How important is your Project Manager or OBM to the growth of your business? Do they oversee as much, if not more, than you do?
In many cases they do …. As long as there is a trusting relationship in place! An essential part of the relationship building process is priorities – do you know what you should be spending time on? Do you discuss ideas, goals and top priorities with your point person?
I am asking these questions because we are starting to see a pattern in the virtual industry with entrepreneurs who are unhappy with their support person or team. Accountability, time management, and lack of skills seem to be the top three issues. So we ask ourselves how we can assist small business owners in finding the right fit for their ongoing support needs – by offering some steps to follow:
Step 1: Get Focused – Being scattered and flying around from activity to activity is not conducive to results, instead it creates chaos for you and your support team. Anyone supporting you needs to be clear on your vision and goals.
Step 2: Consistent Communication – Schedule weekly calls, communicate often via email/ phone/ Skype, bottom line: make time for your support team! The more you invest in the relationship, the more ROI you will receive.
Step 3: Be Honest – If a support person is not working out for any number of reasons (personality, skills, etc) then don’t “try” to make the relationship work – find other support. The benefit of the DemGen Team is that we have a talent vault to draw from – if we have matched you with someone, and it isn’t working – you don’t find a new support person …. We do!
Step 4: Recognize Excellence – When you do have a support person or team that is doing an excellent job – recognize them! An important part of leadership is to recognize attitudes, skills and behaviour. Motivation is a direct result of recognition – do you ever just reach out to say thank you? Do you express appreciation “just because”? Do you offer incentive, whether monetary or in the form of a gift? Let’s face it feeling appreciated goes a very long way in wanting to do more of the same.
Step 5: Consider Support an Investment, Not a Cost – Invest: To spend or devote for future advantage or benefit. By investing in support, you have the advantage of more time available, experts in their field helping you, and abundant rewards (ie increased sales, more visibility).
Step 6: Share your Future Vision – You have the best sense of where you want your business to go – share those details, no matter how small with your support team! Do you have a revenue goal? Do you have a product sales goal? Bring your Project Manager into the Big Picture thinking! Talk strategy, look at goals and plan action items from them … By confiding in your support person or team, you are getting it out of your head and into the hands of those that can make it a reality.
© Pam Christie, DemGen Inc 2013
