I’m always looking for an easier way to do things.
Because if there’s a task that takes me 10 minutes every day which could take just 5, that’s an extra 5 minutes every single day, 25 minutes every week, and so on and so forth, that’s now free.
The famous quote attributed to Bill Gates goes: “Find a lazy person to do a hard job because they’ll find an easy way to do it.”
And there’s an element of truth in that.
Templates make life easy.
We all look for structure in our lives – just think about every time you travel abroad. If you’re heading off to the airport, you know exactly what’s in store before you even get anywhere near the day you’re flying out.
You head to check-in, pop your luggage through, head on to security and passport control, through the duty-free, head to your gate, and then when the time comes, you board the plane.
And we don’t even have to think about it, we just know what’s coming next because the structure is so ingrained into us, that it’s easy peasy, lemon squeezy.
So, How Do I Template Processes In My Business?
Every business has unique challenges, but there are some challenges that we all face.
There is one simple mantra that you should consider when you’re thinking about how to save time, energy, and effort in your business…
Nothing beats consistency.
Whatever you’re trying to achieve, remember that simple processes repeated consistently will always achieve the best outcome.
Repetition is often seen as the height of banality or a complete lack of originality, but when it comes down to it, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Let me ask you this – What is the single task that consumes most of your time?
And a follow-up question to that is simple – can you create a template to make that task easier?
For example, Keap has innovative automation features that can simplify even the most time-consuming of tasks.
Whether that’s automating contact requests so you can qualify those fresh leads from your lead generation as soon as possible, or automating welcome emails to increase your chance of following up successfully with a customer.
Did you know that welcome emails have an average open rate of 58%? It’s the best chance to make a first impression while you’ve got them hooked.
But if you’re bogged down in manual processes, spreadsheets, sticky notes, and task management software, there’s every chance you’ll miss one or you’ll take too long to get it out.
The Never-ending Story
Building a lead band is step 10 of the Sales Circuit, and it’s actually the final step.
But there isn’t really an end OR a beginning – it’s a perpetual journey that you continually go on, a never-ending story if you will.
In fact, gathering leads is one of the most important parts of step one of my Sales Circuit, way back at the beginning.
I’ve stated before that nothing really starts until you get that first click. But, in reality, you need leads to persuade someone to click – it all starts somewhere.
That might be through referrals, where someone has had a great experience and recommended you to someone else. And that’s a great source of repeat custom, and exactly why your best customers are the ones you already have.
But that relationship only develops as you make them feel welcome, nurturing them and making them a sales offer.
And when it comes to lead generation, templates and automation are your friends.
Lead generation is the first step to success for any company, and without a system for managing the leads you generate, you can find yourself floundering – and you’re probably setting yourself up for a fall.
Once you’ve got your lead generation machine set up and things are ticking along, you can move on to the next stage…
Fine-tuning and amplifying the system.
But first thing’s first, you’ve got to fill your sales pipeline so everything’s well-stocked – that’s the purpose of lead generation.
However you do it, the one thing ANY growing business needs to watch out for is overloading capacity.
You want to be in a position to monitor any automations, templates, and systems so that you can finetune the processes and continually improve, plugging gaps as you go.
Referrals And A Different Way Of Thinking
I can’t think of too many business models that don’t think about upselling, cross-selling or repeat business opportunities.
There’s a time limit on some purchases, and some of those time limits are short and sometimes they’re much longer.
You don’t pay for a new car, a new kitchen or even a wedding every year (or at least most of us don’t!), but even in these markets, there are opportunities to explore – and templates are your friend.
Weddings are supposed to be a ‘once in a lifetime’ event – but the reality is, 50% of the time, they’re not. Okay, I know that’s a little bit pessimistic.
But on a more positive note, there are anniversaries, celebrations, and possibly even the pitter-patter of tiny feet at some point too.
Here’s the thing – if selling was easy, we’d all be doing it. And we’d all be retiring to a tropical island in the Caribbean. Honestly, though, selling is easy… if you’re willing to put in the hard work. And that’s an entirely different proposition.
Think of it like this… imagine you’re a personal trainer.
A regular gym member is paying their £19.99 a month, but they decide to take on a personal trainer to reach their goals quicker and more effectively.
You, the personal trainer, know from your years of experience that the client will achieve visible results in three months, and you set up the agreement.
What usually happens here is that after the three months have passed, most trainers will say “Thank you, goodbye. You know where I am if you need me…”.
Some customers might ask to carry on, but the reality is that most will wander off, go somewhere else or even undo all of that good work.
Because if you know the usual behaviour of your customers, you can plan a strategy that’s specifically aimed at keeping them interested.
So, you. can respond in a much smarter manner when the three-month agreement ends:
“I’ve really enjoyed our time working together, would you like to receive a free weekly motivational programme via email?”
And the best thing is, you can automate that from day 1 of their membership with you.