We’ve jumped into the wonderful world of real estate, taken a glance at the financial services industry, helped a retail business move into ecommerce, and peered through a magnifying glass at a family business consulting company. That’s quite the roster. But... wait a sec... you haven’t met our manufacturer, yet!
A Busy Manufacturer
Without further ado, please meet our friend Blair, a manufacturer (or industrial safety products business owner). Not only does Blair manage a team of 30 employees, he’s also quite the guitar player and live music performer in his spare time (yes, entrepreneurs actually do have just a lil’ bit of spare time).
Blair came to us when he found his calendar and his travel arrangements, both for business and music, were veering wildly out of control. Last minute bookings - the only time he had to make them - meant incredibly high fees when an error was made or a change was necessary. Blair flew internationally on a weekly basis (before the pandemic temporarily grounded him) and needed hotel bookings and car rentals coordinated with his arrival and departure times. In addition to necessary travel arrangements, Blair was:
Booking his own calls and meetings
Triaging his overflowing email inbox
Attempting to update his calendar
This wasn’t exactly his forté. He was not only overwhelmed but it was also costing him money, time, and potentially his reputation. He needed Admin Slayer, and we were ready.
Refining Existing Processes
Our first goal was to get a handle on the big picture, understanding how Blair’s processes worked and what steps were needed to get him where he needed to go - on time and within budget. Once we understood the right structure to keep his manufacturing ship running smoothly, we automated as much as we could. We built out his unique requirements in Asana¹, a dependable, customizable task management system.
With Asana in place, we, and the rest of Blair’s team, understood what was happening, who was doing it, and when the next steps could take place. This meant Blair could oversee every task without having to complete all the steps himself. Meetings were booked without his intervention, with everything in the same geographical area properly coordinated. Following up on previously sent emails and reminding strategic partners of upcoming events were no longer his problem. Blair could see these tasks were being done by peeking in at Asana. This reassured him that his revenue would not be lost due a lack of follow-up, but he no longer had to manage it.
We worked to ensure easy transitions between plane, car, and hotel, and provided every piece of information he needed at his fingertips at all times. He was elated! Side note: elated clients are kind of our thing.
Blair has Extra Money
Next, we discreetly (okay, it wasn’t very discreet) made our case to Blair about investing in travel insurance to reduce the cost of cancelling and rebooking flights. So. Much. Money. Saved. When we jokingly asked Blair what he was going to do with the extra coin, without hesitation he gushed, “Guitars and speakers.” Side note: musical instruments and equipment are kind of his thing.
We continued flexing our administrative muscles by linking all travel itineraries and bookings right in Blair’s calendar events, so they were organized in one easy-to-find place. We really like to be organized (we also really like that you reap the benefits of this: having convenient, one-click access to the information you need, exactly when you need it). We continued to get things in tip-top shape by saving absolutely everything on the GDrive for future reference. Blair knew exactly where to find the information he needed, instead of attempting to backtrack through multiple emails.
Getting to Zero Inbox
Finally, it was time to address that overflowing email inbox, with thousands of unread emails and missed opportunities stressing Blair out on a daily basis. We began checking the manufacturer inbox twice a day, using an email flagging system. This system made it easy for Blair to identify exactly what needed to be replied to immediately, and what he could ignore. We also started passing many emails off to different team members to handle; this was the cherry on top of an already delicious cake for Blair! He no longer needed to sort through endless emails (including junk mail) to figure out the action required.
We went one step further and began scheduling weekly calls via Zoom to discuss future travel itineraries and the layers required for each itinerary. This really helps Blair to sort through any upcoming conflicts in his calendar and make sure he has enough free time blocked off to keep his creative juices flowing (that guitar doesn’t play itself).
We Want to Hear from You
Being overwhelmed with your calendar and travel management is, we LOVE to say it: optional. We’re going to throw out a cliché and advise you to “leave it to the pros.” Seriously. You’re great at what you do. We’re great at what we do. We can take these daunting tasks off your plate and even make a few recommendations along the way. You’ll save time, money, and even find more opportunities to focus on what you do best. What’s holding you back? Let’s talk.
¹ We are entirely software agnostic and we don’t have any affiliate income from choosing a particular program. We suggested Asana to Blair after discussing his specific needs.