Sustainably scaling your business isn’t a solo act. It takes a team to pull it off.
Now you’ve probably had some help in the marketing and sales aspect of your business. Or maybe you’ve hired help for the technological or administrative side of things. But are you still holding out on hiring a team to help you work directly with clients to deliver your offer? That’s the last place we as entrepreneurs tend to hire to help us, but it’s necessary if you want a sustainable business.
Building a team for a sustainable business ultimately boils down to one thing. And in today’s installment of our customer experience series, I’ve invited my Director of Operations (and right-hand woman) Amber Kinney onto the show to help me cover it.
Amber and I have worked together for over a decade. And she’s the owner and CEO of her own marketing agency where she works with lots of entrepreneurs behind the scenes. So she knows the dos and don’ts of working with (and within) a business team.
In this episode of the Promote Yourself to CEO podcast, you’ll learn about all the layers that go into hiring people to join your business and how to do it in a way that works for you, your team members, and your clients. We’ll teach you about transfer of trust and why it works so well to set your business up for success.
On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO:
6:49 - Why can scaling your team be one of the biggest challenges you face? Here’s the most likely place where you might stumble when hiring help.
12:24 - There’s a necessary shift you need to make to get to the point where clients comfortably deal with your team members.
16:40 - How can you start transferring your clients’ trust from working with you exclusively to working with your team directly?
20:08 - Amber reveals how to approach bringing on someone new onto your team who you don’t have a previous track record with.
23:26 - What if you have no plans or desires to hire anyone (at least right now)? You’ll still want to do this to set yourself up for success.
28:14 - I reveal a red flag that’s a sign of more than just bad hiring practices to your clients.
Amber Kinney’s agency, The AK Collective
According to American Express, people will pay 86% more if you give them an impeccable customer experience. That’s why providing a great experience after the purchase is one of the best ways to differentiate yourself, your brand, and your business from your competitors.
So how can you improve the customer experience of your company? It’s all in the delivery of whatever you offer, whether you’re selling a product (physical or digital) or a service. Today on the Promote Yourself to CEO podcast, you’ll learn about seven ways to upgrade the delivery process of your offer that’ll have your clients or customers loving you and your business.
On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO:
4:41 - Clear containers for your offers helps you as well as your clients or customers. How?
8:28 - With so much small business competition, how can you develop relationships with your clients so that they remain loyal to yours?
11:45 - Have a clear vision for your customer experience and create a success path to help buyers get there.
13:20 - Do you follow up after the purchase? I discuss how to create checkpoints and proactively reach out.
17:44 - You’ll need to proactively coach your clients or customers on this as well.
21:05 - What can you use to improve your customer experience on an ongoing basis?
24:57 - The last way to upgrade your customer experience is easier said than done, but it must be done for a sustainable business.
29:22 - To wrap the show, I quickly recap the seven ways to upgrade your customer or client experience.
Most people aren’t talking about customer experience when they think they are. They’re talking about putting out fires, troubleshooting things, solving problems as they arise--all customer service-oriented stuff.
While having good customer service is important, it’s not a thing that’s necessarily going to help your business grow or generate excitement about it from your clients. That’s where having an impeccable customer experience comes in!
But how do you design one for your business? There are three elements (or stages) to this: the first sets the tone for your relationship with each client, the next creates your path to success, and the last one wraps everything up and sets you (and your client) up for continued success.
In this next episode of Promote Yourself to CEO, you’ll learn all about those three elements. I take you through every stage one-by-one and include all of the systems, pieces, considerations, and questions you should implement or think about for each to create an excellent experience for your clients.
On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO:
4:11 - I talk about the five systems you need for the first element: client onboarding.
10:50 - How can your clients get the best results? This is all about setting expectations.
12:54 - What’s the third area to shore up in your client onboarding process? (And what is the key to making it work)?
16:32 - The final piece of onboarding is incredibly powerful to make sure that everything starts off on the right foot.
19:37 - Your path to success lies in this next element of your customer experience plan. Here are a couple of areas to think about as you map it out.
28:19 - Too often, entrepreneurs wait to do this. So you’ll need to be proactive in this next step on your success path.
30:39 - How can you keep your clients committed to the process of going through your entire program? I reveal the final piece to your success path.
33:56 - I discuss four steps to think about as you complete the implementation of your customer experience plan for each client.
The 3 Essential Systems to Sustainably Scale Your Business (LINK TBA)
The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier
Are you confusing customer service with customer experience?
Right now, you might be wondering, “Huh? What’s the difference?” Customer service is reactive; it’s all about handling problems as they arise. But an incredible customer experience is a thoughtfully designed journey through your business that can elevate it and gain you clients for life.
So how do you go about designing this experience so that your clients will not only want to stick around but recommend your business to others? Today kicks off a new series of the Promote Yourself to CEO podcast where we discuss something that hasn’t really been delved into on the show before.
In this episode, you’ll learn about why creating an excellent customer experience helps you stand out from the crowd. You’ll hear about the coaching experience I heard about that triggered this topic, discover exactly how powerfully a great customer experience design can affect your business, and reveal what your revenue goals aren’t telling you.
On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO:
3:08 - Why am I digging into customer experience? I talk about the recent sales call that inspired this series.
8:03 - Customer experience matters and can be such a competitive advantage. Here’s why!
11:58 - Everybody loves coming up with revenue goals. But you’re missing out on a lot of important information in the process.
17:11 - How does plugging the holes in your customer experience affect your profit?
20:09 - What’s coming up next in this series? I give a short preview.
For the last 15 years, I’ve seen so many people come and go. I’ve seen so many people start out with dreams and ambitions, only to burn themselves out and take years to recover from the impact.
But you know in your heart and soul that you’re meant to be an entrepreneur. And I want you to have long-term success, instead of sacrificing it with a short-term view. It’s why I wanted to create this “Truth About Scaling” podcast series.
So now, that brings me to the final installment. In this episode, I break down some final key things to consider and implement when you’re ready to shift into high-growth business mode.
On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO:
5:58 - Are you ignoring or passing off parts of your business that you don’t understand? I discuss why that’s a mistake.
11:39 - You need to understand these indicators to know whether or not your marketing is working in your business.
14:05 - What’s another area where women entrepreneurs play small because they’re not considering it at all?
17:23 - Keep it simple, keep it sane, and keep it strategic. I reveal the trap entrepreneurs often fall into that only complicates their business.
24:01 - What common habit have I seen over the years from women entrepreneurs that holds them back? Inside The CEO Collective, we know this happens and are prepared for it.
28:25 - If you don’t allow your business to develop these two important pieces before attempting to scale, then you’ll end up in a cycle of catastrophic growth.
35:02 - I reveal one of the biggest disconnects I see between business owners and why you need your own CEO support team.
40:05 - Personal success teams are another crucially important aspect to being a CEO with sustainable business growth.
45:15 - It’s easy to look at marketing material out there and think that growth is linear. But is it really?
Profit First by Mike Michalowicz
When you hear of businesses blowing up overnight, you get the glamorized version. You see the celebrity entrepreneurs online living the high life. They’re taking luxury vacations, driving fancy cars, and talking about how their business makes six, seven, eight (or more) figures.
But here’s what they’re not telling you. Their business isn’t sustainable because things are constantly breaking behind the scenes. They feel stressed out due to all the fires they have to constantly put out.
So how about we take a different approach? In this next segment of the “Truth About Scaling” series, I talk about the three mistakes I often see entrepreneurs make that cause problems when it comes to scaling your business.
On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO:
4:29 - How do you know if you’re making this first mistake? Here are the warning signs.
11:52 - I reveal how I’ve fallen into the trap of mistake #1 myself and how you can avoid doing the same.
14:54 - Hiring is another area in your business where you may be making this same mistake.
21:28 - This third area where people make the first mistake is a big pet peeve of mine (and another one I’ve done myself).
25:10 - How did I reverse track on making this mistake when I shifted my approach to The CEO Collective?
32:25 - Too many startup entrepreneurs don’t realize this about cash flow in their business.
35:44 - I discuss mistake #2 and the problem that it won’t fix for you.
41:42 - Where do you really need to get honest about your business? Here are the three markets that you need to be testing.
45:58 - The third mistake and why doing the opposite will save your scaling business.
52:30 - Too much humanity has gone out of business, so I reveal what I’m doing to help bring it back.
58:26 - To end the show, I quickly recap the three mistakes.
Just because you know something isn’t the same as experiencing it. As a CEO, you undergo rites of passage as you progress through your business, especially if you want a successful and sustainable one. In this episode, I share some of the lessons I’ve learned the hard way so you can see a little further ahead on your path, mitigate some of these challenges early on, or just have a more realistic view of what you’re up against.
On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO:
3:46 - Lesson one: you cannot do this on your way to sustainable business success.
8:03 - I get angry when I see how too many others fail to implement this lesson. You won’t have a dream business team with this mindset.
16:03 - What will you struggle with when you attain success, and why? The third surprising lesson I learned.
23:16 - Lesson four: the more your business grows, the less and less you’ll find yourself seeking this.
30:55 - The biggest celebrity influencer entrepreneurs make it seem like marketing solves all business problems. Here’s why it isn’t the answer.
33:17 - Lesson six is the best lesson of all. So how do I apply it in my business?
38:33 - We’re idea machines as entrepreneurs. But we need to take more heed of this lesson and beware who we listen to. I explain why.
45:15 - Surprise! I reveal a bonus lesson to wrap the show.
Scaling is the name of the business game online, or so it would seem. So often we hear about people having seven-figure launches or seven-figure months (or even days).
But there’s something that really doesn’t get talked about regarding these eye-popping figures that you need to know. Beyond just making more money, what does it really mean to scale your business? Is it possible to double, triple (or more) your business in just a year or two?
Scaling just for the sake of it can be detrimental to your business. So I wanted to do a new series to talk about the truth behind scaling. In this first episode, I talk about everything you need to consider before you press the “scale” button on your business.
On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO:
3:16 - What’s the difference between growth and scale? These words get used interchangeably a lot but aren’t exactly the same.
8:41 - Too many people go after scale at all costs and put their business into unstable territory. I reveal one of the biggest red flags that expose this.
14:26 - Beware of the well-known celebrity influencers you follow who teach you this. Here’s the real truth behind their success.
19:47 - What’s another potential “hidden” cash eater in your business? A lot of celebrity influencers like to use this one to bring in sales and clients.
22:48 - I discuss what I personally aim for when scaling my business that makes it easier for me to plan ahead.
26:37 - The last few years have seen the fragility of so many businesses. Some had to get really creative and have a solid but flexible infrastructure to survive.
29:18 - What should you focus on this month? Believe me, it’ll make it seven times easier to do business if you stick to this one thing.
As soon as you get up, the dog is already begging to be let outside. The kids don’t want to get ready for school, so you have to practically drag them out of bed. Your partner is wondering where the hell this or that is while you’re trying to get ready yourself for the day. And you’re still just barely awake in all this and haven’t had your coffee yet!
Are your mornings crazy like this? Let’s do something about that! High performance CEOs know how to manage their day and conserve their energy to get the results they want in life and business. So in this last installment of the “Run Your Business Like a CEO” series, I talk about three surprisingly key things to running your day like a CEO, based on my own experience.
On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO:
7:54 - A great day truly starts the night before. I used to never be a great sleeper (and even failed at it, according to my FitBit), so here’s how I fixed that.
15:48 - Morning routines can be so different from person to person. As an introvert who likes the quiet, here’s what I do and don’t do.
20:00 - What else can you consider to keep your days running smoothly? Pay attention to these things.
23:00 - I reveal what I do to simplify decision-making regarding my wardrobe, self-care, and home essentials.
26:45 - What’s sucking away your time? I discuss the happy accident that helped me truly relax.
28:27 - I used to feel resistant to morning and nighttime routines. Are you in the same boat?
As a CEO, you’ve got many potential distractions in your business. Answering emails or other ongoing administrative work can keep your attention off the tasks that’ll actually move your company forward. Then by the end of the week, you’ve made little (if any) progress on the tasks that do drive business growth and success. In this episode, I talk about how you can run your week as a CEO with five top strategies that help you skillfully manage your time and energy while prioritizing those higher-value tasks that move the needle.
On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO:
5:01 - What is a model calendar, and how do you use one? I talk about how I created my model calendar and really dig into the details of how I use it now.
21:57 - If you have other people on your team, here’s something else you should consider doing to protect your time and energy.
26:33 - What’s the second most important strategy to run your week like a CEO? I do this for my business every Monday morning.
39:46 - I’m pretty ruthless when I implement the third strategy. And it certainly helps with client appointments and business boundaries when I do this.
41:37 - I often get asked why I included these couple of questions in The CEO Planner. What are they, and why did I?
45:03 - The CEO Score comes in handy when it comes to sticking to the weekly plan you just mapped out. Here’s a breakdown of what it’s all about.
57:26 - The last strategy is built right into the planner as this series of questions so you can make better decisions and nip any recurring problems in the bud.
1:02:58 - To wrap up, I quickly recap all five top things to do to run your week like a CEO.
I go on CEO dates with myself. Once every month (as well as on a weekly basis), I take some time to check in on my business and ensure I’m continuing the progress toward the goals I’ve set. This is how I create business plans that I follow through on and adapt as circumstances arise. And in this episode, I discuss how you too can build in self-accountability so that your plan isn’t just another document you’ll never open again.
On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO:
2:59 - I talk about my monthly CEO date and dive into my check-in process.
7:48 - What kinds of questions can you ask yourself as you look back on the previous month?
11:28 - I reveal another reason why I absolutely love working with The CEO Planner.
14:15 - What are the consequences of not tracking and documenting things in your business on a consistent basis?
20:07 - Your business metrics and revenue help you predict your company’s future. I reveal how I check on mine every month without obsessing over them.
27:20 - What if you discover that you’ve fallen behind (even way behind) on your projected goals? Here’s how I handle it.
32:24 - One of the most crucial things you need to do with your team while setting your top business priorities for the next month.
34:10 - What’s the last thing I do at the end of my monthly CEO date?
Every new year feels like a new chance to go after the big, audacious goals of your dreams. But as recent years have shown, you need to have adaptable plans for your business so that it can have the flexibility it needs while still getting the results you want. That’s why I love running my quarter through 90-day plans. Today, I talk about how to actually dig in and start creating these plans for your own business.
On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO:
3:34 - Why go for 90-day plans? Entrepreneurs love setting big, ambitious goals, but it can be overwhelming.
7:27 - How do you break down big goals into more manageable chunks to fit your time, energy, and resources? You can make your best guess, or do this instead.
11:24 - As an example, I quickly walk through how you can launch a new group program within a year (or sooner).
16:03 - How do you actually create your first 90-day plan? I dig into it and discuss the kind of goals you want to focus on during this process.
19:50 - Start the process by looking over your sales and marketing with this 5-part marketing strategy framework.
27:01 - Most people think of this part of the framework when they think of marketing and can get it confused with the first step. I reveal why it’s different and necessary.
34:08 - What’s next after you have your systems in place? I discuss the difference between process vs. project goals and breaking them down in your 90-day plan.
38:38 - Asking yourself these questions as you work through your plan can really help ensure you avoid major challenges.