We 🧡 Templates!
Templates are one of the best ways to standardize aspects of your business processes while also saving yourself and your team a lot of time. The only downside is that you have to make time to create them and keep them updated, and that can feel like a heavy lift.
So today I’m going to share a workflow you can follow to create templates for one of the most important aspects of your business–your client experience.
Write down all of your services in a Google Doc or Word Doc.
Underneath each service, write out each and every step you take to complete the service in chronological order.
Walk through each step and determine if there’s an opportunity to create a template or other asset to support the step. The templates can be for gathering information (email templates, meeting agendas, questionnaires, forms etc…) or sharing information (email templates, PDF guides, documents, proposals, etc…)
Evaluate each step to determine if you already have something on hand that you can use as a starting point for a template.
For example, if you’ve already onboarded clients into your services before, you can use the emails you’ve previously sent as a starting point for creating your onboarding/welcome email(s).
Copy and paste any existing assets into the document underneath the corresponding step.
Go through each service and its corresponding steps and draft the copy/messaging for the templates you need to create.
Review all of the copy/messaging and determine what visual assets need to be created and make a note of these in your document.
Create the visual assets or hire someone to help you create them (if you need someone, we’ll gladly connect you to one of our graphic designer friends!)
Determine what software you can use to manage (and maybe even deliver!) your templates.
The most common software we use to manage client experience templates are Client Relationship Management (CRM) software, project management software, accounting software, proposal software, and productivity suites (Google Workspace or Microsoft 365).
Go through each service and its corresponding steps and set up the templates in the appropriate software.
That’s it!
The process I just described is straightforward, but I wouldn’t call it simple. And there’s a lot more you can do that I didn’t describe, like evaluating and refining your processes before building out your templates. But that deserves a whole blog post of its own, so I’ll save it for another day!
If this still feels like a heavy lift or you know you won’t make the time to do this important work, we feel you. It’s a lot of work! But you don’t have to do it alone–and we’re in the process of developing 1-day SOP Intensives that can fast-track your journey!
If you’re interested in learning about our new 1-day SOP Intensives, sign up for our waitlist and you’ll be the first to know when they launch! We may even extend a special offer to everyone on the waitlist. 😉