what steps are we taking to get this task done? And then when you get to create the sop, you go back to the flow chart. Okay, let's look at the flow chart and find the steps where there's these are action steps right?
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Errol Allen: And and that's what you create the sop from how do you do this action step. So the flow chart is really the foundation of it in my mind, the foundation of everything so.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Brilliant.
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Errol Allen: It's just.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Right.
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Errol Allen: It's just fun.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: You know it is fun. It's fun for me, too, so I'm with you. We're the crazy ones. But but if you think about it, though.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Most people fear change.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: And if you're running saying I'm gonna change 30 of these this month, then you're gonna cause an uprising right. But if you do one a month, or one a week, or whatever your whatever your little incremental change can be.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: They're going to snowball on each other, and you're not gonna shake up the workforce by going. Oh, what you did yesterday. We're not doing it anymore. We're gonna do it this way, which is normally the way it comes down right.
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Errol Allen: Right.
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Errol Allen: But you're getting their input and they're working through the changes. And now they buy into it. And then the changes. And so.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Up, leveling.
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Errol Allen: Right right?
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Errol Allen: And and then, now you can.
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Errol Allen: You get everybody together? You flow it out. Okay, here's how we're gonna do it. Now, I like to.
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Errol Allen: They participated. Right? Okay? So now you can come back and say, Okay, how? How is that working.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: You mean, check back what
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: working, you know, just just to gauge how things are going since you, you've tweaked it because all you're doing is tweak it right. How's that working to to get that feedback? And they they might say, Hey, maybe we can do a little more of this right here, or Hey, wait a minute. Maybe we should do.
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Errol Allen: So now there's even.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Or or even even the flip side of it. That didn't work. That caused all these problems over here. Let's revert back.
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Errol Allen: Yep.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Which you always can go back right.
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Errol Allen: Right.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: We've got a client that changed her phone system and the the office hated it. It's not doing what it's supposed to do. And and on the call the other day she goes, you still got those phones right? So so the opportunity to go backwards and then find a different path right.
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Errol Allen: And.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: It's always an opportunity.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Always.
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Errol Allen: Yep, just check in, that's all you gotta do is check in. Just check in.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Love it. Love it. Errol, this is so much fun.
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Errol Allen: Yes.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Oh, my! Gosh! Right.
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Errol Allen: Yes, yes.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: So so would you ever imagine people saying processes are fun.
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Errol Allen: No.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Well.
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Errol Allen: Because most people don't see it that way right.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: That's right.
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Errol Allen: You really start to to get in there and flow things out with them? And
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Errol Allen: they start to see the magic
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Errol Allen: that they want to do more.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Yeah.
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Errol Allen: More and more and more, then it becomes fun.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Oh, that's exciting!
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Errol Allen: Yes.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: It really is, and and from the business owner side the bottom line side, you know, it's only beneficial.
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Errol Allen: Right.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: And it may even be a little painful in the 1st step. Right.
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Errol Allen: Thank you.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: You know. Oh, well, we gotta change providers. And oh, this is gonna happen. But you know what
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: if you spend a dollar now and you save $5 next month and $5 next month, and $5 next month, and $5 next month.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Spend the damn dollar.
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Errol Allen: Yeah. And then she wants.
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Errol Allen: And then people talking about kpis, right? Key performance indicator. Right? So now you can- you can connect Kpi to your processes, right?
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Errol Allen: You know. Now you can measure right? What's what's what's the Kpi for this process? Right?
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Errol Allen: going from sales to to operations? Well, you get a sale now you need to onboard that whatever that new, a new client.
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Errol Allen: how long should it take to onboard? A new client, you know.
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Errol Allen: So you can measure that now, right when that when they're triggered to onboard, that new client, how long is it taking now? Right? So what's the goal. Actually, is it same business day within 2 business day? What is it, you know? So now you can measure how well things are going. And if you're if you set realistic Kpis, then you can ask yourself, is there something else we need to do to this process to meet that Kpi goal?
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Errol Allen: So we? There's just so much connectivity in.
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Errol Allen: I love it, both of you.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: I know it's fantastic. I could I just I I love the thought process on it, and I even more importantly love the bottom line of it, and how it improves everything, from all the employee morale to the bottom line, and how much money more money you can put in your pocket. If you do this little little step of just making sure your processes are running. Well, so all right, Errol.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: we can have a lot of fun and keep going on this, but.
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Errol Allen: Because.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Time is our enemy here. How can listeners find out more about you and Errol Allen consulting so they can, you know, get their processes under control.
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Errol Allen: We can certainly visit my website, Arrow Allen, consulting.com.
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Errol Allen: I'm on Linkedin Errol Allen.
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Errol Allen: You can email me, Errol at Arrow Allen consultant.com I
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Do you have anything cool for us that will help us? Manage these these process updatings.
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Errol Allen: Well, so far as the float, the mapping flow charting part I use Vizio Vizio is an easy tool
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Errol Allen: to to flow chart with.
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Errol Allen: it. It didn't have to be anything high. Tech simple spreadsheet, you know. Put your processes in there what you need. What are your processes? Put them in a spreadsheet to make sure you don't miss anything.
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Errol Allen: I also you. You can schedule a free consultation from my website. And for for your listeners, Marcia. I I'll even do an hour mapping session for free, if just for your.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Wow!
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Errol Allen: Yeah, yeah.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: That's powerful. Thank you very much, because I know the 1st time they do it
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: everybody gets in their head, and they're looking at a white screen, or a.
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Errol Allen: Yeah, yeah.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Flashing blinker going? Where do I start right? But if they do it once, and they've got someone holding their hand, then it starts to make sense, and that's something they can repeat. So what a what a lovely gift.
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Errol Allen: Yep. Yep.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Love it. Love it
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: all right. Listeners, thanks for tuning in today. I hope you've picked up some valuable insights and actionable ideas to help you make your business more profitable, and I know just taking a little bit of time, each meeting each month, each quarter, to look at a process you've got, and see if you can fine tune it, and make yourself a little bit more
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: running smoother, making your team happier and making your business more profitable. I know it will be beneficial for you.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: and if you're ready to simplify your marketing and start getting better results, I would encourage you to grab my free 30 day trial of profit. Booster marketing hub. There'll be no tech headaches, I promise, and just smart streamlined marketing that actually works so head over to profitboosterbiz and get started today.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: And don't forget to subscribe. You don't want to miss future shows. You can always find profit with a plan on any of your favorite podcast platforms. We're looking forward to more great profitable information on next week's show. So until then, make your plans and profit with them. Thank you so much, Errol. This was so much fun.
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Errol Allen: You're welcome, Lucy. Thank you for having me.
EP302 Profit Withe a Plan Podcast
Released May 13, 2025
Guest: Errol Allen, Process Expert, Founder of Errol Allen Consulting
Host: Marcia Riner, Business Growth Strategist, CEO of Infinite Profit®
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Are you struggling to scale because your team just doesn't seem to follow the process?
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: What if the real issue isn't your people but your lack of a clear documented workflow on the next episode of profit with a plan. I'll be sitting down with Errol Allen, founder of Errol Allen consulting, and the master at simplifying complex operations. Errol's going to break down his 3 essential steps to process documentation, which is a powerful framework that improves collaboration, boosts morale and drives consistent results.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: You're going to learn why proper documentation beats micromanagement every time.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: how team-based flow charting leads to smarter scalable systems and why creating sops is the last thing on your list, not the 1st step. And who should own that process documentation journey hint? It's not just the Ops.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: This episode of of profit with a plan is for business owners ready to get out of the chaos and into control. So join us.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: hey? Entrepreneurs! Are you working too hard for too little profit. Well, welcome to profit with a plan podcast where we help you scale smarter, increase, profitability and build a business that's worth more whether you keep it or sell it.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: I'm Marcia Reiner, business growth, strategist and profit booster behind infinite profit. I've helped countless entrepreneurs to turn their businesses into highly profitable and sale ready assets. So they enjoy more income now, and a bigger payday later on. So join me for practical strategies, expert insights, and proven steps to make your business more profitable, more valuable, and built to last.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: By the way, today's episode is sponsored by infinite profit, where we don't just talk profit. We deliver it.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: All right. Let's jump into today's episode. My guest today is Errol Allen. He's the founder and CEO of Errol Allen consulting. He's a highly accomplished professional in the field of operations, consulting
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: with a wealth of experience and expertise in optimizing business processes. Errol has consistently delivered outstanding results for his clients with a keen eye for identifying inefficiencies and a passion for driving operational excellence. Errol has become the trusted advisor to numerous organizations.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: He specializes in helping businesses to streamline their operations, improve their productivity and achieve sustainable growth, welcome Errol to profit with a plan. Podcast I'm excited to have you on today.
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Errol Allen: Well, thank you, Marcie. I'm glad to be here with you today.
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Errol Allen: Yeah, I'm excited. Okay? So I always like to ask this question. You know. How did you get into operations? And and this kind of thing? I mean, usually you don't come out of school and go. This is it right?
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: How'd you get here?
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Errol Allen: Well, you know I I was fortunate, you know a lot of my corporate corporate career. I was like in the midst of operations, you know. So I was fortunate, and and then it's just the way my head works.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: That's it.
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Errol Allen: It's it's just the way my head works. I was always one to ask questions, you know.
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Errol Allen: They should have never taught me who, what, when, where, how, and why? In elementary school? Because it's just the way my head works. So when I left corporate America, I asked myself, What are you going to do? And then I asked myself, when was I having the most fun?
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Errol Allen: And there was when I was an operations analyst for a company here in Houston, and and I all I did all day long was, look, look at processes! How we did what we did the GM. Had said to me, hey? I want you to look at how we doing what we're doing because it's a mess. And
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Errol Allen: what he didn't know was, he was just telling me to go have fun, because.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: No, I love it.
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Errol Allen: Right. So here I am.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: I love it, you know that's the greatest. That's the greatest joy to my heart that we spend so much of our time, energy, effort, money, life in in our business. Why not do something that you enjoy right.
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Errol Allen: Right.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: And I love the fact that that's just the way your head works. And when you, when you ask those important questions, you're like, how does this work? Wait a minute. What's broken? And this is like one of the biggest profit levers you can pull in your business, and it's and it's so overlooked.
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Errol Allen: Yes.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: It's just
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: kicked to the side. So I'm glad your your corporate person said, Hey, we! Everything's broken. Let's fix it.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: you know, and and in comes the expert.
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Errol Allen: It's just fun for me mostly, you know.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Oh, I love it. I love it. Okay, so with that in mind, how do you start to look at processes? Do you start at the end. Do you start in the middle? Do you start at the beginning? Where do you start to look when you're when you're analyzing a process.
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Errol Allen: Of course you start at the beginning, but even before that you want to identify your processes. Right? What are our processes? And the easy way to do that is just to to say, what are our departments right? What are the roles in each department?
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Errol Allen: What? What are the tasks for each role? Right? Because those tasks are your processes? Actually.
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Errol Allen: when you, when you think about it right? And then a good place to start is with pain points.
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Errol Allen: Where are we having issues? What are what are people complaining about? What are our customers complaining about
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Errol Allen: what internal complaints do we hear over and over, you know. Operations wise? What are people always complaining about? Why can't we? Where is my.
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Errol Allen: how? Why do I not have right phone calls that ask the same questions, don't. Those are, they're pointing you, hey? You need to look at something to stop these these negative questions, you know.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: That's that's brilliant. 1st of all, I mean, keep it as simple as you can possibly do. But when you break down the hierarchy like that. And you say, look, it starts here. What are the departments? What are the roles? What are the tasks they're doing? And forgive me? Isn't almost everything we do. Shouldn't that be process driven right.
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Errol Allen: Well, think, think about it, Marcia.
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Errol Allen: When you get up in the morning, do you get up on an alarm clock?
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Yep.
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Errol Allen: So okay. So the alarm goes off right? Here's here's 1st question. That's the trigger for the process for your getting up process right? The the trigger is the alarm goes off my immediate question. Am I ready to get up right?
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Errol Allen: The answer is, Yes, you you turn the alarm off.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Okay.
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Errol Allen: So is no you
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Hopefully hit the snooze.
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Errol Allen: Lose button right?
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Errol Allen: Then the process will start over again 5 min later is gonna go off again right? So hopefully this time you get up, and then what's the next step after you get up? Right? We we all have. We may not do the same things, but we all have that getting up in the morning process. So in my mind everything is a process.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: I love it, and that's where I think when you look at a business and and my goal is every everything I do increases revenue or boost growth for the ultimate goal of selling your company. When they're buying your company.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: They're buying your processes.
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Errol Allen: That's right.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: So this is where the value comes in, and why I keep thinking. This is so darn important to have. But I have to say I love the idea that you equated it to getting up because we all do it, except for that one day that we don't get up.
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Errol Allen: Right.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: We're all gonna get up each morning. We all have our routine thing.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: but when we look at this, what happens is as business owners go. I can't do it.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: It's too much work. What do you mean? I gotta write down everything I do. It's all up here.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: How do we get it out of up here on the paper of sort.
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Errol Allen: You, you help them to see the value in it right? Especially like with your clients.
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Errol Allen: Their business becomes more valuable when processes are documented. Because because think about it. If you're selling the business, you're selling it for a reason, you won't do it anymore. You want to go do something else, and the people that are buying it. They don't want to be bothered with you.
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Errol Allen: you know. So if you can say, here's how we do things and it's it's documented. And and all of the employees know exactly how to do what they need to do. It's easy to train people because it was documented. You you can. You can ask more for your business when you're selling.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Isn't that the truth?
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Errol Allen: Yes, yes, but it's.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: I love it.
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Errol Allen: Tedious loss here.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Okay, so are there easier ways of doing it that aren't so tedious that we can get
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: the processes out of the business owner and the team players, because the teams, all the members all have. You know, the employees all have processes. They do as well.
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Errol Allen: Right, right.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: How do we get that out of their heads?
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Errol Allen: Well, you can't get around tedious. You can't get around it right? You just have to focus on the positive outcomes of doing it. What are the positive outcomes? And if you can, when people start to get tired from it being so tedious, you have to remind them, what's the positive outcome of doing this. That's where we're headed. That's what we have to stay focused on is the positive outcome. So
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Errol Allen: you you I have to be. I'm I'm honest with my clients. Always tell them this is very, very tedious, right?
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Errol Allen: There's no magic bullet. There's no magic peel.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: There's no AI that can make this happen for you. No craziness.
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Errol Allen: So you you just have to be willing to sit down and do it.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Okay, so is there, is there? you mentioned flow charting? Right? So is there. Is there? Is that an easier way to kind of visualize what you're doing? Or is that the hierarchy breakdown of the roles and the the departments, and and that kind of stuff.
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Errol Allen: No, the flow charting is, you're actually flow charting the process.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Tell me more about that. Please.
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Errol Allen: The key to flow charting is to
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Errol Allen: to establish the boundaries. Right? What triggers the process? What is the processing? You right. You have the boundaries now and then. Now that helps you to establish. Okay, who needs to be in this flow charting session? Because you wanna make sure you have the right people in the session, right? The people that do the work in the process, the people that are impacted by the process and the people that feed the process. Now, remember.
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Errol Allen: I said, it's tedious, right? So you don't have to repeat things. So you wanna make sure you have the right people. So you don't have to go backwards. Right? Yes, so and then, when you have the right people in the room, you have automatic buying, there's no trying to sell them on it because they participated in flow, chart it out and identify where we can improve things. So now they just go do it now. Right?
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Errol Allen: So flow. Chart is critical.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: I love that that makes it also it makes it easier. Some people are very visual, right? And they're like, Well, I don't know what I do right. And then, if you can get them putting it on a board together, working as a team going. Here's how the conveyor belt works right.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: This comes in this way and moves along that way and then leaves out that way. It makes it easier for everybody to see in and go. Oh, no, wait, wait that that right there is where where we have our problem. And Susie Q. Is supposed to do that right.
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Errol Allen: Right right? And then they also understand how they're all connected.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Hmm.
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Errol Allen: Right, because
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Errol Allen: we tend to think in isolation. Here. I just do this right. I just do this and not understand that you have an internal customer. That's cause there's a handoff somewhere. When you finish your part it's going somewhere else. So who is my internal customer? So if you, if you get your internal customer in the session. Now they can talk about, hey? When you hand it off to me. I need this, this, this, this and this
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Errol Allen: and explain why, and explains what happened when they don't get it right. Usually it's coming back to you, hey? You didn't give me, or if they can do it themselves. They do it themselves, but now they've paused. They can't even do their part yet, because they're finishing up what you should have given them. And pretty soon, if that happens over and over and over, you're gonna create some animosity within them
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Errol Allen: across departments. So you don't. You don't want to do that.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: No, you wanna have a nice working flow with that.
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Errol Allen: Yes.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: I love this idea because it's really given, it's giving me. And it's hopefully given the audience. You know that that visual connection of why this is so important, and and where you can start to see where the gaps fall through. And like, I said, originally, everything's a process. From the second, we wake up. We do those repeatable things. And okay, so
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: so you're thinking, so flow, charting and and and putting it up on the board and getting the team members together. What happens when you have somebody that doesn't necessarily follow the process.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: And they're kind of doing that rogue thing they're off doing. Well, I do it this way, because that's the way I want to do it.
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Errol Allen: I I've been a road. My fear. So the the the question to ask is, why right?
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Errol Allen: Why do you do it that way? Because
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Errol Allen: their their way might be the best way. Actually, you know. So versus saying, Hey, you! You just want to do what you want to do?
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Errol Allen: No, that their way. So just ask, why? Why did you do it that way? Let them explain. And then the only, the only thing, the only criteria I have for that rogue is is the way you're doing it. The best way for everybody involved. Right?
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: I love that, because now you're asking them to give positive input that says, how can we make this better?
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Right? Because when you can make it better, you can make the more profitable, too. It might be. Oh, we only need 2 people to do this, not 3 right or or oh, well, that supplier keeps we. It keeps breaking down. So we need to get a different supplier.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: You know. I mean, it creates opportunities.
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Errol Allen: Right, right, right, right.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Stuff.
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Errol Allen: That's why you have all of these people in the room. So you can hear all of these different reasons. They can explain and it's just magic in in, you know.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Of course it is. That's I can see why you love this part of the pulling these things apart and then asking those crazy questions, why, why are you doing it this way? Why would we like to do it? What happened when you know it's those crazy W. Questions in the how right that make things run smoother and better. So let me ask you a question. I'm a fan of
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: going through and looking at, even if we're looking at our spending right income minus expenses, equals profit.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: simple math.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: But people don't often look at their expenses and review them often enough. So I asked my clients to let's go through them quarterly.
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Errol Allen: Great. Okay. Well.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: We're looking at operational processes right? Very similar to, you know, even looking at your expenses.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: how often should we review our processes and look for opportunities to improve.
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Errol Allen: There. There's a couple of answers, Marcia. One is the the
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Errol Allen: what you hear people say most often, at least every 6 months right? But I I say, do this, Marcy. Most people have team meetings right? So in the team meeting, ask the question or your processes still working for you
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Errol Allen: right, and if and if somebody says, Hey, I wish we could do now, you have an opportunity to change something right, you know, right now.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Why wait? Right?
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Errol Allen: Yes, yes.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: I love it.
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Errol Allen: Yes.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: So one of my guests a couple years ago gave me the idea, and I just got excited with it that the person that's doing the process.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: You give them a little time each month
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: to review what they're doing. Paid time. Right? You say, okay. The 3rd Friday of the month or the 4th Friday of the month. You're going to review one of your processes and come back for a way for us to improve. I'm going to pay you the hour. If you get done early, then that's great, you know, whatever, but it's like. It encourages them, and you reward them for their creativity.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Of making your company much better run better, smoother, faster, stronger, less expensive.
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Errol Allen: Right, right? Right? Right that I I would say I like that right.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Bye feel free to steal it. I stole it.
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Errol Allen: I would say, make sure, when you're reviewing your process, that you take into consideration who's connected to you.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: I like that their side right. Who's giving it to you? And who are you giving it to afterwards?
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Errol Allen: Right cause. If you're thinking about changing something, you have to make sure you don't negatively impact somebody right?
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: That's smart. But then if you get, then then in my mind, then you need to get the whole department in play right, because there's 1 leads to another, and you got the daisy chain that's going down the going down the road.
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Errol Allen: Right. So you if you tell that person, hey, review one of your processes, you know.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Come back and give us some ideas.
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Errol Allen: So the process is that person goes through the same exercise. Right? Who who's connect? Who's feeding this process? And who's connected to this process who's impacted by this process? So so to remind themselves, I need to make sure I talk to these people. Hey, here's what I'm thinking about. Let's get together. Here's what I'm thinking about. We we can change. So let's let's flow it out. You know, whiteboard, y'all flow it out, and and we can talk about it to make sure we don't negatively impact anything. You know.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Love it. So business owners.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: here's here's the here's the little grain that I think you're missing is that you get your employees
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: to do the process building and the process improving for you. And it's not having that you have to do it.
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Errol Allen: Right.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: They're already doing the process, so ask them to improve the process, for you.
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Errol Allen: Right.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Love that idea. I think the other side. That one of my other guests came to me and said, was.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: when they have their new solution right? They don't. Just. They're not just complaining about the problem. When you come to me with this new process improvement.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: you're coming to me with the solution and the idea.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: so it's like, now, it's not. You know the the open door thing where you come in and you you know, if you got a problem? Well, don't just come in with the problem. Come in with the solution you think would fix it.
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Errol Allen: Right? Right? Right?
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Errol Allen: I have this singing, Marcia. Most people come to work to do a good job. Yeah, most people do every once in a while you get a knucklehead that wants to do what they want to do. But but most of the time
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Errol Allen: people come to work to do a good job. So they're always thinking about, how can we be better? How can I do this? How can we make this better? So we can do more, accomplish more. And and usually the employees already know little tricks to make things work.
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Errol Allen: They just waiting for somebody to ask. Really.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: You know what? And I think in today's workflow workforce. You know, they want to be involved like you said. You know, they're looking to
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: participate and add value and be recognized. And and it's not always, not always the paycheck that you reward them with. It's it's the wow you actually saved us, you know, an hour of production, and you know a hundred $1,000 on that. Guess what you get Friday off, you know. I mean, whatever it is that they want in in a reward, and that recognition that
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: you know everybody.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Everybody wants that kind of stuff.
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Errol Allen: That's right, and I.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Think that boosts the morale as well when they're not always complaining about it. Someone said, You know, yeah, we were putting. The lady was complaining because her back kept hurting, because we kept making her pick up the thing and put it in the box right. And he said so. The next thing we did is we put the box on the floor and built it around the thing so she didn't have to lift it up. So it's just thinking.
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Errol Allen: Yes.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Better.
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Errol Allen: Yes.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: About the process that you're doing that ultimately leads to more profitability.
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Errol Allen: Right and and and just asking the people in the team meeting in the team meeting. Are your processes still working for you? Right.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Yeah.
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Errol Allen: Just so easy. Just ask, and then they'll tell you when they.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Sure they will.
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Errol Allen: When they know you're serious about wanting answers, they'll tell you they will.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: And the flip side to the owner is be open to new ideas.
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Errol Allen: Just.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: I was in a meeting recently, and and I was asked for my opinion, and that person didn't like my opinion and got really ticked off on it. And I'm like, well, Buddy.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: there's a problem. 1st of all, second of all, you should. You're the problem, not not me for saying it. But you know that happens out there. So we
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: we want bright ideas we want forward thinking with from our employees.
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Errol Allen: Right.
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Errol Allen: You're right.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Because if they're thinking on how to make a better mousetrap.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: it's only gonna make me more money, as the owner.
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Errol Allen: That's right, that's right. Allow the brainpower around you. To be an asset.
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Errol Allen: Don't don't be one where you think you have to have all the answers right. You have to have all the answers, and then and then some people are just control freaks, you know.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Well, not not a complete control.
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Errol Allen: But yes.
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Errol Allen: you know. So you know it it. When you have an environment that encourages employee, input things run better.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Oh, I agree a thousand percent. And looking at your processes from
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: accounting to customer service to sales.
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Errol Allen: Yes, to marketing, to delivery, to follow. I mean every.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Everything, Errol.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Everything is a process.
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Errol Allen: Everything Marcy from from from marketing. Right? The purpose of marketing is create leads. Right? So when you get a lead, where where does that lead? Go, how do you get the lead? Right?
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Errol Allen: Could it be from a phone call? Could it be from your website? Okay? So you need to flow that out. What what happens when a person hits? Submit? What happens? Does the website say something back? Thank you, for, you know. And then where does that lead? Go? Who gets it? And then what do you do with it? And then how much time do you have to do? I could go on and on and on.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: But it's but it's perfect, and until you open your mind.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: I love the flow charting, whether it's on a grease board, whiteboard, or, you know a piece of paper, or you get one of those little mind mapping apps that you can do. But once you do that, you start to see where the gaps are.
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Errol Allen: Yep.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: And if you got a gap you're losing money because it's a it's it's a hole. It's a leak in your funnel of sort. You know of everything that you're doing in there, and that leak is costing you money.
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Errol Allen: To your money. Yes, yes, yes.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: The only 2 crazy people on the world that are excited about processes.
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Errol Allen: There's a few more of us.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Good, because this is, I mean this kind of stuff. Really.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: it is really basic stuff. But I know that most business owners are so busy chasing customers and putting out fires that they don't take this time, and I hate to use the the phrase everybody uses. I'll work on your business instead of in your business, but it takes it takes time to do this, so I would encourage, and I know you're on it with the ask. Everybody at the regular meeting.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: but take some carve some time out.
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Errol Allen: Yep, I encourage people do one a week right.
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Errol Allen: Do not.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Cheesy.
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Errol Allen: You know, mo- most people people that get excited about it. They try to just who we're. Gonna do you know? 10 or 15 a week, and I'm like, Wait.
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Errol Allen: we.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: But.
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Errol Allen: Start with one, pick a pain, point right, and and work on that process and make it make it flow it out. Make it the best that you can get it right, and then and then move to your sop
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Errol Allen: of creating because the flow chart is just the what what steps are we taking to get this task done? And then when you get to create the sop, you go back to the flow chart. Okay, let's look at the flow chart and find the steps where there's these are action steps right?
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Errol Allen: And and that's what you create the sop from how do you do this action step. So the flow chart is really the foundation of it in my mind, the foundation of everything so.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Brilliant.
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Errol Allen: It's just.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Right.
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Errol Allen: It's just fun.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: You know it is fun. It's fun for me, too, so I'm with you. We're the crazy ones. But but if you think about it, though.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Most people fear change.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: And if you're running saying I'm gonna change 30 of these this month, then you're gonna cause an uprising right. But if you do one a month, or one a week, or whatever your whatever your little incremental change can be.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: They're going to snowball on each other, and you're not gonna shake up the workforce by going. Oh, what you did yesterday. We're not doing it anymore. We're gonna do it this way, which is normally the way it comes down right.
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Errol Allen: Right.
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Errol Allen: But you're getting their input and they're working through the changes. And now they buy into it. And then the changes. And so.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Up, leveling.
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Errol Allen: Right right?
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Errol Allen: And and then, now you can.
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Errol Allen: You get everybody together? You flow it out. Okay, here's how we're gonna do it. Now, I like to.
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Errol Allen: They participated. Right? Okay? So now you can come back and say, Okay, how? How is that working.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: You mean, check back what
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: working, you know, just just to gauge how things are going since you, you've tweaked it because all you're doing is tweak it right. How's that working to to get that feedback? And they they might say, Hey, maybe we can do a little more of this right here, or Hey, wait a minute. Maybe we should do.
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Errol Allen: So now there's even.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Or or even even the flip side of it. That didn't work. That caused all these problems over here. Let's revert back.
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Errol Allen: Yep.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Which you always can go back right.
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Errol Allen: Right.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: We've got a client that changed her phone system and the the office hated it. It's not doing what it's supposed to do. And and on the call the other day she goes, you still got those phones right? So so the opportunity to go backwards and then find a different path right.
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Errol Allen: And.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: It's always an opportunity.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Always.
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Errol Allen: Yep, just check in, that's all you gotta do is check in. Just check in.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Love it. Love it. Errol, this is so much fun.
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Errol Allen: Yes.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Oh, my! Gosh! Right.
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Errol Allen: Yes, yes.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: So so would you ever imagine people saying processes are fun.
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Errol Allen: No.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Well.
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Errol Allen: Because most people don't see it that way right.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: That's right.
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Errol Allen: You really start to to get in there and flow things out with them? And
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Errol Allen: they start to see the magic
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Errol Allen: that they want to do more.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Yeah.
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Errol Allen: More and more and more, then it becomes fun.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Oh, that's exciting!
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Errol Allen: Yes.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: It really is, and and from the business owner side the bottom line side, you know, it's only beneficial.
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Errol Allen: Right.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: And it may even be a little painful in the 1st step. Right.
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Errol Allen: Thank you.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: You know. Oh, well, we gotta change providers. And oh, this is gonna happen. But you know what
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: if you spend a dollar now and you save $5 next month and $5 next month, and $5 next month, and $5 next month.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Spend the damn dollar.
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Errol Allen: Yeah. And then she wants.
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Errol Allen: And then people talking about kpis, right? Key performance indicator. Right? So now you can- you can connect Kpi to your processes, right?
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Errol Allen: You know. Now you can measure right? What's what's what's the Kpi for this process? Right?
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Errol Allen: going from sales to to operations? Well, you get a sale now you need to onboard that whatever that new, a new client.
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Errol Allen: how long should it take to onboard? A new client, you know.
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Errol Allen: So you can measure that now, right when that when they're triggered to onboard, that new client, how long is it taking now? Right? So what's the goal. Actually, is it same business day within 2 business day? What is it, you know? So now you can measure how well things are going. And if you're if you set realistic Kpis, then you can ask yourself, is there something else we need to do to this process to meet that Kpi goal?
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Errol Allen: So we? There's just so much connectivity in.
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Errol Allen: I love it, both of you.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: I know it's fantastic. I could I just I I love the thought process on it, and I even more importantly love the bottom line of it, and how it improves everything, from all the employee morale to the bottom line, and how much money more money you can put in your pocket. If you do this little little step of just making sure your processes are running. Well, so all right, Errol.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: we can have a lot of fun and keep going on this, but.
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Errol Allen: Because.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Time is our enemy here. How can listeners find out more about you and Errol Allen consulting so they can, you know, get their processes under control.
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Errol Allen: We can certainly visit my website, Arrow Allen, consulting.com.
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Errol Allen: I'm on Linkedin Errol Allen.
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Errol Allen: You can email me, Errol at Arrow Allen consultant.com I
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Do you have anything cool for us that will help us? Manage these these process updatings.
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Errol Allen: Well, so far as the float, the mapping flow charting part I use Vizio Vizio is an easy tool
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Errol Allen: to to flow chart with.
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Errol Allen: it. It didn't have to be anything high. Tech simple spreadsheet, you know. Put your processes in there what you need. What are your processes? Put them in a spreadsheet to make sure you don't miss anything.
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Errol Allen: I also you. You can schedule a free consultation from my website. And for for your listeners, Marcia. I I'll even do an hour mapping session for free, if just for your.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Wow!
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Errol Allen: Yeah, yeah.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: That's powerful. Thank you very much, because I know the 1st time they do it
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: everybody gets in their head, and they're looking at a white screen, or a.
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Errol Allen: Yeah, yeah.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Flashing blinker going? Where do I start right? But if they do it once, and they've got someone holding their hand, then it starts to make sense, and that's something they can repeat. So what a what a lovely gift.
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Errol Allen: Yep. Yep.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Love it. Love it
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: all right. Listeners, thanks for tuning in today. I hope you've picked up some valuable insights and actionable ideas to help you make your business more profitable, and I know just taking a little bit of time, each meeting each month, each quarter, to look at a process you've got, and see if you can fine tune it, and make yourself a little bit more
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: running smoother, making your team happier and making your business more profitable. I know it will be beneficial for you.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: and if you're ready to simplify your marketing and start getting better results, I would encourage you to grab my free 30 day trial of profit. Booster marketing hub. There'll be no tech headaches, I promise, and just smart streamlined marketing that actually works so head over to profitboosterbiz and get started today.
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Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: And don't forget to subscribe. You don't want to miss future shows. You can always find profit with a plan on any of your favorite podcast platforms. We're looking forward to more great profitable information on next week's show. So until then, make your plans and profit with them. Thank you so much, Errol. This was so much fun.
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Errol Allen: You're welcome, Lucy. Thank you for having me.
