Hey hey Reader,

So the last year-ish I've been hiring different contractors for my own business. I've also been supporting my clients while they hire team members (mostly contractors).

Most of the hires I've personally made have been short-term or for roles that aren't "in" my business. When I say "in" my business I mean someone like Stephanie, my project manager. She's "in" my business, working with clients and managing projects. Whereas someone like Becca, who wrote my website copy, wasn't "in" my business. She was doing work for my business, but I didn't have to add her into all of my systems and get her onboarded. She was a short-term/one-off hire where it didn't make sense to add her into everything, so we kept all our communication via email.

With my clients though, all of the people we've been hiring have been for roles "in" my clients business. They're ones we need to do a full onboarding and training for so they can complete the tasks and projects assigned to them.

Through all of these experiences I’ve learned X things that have made me reflect on my own systems but also that of my clients.

01 | Automated email fails

I had hired someone for a partial day service last year, and after I signed and paid... I received an email for a full day service. My onboarding email included expectations that were a lot more than what the partial day would be, which left me confused and frustrated because it didn’t match my experience or the service I invested in.

The lesson here? Make sure you’re using the workflow for the service they’ve booked and that the email sets the right expectation for any prep work or next steps.

02 | Surprise and delight... or not

I went to check my mailbox one day and to my delight, discovered I received a lovely gift from the person I hired!

The problem? They spelled my name wrong on the 'personalized' note. Whoops. To make it even more awkward... I personally knew the person that I had hired. Which shows me that their team member didn’t double check the spelling on my name before purchasing the gift.

The lesson here? Surprise and delight is a wonderful way to set the tone for your project, whether you're getting ready to start it or are wrapping it up. BUT, always do a quality control check to make sure the important details, like their name, are correct.

03 | Set the right expectations

When someone hires you, it's most likely the first time they've ever hired someone like you. So they have absolutely no expectations or idea for what comes next. Once they sign and pay they may even immediately email you asking "what happens next". Or, once they complete their prep work may message you confirming that you got everything you needed from them. By having (canned) messages ready to go when it's time to notify them, or even better, having it automated, will help show your client you're on top of it.

Having super clear expectations and process unfortunately doesn't guarantee that your client is paying attention. Even if you've said it a hundred times in seven different places throughout the process. It does help though if you have a clear place to direct your client each time they have those questions. For example, are they asking about deadlines? Point them to the project management tool (if you added them to it) or to a doc that shows the upcoming deadlines. If you don't have either, consider sending them a weekly update which shows what deadlines are coming up and shows them where you're at in the project.

The lesson here? Think about how you'd like to be treated or guided during a project — are you doing that for your clients?

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If I haven't said it before, you need to do a full test of your own processes from start to finish.

Try and think of it from the perspective of your client who has no idea what’s going on, has never worked with you (or maybe never hired someone before), and wants to be assured they’ve made the right investment decision. Make sure to check for the timing of emails and followups, and think about what you'd be looking to know if you'd hired you.

Lastly, at the end of the project in your review request, ask your client to tell you how they felt about your process. There’s no one better to do that than someone who’s just gone through it!

If you're procrastinating on testing out or updating your processes, or if you need another set of expert eyes on it to make sure there's no gaps — let's talk. This is one of the most requested things I do during an Implementensive™. In 2-hours we can review any workflows or processes you've got and make sure that they are either ready to be used or setup in an automation.

Til next time,

Liz

This week's picks 📚 Currently reading: Book Lovers — found this one at a cute used bookstore during our travels 🤓 Thought of the week: What has been the best hour of your week? How can you make it easier to have more hours like that?