Do you ever hear yourself saying (or thinking) “there just aren’t enough hours in the day!”?
Time, or lack thereof is one of – if not the biggest issue most small business owners and entrepreneurs face.
Which makes sense.
It is the one commodity you can’t create more of and when you’re not looking it can get away from you. You can’t buy it, you can’t borrow it from someone else, you can’t store it up to use later and you can’t get it back.
Time is the here and now – every year, month, week, day, hour, whatever the term, we all get exactly the same amount.
So why do some people seem to have so much more time than other’s?
In a nutshell, they use their time more efficiently and effectively. They plan, they systemise, they automate, they delegate, they know what needs to be done.
Sounds simple enough…
…but I’ll be honest, it’s not simple!
It takes a lot of discipline and you have to work at it daily to get the most out of your time.
Why You Should Automate All You Can
One way to free up time is to automate the parts of your business that can be automated.
Using a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system is one way to do this. It will allow you to automate many parts of your business.
If you’re an on-line business this may be how you run all of your communication, from the very first interaction all the way through to when your product or service is purchased and delivered and beyond.
If you’re a service provider, a professional or a practitioner you’ll find you can automate a good chunk of your interactions too, including things like appointment reminder SMS messages and setting tasks to make follow up calls.
Automation done well can be extremely profitable for any business. When it’s up and running you will save time and make more money. Tasks you have had to run manually in the past will be done automatically – removing the potential of human error, and you will have a system in place that will continue to run as long as you need it to.
Systemising and automating allows you to continuously grow your list and income because you are not limited by how much time you have. We have stepped out a 5 step customer journey plan, you can see it by clicking here.
When you have a system that is performing well, it’s easy to replicate it, or if you identify a system that is underperforming you can investigate why, and make the necessary changes to improve it.
Where Is The Money?
You may have heard the saying “The money is in the list”.
I disagree. This is such a broad statement and there is no context. You could have a list of 100,000 contacts but if they don’t want what you’re offering, then there’s no money in that list.
Irrespective of the size of your list, when you establish a relationship with your contacts they are going to be more engaged and more likely to do what you ask of them – this could be anything from clicking a link to read a blog on your website, or replying to a question you’ve asked in a message, to buying your product or service.
The way you establish this relationship is by providing high value, relevant content consistently.
Let me give you an example.
You are interested in learning more about Facebook Advertising so you sign up for a free report which is sent to you by email. Over the next couple of weeks you get 4 more emails that go in to even more detail about Facebook Advertising and the last email includes an offer to purchase a course. You like what you have seen so you buy the course.
Here's why this system works. A relationship was established using the content which was relevant to your interest – Facebook Advertising, it was high value (you wouldn’t have brought the course if you didn’t think it was) and the company stayed top of your mind because you received consistent touches from them, or as we say ‘you were nudged’.
This is what a good CRM does for you. It will automate this whole process.
What Is A Good CRM?
Any answer you get to this question will be highly subjective rather than objective, so instead of listing the pro’s and con’s of the many CRM’s there are I will tell you what we use.
Ontraport is the CRM we use and recommend.
We have been using Ontraport since 2011 and love what it does – it’s like having 3 staff working around the clock every day of the year. They are a progressive company and their Customer Support is brilliant (I’d say the best there is!).
If you are interested in seeing an Ontraport demo or want more information on what you could automate in your business, send me an email by clicking here and we’ll set up a mutually convenient time.
Not Everything Can Be Automated
Just to be clear, you can’t automate everything, however by automating what you can, you will free up time to do more of what you were destined to do.
You’re technically not creating time, but it will sure feel like you are.
Check out how we automate our funnels, click on the image below...
