What I Got Wrong About Workflows (and What I’m Focusing on Now)

Colie: 00:00:26

Hello, hello, and welcome back to Business First Creatives.

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If you've been hanging out with me

for a while, you know I love talking

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about workflows, mapping them,

automating them, nerding out over

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every single step inside your CRM.

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But today we're gonna talk about

something a little different

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because I've had a major mind shift.

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For myself and my business, and I feel

like it's time to create an episode so

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that when people ask me why I'm not so

focused on workflows anymore, I can just

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send them to this episode to listen.

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Okay, so the bottom line is I'm not

just talking about workflows anymore.

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I'm talking about client communication.

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Now, don't worry, I still believe

workflows are absolute magic.

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But in this episode, I wanna tell you

why communication is actually the real

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secret sauce in your client experience

and why you are gonna hear me talking

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about it a whole lot more going forward.

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I'm gonna be focusing on what you

say, not just when and how you say it.

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So let's back up just a tiny bit.

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Why haven't I talked

more about this before?

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To be honest, I didn't

think I was qualified.

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I have said it many times.

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I am not a copywriter.

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I have never built some signature

storytelling method or created a plug

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and play formula for writing emails, not

newsletters, not client experience emails,

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Sure, I can tell you what emails

you need for your client journey.

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I know the types of messages that

would exist at every single step.

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When it comes to how, how to infuse

your personality, how to make

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it sound like you, how to write

something that actually connects.

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I didn't feel like that was my lane.

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Now, sure, I love a good gif.

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I love a good emoji.

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I love telling you how to write

exactly like you talk, but

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to me that's not a framework.

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That is just my opinion.

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So for years I focused on workflows.

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I built automations and

I gave people templates.

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Something still felt off because

here's the thing, we all follow

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similar steps in our business, but the

difference is in how we communicate.

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So whether you're a photographer,

a designer, a planner, your client

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journey probably goes through

inquiry, booking, onboarding,

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delivery, and offboarding stages.

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Those sound really familiar, right?

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The bones are the same.

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But what makes the experience yours

is how you communicate through

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those stages of your client journey.

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It's your voice, your stories,

your why, the things that your

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clients actually care about.

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And yes, I know the best practices.

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You should be doing customer interviews,

you should be reading your testimonials.

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You should be looking for

common phrases and patterns.

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And the best marketing that you can

do is using your voice of customer.

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Like paying attention to the objections

that your clients have when they're

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trying to make a hiring decision.

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I know all that.

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I do all that, but I've never felt

like I had a clear framework for

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taking those insights and turning them

into storytelling client experience

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emails or killer website copy.

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I didn't have a teachable process for it,

so I didn't think I should talk about it.

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Maybe it's the math professor in me.

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I just feel like if something isn't super

strategic or analytical, I'm probably

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not the person to teach you on it.

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I'm the girl who majored in math and

procrastinated on every single research

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paper I ever wrote in grad school.

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I agonized over the sentence structure.

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I second-guessed every comma.

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Still do.

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So when I considered taking the time

to teach you how to write emails

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inside of my program, how to find your

voice, how to communicate clearly,

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I froze Total imposter syndrome.

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Because even now I still feed my

long form content into chat GPT,

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just to double check the grammar.

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Not 'cause I don't know what I'm trying

to say, but because I don't trust myself

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to say it right or I worry that someone is

going to find like a grammatical error and

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then it will negate everything important

that I said inside that blog post.

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That's when it clicked for me.

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I may not be a copywriter, but I am

someone who's built trust and connection

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through my client experience emails.

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I've automated communication and

made it feel not robotic, and I do

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have a clear idea of every client

message and what it should include.

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So maybe I don't need a

copywriting framework.

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Maybe I just need to give you the spark.

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And so that's what I'm ready to do now.

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Now let's bring this full circle

back around to workflows, because the

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shift didn't happen in a vacuum, it

happened after dozens of conversations.

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So as you may know, I am a certified

Dubsado specialist, and we have a

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directory where people can go on

the ddo website, read about all

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the specialists, and reach out

if you want to hire one of us.

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Now, the bulk of my inquiries from

that directory have been, Hey Colie,

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I need help with my workflows.

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I always smile when I get one of

these inquiries inside my inbox

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because nine times out of 10,

that's not what they actually need.

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They are not ready for workflows.

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They need help understanding their

entire client journey, what happens at

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every stage, what assets they need to

create at every stage, which includes

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those client experience emails.

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And if you don't have those

pieces, you are not ready for

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me to help you with workflows.

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You are still at the asset creation stage.

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I'm just gonna give you one

quick example before I move on.

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So say you wanna offer

a consultation call.

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You can't just build a workflow

and expect the magic to happen.

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Before you sit down to map out the actions

and triggers that go inside that workflow,

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you need to already have the scheduler

created, the confirmation email, the

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reminder emails, the form where you are

going to collect information about them.

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All of these need to exist before you

connect your workflow because Dubsado or

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HoneyBook or whatever CRM you are using,

is going to ask you for those assets

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while you are creating that workflow.

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So if you're still manually going

back and forth on dates saying,

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Hey, I'm available Tuesday at 11 or

12, does one of that work for you?

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You are not ready for workflows.

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Only when you can do a repeatable process

and have all of your assets ready.

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Are you in the stage where workflows

will be the most helpful for you?

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Now, here's what you can expect

from me going forward, because

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you're going to hear me talk a

lot about client communication.

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Not instead of workflows, but before

you get to the workflow stage.

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Because your communication

is what powers the workflow.

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It builds trust.

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It makes your people feel taken

care of from the moment that they

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inquire inside of your business.

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And if you're sitting here thinking,

okay, Colie, but how do I know

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what to say in those emails?

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I have something for you.

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Starting April 29th, I am doing

a Systems Glow-Up: Email Edition.

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Again, this is not in place of workflows,

but I feel like all of us need to get on

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the same page and client communication

is the perfect place to do this.

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So, if you would like to get in on

the free 3-day Challenge, where I am

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going to be walking you through my

framework and helping you create client

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experience emails that you are proud

of, so that you are ready to create

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the workflows inside of your business.

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I would love it if you would join me.

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Go to coliejames.com/glowup

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That's G-L-O-W-U-P one word.

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All right.

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That's it for this episode.

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See you next time.