Firstly, thanks for visiting my website and reading this blog. Have you been here before?
Did you know… it usually takes people between 5-8 touch points to make a decision about whether to connect or purchase a product or service. That means, your ideal customer/client/patient has read your socials post, checked out your website, read your blog, or browsed your shop, 5-8 times before they’ve even reached out to you. Crazy right!
So I’m saying it loud for those lurking in the back – sharing here the process of working with me, so you can have a think and consider if you’d like to reach out and get some support for your business.
If you’ve visited before, followed my social media or I’ve been recommended to you by someone, then Hey! 👋 Click here if you’d like to read my fun/get-to-know-me blog. If you’re in the mood for practical business chats, then keep reading, and I’ll take you through what happens from here.
Book a zoom with me. Online Business Managers (OBM’s) like to get involved; we are the nosey/caring sorts who want to know the whole picture of your business. The more we know about you, your business, your ideal client, your time limitations, the things you enjoy doing and the areas you dislike doing, the quicker we can make an impact.
Step 1
Before the call- I’ll be doing my best sleuth impression by checking out your website and social media presence. Don’t worry, we all have sections of our website that we’re a bit embarrassed about 🙈. A website is always a work in progress!
Our initial call – think of it as a meeting to have a chat over a coffee. A chance for us to get to know each other. First impressions count for a lot – it’s just as important for you to get a feel for me as it is for me for you; this partnership can only work if we get along and vibe well (check me out, sounding down with the kids). Letting someone ‘under the hood’ of your business is a big deal – and you have to feel completely at ease and confident that the person you’re working with can become your business bestie.
Before our call, think about these things
-What tasks do you want to outsource? What slips off your to-do list daily/weekly, what do you know should be done in your business, but just can’t put the head space towards figuring out?
-Budget, how much can you put towards this? We can certainly start small and build up – it’s helpful for you to know my packages start from £75 per month (for support with one email marketing newsletter monthly), and ad-hoc tasks can be completed at an hourly rate of £36ph (correct as at March 2023).
-Time, people will say it will take hours to get set up with an OBM; it does take a little bit of organising but once I’m up and running, you will feel the benefits quite quickly.
-Your story; I’ll ask what you love about your business, how you got to where you are today, where you’re headed, and where you’d LOVE to be.
After the call, [I hope] you’ll leave feeling supported, relieved and realistic as to what the running of your business could look like 🤞. I will have a clear picture of what support would benefit your business, and will create a proposal with costings for you to look through.
Step 2
You will receive my proposal within 4 days of our call. It will include a summary of our discussion, my ideas, the time required and my costings. This is my first draft; I’m really keen to get things as on-point and targeted as possible for you. Outsourcing is a big deal, and being able to recognise your return on investment is important.
Just remember – ROI doesn’t necessarily mean the £££’s brought back into your business though – your return could be reclaiming time back in your day.
Feel free and encouraged to ask ALL the questions when going through this process. You might want to have a chat with more than one OBM, to understand and experience the different offerings (everyone’s different, right?) and to see how you might get along with different people.
Or, you might be feeling super-jazzed up and ready to get cracking after getting all the good feels from our call and follow-up email exchange… go with your gut, it’s rarely wrong (nor is my 95%+ discovery call > signed contract success rate 😉)
Step 3
Pressing the go button. If you are happy and I’m happy; we can get productive. It will depend on the tasks that I’m doing for you as to what we do next. Take a look at the image below to see a couple of examples.
I will be sending you a contract and terms of service, as well as outlining my way of working, and my suggestions on our approach of using a task management system (not scary, I promise).
The headlines here:
- I invoice at the start of the month, for work completed the month before
- We’ll be in regular comms – to keep things ticking along
- If a member of my team is completing work on my behalf, I’ll always have an eye over this before submitting the work to you. My team are pretty ace though – it’s a condition of being a part of team Jen Sands 🤩
- If you feel things aren’t working out – there’s no hard feelings. If we don’t try, we’ll never know what could be, right? My T’s and C’s state a 30-day notice period – however if it suits us both to wrap things up sooner we can discuss and agree on this. This works both ways too if I feel for whatever reason that I’m not the right OBM for you.
BUT – let’s not focus on breaking up this gig before we’ve even begun, shall we?
Step 4
You can now enjoy the freedom and support that an OBM brings. You will be able to enjoy the aspects of running the business that you love whilst knowing all the other tasks are being taken care of. I will be cracking on with creating, systemising and managing what I need to. If I’m creating content for you (newsletters, blogs, social posts and such like) you’ll see a first draft before anything is scheduled/published.
As our work together starts, I’m here as a second pair of eyes and ears within your business.
Having that person to run things by, ask advice to, celebrate the highs and figure out the lows with, can make such an impact.
Running a business can be a lonely place – and there are only so many supportive nods and mmhmm’s that our family and friends can give.
Our work together is an evolving partnership; my services can adapt to your business, and whether a package with set deliverables is best (such as a monthly blog, social posts, and a newsletter), or ad-hoc support and business development chats is more useful to you, I’m here (with my team) for it all.
If you fancy a chat, just get in touch.