How To Choose The Right Systems For Your Business

How do you choose the right systems for YOUR business?

I've seen a lot of people posing questions like this lately...

"What's the best course platform?"

 "What's the best all-in-one"?

"Should I switch to Go High Level?"

And many variations of these.

Here's the thing... what works perfectly for one person, may have the total opposite effect for you, and in this noisy online world, it's easy to get sidetracked by what everyone else is doing. So whilst it's great to be asking, sometimes I think it's important to revisit the WHY behind it.

Is Switching Platforms Your Priority?

Before jumping on the latest trend or platform, ask yourself: Is switching platforms the most important thing for you to focus on in your business right now, or are you just using this to avoid the work that's actually gonna move you forward?  Often, the urge to switch systems can be a way to avoid more urgent tasks, such as improving sales or customer engagement. If your primary goal is to generate revenue, then spending months revamping your website or transferring systems may not be the best use of your time and resources.

Instead, focus on acquiring clients first. Once you have a steady stream of clients, you can better understand their needs and identify which aspects of your systems need improvement. After all, how can you know what needs fixing if no clients are using your current setup? Trust me, I'm speaking from experience on this one. 

Earlier this year I was doing exactly that... building complex funnels, switching website platforms, and deliberating over whether to delete my second website. All important tasks, but not the priorities I needed to be focusing on at that moment. Once I switched my attention to working with clients, I could more easily identify how to improve my systems. 

Is It Shiny Object Syndrome?

Is it shiny object syndrome or FOMO because this is the new fancy thing everyone seems to be talking about? Or are your systems genuinely causing you grief and is it time to change them? If it's leaning more towards just wanting to be up to date with the current shiny thing then I'd invite you to dig a little deeper into your needs.

It's easy to get caught up in the excitement of the latest tools and platforms everyone seems to be talking about. As an example... let's talk about the current shiny thing... Go High Level (GHL). It's not actually that new, but it's only been really loud in my field in the last few months. Probably because I'm networking with different business crowds again. Despite its popularity, it's essential to critically assess whether you need it or if you're simply experiencing FOMO.

I'd be lying if I said I haven't visited the GHL site a few times. It keeps popping up in groups and communities I'm in. People are raving about how great it is.

I've looked at the site and I was intrigued, but not enough to pull the trigger. Tempting as it may have been to follow the crowd... I love Kajabi, Kajabi is working for me, all my clients use Kajabi. What's the point of wasting time trying to learn a new system when I have better things to focus on right now? Does that mean I'll never consider it, no. Just, in my current phase of business, there's no need to get distracted.

In my many years working online I've come to realise, buying into things just cos of hype never works out well. Platforms come and go, one minute it'll be the greatest thing on the market and the next, everyone's moving on to something else.

Case in point... the mass exodus from Clickfunnels (CF) to GHL which has now resulted in GHL being sued. Now, I'm not denying that GHL software is waaayyyy better than Clickfunnels. I've read enough raving reviews to understand that point. I left CF years ago. Once I decided to create courses I knew it wasn't the platform for me. Any course I've taken that was housed in CF, I hated! It's ugly and clunky. So, obviously, GHL solves a lot of the problems that CF couldn't... but does that mean it's right for you? And if you aren't already using it, is the best time to make the switch right when they're defending a lawsuit?

Key Considerations When Choosing Systems

1. Primary Business Needs: Identify what you need the system for, such as funnels, course delivery, community building, or content creation.
2. Current Bottlenecks: Do a review of your business to see what the current bottlenecks are. Is it lead gen, lead nurture, conversion, delivery or retention? Depending on where the most pressing issues are, will determine where your current focus should be.
3. Future Business Goals: Where do you see your business heading? How could your needs evolve? Planning ahead can save a lot of headaches and reduce the amount of time spent switching platforms.
4. Current Tools Compatibility: What tools do you already have? Is whatever you're looking into going to be compatible with those? Can they all integrate seamlessly? If you need to use Zapier, make sure there's zaps that can do what you need.
5. Recommendations and Trust: Who is recommending it to you? Do you trust them? Could they have an ulterior motive (eg. do they just want an affiliate commission and are they being open about being an affiliate?)
6. Vendor Reputation: Who's the vendor? What's their reputation? What's the reputation of the product they're selling? Doing a quick Google search will help with this... note, if you are gonna trust articles that bad mouth one product but then go on to pitch another, refer to the point above, this has been a tactic of affiliate marketers. Make sure the sources are reputable.
7. Trial Periods: Does the platform offer a trial period? The best way to know if something is the right fit for you is to try it out. Get a feel for it, see if you actually like working with it. Obviously you won't be able to see everything in a trial, but you'll get a good enough gist of whether it's gonna suit your needs.
8. Support Team: Does the platform have a good support team? One of my favourite things about Kajabi is how helpful their live chat is. They have a range of helpful articles, but if there's ever something I can't find in there, I can just jump on chat and someone walks me through whatever I need. As opposed to when I've worked with clients who use Kartra, they have the worst support and that's one of the main reasons I steer people away.
9. User Community: What's the user community like? Do they have FB groups, IG profiles... what are people in their network saying about their experiences using the platform?
10. Cost-Effectiveness: Analyse cost-effectiveness. This is another symptom of shiny object syndrome... some people end up jumping into heaps of platforms they don't even need, or not realising some systems they're using have the same features. And whilst an all-in-one may seem like the best solution, sometimes for your needs it may not be. For instance, I LOVE Kajabi. When I made the switch I was using Clickfunnels, Activecampaign, Showit and Teachable so it made sense to switch to an all-in-one to reduce costs and create more efficiency. But if I needed to do higher level email marketing I would bring in something like Infusionsoft or Activecampaign to use the advanced segmenting features. All in ones are a great starting point, but as your business evolves, then sometimes bringing in higher level systems is actually going to bring a higher ROI and is worth the investment. This is what I've heard GHL is great for, so when you're at that point of business growth, maybe it makes sense to switch.

Making the Right Choice

So, the main point is... make sure you're choosing platforms based on YOUR specific needs, and not based on the noise of the marketplace. Ultimately, the best system for your business depends on your specific needs and goals. Avoid getting swayed by market noise and focus on what truly benefits your business. And remember, if you ever need support in making these decisions, you know where to find me.

Was this helpful? I'd love to know your thoughts.

P.S. I am a Kajabi affiliate and it is still my platform of choice. If you would like to try it out for free you can here.