3 Outsourcing Systems + Tech Fails

(and what to do about it)

I have a tech VIP day scheduled to set up my tech…

I hired a VA to help me build my systems…

I’m working with an Ops Agency to build my systems + tech for me…

I know so many business owners who want to outsource building their systems and tech.

And I get it. I know exactly how logical and attractive it is to outsource your systems and tech when:

1️⃣ It’s not your area of interest
2️⃣ When you don’t really know HOW to do it
3️⃣ When you just don’t have the time between serving clients and growing your business to do it!

Because for a long time, I WAS the person business owners were outsourcing their systems and tech to.

I’ve seen both sides of this scenario and I agree that it can 100% work in the right scenarios… BUT in the wrong scenarios…it can be a disaster.

Like when…

😱😱 The systems or tech that you outsource doesn’t work

😱😱 You don’t pick the right person to outsource to.

😱😱 The person you outsource to doesn’t understand what you need.

I’ve seen clients who have experienced all of these challenges in real life and I’ll show exactly how we handled it so if you find yourself in any of these situations, YOU CAN HANDLE IT.

Client #1- The outsourced tech DID NOT work

What if the tech you outsource doesn’t work? This is exactly where one of my client’s found themselves when their coaching business was taking off, but between 1:1 clients, a group program, planning a launch and working on collabs, things felt a little shaky and disorganized.

So they hired a tech VA to set up their sales and client systems a month later, they had Dubsado automations set up…But it DIDN’T work for them.

They didn’t know how to update the proposal or contracts, couldn’t use the automations with their new group programs and the CRM didn’t give them the info they wanted to organize their leads.

They didn’t use it and went back tracking their leads in their inbox and doing it all by hand.

That went on for a few months before we connected and they told me they were investing the most they’d spent on their team to date and the business in the exact same spot.

Talking it through with them it was easy to spot the problem: They hired and picked the software before they knew their sales or clients processes and were trying to FORCE the tech to work the way they wanted.

Working together we had to go back to the basics.

We mapped out the process and experience they wanted from sales, client onboarding, client onboarding and all the management and delivery steps in between. From there, we were able to pick the tech that would actually support the process and experience they wanted to have.

That ultimately meant moving away from Dubsado and hiring a different tech VA who knew Hubspot and Airtable.

Fast forward to a year later and this client is still using pretty much the same process and tools we picked together and has almost doubled their revenue to $300k.

**To guarantee that the systems + tech you outsource will work – YOU have to know the results you want your systems + tech to produce so you can review and test your new systems against them.

Client #2 - Picked the wrong person to outsource to

After being in business for almost 5 years this client seemed to have it all. Their agency was thriving, they had their core team locked in and when everyone was “on” the business flowed.

They recently created a new service offering and were seeing a flurry of new customers and they knew they were going to bring in a few more team members to keep up with demand.
It was a great problem to have and it was a no-brainer to hire an OBM to create the systems and SOPs for them.

They hired what seemed like a good fit and their new OBM came on board and jumped into drafting SOPs and building up their SOP library.

It felt great to have the SOPs done and dusted, but when they brought on a new account manager it became clear that the SOPs were not what they needed and were confusing and difficult to follow.

When their new account manager executed the SOP for payment management, it instructed them to create and enter invoices in 3 different places before sending them off to the client without a review, approval or follow up cycle.

After a series of missing client payments, they asked their OBM why the follow up wasn’t included in the SOP and they realized that their OBM was drafting their SOPs based on exactly how they were doing things without looking at what might be missing or efficient in the process.

The client hired someone who could do everything they needed on paper, but they weren’t clear on what they specifically needed from them. Partly because they didn’t know themselves until they didn’t get what they wanted.

Working together, we had to define the results they wanted from their systems and work backwards from there to create the process and they were able to hand off the SOP writing to an existing VA.

Now, they’re a team of 8 and STILL using the same processes we developed because they WORK.

**If you want to guarantee that you are outsourcing your systems to the right hire, don’t just focus on titles or certifications. Make sure that you’re aligned on the end deliverable and know your systems well enough to LEAD them in building them for you.

Client #3 - Outsourced to someone who didn’t understand what they needed

What if you hire someone to build your systems and processes, but they don’t really understand how you operate?

That’s exactly what happened to a past client who hired another Ops Agency to build their systems and tech. This client’s business was growing fast. They’d successfully launched a group program and the demand was so high they were filling 2 additional cohorts and they needed to be sure their systems and tech could keep up.

So they hired a Ops Agency who could build the systems, the tech and handle all the stuff in between.

But as soon as they onboarded they started to feel lost in the shuffle. Their Project Strategist was quick to jump to a solution, but many of their systems plans ended up needing revision when they ran into problems during implementation.

After the 3rd round of backtracking, this client asked for a different Project Strategist, only to run into the same issue again because of the complexities between their 1:1, group programs and VIP options and creating the perfect fit systems that could manage them all needed more finesse.

They eventually pulled the plug with the agency and when we started working together the first thing we did was go back to the foundation and define each service the results and experience their systems needed to produce in EACH SERVICE LINE and build the tech and the step by step process around those results.

Now, this client is on round 6 of their group program and their only role is to show up for the coaching calls and everything else is the process that happens seamlessly for them.

**To guarantee that you outsource to someone who understands your process – YOU need to understand it well enough to communicate its requirements and parameters.

In every one of these outsourcing nightmares the issue wasn’t outsourcing or even the person they were outsourcing to. The issue was that each client went into the situation believing that outsourcing was going to solve all their system issues just like that 🫰🫰

And here’s the truth, in order to successfully outsource – meaning you’re not burning a ton of time and money on systems that don’t work, resources that aren’t a good fit, or that don’t truly understand how you operate – YOU need to understand your systems and tech first.

You need to understand them well enough to communicate your requirements, your parameters, and what your systems and tech need to be able to do.

Successful outsourcing takes leadership from YOU.

Because at the end of the day, no one knows your business better than you and outsourcing your systems and tech is NOT a substitute for your own understanding of your operation or your leadership over it.

Do you know your foundation well enough to outsource and know it will get done to your standards?

If the answer isn’t a YES!, then EFFORTLESS EXPANSION was made for you.

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