When it comes to running a small business, automating parts of your work is often essential to your long-term success. This is especially the case this year, as creatives balance work and home life while potentially adjusting to working virtually full-time.
With that, of course, comes the concern that we will lose the personal touches we have with our audience. So with that, we polled creatives in action, who are taking advantage of the ability to automate, while still finding ways to connect with their clients and colleagues on a deeper level.
Things you should be automating
Let’s start with the essentials – that is, things that you should be comfortable automating within your business. We see countless surveys and studies that show clients preferring accessibility and digital options, which makes complete sense when you think back to a time when a contract signing required an in-person meeting. These days, both parties are seeking technology to eliminate non-essential appointments.
Shannon Tarrant of WeddingVenueMap.com swears by a CRM, noting, “The best choice we made was to select a CRM that included workflows that could keep the process moving along by watching contracts that need to be signed, reminders for invoices to be paid, and the ability to auto-send forms and emails.”
When appointments are still key, there are ways to eliminate the back-and-forth that setting up appointments or scheduling can sometimes amount to. In fact, you may be able to keep those emails to a minimum (or get rid of them entirely!). Lisa Anhaiser of LBL Event Rentals shares, “We added a scheduler to our website. Easy to install and now, we book appointments at all times of the day or night. We eliminated a majority of daily calls by adding this feature.”
Keeping it personal
With automation, a common worry for business owners is that clients won’t feel as if they’re being personally catered to. However, because most of the apps and programs are accessible and collaborative, many pros are experiencing the opposite.
For this, visuals will really be key, specifically as it pertains to clients that may have experienced a rescheduled wedding or other event. Kevin Dennis of Fantasy Sound Event Services says, “In particular, we utilize Dropbox for our business’s ‘cloud’, meaning we can store photos and easily share files. Clients love this for the visual planning, and I love that I can keep my team in the loop when I’m traveling.” This will allow you to be hands-on and invested, but from afar.
Anhaiser continues, “Because we offer a quality product and our site has quality photos of many items, we do not list prices on the site. Pricing questions prompt clients to send a contact form or prompts the scheduling of a face-to-face consultation. Both of these give us a chance to contact the client and have a conversation at their request.”
Other ways you can nurture relationships
Your relationship with your client or industry community doesn’t have to be restricted to business hours or planning. This is where the tried-and-true surprise and delight comes into play, and that can be as simple as extending some kind words or actively going above and beyond in most cases!
Meryl Snow of SnowStorm Solutions sums it up well. “At the end of the day, email communication will always be less personal than in-person connections, so it’s important to take advantage of face-to-face meetings to continue nurturing that client relationship. If you’re doing everything right to win over a client in person, you’ll find that your emails will become only a secondary factor in the relationship — they’ll see you as the real, authentic person behind the email (and the brand), which is what really matters.”
If you really want to add a cherry on top and make sure they know you’re thinking of them, Jen Taylor of Jen Taylor Consulting suggests a little something extra – not unwelcome during difficult times. “For most of my clients, I do meet them on a monthly basis, so having that connection is great! If you are looking to get more information on your clients, find out what their favorite candy or food is and send them a quick gift.”
Nearly everyone has been forced to turn to tech for some help in virtual communication, but automation doesn’t mean the end of days for human connection. Streamlining will not only alleviate stress of the time-consuming day-to-day tasks, but you’ll have more time to put in the work to establish a strong connection as well.
Meghan Ely is the owner of wedding PR and wedding marketing firm OFD Consulting. Ely is a sought-after speaker, adjunct professor in the field of public relations, and a self-professed royal wedding enthusiast.