Streamline your business workflow

In today’s fast-paced business environment, it’s essential to streamline your workflow to maximize your productivity and efficiency. By creating a custom workflow that’s tailored to your unique business needs, you can save time, reduce errors, and provide a better experience for your clients.

Creating a Custom Workflow

The first step in streamlining your workflow is to create a custom workflow that’s tailored to your unique business needs. This means taking a closer look at your current workflow and identifying areas that can be improved. For example, if you’re a photographer, your workflow might include tasks like scheduling shoots, editing photos, and communicating with clients.

A standard workflow might include things like a confirmation email, reminder emails, and your next steps. All of these emails are automatically sent to your client before and/or after the session to help them stay informed about the process along the way. You can also think about steps that you need to complete in your process – like culling the gallery, uploading images to your gallery service (like Pic-Time or ShootProof). In your workflow you can create “to-dos” as reminders for completing these tasks.

Tip: I always find it easiest to write down what emails you might need to send and think about what needs included in these emails (prep guide, questionnaire, documents, etc) so you can go back and make sure these emails are created as templates in your CRM. After this, you can begin building your workflow out. 

Once you’ve identified areas that can be improved, you can start building your custom workflow. Iris Works is a great tool that can help you create and automate your workflow. It’s a comprehensive client management system that streamlines your workflow by integrating scheduling, invoicing, contracts, and more. With Iris Works, you can create custom workflows that automate your routine tasks, such as sending invoices and contracts, scheduling appointments, and communicating with clients.

Strategies for Managing Client Communication

Effective communication with your clients is essential for building strong relationships and ensuring that your clients are satisfied with your services. However, managing client communication can be time-consuming, especially if you’re juggling multiple clients at once.

Here are some strategies for managing client communication:

• Use a Client Management System: A client management system like Iris Works can help you manage client communication by organizing all of your client data in one place. With Iris Works, you can store client information, track communication, and send automated reminders to clients.
• Set clear expectations with your clients can help you avoid miscommunications and ensure that everyone is on the same page. Make sure to communicate your policies, deadlines, and any other important information to your clients upfront.
• Be responsive to your clients’ needs is essential for building trust and maintaining a positive relationship. Make sure to respond to client inquiries in a timely manner and keep them updated throughout the process.

Automating Routine Tasks

There are other things you can automate in your business to streamline your business workflow. Automating routine tasks can help you save time and reduce errors in your workflow. With Iris Works, you can automate many routine tasks, such as sending invoices, contracts, and reminders. Here are some examples of tasks that you can automate with Iris Works:

• Automatically respond to leads: Don’t miss out on a lead because you forgot to respond to their inquiry. With Iris, you can set up automatic lead responses for each session type on your lead form. Whenever a lead fills out your Iris leads page, depending on which session type they select – they will automatically get an email response from you. This is a great way to send some initial information immediately to your client such as pricing or your booking links (if they aren’t already published on your website).
• Schedule Appointments with Online Booking: With Iris Works, you can schedule appointments with clients directly from the platform. This eliminates the need for back-and-forth communication and ensures that all parties are on the same page.
• Set up a payment schedule with automatic reminders: You can create an invoice with a payment schedule so that your client can pay in installments over time. Iris will automatically send reminders before each installment so your clients can remember to make a payment toward their balance. You won’t need to remember to invoice your client and will get paid timely.

Let us know how you are streamlining your business workflow!