The Automation Advantage 001

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Here is this week's issue...

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?? Favorite Automation Tool This Week

Botpress

I am all over the web each week and deal with a number of technical support issues, so I see my share of chatbots. I also use tools like ManyChat to create marketing chatbots with Facebook Messenger to entertain or engage visitors to a client's Facebook page or website. I love the power of ManyChat and I have built many bots, but this week's favorite tool, Botpress, has given me a wider field to play on and removed many of the limitations I have with ManyChat.

Botpress makes it easy for anyone to create a custom chatbot without knowing code (or knowing minimal code) and allows you to add it to your website with a few clicks. Botpress has some really powerful features and integrations. One of my favorites is the ability to capture important data from the user and store it for later use in conversations or integrate it with other software like your CRM or eCommerce shop.

I am currently building a chatbot to engage and segment website visitors as they arrive on a Fence Installer website. It will answer FAQs and provide access to an installation knowledge base, but as you can imagine, there are an unlimited number of use cases for this.

I'm really excited to do more with BotPress and if you'd like to check it out you can find it here: https://botpress.com and there is a free plan you can use to test with.

?? Featured Article

Streamlining Client Onboarding: How to Save Time and Still Deliver Personalized Experiences

If your business involves Client onboarding, then you know that this process is crucial for building strong relationships and setting the stage for long-term success with your Clients. As important as it is, it is often a time-consuming and manual process that may vary from Client to Client and can require a lot of time.?

Aside from the time factor, numerous manual forms, outdated tools, or undocumented processes can lead to missed steps and put your business in a negative light at this very critical stage.?

Maybe you still do all of this manually because you don't want to lose that personal touch, especially if you are in high-ticket sales. I'm here to assure you that you don't have to sacrifice a personal, high-touch experience to be efficient, you can do both! Let me show you how.

First, here are the basic steps and how I would break it down.?

1. Map the Onboarding Journey:

The first step in streamlining your Client onboarding process is to map out each step involved and identify the steps where automation can be applied. Don't skip this step. Trust me you'll almost always find redundancies or something you're missing. Here's a breakdown of the typical onboarding journey:

• Purchase: Simplify the payment process and automate contract signing.
• Welcome: Deliver a warm and personalized welcome to new Clients.
• Access: Provide access to resources, groups, and training materials.
• Set Expectations: Clearly communicate what Clients can expect during the onboarding process.
• Systems Training: Familiarize Clients with the tools and platforms they'll be using.
• Support and Follow-up: Provide ongoing support and nurture the Client relationship.

Yours may look slightly different, but the point is to identify each of the steps in the process and who is responsible for the tasks within that process. Once you identify the steps, you are ready to automate the ones that make the most sense and see where you can save time. I find these are generally the ones that are impersonal like sending contracts, giving access to content, or sending out vital emails.??

2. Leverage Automation Tools:

Once you have identified the steps that are the best candidates for automation, it's time to leverage automation tools to streamline the process. Here are some key areas where I believe automation can make a significant impact on the onboarding process and some tools that can help:

• Contract Signing and Payment Processing: Use tools like PandaDoc or Docusign to automate the contract signing process. Integrate payment gateways with contract signing to streamline the processing, ensuring a smooth and efficient transition. Tools like Zapier or Make can help them talk to each other and identify when certain conditions are met.
• Personalized Welcome Messages: Utilize email marketing platforms such as Keap, ActiveCampaign, or MailChimp to send personalized welcome messages to new Clients. By utilizing these powerful tools, you can compile and store custom data fields like name, start dates, program dates or links and relay them back in the email to guarantee these messages convey a personal touch and are unique to the Client.
• Access to Exclusive Areas: If your business offers membership areas or training platforms, automating the process of granting access to these areas once a Client is onboarded is a no-brainer. This step alone makes such a great impact in the mind of your Client because they are able to take action quickly. Utilize triggers from one process using Zapier or Make to trigger this step remove human intervention that can often delay access, especially after hours or over weekends.
• Automated Follow-ups and Reminders: Set up automated email sequences through the CRMs to provide timely follow-ups and reminders for Clients. Send messages to key team members in Slack or through text for important human touchpoints along your Client's journey. This ensures that they feel important and stay engaged and informed throughout the process.
• Client Surveys and Feedback: Implement automated surveys or feedback forms to gather valuable insights from Clients along their journey. Use forms within your CRM or tools like JotForm or TypeForm to collect this data and then push it back to your CRM with automation. This feedback can help you identify areas for improvement and optimize your onboarding process over time but we don't need humans to gather it.?

3. Never Lose the Human Touch:

While automation plays a crucial role in streamlining the onboarding process and saving time, it's important to remember the value of the human touch. You should never look to entirely eliminate it. Just be more mindful of how you can optimize it and make it the most impactful.

Here are some areas where human interaction can enhance the onboarding experience that I feel should never be automated:

• Onboarding Calls: Schedule personalized onboarding calls to establish a direct connection with Clients. These calls are paramount and provide an opportunity to address any questions or concerns, build rapport, and ensure a smooth transition into the partnership.?
• Q&A Sessions: Host live Q&A sessions or webinars to address common queries and provide additional support. These interactive sessions allow Clients to engage with your team and gain a deeper understanding of your offerings.
• High-Touch Support: For more complex or high-value Clients, we need to keep dedicated support from a designated account manager. This personal touch ensures that their unique needs are met and strengthens the Client relationship.

By combining the discovery process, strategic automation, and personalized human interactions, you can streamline your Client onboarding process and deliver exceptional experiences while saving your business time.?

Take the time to map out the onboarding journey, identify areas for automation, and leverage the right tools to optimize efficiency! Through these simple strategies, you'll save time, but more importantly, you'll enhance Client satisfaction and create a solid foundation for long-term growth.

I hope this article has provided valuable insights and actionable tips for improving your Client onboarding process.

Let me know if you have implemented any of these strategies in your business. Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below!

?? Featured Automation

If you are an avid user of Zoom and are tasked with downloading recorded meetings and uploading them to Google Drive for other uses or to store them, you are going to love this flow because it is going to save you so much time!

In this automation I am using Zapier to trigger each time a new recording is identified in Zoom. Next, the download file is sent to a Google Drive folder. There are 2 additional steps in this specific flow to create a card in a Trello Board and then to notify the Client's Team in Slack that the file is ready for use.

It happens in seconds with no human intervention whatsoever.

I can tell you how much love this automation. Super simple with a big time-saving benefit.

Here is another version of this flow that is a bit more complex which involves first identifying a certain type of meeting and parsing out multiple videos from Zoom before sending to the Drive. It then fires a task in ClickUp, and then finally notifies the Team in a Slack channel.

Pretty slick eh?

If this is your bear each week, why not try it out. I recently used this to save my client between $6k-$41K each year depeding on who was tasked with the workload.

Here's a quick case study we did for that example:

?? Case Study: Streamlining Video Management and Saving Valuable Time

Client Background: Our Client is a busy entrepreneur who hosts numerous online meetings using Zoom for both their Clients and Leads. However, managing and storing these video recordings has been a time-consuming task, taking away valuable hours that could be used for more growth-centric activities.

Problem: Our Client or their team spent around 3-4 hours per week manually downloading Zoom recordings and uploading them to Google Drive. This was a necessary task, but not one the visionary should be doing. They had attempted to have a VA handle this task, but due to a myriad of issues including slow internet connections and technical difficulties, the process became even slower and sometimes resulted in incomplete uploads. Additionally, the Client was charged for the time vendors spent just sitting there watching uploads and downloads.

Solution: To address this issue, we implemented the automation solution above using Zapier. Whenever a new recording was created in Zoom, our automation would be triggered automatically. It would then format the recording and seamlessly upload it to Google Drive. Simultaneously, the automation would generate a task in ClickUp for video editing and send a notification via Slack to both the Client and the video editor, providing them with the necessary links.

Conclusion: By implementing Zapier automations, we streamlined the process of managing Zoom recordings, resulting in substantial time and cost savings for this Client. Now, they can dedicate more time to strategic growth initiatives, and their video management process is more efficient and error-free. The automation solution has become an essential tool for enhancing productivity and overall business success.

Annual Savings:

• Low-End Estimate (Vendor's Time): With the automation, out Client saves $6,240 annually, considering the cost of outsourcing the task to a vendor at $30 per hour.
• High-End Estimate (Client's Time): Considering their time's value at $200 per hour (far too low), the automation leads to a remarkable annual savings of $41,600.

Moreover, the automation has freed up our Client and their team from the time-consuming task of manually handling Zoom recordings, allowing them to focus on growth-driving goals. They can now direct their efforts towards creating meaningful content, connecting with clients, and expanding their business horizons. The peace of mind and efficiency gained from the automation have contributed immensely to their success journey, making it a valuable addition to their business operations.

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