I don’t know about you, but I’m a huge fan of the “set it and forget it” mentality. I appreciate it when I can set something up once and trust that it’ll work for me again and again. I look for things that are recurring tasks in my business that I can automate whenever possible. One way I’ve been able to do that is through workflows in one of my favorite platforms, Dubsado. Dubsado is a business tool that can function as a CRM, and/or a great onboarding platform for your business. I help many of my clients set up Dubsado because while it's not the most intuitive platform in the world, it’s so helpful for creating automations in your business.
So what does setting up Dubsado do for you? It saves you time, and in the long run, that’s what saves you money. By setting up a workflow in Dubsado, you don’t have to worry about the back and forth, or remember what you did the last time to create the same experience the next time. You are truly focused around creating standard processes for your business.
Here are four ways that workflows will transform your business:
1. Standard offers equal simplicity.
Identify the standard offers you provide in your business. For example, if you are a business coach, maybe you offer one-on-one business coaching, courses, intensives or VIP days, etc. If you are a service provider, such as a VA or an OBM, I’ll use my business as an example, maybe you do a standard monthly hourly package, one-off projects, and an intensive. If you’re not currently offering “standard” services, meaning you instead customize each proposal for your clients, I would highly recommend you identify at least a couple of offers you can make standard. If you're constantly needing to create a new proposal or come up with new pricing for whatever your offer is, it won’t simplify anything in your business, and will in return create a lot more work for you, and not to mention the time spent in the backend of your business. I usually recommend two to three offers that are your go-to, that you can talk about and share, and really have those fine-tuned for your potential clients. Why do I believe in standard offers so much? If you don’t have standard offers, you can't do as much with automation. And what does automation do? It gives you some simplicity in your business.
2. Save time with automation by the push of a button.
If you have standard offers, such as business coaching, hourly services, and intensives, you can create workflows for each of those three things to help automate these processes for your new clients. So where do you start? Start thinking about from the time somebody wants to connect with you, to the time that they're onboarding as your client. What does that look like? For example, say we get on the phone, they say yes to working with me, I have this automation set up, it's called a workflow in Dubsado, where at the touch of a button, all I have to do is put in their information, including their name, their business name, their contact info, and click start on this automation. The first step in the automation includes sending them their contract and their invoice. Once their contract is signed and the invoice is paid, it automatically will send them an email with the next steps to book their first call with me, as well as a link to fill out a questionnaire. I don't have to worry about going back and forth with the client to do that. I don't have to remember what I said or go find a previous email to copy and paste. I don't have to go back and forth with the time to schedule a call. I also don't have to follow up with them for future invoices. I have it set up for say a six-month coaching client to send them a reminder to pay their next invoice three days before it's due. And then another email to go out if they don't pay it two days after it's past due. All of that is done for me at the touch of a button. A similar workflow happens for my other offers. This really simplifies the onboarding process for both you and the client.
3. Positive Client Experience.
Workflows create a positive client experience, as it feels seamless and easy to your new client. Your new client is not waiting on you to create the invoice or to send it over once they sign the contract. This is particularly important if you're in different time zones, or maybe they sign your contract at night after you've already stopped working. This way, they don’t have to wait on you to send the invoice over and waste another day before getting paid. It creates the ability for them to do the next step in the process on their time versus waiting on you. If this is the first time they're working with you, they're going into this relationship seeing how smooth the process is, which makes them feel good about the relationship moving forward. Creating the simplicity for them will make them feel more confident in their work with you.
4. No need to reinvent the wheel.
Every time that you onboard a new client, the process is the same. You're not coming up with a new way to do the same thing. You're not having to think about “Oh, what did I do last time?” You don’t want different workflows based on different scenarios. Instead, these workflows should be your go-to, every time you onboard a client. You don't have to make it harder than it already is or needs to be. It creates standards for your business and frees up space to focus on delivering kick-ass results to your clients.
As you can see, workflows are truly transformative for your business. It saves you time, and you probably don't realize how much time some of these things are truly taking you. When you sit down to create this standard, it will create that space in your brain to not have to worry about it anymore. You can also outsource some of these things, such as the onboarding of a new client, to a team member because you’ve put this standard into place which will allow you to be more productive in other areas of your business.
If you have any questions, you can always feel free to reach out to me on Instagram. If this does feel overwhelming to you, you can also book a system and systems intensive with me. My Systems with Speed intensive is designed to help you run through this process, figure out what this looks like in your business, and I can set up Dubsado (and potentially another platform in that same intensive) for you to truly transform your business. If you are more of a DIYer, check out my course, Automate Everything, that will assist you in getting Dubsado set up on your own.
Katelyn Hamilton is an Online Business Manager and Get Your Sh!t Together Strategist. She helps busy entrepreneurs organize, strategize and prioritize their business to go from overwhelmed to out-in-front.
After spending 6 years in the corporate world working with multimillion dollar companies, top-rated chefs and celebrities, she launched her own business to find more flexibility and freedom. She matched her corporate salary in just one year of starting her business.
Katelyn is also a wife, stepmom, dog mama of three furry friends, fitness lover, sports fanatic (Go Dawgs) and dreams of living at the beach.
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