How to automate & outsource in your business without losing your personal touch
So you want to...
Streamline your business
Save more time
Reduce the amount of admin tasks you're doing every day
But you're worried that this means sacrificing personal connection with your clients.
You're worried that everything is going to sound robotic or like it was written by AI.
If you don't want that, I don't blame you!
But what can you do about it so that you can still get the benefits of automation or outsourcing without sacrificing that connection with your clients?
Let's dive into some practical steps and tips that you can start implementing today.
So, if this is you, if you have been concerned that outsourcing or adding more automation to your business means less of a personal touch for your clients, as I mentioned, you're not alone.
But there are some things that you can do about it.
First of all, I don't want you to completely abandon the idea of automating or outsourcing because in most cases, these are still really good options to help you grow your business and make it more sustainable.
However, I understand your hesitation.
I understand your worry that if you just have automated email responses to things set up, or you hand off communication with your clients to somebody else, that it's not going to sound like you. It's not going to sound personal.
And that is possible.
However, if you go about it the right way, if you are intentional and thoughtful in the way you set up your systems, we can reduce that.
Because at the end of the day, if you have systems and a team that really support you and your business, it means that you are going to feel less overwhelmed, you are going to be able to reclaim your time, and your clients are still going to feel taken care of.
Sound too good to be true?
Let's dive into it and see.
How automating and outsourcing can be a game-changer
Before we get into some tips and guidelines for implementing automation or outsourcing tasks in your business, I want to talk a little bit more about how these two things can be a game changer for you as a business owner.
So as the owner of your business, you really should be saving as much of your time as possible for those higher level tasks.
You should be saving your energy and your focus for the things that are going to move your business forward, the things that are going to make you money, the things that only you can do.
This means that maybe some of those administrative tasks or marketing, maybe things you're not as fast at or as good at, or the things that you don't enjoy doing, these are the things we want to focus on to automate, streamline, or outsource to somebody else.
Having a way to streamline these repetitive, lower stakes tasks in your business is going to lower your stress, make you feel less overwhelmed, and just make your business run more smoothly so that you can scale in a sustainable way rather than taking on more and more clients and more and more work and then just burning out and getting overwhelmed.
So how do you create automations or outsource things in a way that maintains authenticity?
In a way that doesn't sound robotic and your clients aren't going to be coming to you complaining that everything is generic?
1. Personalize your email templates
If you are setting up automated emails in your CRM platform, an email marketing platform, a course platform, or anything like that, most platforms give you the ability to use some sort of token, tag (or some platforms have other names for that) where it's going to automatically pull the first name of the person the email is being sent to.
This means you can automatically address emails to each person, and even use their name throughout the body of the email if that makes sense for what you are writing. Most platforms even allow you to insert the recipient's first name in the email subject line if you'd like.
I encourage you to use those personalizations that your platforms offer as much as possible, because then people are going to feel like the email was written directly to them, even if the email is the same template that's going to everybody else.
2. Write everything with your tone & voice
The next thing I encourage you to do is to make sure that any emails or other types of messages that are being automated are written in your tone and voice; they should sound like you.
Again, then your clients are going to feel like you're talking directly to them, even if you're sending the same message to everyone.
And if you have templates written out in your voice, it's so easy to give those to somebody else so that they are still sending things that sound like you.
If you are doing higher level outsourcing where someone is writing things for you, then you can give them a tone or style guide so that they know how to sound like you. They know phrases you commonly use, words you'd like them to avoid, and whether you want things to sound more professional or more playful.
You decide what the tone is for the messaging for your business.
3. Use video for a personal feel
Another way to keep a human touch in your communication with your clients is to use video.
You can use things like YouTube or Loom is a great option. There are lots of ways to send videos.
Yes, there are cases where you may need to send a personalized video to someone where you are actually recording a video specifically for them.
However, there might be other cases where you can have a pre-recorded video that someone is sending out on your behalf so that the client is still seeing your face, but you don't have to take the time to record a personalized message for every single person.
4. Set your team up for success
When you are outsourcing tasks in your business, especially if the person is going to be doing communication on your behalf, whether that's emails, social media, text messages, or anything like that, make sure that you set the expectations for your values, your tone, the ways that you like to communicate in your business, so that they know exactly what they are supposed to do.
Again, this might mean giving them some sort of tone guide, or it might mean giving them answers to FAQs that you regularly get from leads and clients so that they know how to answer those questions, giving them access to templates.
There are lots of different ways to set people up for success so that they can support you properly and keep that personal touch that you want your clients to get from you.
Troubleshoot common pitfalls with automating and outsourcing
Let's talk for a quick second about some common pitfalls that I see with people trying to automate things or outsource things and they maybe are not able to keep that personalized connection.
One thing I see is people who over automate.
They see how amazing automation is for their business, and they get a little gung-ho about it, and then all of a sudden, everything needs to be automated.
Not everything in your business needs to be automated, and you don't have to automate everything all at once. I would start with one - maybe two or three maximum - key system in your business to automate and focus on making those automations really good.
Focus on making those emails sound like you, and making sure that all the steps are what you need them to be, and that you're getting everything to your clients that they need to feel supported.
Really get those systems solid, test them out before you start working on creating other automations.
I would also avoid steps in those automations that are going to feel especially robotic or pre-scheduled.
For example, if you are setting up an automation that includes following up with leads who don't book with you, I would avoid sending every follow-up email to everyone automatically because, there are going to be people who respond to your email or book a call with you.
They don't need more follow-up emails at that point.
If they get more follow-up emails, it's going to feel weird and confusing to them because they've already been talking to you. Instead, I would find a system that allows you to send specific emails to specific people, not just sending out everything to everyone, because that's when you're really going to lose that personalized connection feeling.
Then when it comes to outsourcing pitfalls, one common issue that I see is miscommunication.
Maybe the person you are outsourcing tasks to doesn't clearly know the expectations that you have for them, or all the little details of everything that you want them to do, or how important it is to your business for them to help you maintain a personalized connection with your clients.
Again, when you are first onboarding them, I would make sure they have clear training, that you have standard operating procedures for them to follow, that you're giving them access to all of the templates and guides and guidelines that they are going to need to be successful.
And at least in the beginning, you're checking in with them very regularly, like probably meeting once a week at least to start so that you know exactly what they're doing, you can nip things in the bud if there are issues, and you can make sure that they have everything that they need to feel supported and successful.
I hope that this helps you feel a little more excited about automating and outsourcing in your business without losing that caring, supportive connection with your clients.
You can save time and reduce your workload and your stress without sacrificing that care, that connection, that personalization for your clients.
If you have questions about how to implement any of this in your own business, please reach out to me or leave a comment.
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