038 - Why You Need Business Systems And Processes (And How To Choose Them)

Regina Baker, Business Systems Consultant, Computerize U2, joined me to discuss why business systems are essential to business growth.    

Topics included:

🔹Why systems and processes are essential for every business

🔹How to choose the right CRM for you. Hint: Choose one that you can grow with.

🔹Knowing when it's time to hire someone to help you set things up. 

And more. 

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🔷 Thank you for listening. I hope you found this episode insightful, educational, and inspiring. If you did, don't forget to hit that Follow to keep learning and growing with us.

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For additional insights, follow Annette Richmond and Black Dog Marketing Strategies on social media.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annetterichmond/
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...

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:46

Hi, I'm Annette Richman. Welcome to Content Marketing School, where we will dive into content marketing strategies specifically for coaches, consultants and entrepreneurs. Discover how effective content marketing can elevate your brand and grow your business. And if you enjoy the show, don't forget to hit that follow button. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening wherever you are joining us from. Thanks so much for being here. I'm Annette Richman, this is Content Marketing School, and I'm so excited to have Regina here with me today. So I kind of stumbled on you on LinkedIn and I saw that you had spoken at the National Speakers Association, the New York City chapter, and so, for people who don't know you, tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do.

Speaker 2: 1:40

Well, first of all, I'm going to say thank you so much, annette, for having me today. I'm very excited and honored at the opportunity to speak to everyone today. Again, my name is Regina Baker-Shanier and I work with professional speakers. I help them implement systems and processes more of like logistics strategy, sops into their business.

Speaker 1: 2:09

Well, you know, I thank you so much. This is such a great topic and, you know, as I was telling you before we went live, each person that I have on my show on this content marketing school is someone that I've specifically chosen to talk about a certain topic. And, you know, I know people like me, people who are you're talking about speakers, but service providers, speakers, coaches, consultants, et cetera. You know systems I know, in my mind, are important, but there's something that I really don't know anything about and I will tell you, from time to time, I invest in like a CRM or something, and you know, I, even if I take the time to set it up, which maybe I don't I don't know what I'm doing. So, can you, you know, can you talk a little bit about, you know, to someone like me who, really, they may have a few things set up, but they're, they're, you know, they don't even know what they're doing few things set up, but they're, you know, they don't even know what they're doing, Right?

Speaker 2: 3:20

So I tell people all the time, SOPs pretty much come from corporate America, right? So when we get into our businesses, you know, as an entrepreneur, small business, we don't think about those SOPs that were in corporate America. You had this big binder and it told you step by step on what you were doing, why you were doing it and how to do it. But in our own businesses we don't take that concept right, we don't think about that concept. So then we're like what are systems and processes? What does that look like? And so it's basically taken that same strategy, so to speak, without the big binder. And now you're using software like CRMs like you know Zoho, like all of the great, you know CRMs that are out here. And that's how you strategize, right? That's how you organize your business step by step, so you don't have to, like, repeat the process, not knowing what you did the first time. So it's literally taking that binder and creating a digital footprint of that. Does that make sense? You're on mute. Sense, You're on mute, You're on mute.

Speaker 1: 4:33

I know, I know, thank you. I was trying to listen to the, to the podcast. It seems like it's live, but I'm not sure the sound is up, so so, if so, I, I understand sort of big picture, but so, but can you tell us more? Like the sort of nitty gritty, like what? What if I have nothing? Or I have like a, a CRM that I haven't used and maybe I have an email marketing platform that I'm half using? Yeah, you know how, how do you decide? And I will say that I am someone I'm sure you know people like this.

Speaker 1: 5:13

I suffer from bright, shiny object syndrome. Yeah, so I see something and somebody's talking about you know a platform and I'm like, oh, that sounds good, maybe that would help me and so maybe I buy it. I, I use a platform called AppSumo and they do a lot of brands where they're sort of new brands trying to get their foot in and you can get these lifetime deals. But you know it's like, oh, that looks good, let me grab that. So if someone's like me, I mean, how do you begin to put that and how do you know what you even need?

Speaker 2: 5:50

Okay, so what is it that you're doing in your business, right? So everybody's business is different. Most people are working with leads, right, this is the potential opportunity to work with someone, but if you don't have that person in a CRM to follow up with this person when you're trying to get business, you're trying to work with this person then you're going to use a CRM, just like a spreadsheet. You know how people use spreadsheets and they have all of these names, they have all of these phone numbers, they have all of these addresses, right? Well, you can take that and put it into a CRM, because the CRM is going to remind you when you need to follow up with that person, right? So you've got all types of CRMs, and what I suggest that people do is take the time to look at the system to see if it has everything you need.

Speaker 2: 6:47

You mentioned AppSumo, and while we're not promoting AppSumo today, appsumo is pretty much a good place to start, because now you're getting this particular software at a discount and you get to try need, because everybody's business is different. Now, I can tell you, with professional speakers, they always have leads, they always have opportunities. We're always looking for events, right, and so anybody who contacts us or anybody that we're looking at. We're putting this person in a database and we're setting reminders to follow up with that person. And the great thing about some of these CRMs even when you're emailing this person, it will also move that content into your CRM, right? So now you see a timeline of all of this communication, and that's why they're so powerful, because you don't have to remember. You don't rely on your brain, right?

Speaker 1: 8:03

So so what? Now? I I'm, I'm sure you know like I use, I use Kajabi. Now I had started using that. I mean it's really not a CRM, but I but I but I. But it makes me think when you're talking about getting a system that does like a lot of different things. Now, one of the reasons that I like it is I can have courses on there. I can have, you know, downloadable marketing promo materials, run my newsletter, notable marketing promo materials. I run my newsletter, so it has a bunch of different things. So when you're talking about a CRM, can you give us a couple of examples of like maybe someone like me, like I'm a solopreneur, so for me it would be different than like I have friends who have a business. Like I have a couple of friends who have resume businesses, or they run a recruiting firm and so they have a team of people.

Speaker 1: 8:59

And so their needs are going to be different than mine. But if I'm a solo, can you give us kind of an idea of what would be working for a solopreneur?

Speaker 2: 9:10

So let's go back to what you said. You're using Kajabi, right? Kajabi allows you to do multiple things, right? You can have your course in there. You can have a list in there of all of your customers, right? So, in a way, it's not the CRM that's going to prompt and remind you to contact this person, but it's still sort of a CRM, because you've got all of your contacts in this database, right? So you can also send your email blasts through Kajabi, but it's only to these particular people that are your customers, right?

Speaker 2: 9:50

So the reason that I talk about Zoho right, because Zoho is the king of CRMs and there's so much you can do. But you also have other CRMs. Like I work with professional speakers. There's a CRM that's SpeakerFlow, because it's specifically created for speakers, right? Coaches can also use it, because there's a lot of similarities to it. Right? Consultants can use Zoho. Right, because you're pretty much looking for a CRM that you can use in any type of way that you want to use it. Right? Zoho will also let you send out newsletters, right, blast or any type of communications.

Speaker 2: 10:35

So that's why I said if you're an accountant, if you're a coach, if you're a consultant, then you want to look at a CRM that can do everything and as you're using it, you level up, right. So you may not have to get the full software at that moment, but as you level up in your business now you're opening, you're unlocking other parts of that CRM. There's HoneyBook, there's all types. There's Dubsado, right, which is really really popular for solopreneurs, right. So it's pretty much taking that old spreadsheet and putting all of your content into a database that will allow you to increase level up in your business. And now you're sending contracts in the same CRM. Now you're sending proposals in the same CRM, same CRM. Now you're sending proposals in the same CRM, right, it pretty much holds you accountable to your business, it gives you prompts and it reminds you. So you're not relying on your brain to remember all of this stuff. And that's the power of the CRMs. It's customer relations management systems. Wow.

Speaker 1: 11:52

So yeah, I am, and I am guilty of spreadsheets. I mean, I have spreadsheets, I have my all my different content and you know, even if I'm pitching because I do some speaking myself I'm pitching I have it all in an Excel spreadsheet, in an Excel spreadsheet. But so it sounds like you're saying that look for something where you may be able to start with, maybe the beginner package, so to speak, or and like I know Acuity, there's a bunch of different packages.

Speaker 1: 12:25

So let's say you're starting with the beginner and you want to get something that you can expand. So what would be the first thing for me if I was going to get something that you can expand? So what would be the first thing for um for me if I was going to get a CRM? And we'll forget that. I have Kajabi with my email right now, but we'll say, you know, if I want to have something to keep track of my leads, that will prompt me to follow up with people and send a newsletter, um, is that like the very um, least the very minimal?

Speaker 2: 12:55

So I'll tell you what most people start with because they're unaware of the power of CRMs.

Speaker 2: 13:02

So, most people will start with Acuity. They'll start with Constant Contact. They'll start with ConvertKit, because these are databases that you're pretty much having your subscribers in there. They may not even be your customer yet, right, but these are people that you're communicating with, so a lot of people will start there, right, most people who are selling. Right, because you have some people that are not actually selling yet. They're building a database of people that they can sell to eventually. So they'll start with acuity. They'll start with an.

Speaker 2: 13:46

Acuity allows you to do different things, right, like scheduling conversations and things like that, but they'll start with that in order to build a database of people to send out messages to. Right. So that's where they want to start. They don't want to go into the big parts of Zoho, they don't want to do Dubsado yet. They don't want to take the big systems, but I recommend starting with a system that will allow you to grow. So now you're not having to move all of this stuff back and forth. You know things like that and then just unlock features as you grow.

Speaker 1: 14:25

Okay, well, that certainly makes sense, because I know every time. You know I've had my own business now, although I mean it's shifted about a year ago I shifted sort of into more content marketing but I've had my business for about 10 years, a business for about 10 years, and you know I had constant contact for a while. And then, you know, I also used ActiveCampaign for a while and then when I started doing you know, other things I started using. I don't even remember what the CRM was, but you know it didn't do everything and it's it's so difficult to decide what you're going to choose and I know, and I'm sure that you can, you can, share about this.

Speaker 1: 15:15

Now I know that a lot of companies say they have a free trial, so you may have a free trial to try it, and I know there are others and I'm trying to think of one. I think it's like 17 Hats. I use that for a while too, but they didn't have listed that they had a free trial, but if you ask them, they would give you one. So while on the one hand, a free trial sounds like wow, that's great, on the other hand it's like okay, so if I use that and I got all my stuff in there and I take the time because it's time consuming, right Like anything else, but I don't like it. So I don't know what advice do you have for someone that says, well, okay, so I've, I've heard you talk, I know that. Um, I think my husband uses Zoho. I know somebody else that uses Dubato.

Speaker 2: 16:08

What is it? Dubato Dub Sado, dub Sado Um. So I know those are right, so those are popular.

Speaker 1: 16:12

17 hats is popular for some people. I mean there's all, so how do you are popular. Or 17 hats is popular for some people. I mean there's all, so how do you?

Speaker 2: 16:25

how do you like test something without going all in? Well, like you said, some of them have free trials, right, but you have to know what you want in the system. If you don't know what you want in the system, then you're going to try several.

Speaker 1: 16:34

Okay. So can you tell for someone listening to the replay, listening on the podcast, if they're wanting to put systems in place? Because I would imagine that once you get it set up you get over that time consuming of the setup, that it makes things much easier. Set up that it makes things much easier, and I know anyone if they're a speaker or a solopreneur of some sort consultant you know we don't have. There's nobody that has like extra time, like oh, I just have extra time to be in that CRM. What are maybe three to five things that a newbie person or someone who just wants to get a combination should look for in a program?

Speaker 2: 17:22

So let me tell you, the power of social media is unused, right? So if you're on Facebook, if you're on Instagram, if you're on the power of LinkedIn, so LinkedIn is all about business, right? If you're on these platforms and you're not asking questions, then you're not going to get the answer that you're looking for, right? So I suggest that people ask questions right, post and ask how do people feel about CRMs and what do they suggest that I use? Right? Do you know any softwares that I can use with a trial? Because I'm trying to use a CRM and these are the questions that I'm having, right? I don't understand CRMs. Can you explain to me what a CRM is? Right? There's so many networking groups right that are on Facebook that you can join. That's free, and you get into these business groups and you ask these questions.

Speaker 2: 18:32

Ignorance comes from not asking questions, right? So we don't know what we don't know, and so, as a newbie, you want to ask questions, right? Use your own platform to ask these questions. Now, the really strong part of this is who are you connected to, right? Who are the type of people that you are connecting to? Are you connecting to businesses that are similar to yours, right? Are you connecting to someone like Annette that has great content, right, great podcasts, right, all of these different resources that are available? Now a lot of people will say, well, I don't have time to do that. Then what I suggest that you do is hire somebody to do it. Get you somebody you know, pay them two hours to do some research on the CRMs, on anything software related that you want to use right, software related that you want to use right. Line up with a coach or a consultant that can help you and you don't have to do the work. But now you're examining the work that they did, and so that's why I say ask questions, use these platforms to ask questions.

Speaker 1: 19:52

Well, I love that you said that and I am a big believer in that myself. I mean, well, I love that you said that and I am a big believer in that myself. I mean, I learn as much as I can for free. You know, like a lot of people, I learn as much as I. Now I can go out and and say, you know, oh, I'm going to research this and I'm going to research that, and if I'm thinking of putting in some systems, but I could hire you for a couple of hours and I could save myself a whole lot of time, and so I am a big proponent of that myself.

Speaker 1: 20:33

I learn as much as I can, but then I get to a point where I want to learn more. I want to learn at a higher level and I join a. You know, I belong to a couple of different paid membership groups that and I learn, I learn from them. But it's it's. You know, there are people that I follow on LinkedIn and I can sit and read their posts every single day that they post for two years, but yet I would prefer to join their membership group where I can learn it all, like now. Yeah, so I think that's what you're saying right.

Speaker 2: 21:08

Yes, absolutely, because people are not utilizing even the free resources that are available to them Right, and then you can make a decision when you're ready to invest. I'm a huge component proponent of investing Right, and when you invest in yourself, with someone who has the knowledge that you need, then you'll get the results Right. You kind of shave off the time that you would spend trying to find something Right. So I truly believe in that. But I also believe in the power of searching Right On Google. You're searching all of the different networking platforms that are available to you to get the answers that you need.

Speaker 2: 21:52

There is a wealth of information on the internet right, it's the worldwide web. Right, it's information overload right, and so to narrow it down is aligning yourself with networking groups that are business related right, and they talk about things like systems and processes and the different. You know like sometimes people are looking for platforms that they want to be able to accept payments, right, so you go into these groups and you ask these questions. There are several groups that I belong to and all you have to do is ask a question and it's like you get so many responses and then you, you take the part that where you get the most responses on the same software and then you go look at it Right and you see if that is the one that you want to utilize.

Speaker 1: 22:47

Yeah, no, I love that. So I have a question for you and I'm thinking I mean, I was thinking about this before we went live and, as I knew you were going to be, you know, I was going to be chatting with you today, which gives me the opportunity to pick my guest brains and I think, like with a lot of things, consistency is so important, Absolutely, but it's also a challenge. So how does someone, let's say, I get my, you know, I do my research and I put something in place, and you know, or I work with someone like you and I've got this thing and I spend my time. How do I remain consistent where I know that I need to put that lead in? Or, oh, I know I need to put that speaking pitch in? How do you maintain that consistency?

Speaker 2: 23:42

So now you're speaking my language. It's all about communication, right? So I think that a lot of entrepreneurs, small business owners, hire someone that you're communicating with through a software like Asana. Asana is a software, is a project management tool that sends messages. It's alerts to go and do something right. So you're literally telling that person that's working with you remind me of this or go and research this.

Speaker 2: 24:27

So every time, like my clients, they know how to utilize Asana. Every time they have a thought about something, it may not be urgent, but they'll go in there and they'll put it in there and they'll let me know the due date, right. That due date could be tomorrow, it could be next week, it could be a month away, but they're taking their thoughts, they're putting in this, in this project management system, their idea of something Right? Or I have another speaker who is really really, really good with speaker flow, right? And so she'll say everything has to go in speaker flow, every lead has to go in speaker flow, right, because now we know what the lead is Right. Is it in a process of a proposal or a contract, or do I? I need to follow back up with this person, and so it's prompting us to remind us to do something.

Speaker 2: 25:29

So, again, asana is a powerful tool to use to communicate with that team member that this is something that you want to do. Let's discuss this next week, right? So it's a reminder, or it's telling me, like you may say, regina, I just talked to Sam at we were at Target the store and we had a great conversation. Can you follow up with him to see when it would be a good time for us to chat? You put that in that project management system, right? And you're telling me go ahead. This is a new lead and I want to speak to this person. So it pretty much holds you accountable to what you're doing, what you're looking for, the results that you're trying to have.

Speaker 1: 26:17

So you know, I love that, I love that example, because I am one of those people. Much to my husband's embarrassment, I talk to people wherever I go. If I'm at Trader Joe's, I'm looking at people's you know, shopping carts and I see something in there that I was kind of looking at. I'm like I'll ask them oh so what do you think of that? Oh, is that good? And you know, I love to talk to people. That's how I learned about things like the um we were talking about earlier. I was talking to the eye doctor and she was telling me how she could see the allergies like in my eyes and and I, I, it's. It's so much fun, you know, to uh, to, to just learn from different people.

Speaker 1: 26:51

So we are right at the end now, and I am um, I want to share your um, your LinkedIn profile, um here and um, and I also want to ask you for sort of your final thoughts. I mean, I have asked you, I think, some interesting questions. We've had an interesting conversation. For me, I've certainly learned a lot, but what would you like to share that we haven't talked about, that you think would be important for people to know?

Speaker 2: 27:23

I think that people need to know, first of all, if you're an entrepreneur, you've already started your business what resources and tools are you putting in place to hold you accountable to the results that you want in your business? Right, so, aligning yourself with people, going through LinkedIn, seeing what people are doing? Do your due diligence. Do your research right. Connect with people, listen to podcasts like this right, find out the information that you need and, again, like I said, ask questions. Right. Ignorance comes from not asking questions, right, and so you've got to ask questions and I encourage people to do that and to again hold yourself accountable by researching these softwares to see what is going to work for you and get the results that you so desire.

Speaker 1: 28:19

Well, I thank you so much for that, and so are you. And where are you? This must be at an event where you took this fabulous picture that's on your banner.

Speaker 2: 28:28

Yes, that was actually last year at the National Speakers Association. Their influence event is their largest event for for speakers and one of my clients received the Hall of Fame award, and so we all got together and we just we took a picture and I love that. I love connecting with speakers and so that's why that's my background.

Speaker 1: 28:54

I love celebrating. No, it's fabulous. And are you open to connecting with people?

Speaker 2: 28:59

Yes, I connect with people all the time. Right now, I'm in the process of training virtual assistants, even freelancers, who want to work with speakers, right. So anybody who wants to connect and learn how to work with speakers, with systems and processes that are designed specifically for speakers, even coaches, I encourage them to contact me. I love meeting people and swapping ideas and chatting.

Speaker 1: 29:32

And that's where they can connect with you and might be interested in working with you as well.

Speaker 2: 29:37

Absolutely, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 29:39

Well. Again, I thank you so much for joining me today. I learned so much and you're such a warm and engaging guest, so it's been a pleasure chatting with you. Thank you so much and, for everyone else, have a great rest of your day. Thanks for tuning into the Content Marketing Show with me, annette Richmond. If today's insights have inspired and resonated with you, please share this episode and, if you haven't already, hit the follow button to keep learning and growing with us.