Episode 236: Streamline Your Wedding Business With A Systems Audit with Julie Painter Fried

Are your systems doing the heavy lifting in your business? Are they doing the most they possibly could for you and your clients or are there things missing or maybe even not working?

Systems may not sound sexy but they are. They’re the thing that provides your client with an experience that makes them feel special and provides you with more time to do the things you love outside of work. There’s nothing sexier than that!

But systems are like cars, they need maintenance and care to make sure everything is running smoothly. The way to do that with the systems in your business is by running a systems audit. It’ll show you exactly what needs to be fixed or changed and what is perfect as is.

In this episode, our guest breaks down how systems audits work, how systems are crucial to your client experience, and how your systems can bring in more sales after the wedding.

In this episode we’ll cover:

• What a system is
• What a systems audit is and how it works
• How often you need to do a systems audit
• Why systems audits matter
• Common mistakes people make with systems
• How to enhance your client experience with systems
• Selling to your clients after the wedding

Streamline Your Wedding Business With A Systems Audit with Julie Painter Fried

What is a system?

A system is any part of your business that is part of your workflow, anything you can automate, and especially anything that enhances your client experience. This encompasses everything from the way you take in leads, the way you do onboarding, the way you run your clients through your process, the way you share your deliverables after the wedding, and the way you do your offboarding.

You need systems, they are not optional. Many people think they don’t have systems but we all have processes and ways of doing things.

Julie meets many wedding pros who don’t think they have systems but they have questionnaires, forms, and onboarding documents. Those are systems, the way you run them is what makes up your Standard Operating Procedures. Unless you’re starting your business today, you have systems, you just don’t realize it.

What is a systems audit?

A systems audit is when someone like Julie goes through all of your systems and then provides suggestions, tweaks, and changes you can make to improve the process and fix anything that isn’t working quite right.

The problems Julie finds during systems audits can be as simple as a broken link but that broken link is hurting your client experience. She provides her clients with a whole spreadsheet that maps out what she sees from a client’s point of view and what needs to be changed. She shares what is and isn’t working, tweaks that can be made to improve the client experience, and any systems that they need to create that are missing.

Julie provides her systems audit clients with what their ideal workflow should look like and highlights the missing pieces so they know what to work on. They walk away knowing where and how to make these changes.

A systems audit is especially helpful if you have a VA who can implement all of the changes for you so it doesn’t take up too much of your own time.

Mistakes wedding pros make with systems

The most common mistakes are small technical things that aren’t working. For instance, if your Calendly link to schedule a consultation isn’t working, you’re not going to get any consultations but you won’t know why. Sometimes it’s as simple as fixing a link.

Another is not going through the systems from the perspective of the client. We use our systems every day and we know how they work but a new client doesn’t and may find things confusing that you thought were clear.

How systems improve client experience

We often talk about how systems can save us time, and they can, but they can also make or break a client experience. If you’re providing everything that a client needs to know in your onboarding, they feel more taken care of and you aren’t having to respond to a million questions from them.

You don’t want someone to sign a contract and make their first payment and then hear nothing from you. That’s going to give them a negative impression of your business and make them feel forgotten about. Really clear systems set expectations and build trust with your clients which is a huge component of a great client experience.

When I think about the best client experiences I’ve had, the expectations and process were made very clear. I never had to wonder about what was happening next which made me trust the person I hired. This is especially true in our industry where this process is probably new to them.

We all want to make our clients feel special and a great way to do that is through thoughtfully designing your client experience and using systems to ensure everyone gets the same great experience. Taking care of your clients with a system can be as simple as always letting them know what’s coming next and why you need things by certain times.

They may wonder why you’re asking them all these questions in questionnaires but if you explain that you’re using those answers to guide our process, they’ll be much happier to provide that information in a timely manner and feel like you’re actually paying attention to them. Your clients are having to provide this information over and over again to vendor after vendor and making sure they understand you’re asking for a good reason will make them feel taken care of as opposed to annoyed.

Why should you do a systems audit?

Sometimes you’re just too close to your business to be able to audit your systems yourself. You’re not going to notice the things that someone who is new to your system will notice. Julie recommends that you audit your systems twice a year to make sure everything is working smoothly.

You may be in love with your welcome packet that is beautifully laid out and branded and not even realize there’s an easier way to send this information to your clients. Working with Julie on a systems audit may find that your gorgeous welcome packet is actually important details like how to communicate with you and how long you’ll take to respond to clients.

Many wedding pros don’t include a communication policy in their welcome packet and it results in clients getting frustrated. You have to make it clear how clients can communicate with you and how long it will take for you to get back to them. Setting that expectation makes all the difference in the world.

There’s a reason why when you email support at an airline or software company you get an automatic response with hours and how long it will take to get back to you. No one likes to be left in the dark.

Julie can’t recommend onboarding packets enough that outline what is coming next in your process so the client always knows what’s going on. She also loves when people include a video tour of the client portal you use (like Aisle Planner) so they know exactly how to use it. Most of our clients have no idea how to use a system like this so it’s important to guide them.

Making Sales After The Wedding

Many wedding pros don’t have any sort of offboarding to tie up loose ends with the client. That’s key to getting reviews and referrals. You could really wow clients by sending them something on their first wedding anniversary or if you’re a florist, you could reach out to the groom and ask him if he’d like to send his wife flowers for their anniversary in the style of her bouquet.

Think about the impact something like that would have on your clients. They’re definitely going to post something about it on social media and they’re probably going to tell everyone about it. It’s a great way to continue the relationship, make more sales to previous clients, and get referrals from past clients.

Something that Shannon Vondy does is sell her prints to past clients and she runs a Black Friday sale each year to her past clients that brings in thousands and thousands of dollars. You’re probably not going to reach out to these past clients more than a few times per year with offers, but there are often easy ways to sell to past clients.

Julie points out that she loves her wedding photographer and she booked a mini-session after their wedding. That’s a great example of finding different ways to sell to past clients. You can set up a system to sell to past clients in your email marketing tool so you don’t even have to think about it.

Julie shared that her realtor sent a happy home anniversary email with a photo of them the day they closed on the house a year after Julie and her husband closed on their house. Julie was thrilled to receive this and realized she hadn’t left her amazing realtor a review so it prompted her to do that. This is something that can very easily be automated but provides such a high level of attention and care. She has since recommended that realtor to several friends in the area.

Systems are so powerful for saving time but they’re also amazing for providing a high-touch client experience that your clients want to share. We talk a lot about the return on investment of money in business but not enough about the return on investment of time. If you spend 10 hours one time setting up a system that saves you 10 hours a month, that’s an incredible return on investment!

What do you love to do when you’re not working? Systems allow you to do more of that.

About Julie

Dallas Girl Friday is the go-to systems support for wedding professionals looking for assistance or a workflow revamp.
As a former wedding planner who now serves as an Integrator, Systems Strategist, and Virtual Assistant, Julie takes your big dreams and helps you execute them while giving you your time back.

Julie is an enneagram-obsessed 8w7 that loves recommending tv and books and is obsessed with iced coffee, yellow legal pads, elephants, carnations, musical theater, and Taylor Swift. And, of course, systems and the client experience.

Website: www.dallasgirlfriday.com
Instagram: @dallasgirlfriday

Links & Resources:

Join us inside The Wedding Business Collective!
Aisle Planner
Episode 186: Finding Sanity Through Systems with Jen Taylor

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