Welcome to another episode of Silence in Golden where Troy and Simon give away invaluable tips for your business.
This week the main topic is creating systems and processes for your WordPress business. We also bring you latest news including the online Javascript for WordPress Conference, Mail Chimp's new landing page builder and a bit about Beaver Funnels. All that and more so tune in!
Watch the Video
Stuff That Happened
Online Javascript for WordPress Conference
Zac Gordon, who launched his Gutenberg development course earlier this year, is organising a virtual conference called JavaScript for WordPress. The conference will take place June 29th and is free to watch.
Find out more in this article form WP Tavern.
Mail Chimp Landing Page Builder
Mail Chimp has just launched a landing page builder. Simon’s verdict: Basic but will do the job. It dilutes from their core offering a little bit. So why have they taken this step? Simon says that they are really trying to move into marketing automation and for a marketing campaign to work, you need a landing page. But then in order to get a mailing list together, you need a YouTube channel, a podcast or a blog, so wouldn’t you just build your landing page on your blog? Hmmm.
Beaver Funnels Launch
One of Agency Mavericks Coaches, Mike has launched Beaver Funnels which is a way to build marketing funnels though Beaver Builder and will make life easier for a lot of people.
2017 Annual Proposal Report by Better Proposal
This report analyses over $120,000,000 of closed deals won through Better Proposals across 4 industries: Web; Media; Professional Services; and Other. This is some really helpful and interesting data and may give you some ideas to make your proposals more creative.
One interesting thing to note is PDFs vs online delivery. If your proposal needs to be printed and signed, the report says that there is 45% less chance of closing the deal. Simon gives both options to his client so that they can decide. Troy says that if there is more than one person in the decision-making process then sometimes a pdf is helpful to take to meetings. An executive summary will also help when there are more decision makers involved as well.
Another good tip from these results is that it is more beneficial to use the word “investment” rather than “price”
This Pisses Me Off
Simon gets pissed off that there are so many deals and new tools coming out all the time that claim they will fix all of your problems and promise you the world. There is no point in buying a tool until you create your systems, processes and delegations first, write them and then find the right tool that can implement them.
Figure out your “why” and then all your other decisions become easy. Once you have your processes sorted then you can go and find the right tool to help train your team to follow the processes.
If it's just you and perhaps one or two other team members, then just use Google docs. Internet marketers will use scare tactics to make you think that you need their tool, but it can be easier and cheaper to just keep it simple.
Document the processes so that you can get a repeatable and predictable result for the next client.
Let’s get Unstuck
Robey asks: What are some tips for creating canned response emails that don't sound like canned response emails?
You’ve got canned emails and you’ve got automated emails. Troy says to just call it out when it's automated and have a bit of fun with it. Simons says when it comes to canned emails just create an email template and tweak it for each person that you write to so that is more personal to them.
Time to Dig into the Gold Nugget
Why Systemise?
When Troy became a freelancer in 2012 he created processes for himself by documenting everything that he did – so if a client asks “this” then you can send them “this” email. He created a repeatable and predictable process so that when he brought others on board, the process was easy to follow.
Focus on the things that are repeatable, bring consistent results for the client and that generate revenue for your business.
Christina Hawkins commented: I live for systems and processes and checklists. It's helped me grow and build my Net Profit by 200% in 2017.
This shows just how important processes and systems are – Christina DOUBLED her net profit.
How you can systemise and write documentation on each step of building a customised website for a client:
- The Go Wide Go Deep process
- Proposal: have a template set up
- Building a prototype
- For building any advanced complexities. Have your process set, so you may use Advanced Custom Fields or even Beaver Builder, but if it is outside of that scope then you need to pass on the project because otherwise, it will eat up all of your time and profitability.
You can systemise the approach and the workflow even though each customer and project is going to be different. High-level systems are important to get in place.
Simon has shared a helpful document The Process to Make A Process. This is a Google doc which is easy to create and use.
Melanie recommends a book in the live chat: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen. It’s a whole mindset and approach to being productive. Which goes into the four “D's”
If something can be done in less than 2 minutes then just:
- Do it, otherwise
- Delegate it, otherwise
- Defer it, otherwise
- Delete it
Tool of the Week: Completed Process Checklist
Humaan made a great checklist which isn’t too specific so that you can get the outcome, but it is up to you how or which tool you use to get there.
That's it for this week. Let us know in the comments below what you have found useful from this episode and if you are having trouble with systemsing.
