The 4 Systems You Need to Keep Your Online Agency Running Efficiently
As an online agency owner, creating processes and selecting systems and tech that can scale and grow with you is imperative. What currently works for you now as a solopreneur or new agency owner, may not work as well when you have a team of 3, 5, or 10.
In this month’s blog, we’re going to talk about the systems you need within your online agency, and how those systems might need to adapt as your agency grows. I’ll also share what platforms I love and use within my own agency, The Launch Guild.
Now, let me give a couple of caveats before we dive in.
Don’t start from scratch if you don’t have to! Your tech stack may be fine as it is, BUT you may need to look at it in a different way. Be ready to adjust the way you use the tools so they can scale with you.
Take what you want and leave the rest. There are DOZENS of great platforms available for online business owners. You do not have to use the ones I suggest (but they are my favorite for a reason). Find the platform that fits your team’s needs best.
Your agency’s tech stack does not need to be complicated. Start by asking yourself, “what problem do I need this platform to solve” and go from there. Save the bells and whistles for later.
Please note, many of the links used in this post are affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links and make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no additional cost to you. These commissions help to support the creation of the free content I produce — like my blog and podcast! My promise to you is that I only recommend that which I use and love and I am super grateful for your support!
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System #1 - Contracts & Onboarding
When you’re the main implementer in your business, the onboarding process can be fairly simple. You have the client sign the support agreement, send them their first invoice, then schedule an onboarding call where you get access to their platforms and discuss next steps. Easy peasy.
But, as an agency owner who is no longer the main implementer, nor the point person for clients, there are a few more steps you should consider. A majority of the onboarding process will now include shifting responsibility over to your team members, so they can step in and support the client moving forward.
Some of those additional tasks might be:
Sending an email to the client introducing them to the team members who will be supporting them.
Sending a welcome packet that explains company policies and what it’s like to work with your team members.
Asking the client to complete a questionnaire so your team members can arrive to the kick off call prepared.
BUT WAIT! You’re no longer just onboarding clients. You now need to create processes and have systems that support onboarding team members as well.
SYSTEM RECOMMENDATIONS
The CRM system we use does all of the above and more. Dubsado is the tool we use to manage and organize most of the onboarding processes for clients, team members, AND my coaching clients, including:
Sending proposals
Managing contracts
Sending invoices
Creating client questionnaires for onboarding & offboarding
Customizing and sending templated emails
While we don’t use all of the features Dubsado offers, this all-in-one platform gives us the tools we need for a cohesive, automated, and beautiful onboarding experience.
🎧Related Podcast Episode: How She Improved Her Client Experience in 3 Simple Steps
As we start growing and building our agencies and moving away from working on client deliverables, the client experience piece becomes even more important, and you want to make sure that it's consistent throughout your entire team. When we talk about client experience, we are talking about elevating in a way that your client feels supported throughout the entire experience, valued, and understood as an individual. We are talking about going above and beyond, and exceeding all expectations!
System #2: Client Organization
Gone are the days of tossing client spreadsheets and documents into a folder on your computer or in your own personal Dropbox folder!
Now that you’re an online agency owner, having a central place that all team members can easily access to store client deliverables and information is necessary.
Pro-tip: Create a naming convention guide for team members to use when labeling folders and documents. This is absolutely essential in keeping things organized and easy to locate in the search bar.
SYSTEM RECOMMENDATIONS
Google Workspace is the best system I have found to keep my team and clients organized.
We use Google Drive to store our clients’ deliverables and other information.
Google Calendar holds a variety of calendars our team members use to organize client and team events.
I create a different user for every team member inside Google Workspace, so each team member has an email under our agency’s domain.
And if a team member leaves, it’s super easy to transfer any client information they own to a different user, so nothing gets deleted!
Another important element of client organization is password access! You need a safe and secure way for your team to log into clients’ accounts. A PDF is not the answer. (Yes, this is how I collected my clients’ information once upon a time, and I can tell you from experience - don’t do it!)
SYSTEM RECOMMENDATIONS
LastPass is our preferred system for password sharing within our agency. This system is easy to organize, and simple to share with the rest of our team (giving them access while still keeping the clients’ passwords hidden).
🎧Related Podcast Episode: How To Stay Connected to Your Team & Clients as the CEO of Your Agency
Something that I see a lot of from the women inside my coaching programs is the fear around being disconnected from your team and your clients as the CEO of your agency. Once you start working more behind the scenes and stop being client-facing, the fear is that things will fall through the cracks and that your clients won't get the same client experience as they would working directly with you. This does not have to be the case!
System #3: Project Management
You need to have a system for assigning tasks to your team members. There are a handful of different project management tools, so it’s completely a matter of preference. Look for systems that can grow with you as you add team members, can be used to break down the small steps in SOPs, and allow you to have templates so you’re not constantly reinventing the wheel.
You might notice that you, as the CEO, don’t use the project management system as much since you’ve begun stepping away from implementation, which is completely ok! With that in mind, don’t just pick a system YOU like. Your project management platform should be something your team can be comfortable with.
SYSTEM RECOMMENDATIONS
Asana is the project management system we love and use at The Launch Guild. Over the last several years, we’ve built our asana to be exactly the tool we need it to be. So while there are other PM tools with bells and whistles that seem appealing, we love the simplicity of Asana and have no plans of moving, ever.
💻FREE RESOURCE: The Agency Owner's Guide to Impactful Meetings
This guide will walk you through 10 of the most impactful types of team meetings, why you need them, and how to structure them to get in, get out, get to the points, and of course, get results!
System #4: Communication Hub
In your online agency, you should have several different avenues for communication. I like to categorize them into three different buckets.
Face to face communication
Written communication
Verbal communication
There is a time and place for each of these different levels of communication, and you want to make it clear to your team members from the beginning when to use which.
For example: If a team member needs to provide a quick update on a project, an email or a slack message is perfect. But if you need to address a client issue with one of your team members that may be sensitive in nature, a voice message via Voxer or a call on Zoom may be more appropriate.
SYSTEM RECOMMENDATIONS
Slack is the tool we use to keep communication flowing within The Launch Guild. I love that we can create different channels for different groups of people or for different topics, which keeps everything organized!
In Slack we have:
Different channels for each of our clients, where all communication and updates between team members occur.
A channel specifically for the leadership team to discuss internal projects.
Reminders in our team channel for when invoices are due and team meetings have begun.
Engaging activities and fun watercooler questions for our team to stay connected.
I hope this blog has helped open your eyes to how your tech and systems might need to change and adapt as you start and grow your agencies.
This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the platforms and tools my agency uses and loves! Want to see more? Check out my list of all my favorite resources HERE.
Liked this topic? We go into more detail on the Supportive Systems your agency needs inside my membership for online agency owners, Agency Alliance!
I created The Agency Alliance to help you build the agency of YOUR dreams in an affordable, approachable, easy-to-implement container that's popping bottles full of delicious agency-tailored support!
>> Learn more about what you can get as an Agency Alliance Member <<
Let’s Stay Connected
If you’re ready to get out of the doing in your online business, and ready to begin exploring the possibilities of an online agency model, I have lots of good resources to help you on your journey. I encourage you to check out my How She Did That podcast, and my Shop full of mini-courses and trainings!
Send me a DM on Instagram with any questions you have about agency ownership! @thetashabooth
- Tasha Booth, Agency Coach & Owner of The Launch Guild
Tasha Booth is an agency owner, podcaster, coach. She is the Founder & CEO of The Launch Guild - a full service launch support agency working with established coaches and course creators with Course & Podcast Launches. Her team works together to support their clients in being able to focus back onto their zones of genius.
She is passionate about helping women build profitable and sustainable agencies that they love, so they can fully step into the CEO role and create a life they dream of - one where naps are ALWAYS encouraged.
