5 Ways an OBM Can Help You Grow Your Online Service Business
As an online service provider, be that digital marketer, graphic designer, online consultant or coach, or anyone offering their services to clients remotely, you’ll be faced with very unique challenges. You’re likely wearing a lot of hats and doing all the things, while simultaneously trying to maintain some sort of work-life balance. Having the right online business manager by your side is going to help you to take stock of your current situation, relieve your workload, and support you in planning out your next steps for growth.
Here are just 5 ways an OBM can support you in levelling up your biz!
1. Streamlining your operations
By streamlining, I’m talking about improving your current workflows, putting efficient systems in place, and automating routine tasks where possible.
An OBM begins by analysing your current processes to identify inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and areas for improvement. They then streamline your workflows by eliminating unnecessary steps, reducing delays, and improving the movement of tasks and information around the business.Take your digital marketing for example - could it be streamlined by putting in place a clear process for approving content and amends? Could we set clear turnaround times for creation and approval? Is there a better tool we can use for collaboration when creating content?
The world of project management software, CRMs and communication tools is confusing. These applications can be customised to suit your exact needs, and save you hours, but they do come with a learning curve that can seem overwhelming at first. An OBM can recommend the right tools for you based on your very unique set of requirements, and get you set up on them so you can hit the ground running.
Automation of your regular tasks is a big one as well. How many hours of the day are you spending on tasks and processes that are repetitive and time consuming? An OBM can help automate as many of these as possible with the right tools and software. There will be a CRM out there that can be set up to automate your client onboarding, schedule your calls for you and collect info from your clients using pre-set forms. This is all going to free you up for the deeper work you need to do, but it does take some time and planning to get in place.
Streamlining your operations is ultimately going to save you time, resources and brain space. Your business will be more efficient and you’ll have the solid foundations you need for growth.
2. Strategic planning and goal setting
As I’ve said before - an OBM is a strategic partner in your business. They will seek to understand your vision, your mission and your goals. They will then help you to break these goals down into an action plan with an individual set of steps to take, over the next quarter, the next year, the next 3 years. Breaking these larger goals down into smaller, more manageable steps is going to stop overwhelm and enable real progress. An OBM will also work with you to set KPIs, so we know how we’re performing and can correct course if needed.
A good OBM is all about conducting market research as well. Too often we see clients who don’t have a clear steer on their target audiences' key motivators and needs, what their competitors are up to, or what trends are being seen in the industry. They’re too swept up with keeping things ticking over, they can’t take a step back and do this foundational work.
Similarly - are you analysing your existing data to spot trends and growth opportunities? Conducting customer surveys, gathering feedback and understanding your website analytics should be right up there in your drive for growth. An OBM can help with all of this.
3. Managing your team
An OBM can take on the management of your team for you, and set up a fantastic collaborative environment that is going to drive growth in your business. This includes establishing clear open channels for communication and having regular catch ups, both as a team and one to one, to make sure everyone feels motivated, supported, empowered and knows what’s required of them.
An OBM can help you plan which team member is needed to facilitate the next phase of your business. Say you want to launch a podcast. What resource is missing in the team at the moment? Would it be useful to hire a content writer to help craft the episodes? Or would a VA to reach out to potential guests be most useful?
With an OBM to support you, you’ll be able to identify the person for the team, have their job description written, interviews lined up and the right person hired. An OBM can also handle onboarding that team member, providing them with a clear understanding of their responsibilities in the role, and exactly how they should be performed - so you’re not having to micro-manage.
4. Putting the client experience at the heart of everything
Customer experience is the KEY to success and growth. To scale we not only need new customers, we need to retain our existing ones, and to do that we need to prioritise an amazing customer experience. An OBM can work with you to plot out the entire customer journey through your business from onboarding to project delivery, to eventual offboarding. Identifying where improvements can be made, and improving the journey through streamlined and slick processes will allow for amazing delivery of your services. A smooth experience for your customer is going to do wonders for your retention rate and reputation, generating you repeat business and attracting lots of lovely referrals.
5. Paving the way for growth
Employing an OBM in your business will set you up to take things to the next level. You’re essentially bringing on a Chief Operating Officer (COO) who can handle the day to day running of the business. This frees you up to focus on what you should be focusing on as a CEO - strategy, business development and deep client work. Owning your own business is one of the hardest things you can do. With an OBM you have a trusted right hand to support you, so you don’t have to go it alone.
It’s tough out there! If you feel like you could do with some support, book in for a free no-strings discovery call. We can chat through what you’re facing at the moment and see how I could support you.
