Today we’re bringing sexy back.
That’s right. You heard it here.
We’re turning systems and processes into things you will actually love and adore. This week, we spoke to Kristen Westcott, who is amazing at creating the systems and processes. We talked about doing it in a way that actually makes it fun, so you don’t want to stab your eyes out. If your burnt out and tired of doing all the things, this conversation is not something you should miss!
Mallory Schlabach
I am excited for a new friend to come on today. Welcome to the podcast, Kristen!
Kristen Westcott
Thank you, Mallory. Thank you for having me today!
Mallory Schlabach
I’m super excited. Today we’re talking about how to up-level our businesses with systems and processes. Now, before you pause and go to a different podcast, you need to listen to this because it’s not going to be boring. We’re going to bring it back to sexy. We’re going to make systems and processes and scaling really sexy today. So, with that, Kristen – can you tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do?
Kristen Westcott
Yes, absolutely. My name is Kristin Westcott and I am a business growth and systems strategist. I have worked as an integrator for about two years now. So, for those of you who don’t know what an integrator is, it’s the person who essentially runs the whole back end of your business so that you can truly be the CEO and front-end person. I work with my clients on helping them get all the backend systems, their processes and managing their team. I love all that stuff – it really excites me! I don’t know why other people don’t love it as much as I do. I get to work with people that are at that six-figure mark that have figured things out, having money coming in, but have hit a point where they are stuck. They feel like they can’t grow anymore, their maxing out their hours, and their business is taking over their life. I step in and help implement systems to get their lives back under control. But don’t worry, because I make it easy, fun and streamlined. You’re going to love your life so much more.
Mallory Schlabach
I love that because I think everybody needs it. What I’ve also found is that most people tend to think about the systems and processes once they’re going to hire someone. Do you find this with your clients, that most people start way too late? Should they be starting sooner?
Kristen Westcott
Yes, yes, that’s exactly what happens. When we talk through who they need to hire, I then ask what systems they have in place. They usually don’t have an answer. So, I think part of the reason for that is because they’re afraid of them. That word “system” just makes creatives kind of tense up. So, they usually just ignore them until it absolutely becomes something that is a necessity. I think if we reframe it to talk about, it makes it less intimidating. When you’re talking about a system, it’s just your way of doing things. It doesn’t have to be this crazy, uptight, rigid thing. It’s documenting your way of doing things. There’s no right or wrong. There are definitely ways we can make them more efficient, but just start by documenting what you do. That is your system, that is your process, and that is something you can give to somebody else to try and replicate a little bit.
Mallory Schlabach
I think it feels like a lot of work, and it always take a little bit of time. But it makes you do your job better and consistently and show up the same way each time for each person. Even though it takes a tiny bit of time up front, it’s going to save you so much more in the long run. now that we’ve demystified systems and processes a bit, can you share some of the most common things people need? Where should someone start, and what do you do when you start to work with them?
Kristen Westcott
I would start by doing a brain dump of everything that you do in your business and looking at the things that you do most frequently. So, look at the things that you’re doing weekly on a regular basis in your business and let’s start documenting them and get them in place. For example, it might be onboarding a new client, depending on the type of business that you have. You might be onboarding clients weekly, or every other week. If you can have a system in place, you’re going to save so much time and your clients are going to be much happier starting to work with you. They’re going to be really excited to get things going. It also saves our brainpower. As business owners, we have to make so many decisions throughout the day from the time we wake up to the time we end our day, that if you can have that checklist or that system in place, it’s one less thing you have to think about. If you’re constantly having to burn that energy by thinking through every single time you do a process even if you do the same thing over and over again – you’re going to be exhausted. That’s when you forget things. If we can get some of those things into a checklist, you won’t even have to think about it. It’s just looking at the next step and executing it.
Mallory Schlabach
I love that. So, after doing a brain dump, what is the next step? Do you start with the thing they do the most often or do you start with the biggest fire they need to put out?
Kristen Westcott
If there’s a fire to be put out – we start with that. We need to immediately contain it, and work to rectify that right away. If it’s something like onboarding clients and it’s not going well, we need to get the client experience dialed in. If that is not a fire, then that is still also a system I would start with – the client onboarding system. Regardless of how you work with clients, you still have to have a really solid onboarding experience, because it sets the tone for the work you do. So, if you only have a so-so process, your clients aren’t going to feel confident handing their money over to you. I like to start with getting the systems in place that are going to help make a big impact on bringing in and keeping the revenue in your business.
Mallory Schlabach
Once you start working through these systems and processes, there comes a point where it needs to be taken off of someone’s plate. They need to eventually hire someone to do that work. How do you warm them up to the fact that these systems can now be hired for? What’s the first step in handing over that work?
Kristen Westcott
When you do hire, it’s very hard to give away the things that you’ve been doing. This your business, and it’s almost like your baby. So, what I like to do is have an actual onboarding process. One of the big things people do when they’re in this space of needing to hire, they hire someone and immediately dump the work on them. They immediately give them work without an onboarding process Then, something doesn’t turn out the way they would like it, or that person does things differently. They immediately just take the work back. So, that doesn’t really work. You’ve hired this person, you’re paying them, and you don’t even really know what they’re doing for your business because you still have all these things to do. I like to set up a 30, 60 and 90-day onboarding process. With this process, you can look at all the tasks that you want to give this person and all these processes you’ve now put in place and start looking at the things that take up the most time. We’re going to get back the most time and spend a little bit of time onboarding this person into that piece. Then once they’ve got that dialed in, then you can say, okay, what’s the next task that’s taking up the most of my time or next task is going to drive that revenue forward? I like to take the job description and break it into about 3 months of certain tasks that give some time back. Then, you can shift and add more tasks once they get comfortable with the processes that you’ve given them.
Kristen Westcott
There’s so many! I’ll pick the ones that are most exciting and sexy for people:
Lead Generation System
I think this is going to overlap a lot with what you’ve talked about with your audience. Having a lead generation system in place is crucial. What I see with so many people is when they do get to that place where they are booked out and they are full and things are going great, now they’re no longer marketing. They no longer have a lead generation process going in the background for them. So that when those client contracts are finished or that project is done, then they don’t have leads to fill that. I like to tell people, they need to block at least 30 minutes a day to be maintaining a presence, whether that’s on social or referral networks.
Content Marketing
Along with that, content marketing. How can you create content that is going to be consistent for your people? What do you have consistency look like? What kinds of content can you repurpose using schedulers? I know using schedulers is a controversial topic because algorithms don’t love them. We know that. Whatever your primary form of marketing is, don’t automate that. You show up live, you do your thing, you serve your audience and appease the algorithm at the same time. But your secondary or third one can all be automated and scheduled. With those, we’re just looking to have a presence on that platform. So, that’s a system we create and evaluate. Can we put a system in place for that to become more of an automated thing just to maintain a presence on that network?
Know Your Numbers
If you’re looking to kind of break through to the next level in your business, whatever that looks like for you, part of that has to be knowing your numbers. Knowing your revenue and your expenses and putting a system in place where you’re staying on top of that. It doesn’t have to be this big, elaborate system. If you don’t have a bookkeeper, it means you sit down once a month to put all of your expenses into your bookkeeping software. Just really taking the time to look at that is important.
Mallory Schlabach
What about like internal processes? Things like communication and the emails. How do you manage that into the process? Because that’s still eluding me. It just feels like a hot mess all the time.
Kristen Westcott
I’m glad you brought that up. It’s true, the more tech apps that come out that are developed, the more places we have for people to connect with us. If you don’t have a process in place, then you’re checking Voxer, Marco Polo, Slack, email, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and all the places. This also becomes part of your team and your client onboarding – to have some kind of communication process in place. Where do they connect with you for whatever reason?
In my company, email is a last resort. The only thing that we do with email is forwarded to somebody for a client that sent a document or something through that email. There are so many apps now that we actually just turned that into a project management task. So, we can forward the email to the project management software, and it goes in there so that we don’t actually have to worry about email. We let all of our clients and our team know like emails, not the best way. So, you need to define what needed for real-time communication, and what is your system for things that are not urgent that don’t need responses right away. Then your team knows what to put where, and your clients know where the one place is that they can connect with you. Then the expectation is there.
For me, I use Voxer for instant communication, because that is voice and you need to be able to respond back as quick as possible. I can do that while I’m walking and while I’m doing something else. If I’m not directly at my computer. For the non-instant I use Slack.
Mallory Schlabach
Is there anything with social media outside of scheduling and content? Is there anything else we haven’t talked about in regards to a process around social media?
Kristen Westcott
So, piggybacking off of communication and social media, you need to have a process in place for how to respond to certain comments on social media. How do we respond when somebody is negative? Generally, you just block and delete them. But with the group, these are your people that you’re trying to nurture. This is a group that you’re trying to foster a community. What is the goal of the group? What are the rules of the group? When you figure all of that out, you need to have some kind of communication document that explains what happens if someone breaks the rules. This way, you know the exact steps to take every time and you’re consistent. As you start to bring on a team, they will understand exactly how you would respond to this kind of comment.
Mallory Schlabach
So, is there anything else I’ve not asked you that you need to tell people about making your system sexy?
Kristen Westcott
Don’t overthink it. I think a lot of times we hesitate because we think we have to get it right the first time. But systems are fluid. They can be changed and adapt with your company and with your team as you learn something new, and we’re always learning. So, don’t be afraid to put a system in place. You can always switch it if it doesn’t work for you.
I’d also say to be in constant communication with your team. I think that’s the one thing we didn’t really touch on. My primary team member, my right-hand girl, we meet every week. We have a 30-minute meeting every single Monday to check in. With my other contractor team members, we meet once a month, and I do a monthly check-in just to see everyone’s faces. I also use this to touch point and make sure things are going well and see if everybody’s still happy with their roles. Bringing them together once a month and face-to-face also increases the camaraderie and helps them communicate better just because they feel like they’re actually part of a team. Then once a quarter we do virtual happy hours where we all come on after the kids are in bed, and we let grab a drink and talk about anything but work. That helps us bond as a team bond and people because we’re all over North America. That’s not really a system, but I find it makes all my other systems run better. They feel like they’re valued. They feel like I understand them as a person and not just somebody on the other end of a text message. Then you get that real sense that they enjoy being part of your team, and then they want to push that mission and that vision forward as much as you do.
Mallory Schlabach
Oh, that’s so good. Okay, so where can people follow you? Where do you hang out most?
Kristen Westcott
I hang out most on Instagram, and the second place I hang out is on Facebook, and then of course you can find me on my website! If you’d love to chat a little bit more about your systems and processes, you can shoot me a DM on Instagram. I love chatting with people there, or you can book a call my website. We can talk about how you can make your systems sexier and not be afraid to get some of those things in place.
Mallory Schlabach
Kristen, thank you so much for being a guest on the podcast. I loved your enthusiasm for systems and processes. These change your life. We know they change our personal lives, so why do we hesitate on doing them in our business? Take notes of the ones that we talked about today, you will probably come up more when you do the brain dump. This will change your business. This is how you grow and scale even though it’s going to feel like work up front. You absolutely got this.
Kristen Westcott is a business growth strategist and founder of Kristen Westcott Media (www.kristenwestcottmedia.com) who has spent the last decade in the legal and education fields supporting leaders and students in the areas of goal setting, productivity and project management. After recognizing her true passion lies in serving entrepreneurs, Kristen honed her skills as a Director of Operations. She quickly noticed that what was holding many business owners back wasn’t a lack of drive or ability, but a lack of foundational systems that could support the day-to-day operations of a scaling business. These days, she spends her time helping online coaches, copywriters and course creators scale without the frustration that massive growth often brings.
Connect with Kristen:
Facebook | LinkedIn | Instagram
Links:
About Marketing Magic:
The Marketing Magic podcast is where women entrepreneurs trying to do all the things come to get inspiration, business strategy, and on-air coaching on how to get their business noticed and growing. If you have a business that people need to know about in order for it to grow, you’re in the right place. This is the place to uncomplicate your marketing. Be sure to listen, subscribe, and leave a review! Join the conversation of other unapologetically successful women in her Facebook community, The #girlboss Club.
