Latest / The Matriarchy Would Never | A Promote Yourself to CEO Podcast Series / How Strategically Scaling Your Business Team Sets You Up for Success

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How Strategically Scaling Your Business Team Sets You Up for Success · The Matriarchy Would Never | A Promote Yourself to CEO Podcast Series

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_02: One of the hardest things about scaling your business is learning how to scale a team.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_02: This is something we don't talk about very often.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_02: And honestly, it's one of the hardest parts about learning to scale.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_02: Because while there is a ton of conversation about scaling your marketing, scaling your sales, learning how to scale your offers themselves so that you can serve more and more clients, there's not a lot of conversation about how do you grow your team?
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_02: How do you make sure that as you grow your team, your clients are happily working with your team instead of only wanting you because you are the name in the face of the business?
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_02: Well, today I am joined by my director of operations, the Rachel Wrangler, my right hand, Amber Kinney, and we're going to talk about how to grow, how to scale your team in a way that helps you to continue to scale your business without becoming the bottleneck.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_02: Are you ready to grow from stressed-out solopreneur to confident CEO?
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_02: You're in the right place.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_02: I'm your host, Rachel Cook, and I've spent more than 15 years helping women entrepreneurs sustainably scale their businesses.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_02: If you're serious about building a sustainable business, it's time to put the strategy, systems, and support in place to make it happen.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_02: Join me every week for candid conversations about stepping into your role as CEO, the hard lessons learned along the way, and practical, profitable strategies to grow a sustainable business without the hustle and burnout.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_02: Hey there, CEOs.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome back to this installment of our series all about customer experience and our customer experience strategy.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_02: So you might be wondering, why are we talking about team when we're going through this whole series about customer experience?
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_02: Well, it's because if you're going after scaling your business, rapid growth of your business, this is not a solo sport.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_02: This is not something one person can do.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_02: You can't scale a multiple six or seven figure business 100% on your own.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_02: You're going to need help.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_02: You're going to need people who are going to step in and start working side by side with you to do the marketing, to do the sales, and to help you with delivery, to help you work directly with your clients.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_02: Now, marketing and sales tend to be the first areas a lot of people get support with, right?
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_02: Outside of hiring maybe your first virtual assistant to help you with some administrative work or a bookkeeper to help you keep your books in order.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_02: Then we start to go, okay, I need to get things off of my plate.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_02: And the last thing to go is working directly with our clients.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_02: I know you know, because this is what I hear from so many of my clients is they've started to hire other support, they've started to get some marketing support.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe they have some people helping them with the sales aspect of their business.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_02: But the last thing that we hold on to is our clients, is working directly with our clients.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_02: And there comes a point where we just need some additional help there, especially if you are truly looking at scaling your business.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_02: We need other people who are going to be able to come alongside of us and come alongside of our clients and help our clients to have an incredible experience, help them move through whatever product, program, or service that they signed up for and help them to get incredible results.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_02: If we are trying to do it all alone, then we are not truly able to lead our business and scale it.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_02: We are going to make a situation where our clients are constantly coming to just us and it limits the capacity of how many people you can serve.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_02: So this is a pretty intense conversation here, and we're going to talk about all the layers that go into hiring people in your business.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_02: How do you train and empower your team?
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_02: How do you transfer that trust so that your clients are excited that you have created an incredible powerhouse team that they cannot wait to work with?
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_02: You have a team of experts.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_02: It's not just you who they can go to.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_02: Because when you think about it this way, you don't need them.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_02: You don't need them being the team that you're hiring.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_02: You don't need them to be a bunch of mini you's.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_02: I don't need a bunch of mini Rachels inside of this business.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_02: Like, oh my gosh, poor Amber.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_02: She would go absolutely nuts if we had a team of mini Rachels.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_02: But we do need a team of experts who all bring their own experiences, who all bring their expertise, who all bring their perspectives and their backgrounds and all that they have, all their strengths to the table.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_02: That actually makes a better, richer experience for our clients.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_02: And as a business, it makes the business less reliant on just me.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_02: It means that we are more capable and have more capacity to truly serve our clients.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_02: There are more people they can turn to when they need advice or they need coaching or they need a strategy.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_02: There's multiple people who now can support them.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_02: And I, as the CEO, can focus on the bigger picture, scaling this business, leading this team, showing up for my clients without burning myself out.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_02: So I hope you're excited about this.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_02: We have such an incredible conversation for you.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_02: Hey there, CEOs.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome back to this installment of our series all about exceptional world-class customer experience.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_02: And today I am joined by Amber Kinney, who is not only the director of operations, my right-hand lady, the Rachel Wrangler for the last over a decade.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_02: I don't even know.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_02: Also CEO and owner of her own marketing agency where she works with a lot of entrepreneurs behind the scenes to make their marketing goals happen.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_02: I'm so excited to have you here, Amber.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_02: I'm so excited to be here.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_02: It's gonna be fun.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_02: Well, today I brought Amber on because we have a lot of different perspectives because of my business is a coaching consulting business.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_02: Amber's business is more on the agency implementation side.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_02: And one of the biggest challenges to scaling any business is scaling your experience because there comes a point where you no longer can do it all yourself.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_02: And you have to start bringing on other people to do the work for you with your clients.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_02: And this becomes a sticking point for a lot of people because we often hear things like, well, my clients only want to work with me.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_02: They don't want to work with my team.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_02: My clients don't show up when my team is hosting a yoga class or they're not getting on their calendar as a chiropractor or as a coach or as a therapist.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_02: And this is such a common problem, especially as your business is growing away from you being the central face of the brand to becoming a more established company.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_02: So I wanted to talk about some of the things that we've both done in our own businesses and that we've helped our clients with as they are bringing on team members to work directly with their clients.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_02: So let's start by Amber.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_02: I want to hear your biggest pet peeves when it comes to what you're hearing or what you're seeing with other people in the industry.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_02: Like what doesn't work when you are trying to bring on other people to work with your team?
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_02: What makes it not work or makes it really difficult to maintain your level of service?
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: So I honestly think the biggest thing that we see, and again, like you said, all around is really that we want people to come in and do it 100% exactly the way we would do it.
• 8:20
  unknown: Yeah.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: And while I want the experience to be amazing and great, my way, or the like the CEO way, is the way I would do it, but it might not be the way everybody else does it.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: And that doesn't mean it diminishes the experience and the level that you're delivering.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: But I think we don't necessarily want to copy ourselves.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: We want to bring people in and let them show up fully as themselves while delivering our experience at a high level.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: And that requires them to be able to show up as them rather than having them try to show up as me or as the leader.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's the biggest place we start to see people stumble.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_02: I love that you brought this up because I think this is this is truly one of what it comes down to.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_02: It's people think what they want is you, like the business owner, the personal brand, the face of the business.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_02: But the people you hire are talented.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, if if you're hiring them, I'm assuming they're qualified, they're talented, they have a lot to bring to the table, and they have a unique perspective.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_02: So they might be able to give insight or support to your clients that you might not have even thought about because they have a different experience and different perspective.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's so incredibly valuable.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_02: And we actually diminish it when we try to squeeze our team into attempting to be us.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_02: Right?
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_02: But they can value so much if we are actually saying, hey, this person on my team actually has this experience or this background or this skill set.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_02: I think this is something we do really well inside of the CEO collective because all of our mentors are entrepreneurs who are extremely successful in their own right, but we all have very different personalities, we all have very different skill sets.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_02: And when we're looking at like, who should we send to who?
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_02: Like who should be this person's mentor or who should they go ask a question to?
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_02: We're like, well, if they're talking about community building and networking, Shannon is the go-to.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_02: Like she's the extroverted one who wants to go out there and build all the communities.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_02: If they're talking about mindset and being brave, they need to go talk to Sean because she's going to lovingly kick them in the butt to make them get out of their comfort zone.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_02: And those are skills that aren't necessarily natural to me or you, but our clients need access to those skills.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: Completely.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: And it's really great when you can allow a bigger group of people, your team, show up and really give their gifts because really all that's doing is bringing more to your customers, more to your clients, and more to the experience of working with you and your business.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_02: So yes.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_02: And I think this goes along with, you know, we don't want them to be carbon copies of us.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_02: We want them to bring their own experience and expertise.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_02: And for congruency, we need to have clarity on what your customer journey is, on what your whole customer experience plan is.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_02: Because your team should fit into that, right?
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_02: And they need to understand how the system is meant to work.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_02: I think this is where some people get in trouble, is because they don't actually have, and we've talked in previous episodes in this series about how to put together this customer experience plan.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_02: But when you're hiring people, if they're not sure the process your clients are going through and there's no structure or framework, it's really hard for everybody to stay on the same page.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_02: And that's where I think often when you're hiring people to work with your clients, it will start to get muddy and confusing without that clarity.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: Completely.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: I think one of the things that we hear a lot is that you know, we all work virtually or we do this or we do that for the freedom piece, right?
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: And we want to, everybody wants the freedom.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: But really, we get that, and your team gets that so much more from having that clear process set in place, having those clear expectations laid out for them, lets them contribute to the whole and be part of something bigger with the freedom, but those guidelines just make it easier for them to feel empowered, know where and how they can show up and know what the expectation is.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: And that's when everybody can be successful.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_02: When you have clients working with your team on the agency side, I mean, I know you have a lot of people who haven't even ever talked to you.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_02: Can you talk a little bit about how you were able to get to the point where you know, small business owners come to your team and they're able to just take over and make things happen?
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_02: What was that experience like for you?
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it evolved over time, but I but the biggest piece for me was to make the shift from like we had to shift everywhere from working with me to working with the business.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I think one of the things we've tried to do really well is set up the context for, you know, here's how we operate, here's who we are, and here's, you know, what your client experience is gonna be with us.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you want to come, if you're coming to us for say website or SEO, all I'm gonna do is get in the way.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: And we know that, right?
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm gonna get in the way.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'd love to chat with you, I'd love to have ideas, I'd love to do all these things, but really you're probably here to get some clear things done and see results.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: I am gonna get in the way.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so the more I can explain that and set that context up for people coming in, is we would love to work with you.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: Our expert in SEO is this person, you'll meet with them and they'll take you through the entire client experience.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then we have obviously some stuff in place where that team member then also has resources.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: They know they can come to me if they need me.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: But if we've set it up from the beginning that you're working with us as an agency, not me as a person, then the expectation is there and they aren't like they don't even blink when it's not me that shows up.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so it really is it's all from the beginning of how does the context and for me it's a lot about empowering the team.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's not taking away from me or diminishing my role in the business, but it really is how do I empower others, which then gets all of our clients' results faster and probably better, to be honest.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_02: And I think this is one area that in an agency model, it seems very clear.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_02: Like you're hiring an agency, there's multiple people who are subject matter experts in what they do.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_02: And in my business, because we're coaching consulting, this is where I see a lot of other coaches and consultants struggle.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_02: And even other service providers who have built their business on their personal brand.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_02: Right?
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_02: They didn't build it intentionally, saying, I'm building a coaching business with lots of people involved in it.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_02: Instead, it was like, I'm a coach, and that was their whole model.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_02: And so this is one of the reasons we rebranded into the CEO collective.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_02: And there's such a clear difference on every step of our customer journey now compared to where we were three or five years ago.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_02: So for anybody who is wondering, like, why did Rachel go from everything being under Rachel Cook to the CEO collective?
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_02: It's because I don't know, four or five years ago now, Amber and I sat down and we were like, okay, it is time for this not to be the Rachel show.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_02: It was actually becoming a problem.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_02: It was making it hard for my clients to come in and realize that I have people on the team that can help them in areas that I can't.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_02: And when it was all rachelcook.com, Rachel, Rachel, Rachel, they didn't see that.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_02: But now that it's the CEO collective, what is different now is we are presenting as a unified group here of experts, of coaches.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_02: And that is very clear from the get-go.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I don't even have my headshot on the homepage of this website.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_02: The only place you're going to find the headshot is when you scroll all the way down the about page and get to the founder.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_02: Instead, we have very clearly rebranded, not just under the CEO collective, but like all of our graphics on the website are our clients or our team.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_02: We make sure like there's a huge section for our team on the page.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_02: There's a huge section on when people enroll to work with us.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_02: So it's super clear like you're actually getting access not just to Rachel and all of her work, but a team of coaches, a team of consultants, a team of experts.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_02: And starting at the beginning is part of this whole transfer of trust.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_02: And that's the big step that I think most people don't understand is when you're ready to bring other people into your business and have other people work directly with your clients, you have to start that transfer of trust very early on in the process.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_02: If you wait until they've already signed the contract and they're working with you, and then suddenly, oh, here's Sally, you need to go talk to her, and they don't know who Sally is.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_02: You know, if you haven't established that expectation from the beginning, it causes confusion.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_02: It does.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_02: So let's talk about other things to do to transfer trust.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_02: Like I talked about, you know, this is where branding it as a business as opposed to a personal brand does help a lot.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_02: It makes it much more clearer and sets those expectations.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_02: What else do you see that helps with that transfer of trust?
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that is like how do we start, right?
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: And it's, I think remembering that it's not all or nothing.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so even with the CEO collective is a great example.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: So we started with one section where we brought in extra experts to contribute to the program.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: And then we added the next sections on.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so you're building, like you're building on success.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: So you can start to see the success, you can start to see it really working for your clients, your clients can start to see it, and then you can build on it.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: So remembering it doesn't have to be like an all or nothing.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: There is a transition and a ramp up period in there so that not only do your clients get used to hearing that talk, but you as the business owner get used to seeing it happen in your business because that's gonna build build your trust as well.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: And that's easier to build from that foundation and build up rather than just having like some switch that you flip.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_02: Ease people into it.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_02: And ease yourself into it.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: I was gonna say, on yourself, right?
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just it, like there's a client side of building the client trust and building that, which we can do by setting the expectation and really being clear all the way through the client experience, whether that's you know, the purchase experience, the nurture experience, any of those experiences were really clear, but there's also the CEO in you that has to also like we want to gain the trust on that side too.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a two-sided kind of thing for sure.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_02: It is, absolutely.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_02: And I think, you know, this is something that's so interesting.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_02: I think one of our unfair advantages at the CEO collective is that everyone who is a mentor in our program, so works directly with our clients, providing accountability to the 90-day planning, are all people who have worked behind the scenes with me for years.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_02: For years.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_02: Like I've had relationships with these women for such a long time.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_02: They've all gone through this process for their own businesses multiple times, and they've been supporting me and my business in different ways, right?
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_02: But that trust was already there.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_02: Like I already knew them so well that I knew I could be like, let's make this happen.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_02: I'd love you to come in and basically do what you've been doing with me behind the scenes.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_02: And people don't realize how many people it takes to run a business like this.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_02: But like, I can't imagine not having Amber to hold me accountable.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_02: Right?
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I can't imagine not having every person who's a mentor in the collective, like Shannon, Erica, Sean, Lane.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I'm constantly reaching out and connecting with them and asking for their feedback and their thoughts and getting their insights into things.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_02: So that transfer of trust was very easy and natural because that relationship was so established.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_02: What about when you are bringing on someone who's newer to your business?
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_02: And how would you approach this?
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_02: And I've also, you know, you've been behind the scenes in so many different businesses with this.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_02: How would you approach hiring these people if you don't have that track record, like you haven't worked with them before?
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: I think that um the biggest piece is being super clear about what role do you want that person to fill.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: So it does come to like what is the position description and all of those things, what are the expectations?
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: Whether it's, you know, if I'm a therapist and I'm hiring an extra therapist, like what does that look like?
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: What are the key things that are most important to me that like that they're just that we're consistent about?
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so that comes from documenting the client experience, um, but also kind of a little bit of like documenting the process, because if we use your the CEO collective as an example, like how many times have we done the CEO retreat to get to where we are today to make it a super replicable process and really starting to document that and it's gonna evolve along the way.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, even the CEO retreat evolves along the way, and so but as soon as you start to document it, it becomes something that's replicable.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: So if I am, you know, a therapist or a coach or this, and these are the key things that are important to me, and this is kind of the process I walk through with my clients.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: The more I can get that set, the more I can transfer that to somebody else in a really clear way, and then they can A, deliver it and B, meet the expectations.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_02: So it all comes back to the systems.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_02: It truly does.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_02: And I remember, I mean, there have been several of our clients who I'm thinking of, especially in the health and wellness field, that seems to be one of the first where they want to grow.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_02: But it's like the only way to grow to therapy practice is to hire more therapists.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_02: The only way to grow a chiropractic office is to get more chiropractors.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_02: Like there's certain things that are always going to be services.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: That need a human there with expertise.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_02: And this is where a lot of people get stuck is they'll be like, I need to hire somebody else.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_02: I'm booked solid.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_02: The only way to grow and get to the next place is for me to hire somebody else.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_02: But they've never taken the time to document how do I enroll this person?
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_02: How does this onboarding process look like?
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_02: What is the first meeting or the first appointment or the first session look like?
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_02: How am I getting, if you're in health or therapy or anything, how am I getting the data that I need, like history that I need?
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_02: How am I handling all of the information that you know needs to come to me so I can help them?
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_02: The more you can document those things, the easier and faster it'll be to get whoever you hire to know exactly like everybody's onboarded the same way, everybody's first meeting or first appointment is run exactly the same way.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_02: It brings in that level of consistency throughout your business.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_02: And I do think that's that's important, right?
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_02: Otherwise, you kind of have a hodgepodge of people working for you and everybody's doing their own thing.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_02: And when everybody's doing their own thing and people aren't on the same page, that's when people get confused.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_02: And it's really hard to have more predictable results.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_02: Like you as a CEO can't say, oh, this is what we need to tweak in this process if there's no documented process and everybody's winging it.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I think one of the things like it's super important.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the things there is even if like you're listening or you're thinking about this and you're like, well, I'm never gonna hire another person because I don't want to grow that big or whatever, any of those things, documenting it actually makes it easier on you, even when it's just you, because then you can be consistent or you can have an assistant that can help you with that consistency.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: But that way also every time you do it, you don't have to rethink it.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: So it is a great thing to go ahead and like start to do no matter where you are in your business.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: Because we don't, we never know, right?
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: But it does make it easier for you, even if that's so it's worth doing earlier rather than later.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_02: That was, I guess, my it can make you more consistent.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_02: And when you're more consistent, this is where the more consistent you can be, the more consistent your clients' experiences can be, the easier you can find and troubleshoot problems, the more you know exactly where to reach in and tweak and and make things better and improve things.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_02: And when you're ready to hire somebody, it gives you guidelines for how to train somebody.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_02: And this is another huge part that we're just seeing such a gap in.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_02: We're seeing people who are getting to the point where things are growing, they've created all this demand, and now they're like running around like chickens with their heads cut off because they're hiring people and they don't have a game plan to onboard those team members, to fully train those team members and to shadow, you know, to do like a shadowing period.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_02: And I think this is so important, especially for a lot of our clients.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I'm thinking of one of my clients, Dr.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_02: Lisa Griffith, who's a chiropractor.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_02: She's bringing on two new chiropractors to her office.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_02: And one of the first things we did was map out what is like the first 30, 60, and 90 days of onboarding and training and shadowing going to look like, because she has very specific things that she's known for.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_02: And she wants to make sure that those doctors are up to speed, that they understand how her patients are used to being taken care of, and that she feels comfortable like turning those patients over to these new people into her practice.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_02: And it also, when you have that kind of shadowing period, when you are there with your team member, your new person, and you're working together, it again leads to the transfer of trust, right?
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_02: They can see you with this person, you're letting that person take the lead.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_02: You're there to provide support and feedback behind the scenes, not in front of your client.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_02: But that way you can make sure you're transferring that trust as well.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: Transferring the trust, and then they can see that you're really there, you're supporting them.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: They don't feel like they're out there on their own doing things.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's one of the transfer of trust things that's really important is helping them like get on the bus with you so that we're all going in the same direction.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: Because then they also feel like they're part of something bigger and they understand where they fit in all of the pieces and parts of the business.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_02: And it can be done in high-touch, highly relational businesses.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_02: That's the thing.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I think a lot of people feel like, well, I'm the only one who can do this with my clients because I'm not a McDonald's.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not like one size fits all.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_02: You don't have to be, right?
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_02: You don't have to be at all.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_02: But if you're going to hire people to work with your team, you need to do everything you can to set them up from for success.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_02: And that means transferring that trust early from the very first touch point that people meet you and your brand.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_02: Making sure that you are actively talking about and communicating that this is a team, this is who's working with me, talking up the people on your team so that they know how much you trust and respect these.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's huge.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_02: That's huge.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_02: So many people don't do this.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_02: They don't talk up their team and talk about how so-and-so's an expert or so-and-so really loves this or is great at this.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_02: And I think the more you can do that, I mean, the people who once they get into the CEO collective, they know exactly when I'm going to say, go talk to Amber.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_02: Because I don't have the answer for that.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: I do I think that's so important.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's probably the most important part, not only for building a loyal team, because this is also a point where we start to talk, like people start to learn about turnover or is it worth all the investment in getting somebody trained?
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: And the better we do at the very beginning with that transfer of trust.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: Because I mean, we talked earlier about client trust and then CEO trust with the new team member, but that trust comes back from the new team member to you as a CEO as well.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_00: So the more we do all of this from the beginning and really set them up for success and talk about them and really let them bring their strength, it also improves the length of time that they will be with you in most instances because they feel that trust and they feel like that.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: They're part of it.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_02: I love that you brought this up because this is another key thing.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_02: It's a red flag to me when I see businesses who have a team that's churning constantly.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_02: Huge red flag.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_02: Because if people are joining and leaving very quickly, it tells me it's not just bad hiring, right?
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_02: Like the people are gonna leave.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_02: Like we all make hiring mistakes, people end up not being fit.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's fine.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_02: But if people are churning really quickly, it's such a red flag and it tells me like this business is not led very well, the roles aren't very clear, these people don't feel taken care of or trusted or respected.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_02: And I think this is something we all want to do better because I know I love the women on my team have been with me for years.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, Sean's the most recent addition to the team, but I've known her for over a decade.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: And she's been on the team over a year.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_02: And she's been on the team over a year.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_02: And I think when you have people who stick around so long, like you and I have, like clearly we're doing something right here.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_02: And I think a huge part of it is the trust.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_02: We're taking the time with each person.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_02: We really know each person, we know each other's strengths.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_02: And we respect each other.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_02: Like if somebody on the team comes to me and says, I'm struggling with this, or you know, whatever.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_02: They have feedback about something.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_02: We're always open and receptive to that.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_02: We're never like shutting people down or telling them their ideas are bad.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_00: We definitely, and it's a very open environment.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that also the other piece in there is because of the team and how we've brought everybody together, it's really also allowed team members to evolve.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_00: Because even for you and I, like if 10 years ago we didn't work together in the same way we work together now.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: Or Lane, when she started with you, she didn't work with you in the same way she's worked now, but it also has allowed room for people to grow with you and grow within the business as the business grows.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a win all the way around for everybody to continue, you know, to continue to grow as people and as the skills they have and to be able to have a great place to share them and then pass those on to the clients in the collective.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_02: And so anybody who's listening to this, if you're considering bringing people on to work with directly with your clients or work on things for your clients, it really just comes down to this transfer of trust.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_02: If you get nothing else from our conversation today, the success with having team work for your clients is that they trust you, your team trusts you, your clients trust your team, and that there's just like a mutual respect all around for what everybody has to bring to the table.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_02: We have frameworks, we have structures, we have clarity on what is being offered, and we're giving the team members the freedom to show up in their zone of genius, and we're respecting it, we're honoring it, we're shouting from the rooftops like I have somebody who's amazing at that.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_02: That's why you should come work with us.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much, Amber.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_02: This is such a good conversation, and I cannot wait.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_02: I cannot wait for more people to really start thinking differently about how they can empower their team and set their team up for success.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_02: Me too.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_02: There you have it.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_02: I hope you enjoyed this conversation.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_02: I hope you took away a lot of insights and clarity around what is possible when you start to think about bringing in a team to work with your clients or to work on the same projects you're working on for your clients.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_02: Whether you have a business more similar to mine, a coaching, consulting, expert-based business, where it's more about the higher level strategy and frameworks that you have, working alongside of your clients, or you have a business like Amber, where you're a done-for-you services type of business, an agency style business, bringing on team and really amplifying what they're capable of, what their talents are, what their expertise is.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_02: It's really the only way that you can sustainably scale.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_02: I hope this got you thinking there's a lot more to go into with this.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_02: This is the type of work we do with our clients inside of the CEO collective.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_02: But I feel like now that you've started to hear more about what it looks like that it is possible to have other people on your team working with your clients, I want to hear from you.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_02: What's possible now for your business that maybe you hadn't thought about before?
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_02: Head over to Instagram at rachel.cook.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_02: Let me know.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_02: I want to hear from you.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_02: And of course, we have one more episode headed your way in this series.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_02: So if you've been loving this brand new series all about customer experience, I want you to do me a favor.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_02: Go leave a review of Promote Yourself to CEO.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_02: Leave a review on the podcast on Apple Podcasts.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_02: It helps us to get the word out to more small business owners.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_02: And I truly think this is one of those advantages that many people don't implement into their business, having an incredible customer experience, really thinking about how they can infuse the experience through everything that they're working on and making sure that their team is helping them make it happen.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, I cannot wait to share the next episode with you.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_02: Talk to you soon.