The client
Carys Dorritt is an expert in her field, having worked in marketing for 20 years. She runs The Polka – a small digital marketing business offering support with digital strategy, paid search, social media, SEO, content and copy.
The sticking point
Carys was keen to scale up her business, but her previous efforts had felt a little ‘scattergun’.
Happily, she was getting tons of work (so clearly she’s good at marketing!) but scaling up was tricky when her processes were not consistent. She had outsourced when necessary before, and now needed to get her internal business processes in order.
She told me, ‘I love delivering my work, I love developing my business, and I want to scale, but the behind the scenes stuff is completely holding me back.’
Luckily, she booked a Level Up Your Client Management Consultation with me and we turned that all on its head!
Preparing to start scaling up
I knew that the key to moving Carys’ business forward, and allowing her to scale, was setting up systems that someone else could run for her. This would allow her to step back from the day-to-day system details and focus on client work, which is what she prefers spending her time doing.
We met for our 1-1 Consultation and I asked Carys about a million questions – or it probably felt like that to her!
A quick win during our call was deciding to remove the call booking option from her website. It simply didn’t suit her way of working. And by removing it, her time felt protected from unexpected bookings.
Two weeks later I delivered her Streamlined Client Management Plan, which included:
- Directions on how to build out her system in Trello. She was already using Trello to collaborate with clients and occasional freelancers, so while I did consider other systems, Trello ultimately suited her needs and was something she was already comfortable with. So, I advised her to create:
- boards for each project type
- a client pipeline board
- an outsourcing board
- a tasks overview board, which added her meetings from Outlook, as well as tasks from all the other boards.
- A bespoke list of tasks that she could outsource to a VA.
- Additional Trello pointers on how to use its full power for her specific requirements.
- A Streamlined Service Map showing every step she needs to take to deliver her service to her clients.
One happy client
Carys told me she was happy with her Streamlined Client Management Plan, but I was especially giddy when she later wrote on Facebook:
‘Thanks to the wonderful Jo Shock and her fantastic Level Up Your Client Management session, I’m now flying with Trello and have just taken on a VA as well!’
And since then, I’m excited that she’s also added an associate marketer to her team.
You can read all about Carys’ fantastic new team here!
