E34 How to educate clients on what an OBM is

Leanne Woff: ​ [00:00:00] 

Hey, hey, hey, lovely, let’s chat about how to educate our clients on what an [00:01:00] OBM is. Today’s podcast episode topic actually came from one of our listeners and they sent me a message and they were saying to me, could you do an episode on how we can better educate our clients on what it is an OBM does and how we do it?

Because a lot of them don’t seem to understand. And can I tell you, she is 100 percent right. A lot of them do not understand. And it’s something that, as an industry, we need to get better at communicating, and we need to get our stories straight. Today I’m going to cover some things I think that we can all do that will help our audience as a whole grasp the idea better.

All right, so the first thing is, you need to understand it first. Now, you might be sitting there thinking of course I understand what it is, I do it every day. But, do you [00:02:00] really understand what it is? Because I’ve heard so many different variations. And yeah, everyone has a little bit of a difference in their opinion, and there are slight variations, but I’ve seen big variations.

I’ve also seen people who just tack OBM on to the end of their title so that they can charge more money. And that makes it harder for everybody because it hasn’t got to do with what the role is. So it like dissolves that meaning and it makes it a little murkier. So what is an OBM? If you’re an OBM, the easiest way to explain this, is that you are a specialist in the virtual assistant industry, someone who specializes in project management, operations management, business management, and usually is [00:03:00] digital marketing savvy and has good tech skills.

So the things that you really need at that foundation of running a business, and then you do it online. Hence the virtual part. You might also be thinking, Leanne, I’m not a VA. I’m an OBM. This is the whole issue. You are a VA. And this is what I meant when I said you need to understand it first. When you’re explaining this, you need to explain it from an industry standpoint.

Virtual Assistant is an industry as a whole. It’s everyone in it. You can have general admin VAs, which is what we commonly will say, Oh, I need a VA. That’s what people are talking about. When you say, I’m not a VA, that’s what you’re talking about. You’re actually talking about an admin VA, an admin all rounder.

You’re an OBM, which sits [00:04:00] within that industry as a whole. You can also have social media VAs. You can also have Bookkeeping VAs. You can also have lawyers who are VAs because what is a VA? A VA is somebody who works in a business and provides a business-to-business service in an online capacity. You work remotely. In its simplest form, that’s what it is. And so now you can see how being an OBM still means you’re a VA. It’s a niche within that industry. This is how you explain it to your clients and you explain it in a way where it’s like, if you were to look at your whole support team, takes a lot of support to run a business. Takes someone supporting with finance, takes someone supporting with marketing, takes someone supporting with answering the phones, takes someone[00:05:00] managing a team, there’s all these different qualities that you need and an OBM is the one that is in the middle, helping run it all. So in the same way, in an office, you would have a business manager, you’re an online business manager and you’re not online because you only work with online businesses. So let’s say like e commerce stores, you only work with e commerce stores and they only sell online.

That’s not true. It’s just that you work in an online manner.

Now, how do we further educate our clients once we have the definition and the concept down pat for ourselves? How do we pass that knowledge on in a way that’s easy to understand?

The thing that you need to grasp to do this and to do it well is there is no way to explain it all in one foul swoop. If you really want your [00:06:00] clients to understand what an OBM is, you need to do it ongoing and throughout your client journey. What that means is your education starts at marketing. So before they’re even one of your clients, you need to start talking about on your website, in your socials, if you have a podcast, on your podcast, however you do your marketing in your networking conversations. That’s where your education starts and that’s where you start explaining what an OBM is and what an OBM does. So that before people even come to you, you’ve already started building that foundation of knowledge.

Are people going to always remember what you said? No. But you’ve planted that seed, you’ve given them that foundation. Your audience will start to get it. And the more that we all do this, the easier it will be for them to grasp. [00:07:00] So marketing first. The second place that you want to cover what an OBM is, is on your services page. I am not saying, let’s go write a blog post on our services page. What I’m saying is that your services should reflect what an OBM is. If your services look exactly the same as an admin VA services page, if you offer the exact same things, then, lovely one, you are an admin VA.

Either that, or they’re an OBM and they don’t realise it. Understand the services you deliver and where they sit within the industry. Your aim here is not to create all different packages or have all different skills and offer hundreds and hundreds of them just to suit every client. What you want to show on your services page is that you operate at a higher level.

And on your services page, you might have,[00:08:00] project management, or you might have your operations manager, or your team whisperer. There’s all different ways you can go about it, but it’s very different to just saying it’ll cost you $100 for me to do a newsletter. It’ll cost you $100 for me to set up an email automation.

It’ll cost you $50 an hour for every team meeting that I have, and they will go from 30 minutes to 2 hours every week. See how it’s very different? We want to operate at a higher level, so we need to start presenting at a higher level. In no way am I meaning, don’t give clarity. Make sure it’s clear what you’re doing.

But it’s not this segmented task list of, I could do this for you, or I could do this for you, or I could do this for you. No. You want to paint the picture of, hey, when you work with me, this is what you’re gonna get. I’m in your corner. I’m gonna be doing this on a regular basis. You [00:09:00] also want to talk about the process.

A large part of what an OBM does is give space and peace of mind. And as such, how do we sell that? It’s hard, isn’t it? Because it’s not tangible. The way that we can explain it, though, is through the process. And you explain it in everything, in your marketing, on your website. And it’s when you work with me, this is what it looks like.

This is how you’ll feel. This is the space you’ll have. You’ll have clarity. You’ll have the ability to go out and to spend more time doing what you love. You’ll have the ability to really hunker down, and plan what’s next for your business without worrying that your business operations are going to fall over in the process.

You’ll have a sounding board. The way that we give you those things are, we’ll have a weekly check in call, you’ll have [00:10:00] Voxus support, I’ll come to your office and do a quarterly planning meeting. However it is that you do it, you want to explain it and you want to explain why it matters. We do this so you can……

This is how we show them what an OBM does. This is how we sell that intangible piece. Because there is no hard put a dollar in, put a dollar out. That’s not the outcome of working with an OBM and it doesn’t need to be. But we do need to work out a way to explain it and through that is the process.

The other thing that you can do if you’re having conversations with leads and you’re thinking okay, what they sound like is that they think I’m just going to be an admin VA and I’m just going to do all the little bits and that’s not really what I want to do even though I can do that. Start talking about the ROI.

Absolutely. I could do all of that stuff, [00:11:00] but that’s not the best use of my time. Like really you want to bring in an admin VA or someone better suited to those skills, pay them at their rate and pay me at my rate to manage them. And then that way we’re getting more done. We’re being financially clever.

And we’re using everyone to the best of their ability. And then explain the things that you could do. Here’s where I would be best placed. I’d really like to be involved in your business planning. Let me look at your strategy. Let me see where we’re going. Let’s look at those goals and how we’re tracking them.

Let’s have a look if there’s another team member we need to free some of your time up to do what you do better. Use me for all the skills that I have. For the level of knowledge I have rather than paying me for that level of knowledge, but not getting it. And so you can explain things like [00:12:00] that too.

And it helps give your client’s perspective.

The next thing that you can do is talk about the maths. A lot of people struggle with the money factor, but it’s because they haven’t done the math. They haven’t actually thought about, okay, if I was to bring you in and it gave me an extra two hours a week, what could I do with that 2 hours? I charge myself at $350 an hour.

I could be making $700 in 2 hours. Or I could create a new $97 masterclass in 2 hours and sell that. And maybe sell one a week for a year. What’s 97 times 52? Start thinking about the actual dollar figures. Compared to how much you would charge to be involved every week and start talking about those things.

Also, start talking about the level of ownership and [00:13:00] responsibility an OBM has. It’s very different to an administration VA. And I am not saying in any way that Admin VAs aren’t dedicated, committed, uninvested. They 100 percent are. I’ve seen so many great ones and some not so great ones. Same as people who specialize in online business management.

But as an online business manager, you are in all of those kind of strategic level things. You’re in that how we’re keeping everything on track. So there is that level of responsibility on you. There is that level of ownership of supporting everyone in a team, not just one person, so start talking about those things.

The next thing you can do is take the reins, and what I mean by that is start talking about how you work with your client’s teams. The best way to set that picture of here’s where I operate and here’s how everyone else within the business would [00:14:00] operate and here’s how I would coordinate them is to tell them exactly that.

Give them that visual picture of – there’s me and then there’s all these other pieces and I’m going to help you pull everything together. So everyone’s working towards the same goal.

Tell them how you will work with their different support team members, their admin VA, their marketing VA. It’s showing them what you do. It’s helping them understand that difference. And then the final thing is to tell stories. People find it so much easier to understand what is occurring if it’s in story form.

People find it easier to remember something if it’s in story form. People get attached to emotion and when there is an emotion, it triggers a different part of our memory and we remember easier. Tell stories. Talk about things that you’ve done with other clients. Talk about scenarios that you’ve managed.

Talk [00:15:00] about big wins. Talk about things that have been hard. Start telling stories. Use case studies. Put case studies up. These are the kinds of people I’ve worked with. This is what they came to me for. This is how I went about solving that. This was the outcome. How cool is that? Give people the input they need to really grasp what you’re talking about to fully understand what your capability and what your purpose is.

Yeah, so that’s it. That’s as simple as it can be. But really, it is just reiterating the same thing over and over. You can do it. And it might sound like you’ve said it, and you’ve said it before, and you’ve said it before, but no one is listening just to you. Everybody is coming from their own perspective with all different pieces of information getting thrown at them.

You saying it 500 times, probably going to hear it twice. And don’t not say it for fear of you’re [00:16:00] going to sound like a broken record because the consequence of that is that a lot of people don’t hear it at all and it just makes our job even harder and they’re still seeking this information.

They just weren’t in the right place at the right time to hear it. I hope that helps. I hope it’s giving you multiple different avenues to make it a little bit easier. Maybe you’re already doing some of these things. Maybe you’re not doing some of them. Maybe it’s giving you one thing. If you walk away and implement one thing I’ve talked about, you’re already ahead.

I hope you find that helpful. If you have any recommendations on what you’d like to hear on this podcast, please, please send me a DM at leannewolf pretty much anywhere because I’ll cover it. I want this to be a two way conversation. And. If you love listening to this podcast, please leave me a five star review because that’s how the Magical Podcast Apps know that this is a quality podcast [00:17:00] and shows it to more virtual assistants, including OBMs.

Bye guys. Have a great week. I’ll see you next week.

​ 

E32 Do you trust me?

Leanne Woff: ​ [00:00:00] Do you trust me? Welcome to today’s episode of The Audacious OBM. I’m Leanne [00:01:00] Woff and today we’re talking about all things trust. One of our wonderful listeners said to me, I was on your website and there’s nothing about trust. Can you do an episode on trust? Sure thing, I said. Now, trust is fundamental to every OBM Visionary, Client relationship.

Why is that? I find when you’re working closely with somebody, if there is no trust, things take a lot longer. And we start to have all of these emotions. Why don’t you trust me? Why can’t you just let me do my job? Why do you have to check everything? If I said I’m going to do it, then that means I’m going to do it.

If I’m saying this is a better way to do it, maybe it actually is. Do you not understand that I am an expert in everything that I do? I know what I’m doing. Why do you keep getting in the way? And then on the client side We [00:02:00] have, what are they doing? Have I given them enough information? Do they need my input?

Maybe I need to help them. Maybe I’ve given them too many things. Maybe I’ll just answer this email because then it’ll take another thing off their plate. Oh, I know they’ve probably done it, but what if they haven’t done it? And maybe I should just check and it goes on and on and on. we want things to be smooth sailing, we need to invest in our level of trust and building that foundation of trust. And that goes both ways. So I’m going to start with an example, a little story. You might be aware that I am an avid Disney fan. I love it. I grew up with it. It makes my heart happy. And one of my favorite Disney movies is Aladdin. Now, if you’ve seen Aladdin, there is a scene at the very beginning and [00:03:00] Aladdin is running through this crazy market in Agrabah and he’s towing along this servant girl.

She’d taken something and the guards were chasing her down. So now they’re chasing Aladdin and her and it’s getting very, very close and They’ve almost gotten caught and then it will be off to the dungeon for you. So Aladdin does this crazy jump. He says, do you trust me?

And jumps really far. Now, Jasmine, who unbeknownst to Aladdin is actually a princess, is standing there with this complete stranger, asking her to do this crazy jump. And all he has said is, do you trust me? And in that moment, she has two options. One, to trust him and trust him fast to make the [00:04:00] jump, or to hesitate.

And then, not trust him, which would end in her getting arrested by the guards, found out that she’s really the princess, and all the chaos that that would create. She decides to trust him, and makes the jump, and they get off. They run away, they don’t get caught, and it’s amazing. Then, we fast forward some scenes, and again, Jasmine is standing on her balcony.

Now, everybody knows that she’s the princess, and Aladdin appears, just next to the balcony. And he holds out his hand again. And he says, Do you trust me? And that’s the only thing he says. And again, she’s faced with a choice. Either I take his hand and agree, or I don’t and I stay exactly where I am. The difference between the two [00:05:00] scenarios this time is there’s no big pressure push here.

We’re not running away from anything. Now, Aladdin is offering her an opportunity. And she doesn’t know if it’s a good one or a bad one. She’s got no information other than Do you trust me? She can stay safe where she is, or she can take a risk. And she takes the risk. She grabs his hand, and he pulls her onto his magic carpet.

And then they fly. In the night sky. All across Agrabah. And she sees things that she would never have been able to see before. But if she had have said no, she would have missed that. So why am I telling you these two things? Because they tell us a little bit about the factors in trust. So the first one is, when we hesitate to trust, the consequence is pain.[00:06:00] 

And it doesn’t have to be physical pain, but there is usually a negative consequence to not trusting. Now, whether that’s big or little, it can be either. It might be as simple as, because I don’t trust you yet, I’m going to have to check all your work. And then that is going to take me far more time. I’m actually not getting as much benefit as I could from working with you because I don’t trust you.

And I still feel the need to check everything. So now the pain here is that extra time I’m spending. And then the other factor, When we do trust, we are opening ourselves to opportunities that would never have existed before. And we might not know exactly what they are yet. That’s the whole point of trusting.

What we can see is that when we give our trust to somebody, it exposes all of our vulnerabilities. What is going to happen if I say [00:07:00] yes, if I hand over control, if I put myself in this position? And I was wrong?

 We can also see on the flip side that lack of trust, it causes us as OBMs to become defensive and protective. Because I haven’t done anything to you to prove that I’m untrustworthy. So for the client, it’s not about you, it’s about them. And for you It’s not about the client, it’s about you. So how do we reconcile this gap?

How do we bridge it so that nobody is in this place of being fearful or being defensive? We manage the emotion. So a big part of the issue with trust and the reason that we struggle so much with it is because it brings up all kinds of emotions. And if we take a step back and we look at all the pieces on the playing field, not just what we see, [00:08:00] we can start to put together a practical plan.

But I’m going to tell you the way I have managed trust in the past, the way I’ve created trust with clients, where my boundaries are, and the way I’ve felt when I’ve been trusted or not trusted. Ultimately, a lack of trust comes from fear. And when we are dealing with any kind of fear, it can take a long time to work through and to work it out until you get a good result.

Now, you can do this with clients if they’re untrusting or they’re nervous or they’re hesitating. You can totally walk alongside them and get them comfy with trusting you. But it’s also important to know that you get to decide as well. You can walk alongside and take the journey or you can choose not to.

If you [00:09:00] do not have the patience or do not have high enough self esteem or confidence in your own self and skill, you might go, you know what, I don’t have the capacity right now to deal with your trust issues, or to be able to give you everything you need for this to be amazing. And it’s not a reflection on them and it’s not a reflection on you.

It’s just the reality. So I want to lead with that. I want you to know that you have choice, which brings me to knowing your boundary. For a long time, I would help my clients through the trust process. And sometimes it would take years. Sometimes it would be really quick. And after a while, I then decided, you know what, I have been doing this for a long time.

I have a reputation. I [00:10:00] have case studies. I have testimonials. I have clients you can go and speak to. And if that does not speak to the quality of person that I am and my ability to do my job and communicate clearly, then I’m not really doing the right thing, am I? It should be enough. So I came to the choice.

That my boundary would be, trust me first. This is how I operate with all of my suppliers. I trust them first. They’ve not given me any reason not to trust them. I can have all my own fear, all my own hang ups. I can wonder if they’re gonna do the right thing or the wrong thing.

But at the end of the day, it doesn’t get anyone anywhere. I decided, I want people to trust me based on what I say up front. To trust me with their business. To trust me with the decisions that I make and discuss with them. Because, [00:11:00] lack of trust makes everything a lot slower. The scale that I want to work at and the things that I want to tackle, I can’t really do that if there’s big hesitation, so then that became my boundary. Trust me first. If I prove you wrong, if I do something to break that trust and it wasn’t unintentional and I haven’t been able to fix it, then don’t work with me anymore, or let me go, or say it was the worst decision you ever made.

But don’t make that your starting point. Don’t make me prove myself before I even get in the door. Trust me first and I’ll trust you first. And so that’s what I talk about.

And you should know your boundary too. What legacy are you willing to go to, to establish the trust? And it is not a bad thing to try and support the journey of trust with your clients. There’s things that you can do. And there are things that [00:12:00] I still do to help this trusting relationship grow and evolve.

But I also know where my lines are

 in what is part of this journey. Part of this journey is. It’s establishing the foundation of trust right from the very beginning. And that means that when I have conversations with leads, I talk about trust, I talk about the different people that I’ve worked with. I think about the things that are going to give my potential clients, the confidence that I am who I say I am, that I can do what I say I can do.

And then I carry that with me throughout my whole onboarding process. And I reiterate the same things over and over. The things that will instill more trust. These are the results that I’ve been given. This is what clients have told me before. This is what you might be feeling right now and I get it. And all of those things [00:13:00] add to that solid foundation and I’m happy to do that.

I’ve done this lots of times. My clients might not have. And it also gives me the ability to start these relationships as partnerships. I’ll trust you. And you trust me, let’s do this together. The second thing that you can do when trying to establish trust is highlight the perks. Why should they trust you?

What’s in it for them? It’s interesting when you think of it, right? Now, I remember when a client said to me, Oh, I don’t know how I ever lived without you. And she trusted me before I’d even signed the contract. She, from the very beginning, was, I’m in are you in, let’s go. And from that minute [00:14:00] onwards, she trusted me first.

And it changed my view on a lot of things. Because, all of a sudden, what I said, it wasn’t questioned, it didn’t have fear around it. Whereas sometimes, even with ourselves, we’re thinking, I’m saying this, is that right? Is that wrong? Is that something silly to say? Whereas with this client, everything was a discussion, and everything was a conversation between partners.

And that trust issue wasn’t there. If I said I was going to do it, she trusted that I was going to do it. Did we have checks and balances? Absolutely yes. You need that. So were there Asana tasks that she could see got ticked off? Yes. Did she then go and look for evidence when I ticked an Asana task off to see that I’d actually done the thing?

No. She would talk about the relief that she felt. She knew that by behaving in this manner, she didn’t have to worry. [00:15:00] She actually didn’t have to think about any of the things or question the what ifs because she trusted me to do the thing. And if those what ifs were going to happen, they were going to happen anyway.

So it just gave her freedom. And so that’s one of the perks. There are many, there’s efficiency, there’s joy. There’s all kinds of perks that come with having a trusting relationship. And so talk about them, because otherwise, why should someone risk anything if there’s nothing in it for them? The next one is to share your insight.

Something I know about human beings is that we are creatures of habit. The more familiar we are with something, the more we see it over and over, the more we hear it over and over, the less fearful we are. How can we use that to help our clients trust us? We start small. And from the very beginning, [00:16:00] I’m conscious that what I say and what I do are the same.

And if I’m talking to somebody and I’m saying to them, Hey, this is what I want to do. Here’s why I want to do that. I share that little piece of me and I keep the theme consistent. So I’m sharing my knowledge, which shows them, okay, she’s really thought about this and she’s invested. She’s not just taking me for a ride.

She has understanding around this and that makes me feel safe and secure. You’re saying things that resonate with me. I’m worried about this and you’ve said it before I’ve even mentioned it. And that makes me feel safe and secure because it’s familiar, right? There’s a connection there. And then the next bit, Is the repeating the things that we say we’re going to do.[00:17:00] 

I’m going to go and do this and it can be a little thing. Hey, you’ll get an email from me in a few days, and then I’ll tell you the next steps. In a few days, make sure you send the email. Hey, let’s jump on a Zoom call. And then we’re going to talk about these four things. And by the end of it, we’ll know this is going to be the result of this activity.

And so then, follow what you’ve said. And it seems small, but particularly at the start, it’s that consistency that eliminates the fear and builds the trust. Because what they’re seeing is that repeated, Ah, she says she’s going to do it, so it means she will. She says it’s going to be this way, so it will. I don’t need to worry about it.

And so we’re calming all the nerves all around. And it’s not a hard thing to do. It’s a little thing, but it goes a long way.

Now, the other thing is to [00:18:00] eliminate the unknowns. So a big part of fear is wondering about the future, is wondering what’s going to happen. Is the good thing going to happen? Is the bad thing going to happen? Is something that I don’t even know about going to happen? The more we can eliminate that fear of the unknown, the easier it will be for your clients to trust you because they can see the step by step plan.

They have something that feels tangible to hold on to. And so that ties in with the doing what we say we’re going to do and giving them the knowledge and understanding of what they can expect next.

The next thing is to repeat the facts. Hey! I’ve spent four hours doing this task. It’s done now, and here is the outcome of it. But, if I [00:19:00] was able to see the analytics, I would be able to tell you how we can do this in two hours. Or I would be able to tell you what the ROI is on this activity and how we can alter it to get a better result.

But I need you to let me see the analytics. I need you to give me a little bit more information. I need you to trust me a little bit more. And in this situation, we’re giving them the facts of what is right now, here is what’s happening, but here’s what could happen if you would trust me. And it’s constantly reiterating that.

Because then it’s their choice. It’s their choice whether they get the opportunity or they miss out because they’re too scared.

The next thing is to ask the question. So many times I’ve [00:20:00] been in a conversation with a client and I’ve had conversations with OBMs telling me about their conversations with clients, and we’re trying to work out what the hesitation is. Why is this person doing this? Or why won’t they just say yes? And sometimes we forget to just ask, How do you feel about this?

Hey, tell me your thought process here. What are you worried about? Are you worried about giving me more access? Are you worried about sharing your password with me? Because do you know that you can use LastPass? And then you can revoke the access the second that you’re ready. Whatever it might be, our default is to brainstorm and assume and troubleshoot before there’s an issue, when sometimes all that’s needed is to have a genuine conversation and go, Hey, [00:21:00] this is restricting me from doing my best work. This is making my job harder and I don’t want that for me or you. I want you to get the best ROI. So can you let me know what I can do to help you here? What is it that you’re worried about? And have the conversation. You’ll be surprised at what comes out of it.

Next thing is to explain the consequences. What I found really effective is when something’s happening over and over again, and I feel unheard, is to repeat the facts. Hey, I’ve done this and it’s taken me three times as long because you won’t give me the script that you use. Hey, I’ve done this. It’s taken me 40 times as long because I’ve had to check every single team member’s work, even though Asana shows it all.

It’s [00:22:00] explaining the consequences of something. Hey, yes, I can manually go and check that every email has been entered, or we can trust that the automation did its job. And I can just check a few, and then that way we know we’ve got an error, or not. And then explaining what the follow on consequence is.

Okay, I’m going to have more time. If I had more time, then I could actually be creating more email content to nurture those people. But I can’t do it if I’m spending all my time just checking that the emails went in. And then that’s not actually getting us anywhere. So it’s explaining. So sticking to the facts of this is the reality.

And here’s the possibility. This is what could be going on if you were happy to work with me a little bit more. Take my hand. Do you trust me? And sometimes that’s all they need. They need to know someone is with them and that you’re [00:23:00] a person and that you are trustworthy.

The second last thing I want to talk to you about is about keeping your eyes open. As people, there’s only so much we can deal with. Let’s be honest, and sometimes other people’s brokenness is just that, it’s their brokenness, not yours. And what your job is, is to evaluate how much you’re willing to push.

How long are you willing to stand on the magic carpet with your hand out and say, do you trust me? Do you trust me?

And the last thing is to evaluate how you feel along the way. Because if you can look at the feelings you have inside, feel like I’m being micromanaged. I feel like [00:24:00] the work I do isn’t good enough. I feel like the bar is too high and I’m set up to fail. What are all the things you’re thinking and feeling that are coming back down to you don’t feel like someone is trusting you?

Believe it or not, some of these things are just stories. My work isn’t good enough and that’s why this person has to check everything I do. When the reality might be, your work is amazing and they’re blown away and they’re so grateful that every time they check your work it’s perfect, they’re checking it because the last person that they worked with got everything wrong and they trusted first and they got really badly burnt.

Again. Not your problem, and it’s your choice how far you walk next to this person on this journey. But none of it was because your work wasn’t good either. We really need to be [00:25:00] evaluating what our thought process is and the assumptions that we’re making based on what we’re seeing and then explaining that.

And these are the big hard conversations and they’re uncomfortable, let’s be honest. It’s not fun. It’s not all smiles and rainbows, but if you can get through that little bit, the relationship you end up with is amazing. And then you have this mutually beneficial, enjoyable, working relationship where all of these trust things are diminished to the point where your clients are willing to risk more because the advice has come from you.

I trust her. So if she’s saying, Hey, maybe we should do this. There’s probably merit to it. And even if it goes badly, she’ll help me fix it. And that’s okay. So I hope that that has given you a lot of insight [00:26:00] and a lot of tactics you can use into building trust with clients and giving you a little bit of the confidence that you need to make the choices on who you work with and how far you support people in this journey.

I’d love to know what you think. Please leave me a comment. If you enjoyed this episode, leave me a five star review. And if you have questions, at Leanne Woff, DM me on Instagram. I want to talk to you. I want to hear your voice. This doesn’t have to be a one way conversation. I’ll see you next week.

​ [00:27:00] 

E31 Why I stopped offering strategy sessions as an OBM

Leanne Woff: ​  Hey, hey, hey, everybody. Welcome to today’s episode of the Audacious OBM. I’m [00:01:00] your host, Leanne Woff, and today I want to talk to you about why I stopped offering strategy sessions as an OBM. Now you might think, hmm, this is a little bit curious, Leanne. How do you run other people’s businesses without a strategy?

I am not saying I operate without a strategy. I’m saying if you’re asking the question, do OBMs need to offer strategy sessions, the answer is no. OBMs don’t need to offer strategy sessions.

And I will explain why. What happens in a strategy session is it’s a chance to workshop with the client. It is a chance to sit down, talk about their big goals or their goals for a project and get the ins and outs of how to achieve those goals, [00:02:00] understand the roadblocks and the hurdles to then be able to come up with a high level strategy to reach the goal and then to be able to then take that strategy and break it down into an actionable plan. In a strategy session, you spend lots of time with the clients trying to get all the information that you need, the full understanding and that includes the understanding of what’s on the playing field.

So what are the different things that we need to consider to pull into this? And, it also, there’s a greater amount of time that gets invested into understanding what the end goal is, and if what the client thinks is the goal is actually the goal. Because sometimes our clients come to us and they say, Hey, I really want to launch this new program.

That’s the goal. So then you talk to them. And then what you find out [00:03:00] is that they don’t really want to launch a new program. They want to have an evergreen funnel, or they want to increase their revenue. And that changes how we’re going to get there. It’s like launching a new program might contribute to that goal, but the goal is actually how do we make more money.

And then the strategy would need to change. So you can see there’s a lot of time and effort that goes into here and there’s a really tight knit relationship that forms.

I stopped offering strategy sessions because I hated having to spend all of this time and getting really invested in this strategy and then having to hand it over and not be part of the execution. I find that if I do that, [00:04:00] my clients are happy, they’ve got this awesome strategy, they go away. And then they try to implement it and they can’t because they’re not ready for the variables of what might happen next.

The other thing that they might do is take the strategy and get someone else to implement it. And then that service provider has to take the interpretation and try and implement it. And they might not have the skills to do that. I hated doing all the upfront investment and then not actually getting to see the thing come to life.

And this, usually when I would do a strategy session, I would do the session and I would do a plan that went with it. Because there is a difference between a strategy and a plan. A strategy is where you take all of the information available [00:05:00] to you. You take your usual process or the way that you would normally approach something.

And you mix them together to come up with a unique strategy to achieve what your client is trying to achieve. So it’s taking all of your knowledge and all of the things you know about the client and how to get there and coming up with something really unique. We’re going to do this. Here’s the big way we’re going to do it.

What we’re trying to achieve. And because you’re in this space, these are the things we’re going to use to do that. These are the tactics we’re going to try. This is the market we’re going to approach. All different things. So all of the information you know, and going, okay, I know available to me to achieve this type of objective, I can do it these seven ways.

For this client, we’re going to do it, number [00:06:00] three. Because that’s what makes sense for where they are and the different things they’re battling with. That’s a strategy. The plan is where you take that strategy and you break it down into actionable, implementable steps. Right? So, OBMs 100 percent need to be able to strategize.

OBMs need to develop strategies. But they do not need to just offer strategy sessions. They don’t need to say, Hey, come to me. I’ll do this strategy session with you. I’ll charge you $2,000 and then you can go and roll it out. You can. And if you like doing this, like hats off to you, go for your life. I did them for a long time.

It’s a great model, [00:07:00] but I found that the level of investment I would put in in brainpower and in creativity, brainstorming, in looking at my different options, in then reporting it or pulling it together, presenting it, then doing the plan for it, the emotional costs because I would get invested, like I’m excited.

All of that adds up and so the investment for me wasn’t worth how much I could charge for that kind of session or how much I felt I could charge. I could put a price of whatever I wanted, but the reality of that being something that is a consistent business model, doesn’t really make sense.

And part of the reason is because I know how invested I get with my clients and I know I want to see the impact. I don’t ever want to do something [00:08:00] for nothing. I want to see the thing play out and I want to see my clients get the results. And so there was always this kind of tension for me internally.

If I just do that front bit. I don’t actually get to be involved anymore and I’m such a people person and I’m so big on connection that it’s hey, I want to be in your corner for the whole time. So that’s when I flipped and I started offering strategy sessions, but only for ongoing clients or set project clients.

So it’s like, come and work with me for 90 days and I’ll do a strategy with you. That’s the first step. But I’m not going to just put in all of that work up front to give you the plan for you to take it away and then for you to either roll with it and it goes amazing or for you to try and implement it [00:09:00] but go, this is a bit hard for me, this is not what I do every day and then not get the result for you to take the strategy and give it to another service provider, a VA, another OBM who isn’t the one that created it, who then tries to implement it and can’t.

And then that is a reflection on my reputation. I don’t want the responsibility of developing this thing. And then someone actually doesn’t get the result from it because I wasn’t involved in it, or they didn’t have the understanding and there’s a disconnect. I don’t like it. It makes me feel icky.

So I thought if I have this ongoing tension, I can either, one, resolve the friction within myself and let go of all my emotional attachment. I tend to be very money and very black and white. Or, [00:10:00] I can change the way I do it. And that’s what I chose to do. I made the decision that feels good for me in the way I operate my business.

And that is okay. Plus, the final reason I stopped offering isolated strategy sessions was for the curiosity factor? I am a curious creature. I love to learn and I want to see how these things play out. And I want to be able to be in the middle and make adjustments, if needed, to be able to make sure our strategy is successful.

I’m excited about this. So that’s why I stopped offering strategy sessions as an OBM. I used to do it as a once off thing. I don’t really do that anymore. Sometimes I might do it in very special circumstances, or if [00:11:00] it is someone that I work really closely with and, for one of my business besties, I’ll do things like that, but not as a business model anymore.

And what I want you to walk away with is the understanding that it is okay. Number one, if you don’t want to offer strategy sessions, even though everybody else tells you to. Number two, it’s okay if you do want to do that, it’s totally fine. And number three, it’s okay to make decisions in your business that aren’t just about money. It’s okay to make decisions that change the way you feel about your business, or keep you feeling excited and happy. And what you’re doing is having an impact. That’s a good thing. So I really hope that that gives you some food for thought. Gives you a little bit [00:12:00] of insight into my brain and the way that I see things and approach things.

If you’re listening to this episode and you’re thinking, yeah, Leanne, this is great. Thanks for sharing. Please leave me a five star review. That’s how other OBMs find out about this podcast. It’s how I know what I’m talking about is making an impact and what to talk about more, or send me a DM. Find me on Instagram at leannewoff and say, Hey, I listened to this episode.

I wanted to drop in and say, hi. I love connecting with my listeners. I love knowing what’s going on in your world. So please, DM me. Talk to you next week. Bye!​ [00:13:00] 

E30 Top tech tools every OBM should know

Leanne Woff: ​ [00:00:00] Hello, hello, hello, everybody. Welcome to another episode of The Audacious [00:01:00] OBM. I’m your host, Leanne Woff, and your favorite OBM podcaster. Yes, I have decided that. Okay, so today in our 30th episode, we are going to be talking about tools and tech. So for those of you that don’t know, I love technology. I love playing with new tech, old tech.

I love expanding on what tech can do. I love going down my little tech rabbit hole. I love integrating tech. I’m a bit of a tech ninja. In saying that, I am not a coder. So if I can learn the tech, so can you. In this episode, we’re going to talk about the top tech tools every OBM should know. A question I get asked a lot is what are the technology gaps that I have and how do I fill them?

What technology do I need [00:02:00] to know, understand, be able to use to be able to be an OBM? My answer is there’s no tool that rules them all. I repeat. There is no one tool that rules them all. I could scream this at the top of my lungs a hundred times over and people still wouldn’t understand. So often we are confronted with different tools that claim to be able to do everything.

You’ll only need one tool. Never go beyond this one tool. It is a lie. A fabulous marketing lie. And we could look at each tool individually and try and understand just one tool. Or, [00:03:00] we have another option. We could look at tool categories. This is my preference. When talking about what tools do we need in an online business and what tools do I need to know and be able to use as an OBM, I prefer to look at categories rather than specific tools.

The reason behind this is because of the foundation of how tools are created. So in my limited understanding, I’ve never built a tool before. I’ve just used many of them. Tools are usually ideated with one core function in mind. So somebody sits down and thinks, I’m going to create an incredible email marketing tool.

And so they get their team together. They brainstorm. They envision this email marketing tool that is amazing and all the things it can do. And then [00:04:00] they start to build it. They map it all out. They create it. They release it. And it’s all done really well. Then, they decide they want to expand. Maybe if I’ve got an email marketing tool, I can add on a CRM.

How hard could that be? Or a social media scheduler. I already have a tool that I can upload images and text into. I already have a tool that can connect with some other platforms. Wonder what more I could get out of this. So then they look at these options and they add bits on and add bits on.

Which can turn out well, especially if you put in a heck of a lot of money into it. But the foundation was never to have these bits. The core foundation it was built on is for that primary function. And so what they’ve done is [00:05:00] instead of just having an incredible email marketing tool, they’ve now got an okay email marketing and social scheduling tool, because that’s not where they were ever going with the idea.

It’s something they added on. And until they rectify that foundation, all of that coding and building that was done at the start to be able to hold the new infrastructure they’ve added on. It’s going to get a little bit clunky. So for this reason when a tool comes out and says, I can do it all, I don’t believe them.

And I think that they can do things to a degree, but it’s never going to be, I can do everything. And. Within that tool, there will be functions of it that do that thing better than anything else. That [00:06:00] tool that was meant to be an email marketing only tool is probably incredible for email marketing, but not the other stuff.

I think that tools should brag about the things that they do amazingly. The other things are okay. And based on this we need to be careful what tools we learn, because no one tool is ever enough. Rant over. Now, once you’ve got the history behind why I believe what I believe, you’re still stuck with the question, what are the tools I need to understand to succeed as an OBM?

I’m going to tell you. And yes, I’m going to do it in categories. I believe that there are lots of different tools out there, but as long as you can nail the type of tool, as long as you have the right mixture of the different types of tools, you’ll be fine. [00:07:00] The first things that I want to look at are your core tools.

The core tools that, generally speaking, online businesses need. Pretty much all of them. The first is a project management tool. If you’re going to be an OBM, managing tasks and managing a business needs to be done in a cloud platform, not on your notepad on your desk. Your notepad on your desk might greatly greatly contribute to your thinking process.

You might find it like a nice safety net, but it is not how you manage an online business. That is done with a project management tool. And my favorite of these is Asana. I love Asana. I love lists. I love the things that Asana has expanded into doing. Now note, Asana is still a project management tool. It hasn’t expanded out into being a course platform or anything like that.

It’s just developed its project [00:08:00] management ability to have more features that suit project management. And I’m very much loyal to Asana, sometimes for the sake of being loyal, but I also really like it. It’s easy, I know how to use it, it makes me happy. It’s not the only project management tool, and we have internal wars in my office, about whose favorite is. So there is Asana, there’s Monday, there’s ClickUp, there’s Trello, there’s a big list of tools you can get.

And my general rule is, if you know one of them, then you can work the rest out. At a base level, like I was saying, the tools are there for a core function. If you can understand the core function, then the next step is just learning where all the buttons are in that platform. But if the core function is the same, then knowledge is transferable.

So if you are going to be in OBM, you need to have a project [00:09:00] management tool where you are going to store all of the tasks, projects, jobs, and details that you will work on with your client. The second kind is a communications tool. There are lots of different ways we can communicate, and that can be, on the phone, it can be in Facebook Messenger, it can be in person.

But when we’re sitting in an online business setting, we don’t want to slide into our just personal messages and the way that we act. And interact as people. We want to have some business boundaries here, and we want to use tools that it will work and be professional in a business setting. So using things like Slack or whatsApp or Voxer. These tend to be easier to use in a business setting rather than using, Facebook Messenger, which can be a little bit more difficult and has more of a mix of personal versus [00:10:00] business going on.

The third is an online calendar. Now, the reason you need this is because if you’re going to work closely with an online business owner, you need to be able to see what their schedule is like, especially if you’re going to help with that schedule or if you’re going to be needing things from your clients because there is no point asking someone for things when you can see in their calendar that they’re in back to back meetings for three days straight.

That insight is invaluable and you need it. To be able to get that insight without sitting next to that person, you need to have an online calendar that you can see, so one that is shareable. So things like Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, ones that are shareable. An email marketing tool or a CRM.

I say or because a lot of them do both of [00:11:00] these things now, but you do need to understand an email marketing type tool, how it works, the basics of automation between emails. That is something that I think you will struggle with if you don’t have. My favourite marketing automation tool is ActiveCampaign.

I love it. I have for a long time. It has really great capability. I use it for email marketing, for connecting marketing platforms, for the sales pipeline and deal CRM, for the general CRM where you can keep notes and interact with all of your contacts. It does automation amazingly, but that is one of the more complex tools.

It’s one of the more robust in terms of this type of tool. If you’re looking for somewhere to start, have a look at MailerLite. That would be my next suggestion or Flowdesk.[00:12:00] You might find those an easier way to get your head around what’s out there.

The next one is an integration tool. If you’re looking at improving efficiency, having an understanding of connecting tools is important. And even if this is not a service that you end up offering clients, simply knowing Yeah, I can connect ActiveCampaign to your website, and I can use a tool called Zapier to do it.

And Zapier costs this much, and here’s roughly how it works. It’s quite easy. Getting your head around the different options out there so that you can then expand your mind into, we can create these efficiencies in your business. The tool might cost you $30 a month, but we’re going to save you 10 hours a week from someone manually typing all that info in over here.

Is it worth it? So it opens your options. So that’s why I think you need to know an [00:13:00] integration tool. And then the last of my core tools is Canva. And the reason I say Canva is because I’ve not really found another online design tool that is as easy to use as Canva. Adobe is a big one, but even even the easy Adobe tools are not easy, not the way Canva is. So that would always be my starting point and if you’re not a designer, do not offer design. So I very much am not a designer, but I can use templates. And if a client has a template and they want to say, okay, make all the module headers for the new course round that’s coming up. And all I have to do is go in there and change the data.

No worries at all. Ask me to design a template and that’s a hard no. But I can edit things like that. [00:14:00] So you want to know how to do bits like that. Because especially if it’s just you and your client, we need as much kind of understanding of the process as possible. Canva is a great design tool that you can use and it’s easy to export all the bits from it.

It does graphic design and it has like some video editing capability. Not massively. But, enough to get you by.

Okay, so for the rest of this episode, I’m actually going to split into two different areas. Dependent on whether you work with service based businesses or whether you work with more content and course creators, the kinds of tools you’ll need to know as an OBM change. Just because of the things that happen within those types of businesses, from what I’ve seen.

So I’m going to give you a few from each category so that you can easily go, oh yeah, I know these ones and I need to work on [00:15:00] this. So I’ll start with service based businesses and I’ve worked with primarily professional service based businesses. So lawyers, health professionals, accountants.

Those types of businesses when it’s been service based. The first thing that I would say that if you’re going to work with service based businesses, you’ll need to learn an online booking calendar tool. So somewhere where your clients can book in appointments, meetings, calls with your client without someone having to manually do it.

And tools that do that are Calendly, Acuity. There’s so many but if you’re just looking to get your head around one, Calendly and Acuity is where I would start. Calendly has less functionality than Acuity does, but both of them are very good tools. You’ll also need to know a [00:16:00] document suite and fairly well, enough to not be guessing about majority of the functions.

So if you’re looking at Microsoft Office or you’re looking at Google Suite, either is fine. Just know what the different tools within those suites are and have a really solid understanding of how to use document processing tools and spreadsheets. Because at the end of the day, that is the basis of information.

And if you don’t have some kind of default for where you can store information, how to store it, how to present it in a way that is professional and easy to read through. You’re going to struggle and your clients will struggle. So playing with some of those tools is only beneficial. You’ll also need to know some kind of online form tool.

So talking about job form or type form or gravity form if you’re a bit techy with [00:17:00] WordPress. Because when we have clients of all different kinds and people of all different kinds, usually we need to get information off them and the best way to get information in an online space is in an online form.

We want to remove all of the writing down on paper forms as much as possible. To do that, we need to have solid online forms that will connect into the different systems we need them to connect it to.

And then the last one that I would recommend for if you’ve got primarily service based clients is to have some kind of client support or portal software. Now, software like this, they are a little bit of the all in one kind of tool, but more so for the client management aspect. So we’re looking at SuiteDash, we’re looking at Dubsado.

These are the kind of tools you might think of. 17 Hats, I think is another one.[00:18:00] There’s lots, again, there’s lots out there. These tend to be a bigger learning curve than any of the other tools I’ve mentioned, because they do manage a whole journey. And it’s things like, once a lead comes in, a lead will fill in this form, then it gets put into this pipeline.

Then they’re going to go to this page to book a call, then I’m going to have the call and this email is going to go out automatically. Then the contract will get sent, they’ll be able to sign that contract online. The invoice will automatically get created. Then once it’s paid, they become a client. Then there is a land within this tool where that client can log on and get the information that you have for them in that one spot, ready to go, and so on and so forth.

It keeps going. But the ability for these tools to do two way communication with other tools, I find quite limited. So it is very looking at things through a singular pipeline or flow, but it can be really useful, especially if If your clients have to [00:19:00] do proposals and things like that, or keep, copious notes on clients or have things easily accessible, lots of information, tools like that can be good.

Okay, so that’s our service based business tools. Now let’s move to our course creator business tools. If you’re working with clients who have memberships, who create online learning products who generally they’re speakers too. These are the kinds of tools you want to be looking at. The first one is an online course platform.

Obviously, if we are online course creators, we need somewhere where our students can come, sign up and access our content. This is an online course platform. And you’ll find tools out there like Kajabi, Teachable, Thinkific. Again, there are lots of different ones. And so as an OBM, if you’re going [00:20:00] to work with course creators or content creators, you want to have a solid understanding of how one of these types of tools work.

Because again, the information can be translated, but if you’ve got no idea from the start, you are going to struggle. So it is really paramount if you’re going to work with that type of person to support them with their members and with their students and to be able to update the content on there and swap things in or out, you need to have a play with these tools.

The next one is a webinar tool. So webinars are a really popular way for content creators to get their content out there. A lot of people use them and sometimes they don’t use them just for webinars, they can use them for other types of things too. But I have always found that having knowledge of webinar tools.

And so I think that it is something that you should learn, [00:21:00] especially because the knowledge for that will translate to different kinds of tools as well. So if you’ve got a webinar happening, you might know this tool, but then if your client is going to do a challenge or your client is going to do something similar, the knowledge that you’ve learned from using that tool will transfer across.

So I do think that you should have a play with a webinar type tool, so something like Webinar Ninja or Webinar Jam, and get your head around what webinar tools do and how they do it. They’re not hard, and usually they have little wizards that kind of step you through, so you create a dummy webinar, and then you create the follow up emails from it, and you create the sign up page, and all of those things.

And it just, yeah, it’s pretty easy learning process, but valuable. And then you also want to have a look at landing page builders. So I am definitely not [00:22:00] a developer of any kind, but knowing how to put together a landing page so that I can get someone’s email address, I think is a crucial aspect of being at OBM.

You need to at least understand what that is and what it looks like, even if you’re not the one that’s going to do it ongoing. This is going to help you coordinate team members far better than if you had no clue. It also gives you insight into the process of what happens when somebody does release a new thing.

We need a page where people can put their name and put their email and how much content goes on that page. And then once they put their name in the email, they hit the button. Then what? How do I create that thank you page? And then what do I do once I’ve got that email? How do they get to the email tool?

It gives you first hand experience in what that flow looks like, feels like, and that will support your ongoing management with other people. So landing page builders, [00:23:00] I think, too are worth having a look at and just build simple pages. So you can look at lead pages. That’s a tool that a lot of people use.

But there are landing page builders within lots of other tools as well. So for example, if you’re using Kajabi, it has its own landing page builder. You don’t need to get another tool. And it brings me to my final tool, which is a website builder. Know how to use one drag and drop website builder. And this is not something that you will learn overnight.

It might be something that you add to your knowledge as you go. But having an understanding of how websites work, generally, is really beneficial because it helps you understand every other tool that’s ever been created. At least that’s my experience. If you’re a WordPress person, learn how to use Divi.

If you’re on Kajabi, learn how to use the website [00:24:00] building part of Kajabi. If you have clients on Squarespace, have a poke around on Squarespace. Learn how to navigate these sites and what the main components are so that when you need to add something to it, and not necessarily you, but if you need to tell someone else how to, you know what you’re talking about.

You have a concept already. And that’s it. Those are the top tech tools I truly believe every OBM should know and will help you be a better OBM, even if you are not the one who’s consistently using that tool. It is the concepts behind how the tools work and how they were built that will give you knowledge that translates across everywhere and will be a massive benefit to your client.

If you have questions If you want more types of tools, if you have a question about certain tools, [00:25:00] please leave me a comment. I am so happy to help and I actually have a whole module on different tools and skills that you need as an OBM in OBM Academy that goes into much more depth. So if you’re interested in upping your OBM game, Google OBM Academy.

Thanks everybody. Bye!

 ​ [00:26:00]