🎯 Work Smart Wednesday - March 13, 2024
Improve your systems with a simple question, an underrated system, and a quote from James Clear
Work Smart Wednesday
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1. 🌟 What would a 5 star system look like?
Systems are the most important thing in your business. Systems are what separates amateurs from successful entrepreneurs. I learned this the hard way running my own businesses.
Systems can sound scary, but they are actually much easier to build and maintain than people realise. As with everything, we just need to take it one step at a time.
Systems include: onboarding, client acquisition, invoicing, scheduling, project management, system review, customer support, training and development, referrals, reviews, and many more.
I was recently speaking with a client about his onboarding system - he said he didn’t have one. Unfortunately, he absolutely had one but it was just it was so unorganised that he didn’t recognise it as a system. If you have clients, you already have an onboarding system (but not necessarily a good one yet!).
Together we talked through the steps clients go through when they start working with him, and horror slowly dawned on his face.
He was offering a premium service, but his onboarding was trash. It didn’t match, and upon further inspection this mismatch had cost him multiple clients and tens of thousands of dollars.
So what did we do?
I asked him a simple question: what would a 5-star onboarding system look like?
This is a simple question, but a powerful one. It is something I learned about from AirBnB founder, Brian Chesky. You can hear him talk about it more on his Masters of Scale episode “Do things that don’t scale”, and a short written summary is here.
This simple prompt helped us outline what his system could look like. Within 10 minutes, we had a list of things we want the client to do, to feel, to experience - and we also had a step-by-step action of things we need to do to build out a 5-star system.
I helped him tweak his outline, and added a couple more points and ideas, but this prompt alone has helped him significantly improve his service.
We have implemented the changes one step at a time, improving a small part of the onboarding experience each week, and he is already receiving positive feedback from new clients.
Onboarding is a simple way you can show clients that they made the right decision. They often decide within the first 48 hours of working with you whether they have made the right decision or not. Just because you made the sale it doesn’t mean you’re going to keep it. Onboarding is the first step to retention, and retention is key.
ACTION: Consider, what would a 5 star system look like? (10 minutes)
Pick a system that you don’t yet have or you think needs improvement. Ask yourself, what would a 5 star x system look like?
Write it down.
Go wild - budget, time, effort, nothing is a constraint. You are in brainstorming mode. Write down what a 5 star system would be without considering the boundaries. You can make it realistic after.
2. 🌅 One of my favourite underrated systems
There are hundreds of systems that can, and should, be implemented in your business. Some are more important than others, and some are unsung heroes.
I’d like to highlight one of my favourite “unsung hero” systems: Offboarding.
As I have mentioned before, you should fire your bad clients. The same goes for bad employees. Both cause more trouble than they are worth and they are an anchor weighing you down and preventing you from rising, from succeeding.
Just because you fire a client or an employee, that doesn’t mean everything is over with them. They will still talk about you and your business and you want that talk to be favourable. They can actually still drive revenue for your business. They can cost you money, too.
I learned this a few years back: I had a terrible client that I hated working with, they were rude and never took the actions we agreed on together, so I fired them.
However, I remained professional throughout - I explained why I made the decision, offered tips for improvement, suggested alternatives to me and my services that could work for them, and explained in detail “what happens next” for things between them and I.
Despite the fact I fired them, they went on to leave me a glowing review and referred two clients to me (both of which became model clients).
Nobody, prospects or potential employees, wants to work with a business that they have heard bad things about. But, they do want to work with businesses that people speak favourably about. People speak favourably about businesses that made them feel good. Despite “breaking up” you can still make somebody feel valued, useful, thanked, helped, and generally good about the time they had with you.
ACTION: Outline an offboarding system for your clients (15 minutes)
Use the exercise above, what would a 5-star offboarding system look like for your business?
Focus on outlining the system for clients OR employees, whichever leaves your business more often. The two systems are significantly different.
Good client offboarding systems answer questions like: What triggers the beginning of the offboarding process? How are the changes communicated? When does work end? What are the final deliverables and when can I expect them? What did we achieve while working together? When does payment stop? How much is the final payment? Are there any other services you offer that I might be better suited for? What happens to work already completed? Who will complete the work now? Who is responsible for finding, training, and/or ‘handover’ to that new person that will now complete the work? How do I leave a review or feedback? How do I address any outstanding issues? How do I get in touch with any questions? How do I refer people to you? What will I retain access to? Are there any legal or contractual obligations I need to be aware of (e.g. return of resources, NDAs, non-competes, etc)? What do I need to do or send to you? When will you follow up with me? Etc.
3. 💡 Quote I'm pondering
"You do not rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems” - James Clear
Entrepreneurs often set lofty goals for themselves. However, merely setting ambitious goals is not enough to ensure success. It's the systems and processes put in place to support those goals that truly determine the outcome.
In my experience, I've observed that entrepreneurs who rely solely on their ambition and willpower to achieve their goals often find themselves struggling to maintain consistency and progress over the long term. This is where effective systems come into play.
Instead of being at the mercy of unpredictable external factors or relying solely on motivation, entrepreneurs can rely on their systems to guide them towards their objectives, even in the face of challenges or setbacks. Your systems are the engine driving you and your business forward.
That's it! I can't wait to hear what you think. What did you find most useful? What do you want more or less of? Reply to this email now and let me know
I adapted the style this week, with bolded action points. Your feedback would be much appreciated - how do you feel about the change? Email me at John@JohnJDMunn.com
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Have a great week,
John
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