At some point in the lifespan of your small business, you have to grow up. What do I mean by this? You stop living in a reactive, chaotic environment and you become more strategic and structured.

When you first start your business, you are desperate for clients/customers. You don’t have the luxury of turning down business, you are just hoping to pay bills and keep the lights on.

Now that you are all grown up, it is time to start running your business that way.

1. Buyer personas are a great way to identify the best customers for your business. Buyer personas (sometimes referred to as marketing personas) are fictional, generalized representations of your ideal customers. Segment your audience by age group, interests and other relevant demographics. This provides great insight into buying decisions, behaviors etc. Once you understand this, you can target your marketing and the tools you use to reach your customers.
2. Internal processes need to be defined; as you add employees they need to be on the same page. How will services be delivered? How will you communicate with your clients/customers? Spend time outlining all the actions you take in a day and start creating systems. Set up a SOP (standard operating procedures) binder – this way as you grow, you maintain your culture and way of doing things.
3. Write up your job description; what do you want to do as the company grows? How will your position change? You will no longer be accounting, human resources, marketing…the list goes on. Your talents best lie in other areas of the business, you will need to let go to grow.

Evolving your business over the years is the most important task you will have, it is also the hardest. There will be frustrations, sleepless nights and so much change. It is all part of the journey, just know you are not alone. We are all experiencing it.

No lie, this is mapped out in our standard operating procedures. I absolutely hate meetings to have meetings, you can feel the productivity just sucked out of your day.

Meetings are a necessary evil of agency life; however there are ways to run a successful, methodical and short meeting that are beneficial to all parties.

Prior to meeting:

• 2 or 3 days prior to the scheduled meeting, send an email that confirms the date, time, agenda, call-in number or location and meeting attendees.

Day of meeting:

• Send a reminder email, reiterate the agenda and any items needed from meeting attendees.

During the meeting:

• State the purpose of the meeting. Be very clear what the expectations are, indicate the time allotted for the meeting, state the agenda again and then move into the first item.
• Stay on topic. After each agenda item, recap action items and move on.
• Take copious notes throughout the meeting. If there are 2 people in the meeting, have one person take notes while the other person leads the meeting.
• End early. Start wrapping up 15 minutes early by asking if there needs to be additional clarification on any items.
• Excuse yourself. If all else fails, stand up and indicate you have another meeting and need to be on your way.

Follow-up:

• Send meeting notes the same day as the meeting and map out action items. Sending notes the same day, keeps the information fresh in everyone’s mind and ensures nothing is missed.

Meetings are a necessary evil, however there are ways to ensure they stay on time and on topic. Share your tips in the comment section.

Visualization is key to remaining organized.

We hear people say it all the time, how busy they are and how they can barely keep their head above water. Trust me, I get it. 834 is in growth mode (I am beginning to wonder when that will ever end) and it is hard to stay on top of everything, which is why we are process czars. 834 has a standard operating procedures (SOP) binder that maps out our project management process while also breaking down how each service under our integrated communication umbrella is delivered. There is a lot more to it, but I won’t bore you with all the process details.

As we added new team members, it was obvious that we needed to map out how we do things the 834 way. The first three months of any new employee is trial by fire. The new team member must become familiar with all clients, our processes, culture, work ethic and be ridiculously organized.

Our SOP manual becomes their nightly reading material and is their lifeline in those first few months, especially for project managers.

Our project management process is constantly updated as we find better and more streamlined ways to do things.

The key items in any project management process is:

1. Organization. We utilize Basecamp to manage all clients and ourselves. Finding a tool that works for you and will keep all items in one central place is key in maintaining your sanity. Basecamp is where the project overview, communication, timeline and files are all kept.
2. Communication. Before we even have the first meeting with a new client, we meet as a team and do an internal kick-off. This meeting allows the business development contact to brief the project manager and team members on past communication, client quirks and other important observations prior to handing over the reins. We then set-up the client kick-off meeting which tackles 1) Introductions, 2) Overview of services being delivered, 3) Project timeline, 4) Ongoing communication, 5) Expectations and 6) Next steps or action items. We have the same agenda for every single client and the process is mapped out down to what a project manager will do each week with that client.
3. Expectations. The key to project management success is being honest up front with the client, yourself and other team members. As humans we have the tendency to over-promise and under-deliver. At the client kick-off meeting we make sure the client understands deadlines and how they are impacted if they are not responsive. We are also realistic about setting those deadlines, which is why we first do an internal kick-off to be sure all team members are on the same page and the timeline is doable.
4. Conflict resolution. Shit will hit the fan at some point and how you resolve it will determine project success. At the kick-off meeting we discuss items that can derail progress, ask the client to share any reservations they have in working with an agency and then reiterate that honesty is the best policy. Nip it in the butt before it becomes a huge issue.

There is obviously a lot more to our project management process and I will delve into hosting a successful meeting and ongoing management in the next blog.

What tools do you use to stay organized? What do you find most challenging?

We currently have a position open at our company and I started thinking about our employee onboarding process and integrating a new person into the 834 culture. Just this year, I put together a standard operating procedures (SOP) manual to better outline our processes and client reporting. While that is all well and good, there are several other things to keep in mind when bringing on a new employee.

1. Time. Set aside time, block out 2 days on your calendar where that employee is your main focus. It is easy to get distracted by emails, meetings and phone calls but that can have a huge impact on the future success of your new employee. By taking the time you are showing that employee that they are important.
2. Buddy system. Depending on how large your company is, this may or may not work. Establish a person on your team as a mentor for your new addition. This person can show them the ins and outs of the office, little idiosyncrasies that, as the boss, you may not even be in tune with. It is also important to have someone that is the employee’s equal to establish a rapport with the rest of the team.
3. Allow time for culture. Be sure to leave time for team bonding. Order in lunch or schedule a happy hour to give the entire team the chance to get to know each other on a more personal level.
4. Outline an agenda. Mapping out the training for the first several days is crucial. Having a set agenda helps organize and prioritize tasks and will present things in a less chaotic fashion. This is also where the SOP comes in, you can refer to it throughout the training and it becomes the new employees guidebook and lifeline to understanding culture and process.
5. Assign homework. Since our agency has a variety of clients across multiple industries, it is important for our team members to research and understand each market. We ask that new employees spend time going through client strategies, websites and recent press. This helps them understand how the client is positioned within their market.

Taking the time upfront with an employee will hopefully alleviate issues down the line. By setting clear expectations and explaining policies, the new employee will feel better prepared to jump into their role.