Should You Use Templates In Your Business?
I’m one of those people who seem to “batch” everything! Whether I’m cooking, gardening, or here at Rock Solid, I tend to work in batches or patterns. It’s simply easier at the moment and for future tasks as well! I mean, have you ever cooked just one cookie? Nah! Let’s make a batch.
So, when I was asked how we streamline things as a team, it got me thinking back to the beginning. It was a mess as I learned to navigate and grow Rock Solid, but I quickly learned that to increase our efficiency and become consistent across the board, we needed to streamline a whole lot of things!
As we continue growing and more people are added to my internal team, I’ve heard compliments on our systems and work-styles! That always makes me happy, but nothing makes me happier than helping others find the same enjoyment and joy in work that we have here! Whether you’re working solo, as I was in the beginning, or in the stage of building a team, the tips below (and in the email series to come in the next two weeks) will help move things forward smoothly and ensure you’re ready for the incredible growth coming your way!
Templates
You’ve heard how valuable they are and how much you need them, and you’ve meant to set them up foreevvverrrr. I know, and I understand! As daunting (and kind of boring, if I’m being honest) as this sounds, the payoff for completing it is incredible.
I’m guessing you may write some form of the same email at least twice a week. Using templates, your time and energy are spent wisely, and you’re not exhausted after writing repeated emails daily. Of course some details will need to be changed, but it’s far easier to have a jumping-off point and simply adjust the details as needed than to write the same things repeatedly from scratch!
For those who are coming in hot to tell me templates are cold, bland, not representative of your brand, or not personal - I hear you. I want to challenge you to hear me out -- and then go and get some new templates! Be sure to write them yourself, or at least get a good draft if you’re not confident in your writing style so they can be edited. Those blocks of templates written for “your industry” by people who don’t know you, your brand voice, or the heart behind your business… yep, I agree. They’re cold, not representative, and bland. Throw those away, or sit down and edit them heavily! Your business and your customer base deserve better!
The other thing I personally love about having templates is two-fold. 1. As we continue to build our internal team, it helps with the onboarding process. The person stepping into a new role can immediately see our writing and communication styles. 2. They understand how I would respond to a situation and have an outline of where to begin and what outcome we’re hoping to achieve. Also, if I’m unavailable to answer questions, they can jump right in in a timely manner and get started.
So, how do you write your own? Let’s make this easy - think of the last time you addressed this same issue. Go back and find that email, copy and paste it into a document, and begin editing. If you’re like me, you’ll ask someone on your team for a second set of eyes once you’re finished to ensure any blindspots are not missed and all the details are included! We save our templates either in GMail or 17hats.
Beyond email, templates are highly useful for proposals, contracts, and invoices. An area you might not be considering is graphics! Be sure to have a few templates for your social media posts, newsletter formats, and interview notes. The more you can get templated, the smoother your workday will go!
