Goals!

We all have goals. I’ve never met someone that told me everything is perfect and they don’t want anything else. If the goal isn’t career based it’s experience based or ability based. Maybe you want to travel to Europe or learn how to surf. They’re all goals. Where to start though? Do you make your career goals first or your life goals? How do you prioritize? Well, I’ll tell you how I do it in this upcoming series. I hope it’ll work for you too. Let’s get started!

My first step is always life goals. I work to live I don’t live to work. I think this is important for everyone. Even if your goal is to be the highest grossing Realtor in the world that’s much more a life goal than a career goal. You will have to sacrifice a lot in the life side of the work/life balance column if that’s your goal and that means that your life will be affected. So even though it sounds like a career goal it’s a lifestyle choice you’re making. And that’s OK!

Now it’s time to have a little fun! Do some brainstorming and figure out what matters to you! You can start a few different ways. For me, I like to think about what I want for myself. If I were to look back in 30 years will I be happy with how I spent my time? If you have a family this may look a little different. You may want to ask that question but also ask, “When my kids look back on their childhood how do I want them to feel?” I encourage you to do this in whatever way suits you best. I like to write on a blank piece of paper but you could type it out. You could write a journal style entry, bullet list, sit with your partner over a glass of wine and excitedly shout ideas at each other, whatever works! You can see mine below.

Web like brainstorm sheet with my goals

And there it is! I basically started at the top right and as I worked my way around I realized that what I actually wanted was freedom. I want the ability to make my life choices because I want to make them, not because something else is dictating them. I don’t want to worry about vacation time or budget (to an extent, ultimately everyone has a budget). I want to decide what I want to do and do it. This is not to say that I won’t have any responsibilities. I have to make sure my clients are taken care of. A huge portion of my life goals includes being there for my family and friends when they need me (or just want some help or company). When I stop and think, “how do I want to have spent my time on this earth”, this is a pretty good list.

.You’ll note, there is NOTHING about my career in here. I suppose I could have added something like, “enjoy what I do for work.” I don’t want to spend a large portion of my time doing something I hate, but ultimately all I really need from my career is to do something that allows me to achieve all these other goals. It doesn’t really matter what it is. Does this mean I don’t care about real estate or my clients at all? Of course not! Part of supporting and improving my community is helping people find their place in it. Connecting with my clients and helping them find a place they can live happily brings more joy to the community and allows people to thrive.

If you’ve never done something like this before, I recommend doing it a few times over a couple of days. As you go through you’ll start to see what comes up every time and that’s what is most important to you. I’ve never done this as part of a couple but I think your best bet is to do this separately and then come together and make a new goals sheet that works for your family. Your partner might have thought of something you didn’t, you might have a lot of overlap, and you almost definitely can work together on at least some of your goals. I encourage you not to spend too much time thinking about numbers here. This is not a, “I need $100,000 a year to live the life I want” exercise. This is what do you want your life to look like. Numbers come later. I’d love to see your goal sheet if you want to share! What did you learn about yourself?

Enjoy It While It Lasts

In my last post, I was worried I was never going to have time off again. I was super busy in a time that most people aren’t in real estate. I’m likely to only get busier (I hope!) and I was worried I would always be sprinting out of my house to show a home that a buyer ultimately wouldn’t go under contract on. This week I have the opposite problem. I’m all caught up! Of course, when you’re a realtor, being all caught up is bad. It means there might not be anything “in the pipeline”. Maybe you have clients under contract (I do) but you don’t have any new clients looking for property. I do have clients looking but there’s not much out there that they’re interested in.

Cartoon woman drinking a cup of coffee and smiling

So, what’s a girl to do? Well, what’s your goal? (We’re going to talk more about this next time). I have two ultimate goals from my career. The first is financial security. I’m tired of worrying about what bill I can pay with each paycheck. It’s been a long time since I worried about whether I’d be able to keep a roof over my head or put food on the table but that has a lot more to do with some luck, good life choices, and privilege than it does with this current career. It’s a relief though. Still, I want to be able to live the life I want to live without stressing too much about finances. I’m off to a great start, but I have a long way to go.

My second goal is work/life balance. Realtors work a lot. More than most people assume. The reality though is that I do have some control over my schedule. Might I have to take a phone call on Sunday afternoon? Yes. But do I also get to take a 3 hour breakfast break after my weekly meeting on Monday morning? Also yes (sometimes). There are times when I have to run out to show a house and come straight home to write a contract but for the most part, I have a good bit of control of when and how I spend my time.

What am I doing with this slower week? I’m working on my own schedule. I’m writing a bunch of blogs (hi!) and scheduling them out so when I do get busy they still get posted. I’m joining a second mls so I can serve my clients better. I’m making sure to snag the leads that come through my lead generators and following up with people I haven’t heard from in a while. Preparing yourself to manage busier weeks will help you manage when things pick back up. For me, this kind of work is self care. Knowing that I can take something off my plate for a couple of weeks is great for my mental health.

You know what else I’m doing? Enjoying a little down time. I know I’ll get busier but I rescheduled my massage twice because I was so busy. I’m keeping the appointment scheduled for this week and I’m looking forward to being able to move my shoulders again. I’m sometimes taking a long break in the morning and sure sometimes that means I’m working into the evening but sometimes I just have a short day. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in over a decade of self employment it’s that relishing the down time is just as important as thriving in busy times. So if you have a seasonal business or just a little slump. Take some time and enjoy it! Take a day off! I promise it’ll be worth it. Time off can help you remember why you’re here in the first place and refocus you so that you’re more effective when you’re back at it. I’ll tell you a secret though: if time off doesn’t do that for you? If it doesn’t double your efficacy? That’s OK too! Enjoy it.

Heed Your Own Advice

So much of this blog is about sharing my experiences and hoping that others can learn from my mistakes so they don’t have to make them. I was wondering recently if I was ever going to have a day off again. And I reminded myself that YES. Of course I will! While I have my past experience to draw on myself, it’s been a really long time since I was starting a business. I’m definitely busy and sometimes I plan to have a quiet day at home and maybe catch up on some paperwork (or blog writing!) and then someone calls and wants my help and I go!

There’s a couple reasons for this. First, I’m new! I’m still building my name here and my social and business network. It’s important that I try to nurture relationships and continue to grow those networks. Eventually, I’ll have a reputation of being reliable and trustworthy and it’ll be OK to not race out of my house at the drop of a hat. Not to say I wouldn’t rush out if someone needed something in the future, but every interaction is more important right now because no one knows me.

Second, it’s a seller’s market and most of my clients are buyers. Scheduling a showing for the next day might literally cost my buyer their house. It sucks. They don’t want to rush out either but it is what it is. We have to keep on top of listings if they want to find their next home. This market is unique and it won’t last forever.

While my schedule isn’t predictable, it is not overwhelming most days. I’m working around full time but it’s on my own schedule (more or less) and I am still in a bit of a “honeymoon phase” with it. I like it and even when I’m working I’m rarely grumbling (unless I’m trying to find that one missing page from a signed doc that fell behind the desk etc). I will get busier but I’ll also get faster. I’ll get better at managing my schedule and understanding when I need to be available and when I can breathe. How to optimize the time I spend working.

Wedge wants to know, “Do you trust yourself?”

I know how to do this. You probably do too. How often do you find yourself frustrated over something you just counseled a friend on. Does your advice work for you too?

This post reminded me a lot of one of my first posts. Check it out and remember, Trust Yo Self

New Year Still You

Is anyone else picturing the onslaught of diet talk and New Year New You ads and wishing you could just…skip it? The truth is, I don’t want to skip anything. I know that each day is a gift (yes even the garbage ones) and that life is too short. I still am not excited for the next 3 weeks of “biohacking” and “best diets” ads. As more and more info emerges, we are learning that diets don’t work. I don’t talk about it very often, largely because I’m really just coming to understand it myself, but as a person with a history of disordered eating these posts have me bouncing between sadness, empathy, and rage. This isn’t a nutrition blog though, and I am not here to write about diets. If you want some more information on the Health at Every Size movement, please check out this link to a Scholarly Article on the subject. Pay particular attention to the section titled: Independent Effects of Fitness and Diet on Health if you’re not up for a full article read.

I know I know, you’re thinking to yourselves, “OK Lauren but like you said, this isn’t a diet or food blog, why even bring this up??” Stick with me. If you are spending this January chanting, “New year, new you” over and over again and trying to “break” all your old habits and build new ones, take a moment and ask yourself why. What is so wrong with you that you have to break everything you’ve ever done and start over? There’s multiple entries in this blog reminding you that you are good. That you should trust yourself. Why after all that would you try to change everything that makes you who you are? I’m not saying there’s no room for improvement. Of course there is! But do you really have to start over?

This is a fully unedited pic of my and my besties Lisa and Nikki on New Years Eve. We haven’t had a New Years Eve together in years and all three of us were full of joy.

The picture above is me with two of my best friends. We had an amazing New Years together and I wouldn’t change one thing. I hope the rest of this year is filled with the joy of being together and the freedom of being who I am.

Now, we’ve been trained our whole lives that the new year is a good time to reset and make new behaviors. While I don’t want to tear myself down to build back up, I am definitely taking the time to think about what works for me and how to make my life (and the lives of those around me) better in the future. I’ve taken a look at my processes and asked myself if they’re working. I’m making edits where I think it would be useful. I’m reminding myself that self care doesn’t have to cost money (but it’s OK when it does). I’m loosely tracking how I feel when I do certain things (like exercise, drink alcohol, drink water, eat vegetables) with the goal of doing more things that feel good without limiting things. I’m scheduling appointments with my doctors to give myself a tune up (seriously my car goes to the doctor more than I do what am I doing?) and making sure to advocate for myself in that process.

None of my goals have anything to do with breaking old habits. A lot of my habits are good and they’ve served me for many years. Some could be improved or changed but I don’t need to destroy myself for it. I’m still me and I want to be me in 2022 just as much as I did in 2021.

If you’re reading this and saying to yourself, “This makes sense, but every time I try to make a new goal, I’m just coming up with more habits to break.” try this: make a list of all the things you like about your life. Whether it’s a habit you do a lot or once a year. Write it all down somewhere. Make another list of things that cause frustration (like, “I feel like I waste half my life looking for my keys”. After you’ve done these things, sit down with the list of things you like. Really think about it (this could be two minutes but just read it for a bit) and consider if there are ways to get those joyful things to happen more often or to be more present in them when they do happen. Then look at the frustrations, how can you fix them? Pick ONE and save the list for later. Find a solution to the one problem. For example, my keys ALWAYS hang by my front door. It took me a while to learn this habit but I did and I almost never waste time looking for my keys anymore. You just need a good system. Once you’ve mastered that (really mastered not just made a plan), pick another thing off your list.

I’m no expert in behavior but I’m pretty good at knowing when I feel good and when I feel bad. Especially if I take a moment to think about it. I don’t always do a formal version of this process but it’s there, spinning away in the background most of the time. I hope it helps you.

I’d love to hear more about what you like about your life! And share your frustrations if you need some brainstorming help!

Be Yourself! (Ish)

Anyone who knows me socially is probably pretty surprised to see this. The “ish” part specifically. I work very hard to be unapologetically me. It’s kind of my motto. I love being that way. I love busting expectations and making people rethink their assumptions. The reality is that all of us are complex and interesting creatures. We all break the mold and most of the time, even in business, it pays to show off your personality. People want to do business with people they know, like, and trust (this phrasing is widely attributed to Joel Comm but I can’t find the original source). The key here being that they know you.

If you’re in a role where you need a head shot. Please PAY someone and find someone who works with you. Pay attention to how they respond. When you finish your convo, do you know something about them? Did they walk this line well? If yes, and you Know, Like, and Trust them, get some photos that capture all of you.

No one wants to do business with a caricature. They want a real human with interests and opinions. But not too many opinions. And not so many interests that they feel ignored. So what’s a successful business woman to do? How is it possible to let people know you but not know too much of you. A common suggestion for salespeople is to just shut up and listen. It’s true, I even wrote a post about it. But people can’t know you if you don’t talk to them. If they ask you questions, answer them! Be honest and candid but don’t make it about you. I know you’re sitting there saying, “Lauren, they asked about me, how do I not make it about ME??” OK OK I get it. The truth is that it is about you but it’s edited. If a client asks you how your day is, you’re not going to say TERRIBLE, and proceed to list everything that happened to you today forcing your startled client to sputter in alarm and sympathy. But please, I beg, don’t say, “fine”. This tells me nothing. I know nothing about you except that you speak English. What if instead it went something like this, sigh “Have you ever heard the phrase sometimes the bear eats you and sometimes you eat the bear? Well today that bear is full, just ask my flat tire. But I’m really excited to be here with you, let’s get started!” Do you see it? You made a joke, you told them the truth, but you also told them you were here for them and excited about it. You even told them a little about your upbringing (is that phrase regional? I have no idea but it was common in New England).

Have some fun! All your pictures don’t have to be tight head shots. Be yourself!

I won’t lie to you, this line is hard to walk. If you’re not a naturally funny person, don’t try to make a joke. It’s not who you are! You can do this though. Maybe your response would be more like, “Well, I’ll admit I’ve had better days but really you can only have one best day and right now I’m happy to be here working with you. Let’s get going.”

People want to know you but there are limits. In the same way that you don’t usually give someone your full life story on a first date, don’t overshare your life but making sure your professional walls aren’t sky high will help you reach people.

Next week we’ll talk about how to curate your social media.

The FIRST Anything

I spent quite a while getting my footing in South Carolina. I met new people, I learned more about the area. I learned more about my new career. I tried to stay professional while maintaining my sense of self. After all, I’m Not Your Average Realtor. I really think it’s important to bring your personality to your work (but that’s a topic for another day).

Don’t forget to stop and smell the roses…even if they’re not roses.

Today I want to talk about how important it is to set up a process from the beginning. I wish someone had told me this when I started Pawsitively Pooches. I knew it. But I didn’t know it. It’s probably the biggest reason I had my HUGE failure (if you didn’t start at the beginning, check it out: The Big Failure). If had a functional system I never would have ended up where I did. If I have to find an upside (and I do, it’s who I am), it’s that I learned a lot.

Right now I’m learning how to do things in the real world that I’ve only done hypothetically (or a couple of times). I’m pretty good with talking to people and managing clients. But it’s hard to know if I’m doing things right when I don’t have any frame of reference. I’m fortunate to have a crew of people who are happy to help me and a brokerage that ensures compliance every step of the way. Honestly, it’s a relief. Even with all of that, I want to make sure that I’m providing the best service for my clients and helping my team in every way I can. To do that, I need a system. I need to make sure that if I say I’m going to do something, it gets done. And that it gets done correctly. I also want to ensure that if something goes missing or isn’t working, I have everything in an easy to find folder and can get it to whoever needs it.

So what though? We all want to be organized but so many of us aren’t. I’ve always been better at organizing work than home but it’s still a challenge for me. I took some extra time this week to make a plan. To set things up so they’re easy for me to do in the beginning and organized in a way that I should always be able to find them. I hope it works. The reality is it will probably work for a little while and then it won’t. So I’ll have to come up with a new plan. The trick will be recognizing when it’s time and taking the time to do it.

Cross your fingers for me! What do you wish you had organized better the FIRST (or second) time you did it?

Make Change

We’ve all heard the phrase: Be the change you wish to see in the world. It might be a little cheesy. It’s certainly an easier thing to say but it’s a harder thing to do. Plus it leaves so many things open. Is the change helping one person at a time? Is it helping to get laws passed that support your beliefs? Is it just living a life you can be proud of? Helping where you can, and doing as little harm as possible.

For me, being the change is getting involved. It’s important to me to know what my community needs. What it has and likes, and what it would like to see change. There’s really only one way to do this, and that’s to talk to people. Participating in local government is great. I’ve already applied for a commission here and may look into others once I’ve got my feet underneath me. One of the things I like about being in a smaller place like Florence is that I can make real change. I can really get to know the people working in local government as well as many of our residents. But it’s big enough to have the infrastructure to support change. Plus check out this downtown!

Downtown Florence, click the pic to see more about the photographer

I’m excited to live in a smaller community, to lose some of the anonymity that comes with a big city. What a good time!

Why Did I Come Here?

When I tell people in Florence that I just moved from the Denver area, they almost all say the same thing: why? They can’t understand why I would leave a place like Denver, with gorgeous mountains and so much to do to live in a place like Florence. To me though, it’s obvious.

I cherished my time in Denver and Aurora. It was a huge adventure and it’s a place that brought me so much joy, so many friends, ideas, experiences. It really was a great 14 years. The Denver I left, wasn’t the same Denver I went to though. It got crowded so fast. It went from being a small town in a big city to just a big city. There’s a lot of pros to that. I had access to some of the best museums, zoos, restaurants, almost anything I could ask for. But so did everyone else. Things that were 20 min away when I moved to the area suddenly because 40 unless it was rush hour. Then it was an hour. I was making double what I made when I first moved out there but was still basically living the same way because everything had gotten so expensive. Every time I thought I had gotten ahead, something would pull me back down. It was exhausting. Not to mention at least 2 months of fires every year. I still love Denver. I’m looking forward to every visit. It’s a beautiful place with great people and tons to do.

So is Florence. It’s not the same of course. For perspective: Florence has a population of around 40,000 people while Denver has a population of about 700,000 and Aurora of almost 400,000. There’s no way a place like Florence could support some of the things I loved about Denver (particularly the big museums and zoo etc). There’s still plenty to do here. An active Chamber of Commerce makes sure that there’s always something bringing the community together. Look they even let me cut a ribbon! You can check out the article here: Ribbon Cutting

Ribbon Cutting with the Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce

Ultimately, I’m from a small town. I don’t want to go back to a place with 4000 people, but 40,000 is a nice middle ground between that and over a million. I’m excited to be part of a community and help grow an already growing place.

Next Time: Why I’m excited to be in a smaller community

How Did I Get Here?

Some time last year, my bestie Lisa was looking for homes in a small city where she got a job as a physics professor. She knew that I was always looking for nice houses or for something I could make nice but the market in Denver was out of control. It was never going to happen. Or at least not for a very long time. She jokingly said, “you should just buy a house here”. And that’s it! That’s the whole story!

Seriously Check Out These Built Ins

Just kidding! Of course it’s not. I started looking at Zillow though and she was right. There were homes in Florence that I could buy outright if I sold my two Denver houses and still have a little bit of a nest egg. Or if I got a mortgage I could have a huge nest egg. This had always seemed like a dream to me. I couldn’t imagine living my life with a real savings account. The idea alone relieved some of my stress.

Could I really do it though? I wasn’t sure. I came to visit, knowing everything would be different with COVID. I liked it! Maybe I could do it? I came home and talked to Jordyn. She was not only interested but excited. Now the wheels were turning and once they got started they just kept on going! In some ways it felt like it took forever but in others it was faster than I could have imagined. From that comment to move in day wasn’t even a full year. And everything has changed. So far, I have no regrets. I miss my friends and family so much. But I feel a peace here that I haven’t felt for a while.

Next week: Florence Vs Denver

What Happened?

Last year, I wrote this post: We are SO Tired about business owners who were exhausted from trying to keep up with ever updating pandemic info while keeping their staff, customers, and themselves safe. When I look back on it now, I remember that feeling. It’s still there, though not as raw.

I don’t really know how to describe what I went through last year. I don’t mean that dramatically, it’s just that I really can’t. I learned that I had a staff and client base who really supported me and the company. I also learned that even if you do everything right, it might not matter. I had a company that thrived on people being out of their homes. Suddenly, being out of your home was not just dangerous but against local ordinances. It felt like everything I had built was gone. It’s not true, a lot of what I had built is still there, slowly crawling its way back through a still muddy pandemic laden world. I miss the people, clients and staff alike. I miss the dogs of course, how could you not? But I also don’t regret this change. The business needed fresh eyes and new ideas. I needed the change.

I’d like to provide some advice here on when it’s time to go. You could try checking out this post: How to Cut and Run. Really I try to live my life in a way that gives me joy. Of course I have bad days too. Some days really suck. But if I were to make a calendar and write good days, bad days, meh days, I can guarantee that good days would beat bad days and probably meh days too. That was starting to get less and less true. I didn’t know what to do to help Pawsitively Pooches. I felt drained and incompetent. I had ideas but couldn’t execute them for various reasons. My ideas were getting stale. Brainstorming wasn’t fun anymore. Ultimately, I just knew it was time.

If you’re thinking about a change, make a calendar. Make a mark on all the good days and all the bad days. If there are more bad days than good, can you make a change? If you’re not sure why they’re bad, start writing it down. Maybe it’s not the work, it’s one staff member. Maybe it is the work, but you love your team. Knowing the catalyst can help point you in the right direction so your change is meaningful. Change for change is fine (don’t listen to Professor Umbridge) but if you’re running away and you don’t know what you’re running from, you may end up running right into the thing you hoped to escape.

Next time? How did I end up in Florence?

Surprise!

Anyone whose following along (or paying close attention to post dates) will note that it has been almost a year since I posted. I didn’t intend to take that much time off. I thought maybe just the holidays. But time passes and all of sudden it’s a year later and I have a lot to say!

First, I’m not writing to you from the plains of Aurora, looking up at the Rocky Mountains (OK I couldn’t see the mountains unless I went outside but what an image right?) but from the swamp of Florence, South Carolina. Don’t worry, I say swamp with love. That’s right, I’ve moved! I have my real estate license and I’ve officially switched careers. I’m excited for this change and I can’t wait to tell you more about it in another post.

Jordyn is taking over Pawsitively Pooches and I couldn’t be more thrilled for her or the company. I was so reluctant to leave until I knew it was in good hands. I’m so happy to see things move forward in a way that seems to work so well for everyone. I spent over 10 years growing, nurturing, and supporting Pawsitively Pooches. It is one of the greatest accomplishments of my life and I’m so happy I did it. But it was time to move on. So here I am!

I plan to go back to posting at least every other week, sometimes weekly depending on what I’m talking about. The next post will come out next week and it will be every other week from there.

Plan Your Team to Success

How many times have you done exactly what the rule book said, only to be undermined by a manager? We’ve all been there. “These are the rules unless someone pushes back even a little. Then I’ll come in and save the day and you’ll look like a fool.” This is, the WORST management style. Yes sometimes you may bend the rules for specific situations but undercutting your staff and giving a customer exactly what they want when you have policies that prohibit it is a great way to demoralize your team and lose good people. This is why having your customer’s journey planned is so important. Having a road map means that you and your team are all on the same page and your clients can take or leave your product. This concept works both for service jobs like restaurants all the way to high level project managing. We’ll talk about a couple examples.

First, we'll go with a restaurant. You hopefully have repeat customers but more than likely, you’re treating your guests as though they haven’t been in before. So when they walk in the door, you probably want someone to greet them. Ideally in the first few seconds of them coming in they hear a “Hello welcome to <restaurant> we’ll be right with you.” This means you have to staff someone to always be near the front. You can’t be shouting across the room of course. Next, they get seated. Who takes their drink orders? Is it the host? If it is, you better have more than one, because what if another guest comes in while they’re getting drinks? Now, your servers have a rough script including specials, ways to upsell, etc. You have also probably told them to check in X number of times during the meal, roughly every Y minutes. They have notes on what to ask for customizations etc. So what if someone asks for something that can’t be customized? Maybe they want pasta salad without tomatoes but the pasta salad was made this morning with tomatoes. Your policies state that you won’t pick food out of a dish to serve to a guest (because that’s gross). The client throws a fit. It’s really easy to tell yourself, oh it’s just this once. I just want this client to be quiet and stop making a scene. So you do it. You’ve now just told the client that what the server says doesn’t matter, and you’ve told your server that it’s OK with you if they get shouted at and told off by clients. That client is going to come in and pull this every single time (if you give an inch they’ll take a mile) and your employee isn’t going to trust that you will back them up which means they’ll let other policies slide because they don’t matter.

This process works the same no matter the company. It’s true in my company all the way up to fortune 500s. Surprisingly, larger corporations tend to be better at enforcing rules because there are so many people working for them it’s even more important that they all have uniform instructions. Almost everyone has a story like this. What’s yours?

Building your Yellow Brick Road

Your customer’s journey through your company is vital to a successful business. How can you create one that works for you, your team, and your clients? The first step is, TRY your product. Go through the steps yourself (fill out a contact form, a client profile, meet with your team. This isn’t a “gotcha” for your team. It’s OK if they know it’s you, but tell them to treat you like they would anyone. Of course they’re going to be on their best behavior but this is the best way to find glitches and to identify what’s going well! While you’re going through the process write it down! Make notes about what you liked and what you didn’t. It’s important to get into the details. Did they reply to you within 1 hour? Same day? Same week? Does that work for you? Is within 1 hour practical for everyone, even at scale? For my company it’s not. Most of our managers/admin team do at least some dog walking. We’re not likely to reply to an email while we’re walking because we want to provide the first service. It is important to us to reply within a couple of hours though because we don’t want to lose the chance of competing for their business. We make sure we always have someone who can look every hour or two even if it’s just to get new clients started.

What else happened? Did your staff give you a pitch meeting? What went well? Did you like their fancy presentation better? Or was it their knowledge and easy conversation? Every single step is a way to brand your customer’s journey through your company. Once you’ve looked at what you’re currently doing, sit down with your team and talk about what you could be doing better. Is there a step you should take out? Do you need to add a contact in between first contact and meeting setup? What should you say? When should you say it? Go through every single step. If your company offers multiple packages, do it for each one. Ask one of your staff members to do one as well. Perhaps the person who does the most customer contact. It’s super important to sit down with your team and discuss all the ways you can improve this process. Both for your customers and your staff. You don’t want to promise something you can’t deliver.

Once you have the system worked out, write it down. Keep a list (spreadsheet, database, notebook) so that your team can track what’s been done and what hasn’t. Make sure that you’re following up when promised (have a follow up list) and that someone is checking that list at least every week and making sure that each client gets what they need, based on your metric. Make your plan, and follow it. You will be shocked at how happy those around you are. If they’re not, make a new plan.

Follow the Yellow Brick Road

Now that you’ve got the clients, what do you do with them? You know what they want, you know how long it will take and how you’ll deliver it. But what does it look like while your customer is in your “pipeline” What’s their journey through your company? For most companies, this is one of the best places to brand yourself. We’ve probably all had the experience of working with a company that we absolutely love. We gush to our friends and they use them too. One of them comes back and says, “That was great! Thanks for the referral.” The other says, “Man that was rough. I got the work eventually but it was not smooth. I don’t know why but I sure didn’t get the experience you did.” And man doesn’t this suck? You put yourself out there and told your friend that they would get what they needed and it would be a great experience! And it sure wasn’t. Now in your own business, imagine how powerful it would be if every client got the same basic experience. Of course individual projects will vary but if every customer gets the same level of service, that’s predictable and reliable, and that is your brand, what would change?

First, everyone that refers you, will only get glowing reviews from their referrals. Which will only make them want to pass your name along more. Second, you and your staff will be less stressed because you have a system and a plan for communicating with clients. Third, you’ll be discounting a lot fewer projects because you’ve defined expectations and delivered on them. Clients will want to do more business with you in the future and they’ll know exactly what to expect. Finally, you’ll be defining your own company and brand in a way that is almost impossible to do even with the best marketing firms.

Guiding your customers through your company in a way that’s effective and reliable will do wonders for your client retention, staff satisfaction, client satisfaction, and your bottom line. Tune in next week for how to build the journey!

Deliver and Win

You followed all the instructions to find and sell clients on your product. You laid out clear expectations and are ready to move forward. Now what? Now it’s time to deliver the goods! Based on the expectations laid out with your client you should have a good idea of your timeline and what you need to do. Now you just have to do it! Seems easy enough, and it is! But of course nothing is as easy as it seems, so here’s a few pit falls to avoid during the process. If this is something that will take a while, stay in touch with your client. You may have given them a six month timeline but if they don’t hear from you for six months, even if you deliver a perfect project, they’re probably not going to be thrilled. As the project begins, send them an email update letting them know you’re getting started and how often they can expect to hear from you. Then make sure you communicate when you say you will! There is nothing worse from a client perspective than being told you’ll receive an email and only getting crickets.

Keep an eye on the expectations you set and make sure you’re meeting them. If you’re not going to be able to, communicate that as soon as possible. For example, my clients all have two hour time windows. Sometimes, even with the best of intentions, we can’t get there. One time an oil truck caught on fire and shut the highway down for the entire day. It didn’t matter how well we planned, sometimes it just isn’t going to work. Sometimes one of our dog walkers drops the ball on planning too. It happens. The absolute worst thing you can do, is lie about it or pretend it’s not happening. When we tell our clients we’re so sorry but we’re running a bit behind, we almost always get a response like, “no problem thanks for letting me know!” We occasionally get, “Can you please cancel for today I’m on my way home anyway.” The response is usually understanding and reasonable. But if we show up an hour after the time frame without communicating, it’s almost always a disaster. This makes sense. Our clients trust us to do what we say we’re going to do. Being “caught” showing up late puts all that trust into question. Are we always late? Do we always shorten the walk time a few minutes? What else are we hiding? You don’t always need to be specific, sometimes it doesn’t matter why you’re late and listing a bunch of reasons can sounds like a cop out. Simply saying something along the lines of, “We’re going to be a bit behind on this deadline as we’ve hit a couple snags. You can expect it on X day instead of Y. We wanted to ensure that we’re giving you our best work” can be perfectly sufficient. Then make sure you get it to them by X day!

What product delivery all comes down to is communication and follow through. You promised X to be delivered by Y. If for some reason that is not going to happen, stay in touch and work with your client to find a solution. Do your absolute best to deliver exactly what you promise when you promised it. A happy client is one of the most valuable referral partners you can have.

The Expectation Game

Too many times I’ve seen people promise the moon to get the client. I’m guilty of it myself. For me, it was most common in the beginning. While I was bending the rules a little, it was just me and it wasn’t that hard to accommodate so no big deal right? As I grew though, it became harder and harder to manage these clients. Let’s talk through an example. When I first started I had clients all over the city. I gave most of them a 2 hour window for arrival. A couple had a narrower window like an hour, especially if they were out of town. Not a big deal. But I had one client who basically wanted a 15 minute window. When I first started with them, that was easy, but as my client list grew and spread across the city, it became more and more challenging. I ended up in a cycle of being late, promising I’d do better, then being completely unable to do better. All of us were frustrated because we all had different expectations. I was able to get them to agree to a 30 minute window as their dog was on quite a few meds and really couldn’t hold it for long. I hired someone so we could split the city in half and everything went pretty smoothly for the remainder of that pooch’s time with us.

That was when I learned that a time frame of less than an hour was not only impractical, but impossible. Now we almost exclusively offer 2 hour windows though we will occasionally make exceptions for puppies or pets who are waiting over night for us to come. This premise goes from something like a dog walking window all the way up to the highest level software development. If the client is asking for something you can’t provide, whether it’s the product or service itself, the pricepoint, or the timeline etc, be honest. Promising something you know you can’t deliver is only going to result in an unhappy customer. If by some miracle you do get it done, you will likely have unhappy employees because they just killed themselves to finish a project because you promised something wildly out of bounds. There’s a huge difference between being a team player and pushing yourself to the brink for a delusional boss. Most people will tolerate it once or twice, but not for long.

There are, of course, exceptions to every rule. If you think a project could kick your business up a notch and that it’s feasible but challenging, meet with your team. Explain to them what’s going on (ideally before you’ve committed) and show them how doing this will improve the business and their lives. Every project can’t be this project, it has to be one that will truly make the difference.

Finally, don’t be afraid to say no. This is probably the hardest part, especially if you’re just getting started. Turning down a paying customer is tough, but if what they’re asking isn’t what you do, don’t try to do it. You’ll inevitably do a poor job and have to explain yourself to your client. They will likely never recommend you to anyone and may actively discourage people from using you. If they want something done at an unreasonable price, say no. Your prices are the way they are because that’s what it costs. Explain to them any discount options you offer, perhaps show them what you could do at that price point but don’t give in. You need to be able to pay yourself and pay your people and that’s OK.

Remember, setting clear and specific expectations will save you and your client a lot of headaches down the line.

Here's Why You Should Buy My Stuff

Last week we talked about how to find the people who will buy your product or service. This week, we need to figure out how to get those people to buy your thing and not someone else’s. There are many tricks to this but the key factor here is: what’s causing them pain? And then of course, how will your stuff fix it? This is obviously easier when you can get in front of people. Talk to them for a while and really get to know them. That’s not always practical though. My “elevator pitch” was always something like, “Next time your colleague says they can’t go to happy hour because they have to let their dog out, send them my way. I can help.” It worked for all kinds of things including vacations people couldn’t go on, extracurriculars kids couldn’t sign up for, etc. That’s why we were there. Now the “pain point” is your dog barking through your zoom meeting where you’re finally pitching that big idea. If we use our tiny home example from last week, the pain point might be empty nesters whose house feels too big. People who are trying to live a more minimalist lifestyle and struggle to do so in their large homes. People who just want a change. I haven’t really looked into selling tiny homes but those would be where I would start.

So now you know what your selling and who you’re selling it to. You sit down with one of these people and start talking. You explain a little about who you are, because not doing so makes people uncomfortable. I can’t emphasize enough that this is not the time for your pitch. There are a million things you can say here but mostly you just want your name and a tagline essentially. Hi, my name is Lauren and my company helps people regain control of their schedules. Or get their homes back (if their dogs are destructive). Or enjoy all the best parts of their pooches. If they really know nothing about me I might say, I help people regain control of their schedules by making sure their pets are taken care of. Hi, my name is Lauren and I help people try new things. Or live the lifestyle they want (in a tiny home). Then comes the hardest part. Ask about them, and then SHUT UP. Seriously, don’t try to connect with them by telling a story like theirs. No one upping. No oh wow that happened to me too. Genuinely listen to them. take some brief notes if you need to but just be quiet. They will tell you what they need. They will gear the conversation towards your industry because they know what you do and they’ll want to connect. At some point in this conversation they’re going to tell you how you can help them. Then you have to decide if you can really help them. Do they want what you’re selling? Or do they want something like what you’re selling but not something you can deliver? If they want what you’re selling, repeat what you think they want/need. Talk to them about their biggest challenges to make sure you have it right. Then, depending on the industry, you can tell them you can help them. Or simply explain your product/service in a way that shows how it solves their problem.

Selling without the Sleaze

Most people have a pretty clear image when they think of sales and, let’s be honest, it’s usually not flattering. The first thing that jumps to mind is lying used car salesmen or door to door people who somehow talk you into buying 3 vacuums for your 1500 sq ft home. The reality though, is all of us are in sales. It looks different sure, but most of us make money by providing something for someone else. This means that we have to first, find and convince people that they need the thing. Next we have to determine exactly what they expect and what we expect. And finally, deliver as promised. All three of these things are essentially sales and for the next few weeks we’re going to dive into each one.

Finding people for our products is probably the biggest hurdle. People who are much smarter than I am have written copious books about it and it’s so specific to your product or service it’s hard to touch on in a blog post. The two key considerations are: what are you selling and who is buying it? When you’re new, this can be tricky. Maybe you want to sell dog walking but you think adding a nail trim option would help your profit margins. It might. Or it might mean you spend half an hr chasing a dog around the house to only clip one nail and not end up charging for it anyway. Your offerings may change and that’s OK but when you’re selling, you need to know what you can do and what you can’t. This is true on a larger scale too. Let’s say you build tiny homes and you have sales people to talk people through options. You have a couple easy options like, color of siding, color of roof, and a couple different floor plans. Someone asks you to change the color of counter tops. Can you do that? Your salesperson needs to know if it’s even possible. Even more importantly, how long will that take and how much will it cost. Not just in material but in time. Maybe you’re company does everything custom so no big deal. But if your company has a couple different modules it puts together that’s a different story. Getting the sale at all costs is usually not the right answer. It’s important to know if you can provide what the customer needs first.

Once you know your product, you have to find the people. So whose buying this product? If we go back to our tiny homes example, how do we figure it out? Well, probably the first step would be to join a couple social media groups for people who love tiny homes. Listen to what they like and don’t like. Take note of roughly what age they are, what do they do for a living? Why do they like tiny homes? Once you have that you can start generating a profile for the kinds of people who like tiny homes. Everything from basic demographics like age and income all the way down to, what kind of pets do they have? Do they have children? What’s really important to them? You can of course start talking up your tiny homes in those groups but to be successful you probably need to go further. Are there tiny home conventions? Where do these people shop? Could you park a tiny home there and talk to people? Could you go to a farmers market and let people come in and out? Does your tiny home model have an instagram page where people can see where you’re at? Maybe you hand out some goodies to people who take a tour. You have to start somewhere. It’s always daunting but the worst thing you can do when you’re looking for buyers, is nothing.

Come back next week for our second installment on selling: Here’s Why You Should Buy My Stuff

It's...Still a Crisis?

I think most of the time we think of a crisis as a quick and temporary event. A crisis is something like, a natural disaster. Maybe an accident or attack of some kind. We rarely think of a crisis as a long term event. We think, if we can just get through it it’ll be OK. It’s just temporary. In some ways that’s true, but in the case of COVID-19, it’s much more marathon than sprint. It will end, but not as quickly as we all thought. Which means that we are living during a crisis much more than we are living through a crisis. This means that all the instructions I wrote last week, have to keep happening. The information continues to change and we have to continue to react. The government continues to move slowly in getting help to its constituents so it’s a long slog of keeping an eye on congress to see if they can help or not.

As it becomes more apparent that this pandemic is going to last not just longer than the initial few weeks we were promised, but longer even than the summer which we had sacrificed, I know I need to make even more adjustments. The people who used to be our top demographic (busy parents with children) are not likely to remain there. Now we need to pivot to focus on healthcare workers and other who are unable to work from home. That’s a whole new ball game. It’s doable but challenging. All of this must be done while continuing to stay informed on current events to make sure that you don’t miss vital information.

While it’s true that most of us will get through this, we’ve been thrown into a marathon with no training before hand. We also don’t know how long it will last. This means that we’re continuing to live in crisis management mode which is a stressful place to be.

A bit of a short post today just acknowledging the challenges of this particular crisis. Do your best friends, ask for help if you need it. Keep moving forward.

It's a Crisis! Now What?

My pandemic thoughts have been a little all over the place, as you’ve noticed if you’ve been reading the posts. This was how I felt, and an acknowledgment that sometimes I don’t know what to do. It wasn’t a great reflection of what I did and how I behaved though. A crisis can come to a business in all shapes and sizes. COVID-19 was certainly a doozy for my company and many small businesses. Even big business is taking a hit. Not all of them are quite so extreme but there are a few things you can do to make sure the wheels keep turning.

First, educate yourself. You need to know what’s happening and be able to connect it to your business. If we use the COVID-19 pandemic as an example, it was important that I follow the news, both political and scientific. I needed to know how the virus was transferred (and how it wasn’t) in order to keep my staff and clients safe. I also needed to know what the government was doing to affect the economy. I needed to know that a PPP existed so that I knew enough to apply for it. Especially in something with so many unknowns, it was extremely important to stay up to date on everything that was happening so I could act when necessary.

Second, make the decisions, and make them quickly. A crisis is not the time for analysis paralysis. All you can do is make the best choice for the information you have. This is where it’s important to know that you have good information, see step 1! Then it’s important to trust yourself. It’s not a bad time to check in with your “barometers” but ultimately these decisions need to be made in hours, not days or weeks. Get your information and move. You can always make changes later. It can be hard to make decisions based on sketchy evidence and mass confusion but you need to be able to move forward. You will never have all the information. Gather what you can, make the tough decisions, and move forward.

Finally, be ready to change. The information coming in is going to continue to update and you need to be ready to change with it. Just because you made one good (or bad) decision doesn’t mean you can stop making decisions. As more details come out, you need to be able to act accordingly.