James: Welcome back.
I'm James Roberts.
And this is Behind the Madness where
we talk about business growth, ways
to work smarter and the fundamentals
of business, all geared to unlocking
your brand's peak performance.
So let's dive into this episode
where we are talking about
systems and processes with Jamie.
Jamie: Hi James,
James: How are we?
Jamie: Very well.
How are you?
James: Yeah.
Jamie: Are we dabbling in with,
uh, James joke time before we get,
uh, into the meat of the topic?
James: Um,
Jamie: Weren't expecting
that one were you?
James: No.
And the only ones I've got in my
locker probably can't be used.
Jamie: Ok, what is
Beethoven's favorite fruit?
James: I dunno.
What is Beethoven's favorite fruit
Jamie: Bana na na na, ba na na na naaa.
I got you covered.
James: Yeah.
Thanks mate.
That's my cup of tea.
So today processes and, um, systems,
systems, systems, and processes.
It's like, we've, prepped this?
I know we are jumping
straight in no script.
Just gonna have a chat and really go
over the benefits of processes, systems
and why business should be using them.
Jamie, you came up with this topic,
do you wanna kick it all off?
Jamie: Yeah, sure.
It, uh, it comes back to how a lot of
people have for a number of years, been
trying to attract smarter ways to work
and it's become a bit of a buzz and
people who are looking for the hacks
and the tricks and the stuff like that.
Systems and processes have always
been part of business, whether you
are an employee, the business owner,
you're part of a team, whatever.
If you have a workflow for how you
do certain tasks and certain aspects
of your business or your job, then
it just streamlines everything.
It means you are doing more and
thinking less if you are spending
time implementing these processes.
So for example, we have a
content day here at Method.
It means we get together once a month and
we record all the reels, we sit down and
do the podcasts, uh, get any stories done.
So if you see any of our stories,
yes, the cat's out the bag,
James is just changing clothes.
We aren't recording
them on different days.
But it allows us to then utilize the time
within those gaps so the rest of the month
can be either engaging on social media,
making sure the content is received right.
How we can engage you guys a
bit more and learn about it.
It's a process that we've put in place.
James: And before that again, we
weren't, we still have a strategy
of what we wanted to hit, but it
was slightly disjointed with that
content because it was more ad hoc.
Jamie: Yeah and that, and that's the
thing is this, isn't your strategy.
This is how you actually do stuff.
This isn't what you do, why you do
it, all of that, it's the execution.
This is why it's systems and its
processes rather than strategy,
strategies your overarching stuff, why
you are a business, why you do your job.
All of these little elements that doesn't
change, stay true to that, that's really
important, stay with your why, but your
processes about, okay, so say you are a
marketing manager and you've got Instagram
strategy that you are wanting to do.
What are the tasks you need to
do to hit those marketing KPIs
that you've set yourselves?
And then what you can do
from there is go, okay.
One of the tasks is post
on Instagram every day.
So what process can I put in that
allows me to do that task more
streamlined, more effortlessly.
And that may look like content days
that may look like sitting down and
writing all your captions out for the
next month in two hour time block.
But it just means you aren't
playing catch up all the time
James: I guess, you know, this, there
may be people listening in going well,
hang on a minute this isn't for me, and
I think if you are in business, no matter
how big, you need a process, you need
Jamie: A hundred percent.
James: You need those systems in place.
Jamie: And best example I can give, uh,
that everyone will be able to relate
to is one of the first things you do
in the morning and the last things
you do at night is brush your teeth.
Mm-hmm because you
don't want rotting teeth.
That is a system.
It's a process.
James: Yeah and as you say, systems
don't have to be these very expensive
things, any kind of system comes
into place, that process of brushing
your teeth, systems can be excelled.
They can be a word document.
It can be absolutely anything that
allows you to meet those goals.
So where can we add value
then with this podcast?
Where can we help our listeners out in
terms of their systems and in terms of
their processes, where should they be
looking or how should they start looking
about improving what they're doing?
Jamie: I think one of the big key
areas to start with is really finding
clarity on their goals, making
sure they're understanding exactly
what they're trying to achieve.
And then when you know what you can
achieve, you note down the tasks
that will help you achieve that.
Mm-hmm with any, with any goal or
anything like that, it's kind of a
little bit abstract here, it's a little
bit fluffy, but the actual actions
are what you're gonna get you there
on the day to day, which is ideal.
Once you know what those tasks are you
know how it should look and then you
can go well, this is what I'm gonna do.
So we use the same example of, we wanted
to post more reels mm-hmm because it was
hot topic, but we also wanted to make sure
that it wasn't just myself on the reels.
So we went right.
Well, if we got together for a morning,
we could get James involved, we could
get Paul involved, we could get Laura
involved and it allowed it to move out
and become a set in stone process and
actually make things more efficient.
So, identify your goals.
Mm-hmm, be clear on the tasks that
will help you hit those goals and then
outline the processes to do those tasks.
Mm-hmm the only thing that doesn't
change on there is your goals in
terms of they're the top level vision.
The other stuff, keep it flexible, stuff
changes, processes get better, don't
worry about if it looks shit the first
time, that's what it's meant to do.
James: Yeah, and I think having something
as exactly, as you said, having something
down allows you to be able to, to pivot.
And pivot, I knew it was coming,
and create having, as I said, having
something down allows you to shift
from that if you need to, it doesn't
say that because it's down it's
set in stone and we must follow it.
Um, it just allows you to work
out, and improve, really, take
what you've done, test it.
And I think this comes down to everything
with websites, with marketing strategy,
with anything you're putting out on
socials, even products, services.
You should always be reviewing what you
are doing anyway and trying to improve or
make that thing better for your customers.
Jamie: And that's what it comes back to.
Yeah.
Like that's what it
massively comes back to.
Like as a business, you always
want what's best for your customer.
The byproduct of that is obviously
it normally helps your bottom
line, you increase your sales, you
increase your revenue, happy days.
James: That's why we're in business.
Jamie: Exactly.
But if you've got better systems
and you've got better processes, it
means you are doing your work better.
And if you're doing your work better, your
customers are getting a better experience.
And then therefore they're gonna
buy more, they're gonna share more,
they're gonna increase their loyalty,
they're gonna become advocates for you.
And it just makes your
life less stressful.
James: I think one of the ways that we
do it a lot, obviously we're HubSpot
partners and we talk to a lot of, even
though we are primarily fixed around
creative marketing, and that angle.
I always like to think of marketing
and sales as being closely, joined and
closely linked, like they should be.
But with that, if you take a sales
agent, no matter whether that's you doing
it as a company owner, another small
business, or whether you do actually
have sales agents and sales managers.
There's a lot of tasks you have
to do to complete that sale.
Once it's gone through marketing
so once you know your lead, you are
having quite a few communications,
discussions with this customer to
try and nurture them into this sale.
And to be able to do that, there's a
lot of the time where you are waiting
on the client or potential client to do
something, you will email them and maybe
try and get us something in the calendar.
You will send a quote out.
You will maybe, um, send some more
information about your services out.
There's a lot of times you might
have a conversation with them and
then hang up at the end and need
to follow it up with something.
There's a lot of communication that you're
going to have with this customer and it is
very easy, if you have a strategy or let's
say your action point is to send a quote.
It's very easy to send that
quote and then forget about it.
It's off your list.
And this is something we've run into all
the time, I've completed my task, it's now
in the court of the customer, if you're
sending out 3, 4, 5 a day, even if it's
that a week, you are going to forget about
some, because it's off your to-do list.
If you are then putting in processes where
you are getting reminders, and this is
again where the systems come into place,
if you are getting reminders that I've
sent that quote out now in three days
time, remind me to chase that quote.
You are going to be looking
after your bottom line because
there's a lot of wastage.
Um, and that process, yes, we're talking
about sales can be applied to everything.
It's easy to just do your to-do
list, and then get it off your
plate and move on to the next thing.
So I think, again, work out what you
are doing and how you can maximize
your efficiency, really, I think,
which is what it always comes down to.
Jamie: Yeah and that, that is it.
You wanna make sure your business,
your life is as streamlined,
as efficient as possible.
I wanna pick up on something that you
just mentioned there with HubSpot.
I imagine a lot of our users, uh, and
a lot of our listeners will have heard
of HubSpot, maybe even using it, maybe
drop a comment if you are a HubSpot user,
um, workflows are a big part of HubSpot.
What would be a couple of tips
you would give people to utilize
workflows and HubSpot automations
to increase their processes?
James: Yeah, so, workflows just to
give a good overview of a workflow.
It is a series of steps
to complete a task.
So.
Let's say somebody has
downloaded an ebook.
If we didn't have a workflow in
place for somebody downloading
an ebook, we would have to send
the ebook out to them initially.
Then we would have to remind ourselves
in a number of days to send another
email out or some communication to
see how they felt about that ebook.
We are then going to have to remind
somebody within sales to give them a
call around that ebook, we're then going
to have to, um, maybe send them some
other nurturing information related on
what that ebook was on the same subject.
So there is 1, 2, 3, 5 steps there,
or thereabouts around that process.
So putting it into a workflow will allow
the automatic email to go out straight
away with their ebooks, the thing
which they've requested, we can then
put a delay in and after three days we
might send out another email, which is
just, you know, give us some feedback.
How did you find the ebook?
There may be a task for somebody within
sales to give that lead a ring and
see what they felt about it, and then
alongside that, we might then want to
say, well, actually, if they've downloaded
this and they've looked at this page on
our website, let's send them this content
because they'd also be interested in that.
So it's a great way of building up
a, an engine that is nurturing your
leads without you having to do it.
Jamie: Sounds ideal, and obviously
if anyone did want to have a chat
about HubSpot, James is an expert
so by all means make way over to
the website and have a click on and,
and book in some time with because
will happily help you with that.
James: Love talking about HubSpot.
Jamie: He does love a HubSpot.
Yeah, there's loads of tips, more on
HubSpot and stuff on our Instagram.
So check those out.
If that's up your.
Um, I think that really covers it.
I wanna keep this one not to, because it
is, can be quite an overwhelming topic.
Mm-hmm uh, so I'll send it
back over to you to wrap.
James: I think yeah, following up, I
love processes, I love sequences, I
love optimizing businesses, so let's put
this one back to you guys to contact us
and let us know around what processes
you are doing or you find value in.
If you're using HubSpot, if you're using
HubSpot workflows, I am all about that.
So drop them into some emails, let us
know really what you are doing, how
you are doing it, what you find use
out of, um, which would be amazing.
We have a new email set up,
which I've mentioned before.
So our new email is
podcast@hellomethod.co.uk.
So we'll drop this obviously in the
show notes, but make sure you, um,
you drop on that email, any questions
you've got about the episode.
Any feedback you wanna give us, and as
I said any sequences or anything that
you are finding, you know, that you are
finding really useful drop that onto that
email, and it will come into our inboxes
and we will reply to everyone we get.
So that about wraps it up.
Jamie, thanks again so
much for your time today.
As I've mentioned any questions,
any feedback you want to give
us, then use that email address
podcast@hellomethod.co.uk.
And that's it for this episode, thanks for
listening and we'll catch you next time.