Delegating - Four For Friday

On Fridays I bring you the best workflow tips I have this week. And we call it Four for Friday. Welcome! Today we're going to talk about delegating. Once we get to a certain level of busy in our businesses, it gets hard to do ALLL THE THINGS all by ourselves. Making the switch to hand parts of your baby, your business over to a stranger is daunting to say the least. Here's four ways to make it easier:

Bring the Big List, But Start Small

You might have a ton of tasks you want to hand off, but start small. Tell your assistant that you eventually want them to ramp up to doing 4 or 5 things, but for now you're delegating one or two relatively simple, hard to mess up tasks. Less pressure for you and them, and a good test for how you each do on your side of the desk,

Heed the Five W's

Who, What, When, Where and Why.  Let's say you want them to respond to inquiries:

• Who. Your assistant is handling it, armed with all they do and do not know about your business.  If so then:
• What. How are they responding to the emails? Are they keeping the inquires in the funnel so you can follow up personally? Scheduling appointments? Sending brochures or questionnaires? What happens to the original email after it's answered?
• When. What's the time frame and the deadline? 10 hours a week, and every email has to be answered within 24 hours? What's a workable weekly schedule for them to get that done?
• Where. Are they responding to emails from your inbox, or are you creating a separate email address for them? Is it all in your CRM system? Do they need to look at your calendar? You have to  give them sign-access to whatever they need to get the job done, including forms and documents.
• Why. What's the ultimate goal you're setting for them? Like, the difference between "send appointment scheduler" and " confirm they've scheduled an appointment". One take a little more leg work than the other does.

Don't Delegate From Scratch

Show your assistant how you like it done. Send them a typical reply email, share your templates, and walk them through the process one on one. Don't make them guess or search. Examples, examples, examples!  A good way to start them off is to make a screenshot video of the task, which I explain how to do in this youtube video:

https://youtu.be/pvj5zLmZsTk

Create a Probation Period

Start with a short term contract. Hire them for a month, and schedule a two-week check in. Hire them for two weeks and schedule a one-week check-in. If you're new to delegating, it will help you see how it works, what needs tweaking, and gives the both of you aa better idea of what your expectations really are. Be open to giving and receiving feedback!What other solutions do you need right now to scale your business so you can save time and continue make more money? Contact me to schedule a complimentary consultation, or click here to get on my calendar right now.I'll talk to you soon,Elizabeth