Automating Your Business to Scale Faster - Samantha Pointer

Website: https://organizingguru.com

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samanthapointer

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spe_automates

00:06 Welcome to Jump Start your systems and automations. I'm Samantha Pointer, owner of Samantha Pointer Enterprises, and I'm a certified automation service provider.  

00:23 Today. Here's what you can expect to learn why automations, so why systems and automations are essential, and identify where to start. We're going to talk about your first automation, how to build your first automation and get you up to speed quickly. And then we're going to talk about maintenance tips for maintaining and scaling your systems.  

00:53 So who am I again i'm Samantha Pointer. I'm the owner of Samantha Pointer Enterprises. I have been running this business for about 8 or 9 years. Before that, I was a professional organizer specializing in hoarders. So I bring that to the table and I've been an entrepreneur over 25 years. I'm a mother of two daughters. I'm a sports fanatic, a history buff, and I hail from Nashville, tennessee. Why I'm so passionate about systems and automation is because life has thrown me a lot of curveballs. But because I've had system and automation in place, I've been able to confidently run my business without being the bottleneck.  

01:43 So what is the number one reason for businesses feeling stuck? Well, it's doing everything manually. When you're doing everything manually, it's easy to get overwhelmed to things fall through the crack, all type of things. So that's why I'm here to help you to stop doing everything manually and get some of these processes automated.  

02:13 So what are the benefits of automation? Well, for one, it saves you time, it reduces errors, it creates consistency, and it supports growth. We all know as humans errors are going to happen so if we're doing everything manually, that's going to be, we have we open ourselves up to to more errors in our processes. And of course it saves US time with automation because we're not having to train people, we're not have to reinvent the wheel every time. It creates consistency across your entire business, consistency and brand consistency and how you do things and consistency and how you serve your clients.  

03:05 And it supports growth. You can scale your business. You can become bigger you can handle whatever is thrown at your business because you have automation in place.  

03:21 So can you identify with any of these? You're juggling too many tools that don't talk to each other. This is tech overwhelmed at its finest, especially if you're not tech savvy. There's so much technology out there that it's it can be daunting to know where to start. You know what what's the best thing for your business? So and if your tools, tech tools don't talk to each other, that makes it even worse. Mundane task. You're repeating the same task over and over, whether that's you or team member. You're doing the same thing over and over and it's becoming monotonous and it's draining your time and resources.  

04:13 No follow through. Following up with leads or clients falls through the crack. Again, if you're handling everything manually, it's going to be it's going to get crazy out there the more clients, the more customers you have trying to follow up with all the leads that come into your business. With all of the things that can come into your business, it you're leaving money on the table if you're doing stuff manually because inevitably you're going to forget something and then you feel overwhelmed and reactive. So you're just reacting to whatever is coming to your business.  

04:56 You, you don't have a game plan, you're not on defense everything that's hitting, you're just reacting to it and that is not a good way to run your business.  

05:10 So where should you start? Well, the first thing you need to do is identify repeatable tasks that you or your team do daily and or weekly. This could be simple as when someone comes into your business, how do you follow up how do you capture your their information? This could be how you send out invoices, how you send out billing. This could be how you schedule clients into your business. Whatever it is, you need to identify these repeatable tasks that happen daily and weekly and if you're a business owner who who has employees, this is the time you want to get their input first because it's so easy for you to not know what the process is since you're not the one doing it.  

06:06 The next thing you need to do is to document. I cannot stress this enough you want to document your processes, OK? It can't stay in your head and I know, I know, I know as a business owner, yes, we know everything's in our head we know how it's supposed to go but that is not going to help your business in the long run because you can't pass down in your head to new people you bring on as you expand time constraints. Having it in your head is not good you want to document it, get it down on paper, get it in the computer, whatever you want to use for documentation.  

06:44 You want to get those processes down. And then you want to go through and eliminate what no longer serves you. So just because when you started your business, this is how you did things, now that you might be more mature in your business, you might not need the same process anymore so you need to identify that and eliminate it. And then you're going to pick one, pick one of your documented processes and you're going to build this automation out. Ok. And we're going to get into what Ace Automation is some some simple automations you can do in a few minutes but pick one, don't think because we're automating our business, we have to do it all at the same time, all at once, everything at once no, that just puts you back into overwhelm so you want to pick one of your documented processes and build that automation out.  

07:43 And then you're going to want to monitor and refine. So check in and make sure things are running smoothly with your automation. Yes, you can feasibly set it and forget it, but this isn't always good to do because technology breaks, systems can break down. So if you're not monitoring them, it can lead to even more trouble so make sure you're monitoring, checking in on those automations, make making sure they're running smoothly, at least do this at the very least monthly.  

08:19 But if you can do it weekly, even better. And if it's a stress, I wouldn't go over quarterly checking my automation so definitely you want to at least do it monthly and then you're going to want to make adjustments accordingly.  

08:37 So what's a simple system that you can automate right now? Well, how about appointment bookings? If you play phone tag all of the time with clients and customers, this is the perfect thing to automate first and a simple thing you can automate, you would want to use some type of tech tool like Calendly or QOT scheduling or it's or something like that even Google, Google Calendar has built in appointment bookings now. So again, whatever tech tool that you can employ, you're going to hear me say that a lot.  

09:24 Whatever tech tool that you can employ, this is a great way to get started automating this oK, So again, appointment bookings, you're going to want to have some type of tech tool, whether it's Calendly or whatever, set up on your website where people can click, choose a time they can meet with you and book their appointment. It's super simple to set up. All you have to do is in the back end make sure that whatever calendar that you use to keep up with appointments and things you have to do is connected so people can't overbook and and you be overbooked.  

10:08 So that is 1 simple system that I like to set my clients up on quickly is automating those appointment bookings. And again, it's as simple as employing a simple tech tool that can either sit on your website or that you're able to share a link in email so people can book time with you.  

10:33 So here's another automation that I've done for a client this is another way to build out a simple automation into your business and that is lead management. However, people are coming to you, discovering you you want to make sure that you're capturing their information and you're following up with them. So this is one that I built for my client, which is her lead magnet.  

11:06 It's just a mini guide that she offers. It starts with a opt in form on her website. People enter in their name and email and then once they do that, her CRM email management system sends out an automated email that gives them all the information to access what they asked for, which is the lead magnet. Once they get that they are, then they can click on the link in the email and go to the website page that has the information they asked for.  

11:45 And once they get to that page, her email marketing CRM system tags them automatically that they access this lead magnet so she can further nurture this, this lead with even more information and know, oh, OK, this is something they were interested in. They actually looked at it. So what other targeted emails can I send them? So this, this is, this is just a basic lead magnet workflow that involves actually just two tech tools, her website and her email management system. That's it. That's how simple setting up automations can be, and everything talks to each other. She's able to build on this and send out targeted emails. This is what I'm talking about when I say build something simple start with the simplest thing and then you can scale from there.  

12:56 Automating your business doesn't have to be hard again, as long as you don't put in your head that, hey, I've got to do it all at once i have to do all the things, everything. It doesn't have to be hard when you document things, when you are, when you're documenting, when you know what your processes are, it. It makes automating your business even simpler.  

13:31 So let's talk about best practices. When it comes to automation, you want to make sure you are going about it in the most efficient way.  

13:40 So here are some best practices for sustainable automations. Again, you're going to want to keep it simple. Don't try to jump into the most advanced automations ever. Always keep it simple. Even even though I'm an automation expert and I do this for a living, I like to start simply i like to keep it simple and build from there. The next thing you're going to want to do is to map it out. Always map out my automations before I jump into the tech tool. That way I can work out any kinks on paper or on my digital mapping board before I waste time building it in the technology to only to learn that it's not going to work.  

14:32 Ok, then you're going to want to test before going live. Please don't launch something live without testing it first this goes for lead magnets, new product launches, webinar workflows, anything of that nature you're going to want to test first. Make sure put yourself in the seat of the lead coming through or the client coming through or the customer going through it and make sure that you're getting all the things that you set up that where is it going? And did this go to my spam did it deliver it all was I tagged correctly? Did I get what I asked for? All these things you want to test before you go live oK and there's many ways to test,  

15:27 You know, have your team to test. So yeah, make sure you test before going live. And then again, like I said, you want to review your automations at the very least monthly to make sure everything is flowing correctly and working how it should and also to again eliminate any automations or processes that no longer serve your business. And then my favorite thing document everything. Document everything you're doing this makes it easier to deploy new automations this makes it easier when you're onboarding new new hires so they can get up to speed quickly.  

16:10 Just documentation makes things easier.  

16:17 So, scaling your systems in order to scale, you want to know what to automate first, right? Know what you need to automate. Know what can be automated. You're going to want to start simple again, you want to stack your automation strategically. This means that you're starting with the most pressing thing that needs to be automated first and going from there. Once you build 1 automation, it's going to be easier to rinse and repeat, OK? And then you're going to want to document and test, again, document all your processes that's going on, test all of your automations that you build before you go live.  

17:08 And then again, review and scale. Review what's working, review what's not working, eliminate what's not working, and then go from there scale from there, build on from there. And my favorite thing higher technology. Even if you're not tech savvy, you don't have to be overwhelmed with technology technology really is your best employee. You know it works twenty four seven it's cost effective. So use technology to your advantage that's the reason why we have it, higher technology to get these automations going to do the repetitive task for you, so you're not doing stuff manually.  

17:55 And then the last thing is to know when to get expert help again. I know it's a busy, busy business owner the best use of your time is not to be tinkering around in the back end and building automations yourself. You want to know when to get expert help. I'm an expert i do this for a living i help clients come up with a strategy across marketing, sales, service and operations and automating those areas. And I also build, maintain and all the things. So know when to get expert help.  

18:36 Again, this will help you with scaling your business to new heights, making sure you're not stuck in the weeds of your business, making sure that you're empowering your employees, all those things oK,  

18:56 So that is it for this. You've got this you don't have to do it all manually. Your action steps from this is to start where you are. You're going to want to automate what you can and build as you grow it's just that easy and again, if you would like help, you can connect with me on all social media channels you can find out more about me, how I can help you see what offers I have at organizing guru dot com forward slash SPE links i would love to help you get automated in your business i hope that you take some action steps away from this webinar and employ them today in your business.  

19:51 Some of the things I discussed today, you can get up and running today. It might take you an hour or two, but you can get them done today, especially with identifying those processes. So again, thank you for joining me and happy automating.