WEBVTT NOTE This file was generated by Descript 00:00:00.049 --> 00:00:02.903 James: Hello and welcome to another episode of behind the madness. 00:00:02.963 --> 00:00:07.073 I'm your host, James Roberts, founder, and owner of Method. 00:00:07.073 --> 00:00:12.233 We are a growth agency who are hell bent on unlocking company's potential through 00:00:12.233 --> 00:00:14.933 creative and marketing techniques. 00:00:15.289 --> 00:00:19.936 On today's episode, we are talking all about automation and 00:00:19.966 --> 00:00:23.116 optimization, something that I love. 00:00:30.195 --> 00:00:32.535 Once again, I am joined by my two friends. 00:00:33.100 --> 00:00:34.630 Jamie and Paul. 00:00:34.640 --> 00:00:37.293 So let's jump in with today's topic. 00:00:37.298 --> 00:00:38.318 Firstly hello both. 00:00:38.378 --> 00:00:39.158 How are you? 00:00:39.162 --> 00:00:39.582 Jamie: Very good. 00:00:39.582 --> 00:00:40.092 Thanks James 00:00:40.092 --> 00:00:40.472 how are you 00:00:40.720 --> 00:00:40.900 James: Yeah. 00:00:40.930 --> 00:00:41.680 Good, good. 00:00:41.680 --> 00:00:43.970 It's nice to somebody asks plus somebody cares Jamie. 00:00:44.020 --> 00:00:44.860 It's nice somebody cares. 00:00:44.910 --> 00:00:47.940 Jamie: You say that, but I'm going to stop you there because we're going to 00:00:48.007 --> 00:00:51.263 flip the script today and we're going to put you on the spot a little bit. 00:00:51.263 --> 00:00:54.443 We know that automation optimization is your baby. 00:00:54.913 --> 00:00:58.283 you love making sure a company works more efficiently. 00:00:58.283 --> 00:01:01.553 So today to ask you a couple of questions, get your 00:01:01.553 --> 00:01:03.533 responses and see how it goes. 00:01:03.773 --> 00:01:04.223 That's right. 00:01:04.223 --> 00:01:04.493 Isn't it. 00:01:04.493 --> 00:01:04.703 Paul. 00:01:05.043 --> 00:01:07.503 Paul: Yeah, James is an automation and workflow nerd. 00:01:07.872 --> 00:01:08.785 Jamie: said like a true friend. 00:01:08.947 --> 00:01:09.262 James: Yeah. 00:01:09.292 --> 00:01:09.862 Thanks mate. 00:01:09.888 --> 00:01:11.574 Right go on then let's get cracking. 00:01:11.584 --> 00:01:14.154 Jamie: So first and foremost, what's it all about? 00:01:14.304 --> 00:01:18.864 As in, we've just thrown automation optimization all out there. 00:01:18.954 --> 00:01:19.994 What you talking about? 00:01:20.041 --> 00:01:24.990 James: So with automation, optimization, anything along those lines, it 00:01:24.990 --> 00:01:27.705 kind of is around streamlining. 00:01:27.705 --> 00:01:30.495 If we're just focused on businesses and obviously be done in everyday life, to 00:01:30.495 --> 00:01:33.532 be honest, it can be done with anything personally, as well as business. 00:01:33.562 --> 00:01:37.398 But for this, I think people will get more interest out of business 00:01:37.398 --> 00:01:38.808 optimization and automatization. 00:01:38.808 --> 00:01:43.474 So we're primarily talking about streamlining companies, we are 00:01:43.474 --> 00:01:48.904 trying to optimize their day, into working more efficiently. 00:01:49.479 --> 00:01:50.650 done in a number of different ways. 00:01:50.710 --> 00:01:54.100 I could certainly talk for hours and hours on the topic. 00:01:54.434 --> 00:01:57.674 And you can break that down into certain sectors. 00:01:57.901 --> 00:02:00.489 So when we take the car industry. 00:02:00.849 --> 00:02:05.213 There's two ways of making cars that you can make beautiful handmade cars 00:02:05.303 --> 00:02:10.486 like our friends over at Pembleton, or you can go down the automation 00:02:10.486 --> 00:02:12.586 route and mass produced cars. 00:02:12.586 --> 00:02:16.693 Now to do that, you've got to get systems in place where that automation 00:02:16.693 --> 00:02:21.296 is taking care of and in that instance, they are actual robotics that are 00:02:21.326 --> 00:02:24.356 automating the car manufacturing process. 00:02:24.596 --> 00:02:27.236 I think it's nice to start there because everybody has seen the pictures. 00:02:27.236 --> 00:02:31.000 Everybody is seeing video footage of these cars being produced and 00:02:31.000 --> 00:02:32.230 you can take it one step further. 00:02:32.230 --> 00:02:36.161 If you look at the likes of BMW who actually have almost robots that are 00:02:36.161 --> 00:02:40.115 driving around the shop floor, doing all of these automation tasks now what 00:02:40.115 --> 00:02:43.099 that's doing is obviously speeding up the creation of a car in this 00:02:43.099 --> 00:02:46.172 instance and saving people's time. 00:02:46.172 --> 00:02:51.971 We only have so much a day and to train up staff, to be able to do that, to train up 00:02:52.001 --> 00:02:56.638 engineers, to train up people is obviously costly and can take a lot of time. 00:02:56.638 --> 00:03:01.018 Jamie: That is key, that is a massive key point is talking about this, given 00:03:01.018 --> 00:03:06.498 me a great outlook of what it is, but why, why should business owners marketing 00:03:06.498 --> 00:03:07.908 teams, like, why should they care? 00:03:07.938 --> 00:03:08.708 Like, what's the benefit. 00:03:09.390 --> 00:03:12.263 James: So it's, obviously it generally does come down to cost. 00:03:12.803 --> 00:03:15.593 Everything has to come down with cost of business and we are trying 00:03:15.593 --> 00:03:18.353 to get the most for our buck. 00:03:18.773 --> 00:03:22.203 We built a system a few years back, and when we were introducing it to 00:03:22.223 --> 00:03:26.893 companies, they were really worried about it replacing them because it 00:03:26.963 --> 00:03:32.093 was doing a part of their job, but I never looked at it like that. 00:03:32.123 --> 00:03:36.293 I look at it from the view that it's giving that person time back, that can 00:03:36.293 --> 00:03:42.377 be used to do more beneficial tasks for the organization, or for the company. 00:03:42.537 --> 00:03:46.835 If you're doing a repetitive task all the time, you are paying for 00:03:46.835 --> 00:03:52.625 somebody to do that repetitive task rather than build on or grow. 00:03:53.285 --> 00:03:56.435 And I think that's what it comes down to is, is the growth. 00:03:56.615 --> 00:04:01.502 So if you are automating something, they then have time to grow themselves, 00:04:01.502 --> 00:04:05.022 they have time to learn new things, but also you have the Headspace maybe to 00:04:05.022 --> 00:04:10.232 apply that into a different field, but you are saving money on that person. 00:04:10.232 --> 00:04:14.312 You have bought them back time where you are going to get 00:04:14.372 --> 00:04:15.602 more productivity from them. 00:04:15.602 --> 00:04:19.802 They're going to actually be able to do more things for that money when they are, 00:04:20.082 --> 00:04:24.006 you know, could be very highly skilled members of your team that are doing 00:04:24.006 --> 00:04:30.096 the same thing day in and day out and that is a waste of time and resources. 00:04:30.411 --> 00:04:35.067 Jamie: I imagine massively on, on that point, the employee team get much 00:04:35.067 --> 00:04:38.277 more enjoyment from that jobs as well, because they're not doing those boring 00:04:38.277 --> 00:04:42.777 tasks that you kind of said, and they are given more time and license to use 00:04:42.777 --> 00:04:47.661 their expertise to innovate, or to think up new ideas or grow themselves with 00:04:47.711 --> 00:04:48.851 the time you've given back to them. 00:04:48.851 --> 00:04:53.001 So I can see it being a massive, useful tool on that side of the morale as well. 00:04:53.069 --> 00:04:56.094 Paul have you got anything fire over to the boss man? 00:04:56.424 --> 00:05:00.034 Paul: I want to add on what James just said really, it's it's about efficiency. 00:05:00.064 --> 00:05:02.914 It's about giving people time back to do their job. 00:05:03.302 --> 00:05:08.173 If started the job five years ago, you will have taken on more today then 00:05:08.173 --> 00:05:11.852 you signed up for you're constantly getting niggling little jobs thrown at 00:05:11.852 --> 00:05:14.707 you to do that takes up so much time. 00:05:15.007 --> 00:05:17.960 With automation, workflows, and things like that like that it's giving you 00:05:17.960 --> 00:05:21.733 that time back to concentrate on your job and not, not wasting time on the 00:05:21.733 --> 00:05:25.358 jobs you're doing before it's just letting technology do it for you. 00:05:25.610 --> 00:05:25.880 Jamie: Yeah. 00:05:25.880 --> 00:05:26.510 Interesting. 00:05:27.825 --> 00:05:29.805 Going going back to James. 00:05:29.903 --> 00:05:31.493 I'm going to put a bit of a clock on this. 00:05:31.893 --> 00:05:35.753 I'm going to look for one to two minute answers for the next couple. 00:05:36.053 --> 00:05:40.883 You spoke earlier about the importance of having these systems and stuff in place. 00:05:41.693 --> 00:05:43.403 How do you plan automations? 00:05:43.433 --> 00:05:44.863 What do you do for that? 00:05:44.886 --> 00:05:48.983 James: Quick answer, start simple, you are never going to 00:05:48.983 --> 00:05:51.143 have a complex system overnight. 00:05:51.173 --> 00:05:54.113 It's never going to just wake up one day and you're going to have your whole 00:05:54.203 --> 00:05:57.173 system, your whole organization automated. 00:05:57.893 --> 00:06:03.600 You have to think with the basics first, you know, maybe take email something 00:06:03.600 --> 00:06:10.789 that every organization uses and we will all send an email with the similar 00:06:11.029 --> 00:06:16.241 content in it, three or four times a week, easily, where it could be related 00:06:16.241 --> 00:06:20.861 to sales and that same email or that chasing email of did you get my quote? 00:06:21.431 --> 00:06:24.401 We will send it and we will write it every time. 00:06:24.941 --> 00:06:29.086 So why not set a template that you can use and you change a few things 00:06:29.086 --> 00:06:30.625 because we all want to be personal. 00:06:30.625 --> 00:06:33.535 You have to be personal, but the bulk of it is done. 00:06:34.165 --> 00:06:37.495 That could be your first step in terms of automation. 00:06:38.495 --> 00:06:41.615 Jamie: Perfect and well, under a minute, so nicely done. 00:06:42.111 --> 00:06:43.491 Paul: I've got a question for you, James. 00:06:43.791 --> 00:06:48.621 Some people might be put off by the high cost of implementation of automation. 00:06:48.651 --> 00:06:50.061 So is it worth it? 00:06:50.308 --> 00:06:53.157 James: So, yeah, so as I said, you know, templates could be free. 00:06:53.247 --> 00:06:54.957 You could save them on, on Google docs. 00:06:55.554 --> 00:07:00.859 When you get up to, obviously we are HubSpot partners HubSpot have 00:07:00.919 --> 00:07:04.863 around marketing automation and sales automation even service looking after 00:07:05.013 --> 00:07:09.283 ongoing clients are brilliant at what they do and you can get some really 00:07:09.283 --> 00:07:12.687 complex automation workflow set up. 00:07:13.137 --> 00:07:18.096 When you get to that level yes, there is a cost involved, but the flip side 00:07:18.096 --> 00:07:23.031 of that, Essentially a HubSpot license, I usually treat it like a member of 00:07:23.031 --> 00:07:29.301 staff that is working, you know, every day of the year, working every hour. 00:07:29.691 --> 00:07:31.041 They're not forgetting things. 00:07:31.251 --> 00:07:32.674 I don't have to pay them a pension. 00:07:33.034 --> 00:07:39.339 So really a member of staff that is helping the whole organization out. 00:07:39.339 --> 00:07:44.083 So I think don't view it as an outgoing cost that is you know, not, not going 00:07:44.083 --> 00:07:45.563 to really win you anything back. 00:07:45.613 --> 00:07:47.143 It certainly is. 00:07:47.143 --> 00:07:51.483 It's going to win you back in terms of optimization time, also, yeah, 00:07:51.513 --> 00:07:54.363 treat it like a member staff who's doing all of those jobs for you. 00:07:54.990 --> 00:07:59.430 Jamie: So I think kind of answered them part a little bit of my next question, 00:07:59.430 --> 00:08:03.930 but if you were to give people a toolkit for automations, optimizations, 00:08:03.960 --> 00:08:05.850 what does, what does yours look like? 00:08:05.880 --> 00:08:06.930 What would you recommend? 00:08:07.631 --> 00:08:11.581 And like you kind of did there is there a scale, obviously starting, 00:08:11.581 --> 00:08:15.541 maybe on a free solution to paying for a tool like HubSpot. 00:08:15.981 --> 00:08:21.678 James: Yeah, so again, you know, there is ways that you can utilize optimization, 00:08:21.678 --> 00:08:26.383 so it could, it could just be a simple System that you are looking at within 00:08:26.383 --> 00:08:33.583 your business, that looks at how much time you are using in certain tasks. 00:08:34.153 --> 00:08:37.633 So every time you are writing emails, for example, and it's a bit of a boring 00:08:37.633 --> 00:08:42.078 process to go through, but if you can segment that time and understand 00:08:42.078 --> 00:08:46.728 how your staff are working, we all think we know, but really we don't. 00:08:46.998 --> 00:08:49.608 There's so much wasted time that happens within a day. 00:08:50.058 --> 00:08:54.198 That's understanding that first and foremost, which essentially is free, 00:08:54.498 --> 00:08:59.775 we can do that with stopwatches, you can have a good idea of really 00:08:59.775 --> 00:09:05.275 what your staff, your team, your workforce are doing, then you can 00:09:05.275 --> 00:09:07.345 decide, well, what should we automate? 00:09:07.435 --> 00:09:11.275 And with a lot of these platforms, you know, we use a number of different tools 00:09:11.335 --> 00:09:16.555 and they all start off with a starter or a free version to kind of get you going. 00:09:16.555 --> 00:09:21.005 So within our tool kits, yes, we have some in fact, all of our tools, I think 00:09:21.005 --> 00:09:24.155 have a starter option, and then you can grow that as your business grows. 00:09:24.781 --> 00:09:25.051 Jamie: Okay. 00:09:25.051 --> 00:09:27.791 So last one from me before I let you off the hook. 00:09:28.061 --> 00:09:31.026 Business doing okay, how do I start? 00:09:31.076 --> 00:09:34.616 If you would just give me a easy process that I could follow here. 00:09:34.676 --> 00:09:38.096 And it's once two minutes, super simple. 00:09:38.246 --> 00:09:40.186 How do I start freeing up this time? 00:09:40.216 --> 00:09:43.166 This time that you said to me, that I could have, how do I do it?. 00:09:43.322 --> 00:09:46.022 James: So again, analyze what you're doing, set out, 00:09:46.022 --> 00:09:47.232 what you do during the day. 00:09:47.572 --> 00:09:51.913 I think going back to time and tracking your time and understanding how you 00:09:51.913 --> 00:09:58.543 spend your day and how you split up your day is a really interesting exercise. 00:09:59.080 --> 00:10:03.010 Then once you've done that you can set time within your day. 00:10:03.183 --> 00:10:05.604 So without getting started with any of these tools, it's a good 00:10:05.604 --> 00:10:08.404 to have this understanding of how you can optimize yourself. 00:10:08.566 --> 00:10:11.536 Block in time to do set tasks. 00:10:11.742 --> 00:10:15.792 we all have this monkey mind, especially when it's within business and we will 00:10:15.792 --> 00:10:18.612 have to jump between different tasks. 00:10:18.912 --> 00:10:21.492 Different people are pulling us in different ways of phone will go off and 00:10:21.492 --> 00:10:24.857 email will come in and we're being pulled in all of these different directions, 00:10:24.857 --> 00:10:27.437 which is why it's sometimes very nice to get home and put your feet up. 00:10:28.187 --> 00:10:32.203 So block out time, you know, on a Thursday morning for an hour, I'm going to do 00:10:32.203 --> 00:10:38.203 prospecting, in the afternoon I'm going to look at clearing my emails out, set 00:10:38.203 --> 00:10:40.383 time within your day and stick to it. 00:10:40.636 --> 00:10:44.221 You might have to deviate, but then also set meetings around that. 00:10:44.701 --> 00:10:50.701 So I know that between 12 and one o'clock, I'm going to have my lunch 00:10:50.701 --> 00:10:53.101 and I'm going to go for a walk, let's say, that's blocked out. 00:10:53.101 --> 00:10:56.301 That's in my calendar, people can't book a meeting then, then 00:10:56.311 --> 00:11:00.901 I'm going to do meetings at two til three and set things like that. 00:11:00.901 --> 00:11:05.251 All of a sudden you're optimizing yourself from then you start to then get 00:11:05.251 --> 00:11:10.756 a greater understanding of how to manage your time and what repetitive tasks 00:11:10.756 --> 00:11:15.136 you are doing and then you can start to move on from there to what to include. 00:11:15.319 --> 00:11:15.739 Jamie: Perfect. 00:11:15.958 --> 00:11:20.521 Yeah, that makes sense, that makes sense, Paul, is there you've got to fire 00:11:20.521 --> 00:11:22.481 at him before I head back over to him? 00:11:22.951 --> 00:11:25.220 Paul: I think he's covered pretty much everything that 00:11:25.650 --> 00:11:27.270 we needed to in this podcast. 00:11:27.482 --> 00:11:28.172 Jamie: That's perfect. 00:11:28.172 --> 00:11:31.262 So, James, thank you for jumping into the hot seat and 00:11:31.262 --> 00:11:32.672 giving your expertise on that. 00:11:32.672 --> 00:11:35.792 I'm sure HubSpot will be very happy with a couple of mentions. 00:11:35.792 --> 00:11:39.752 We will try and get them on here as well at some point, so if you're listening. 00:11:40.752 --> 00:11:44.982 James, back over you to wrap up and say bye to our lovely audience. 00:11:45.383 --> 00:11:45.533 James: Yeah. 00:11:45.533 --> 00:11:49.047 So as I mentioned, I love automation. 00:11:49.047 --> 00:11:52.720 If you have any questions about how to get started off, drop me an email. 00:11:52.990 --> 00:11:56.200 It's probably the easiest way, james@hellomethod.co.uk. 00:11:56.410 --> 00:11:59.290 And I only answer emails on a Friday afternoon between five and six. 00:11:59.290 --> 00:11:59.920 No that's a lie. 00:12:00.280 --> 00:12:02.920 Just drop me an email and I will come back to you on the, on those. 00:12:03.065 --> 00:12:03.845 Jamie: It's a lie. 00:12:04.375 --> 00:12:05.125 James: It's a lie. 00:12:05.305 --> 00:12:06.325 I'm always on my emails. 00:12:06.696 --> 00:12:07.960 So anyway, thanks for listening. 00:12:08.710 --> 00:12:12.346 This has been behind the madness with me, James Jamie and Paul today. 00:12:13.096 --> 00:12:16.036 We hope you enjoyed learning about automation. 00:12:16.666 --> 00:12:17.866 Make sure you subscribe. 00:12:17.866 --> 00:12:20.926 So you're going to get all of our latest episodes pop up on your phone. 00:12:21.297 --> 00:12:25.984 And as always, you can head over to hellomethod.co.uk, to sign up to our email 00:12:25.984 --> 00:12:29.284 list and get notified from there, with our blog and all of our lovely content 00:12:29.284 --> 00:12:31.123 that we're putting out on there as well. 00:12:31.423 --> 00:12:34.255 We'll also include some links and some resources in the show notes as 00:12:34.255 --> 00:12:37.105 ever, but that's it for this episode. 00:12:37.135 --> 00:12:38.185 So see you next time.