Guide
What to automate first in a small business
Most automation projects fail because they start with the interesting problem rather than the expensive one.
This guide gives the order we use, and why.
The rule
Automate the task that costs the most and needs the least judgement. That is nearly always chasing, capturing or copying — not anything that requires you to make a decision.
If a task needs your judgement, automate the admin around it instead of the decision itself.
The order of work
1. 1. Stop the leak
Capture enquiries you are currently losing — missed calls, unanswered messages, forms nobody sees. Recovered work pays for everything else.
2. 2. Make follow-up automatic
Second and third contacts convert. Nobody does them by hand consistently.
3. 3. Cut the assembly time
Quotes, invoices, job records: reuse details instead of re-typing them.
4. 4. Automate the reporting
Once the first three are running, get a weekly view so you can see whether anything actually improved.
What not to automate
Handled automatically
- Chasing, capturing, copying, reminding, reporting
Stays under your control
- Pricing
- Customer relationships
- Anything with legal, clinical or safety judgement in it
Work out your own starting point
The 2-minute check asks six questions about how enquiries, reviews and admin work in your business, then tells you where the biggest leak probably is.
Related reading
Start with a free strategy call
Book a free strategy callQuestions we get asked
- Should I buy a tool or build something?
- Buy where a tool already fits. Build only where the fit is genuinely poor — and that is rarer than software companies suggest.
- How long before it pays back?
- If you start with a real leak, usually within a few months. If you start with the interesting problem, possibly never.