It’s all about evaluation ➡️ considering what’s best for all parties ➡️ not giving a f*** about what the standard is ➡️ pivoting. And we saw a major flex-worthy win from that approach in April when we adjusted our process for one of our clients. We had been struggling to get their social media editorial calendar approved in time for us to launch, so we spent 10 minutes reformatting the calendar and boom: 88% improvement in turnaround.
Read that again: 10 minutes of extra work = 88% faster turnaround.
This also meant:
- Less expense for the client
- Less time drain on the client
- Less frustration for the client
It’s honestly a no-brainer. You wouldn’t continue doing the same workout over and over if you weren’t seeing results, right? So why would you do that with your workflow?
April Flex at a glance
Scope
One of our clients was having a tough time getting us the materials we needed to plan out their social for the next month. It was their peak busy season which meant they had little time to spare. This left us scrambling, which left them crunched for time to review. As a solution, we developed a new system that not only takes into account our working style, but the client’s as well.
Flex Tip: Don’t get stuck in a systems rut. If you’re struggling to get a client to respond, consider what’s getting in the way and adjust as-needed. It’s all about the pivot!
Previous System
Pages could only be viewed individually so there was no way to get a full picture of all posts going out for the month.
Limited space in the slides meant having to keep the caption copy very small and provided no extra room for client requests.
We had to create individual files for each month making it difficult for the client to look back at previous months or plan for the next.
New System
The client can automatically mark whether something is approved or needs edits.
There’s a space for the client to request edits, which is a cleaner alternative to leaving comments.
Making use of the Google Doc tab feature allows us to keep all monthly calendars in one place.
The completely insane results after just one month
88%
Improvement in turnaround
March
Amount of time between review and approval
33 Days
April
Amount of time between review and approval
4 Days
Flex tip: Don’t prioritize aesthetic over effeciency. Yes, powerpoints are pretty and have more of a “wow” factor, but if another format makes the client’s life easier, go with it.
Conclusion: Clients are like snowflakes – treat them as such
Every client is different; they have different schedules, work loads, priorities, etc. While we don’t reccomend creating individual, customized systems for each, we do reccomend creating a single foundational system that can be used for all, but that can still be modified based on needs.
Your happy. The clients happy. Everyone wins.