It’s me they want

Posted by Kirsten Gibbs
Last updated 3rd December 2021
reading time

  • It's a trap many founders of service businesses fall into.  You start off as the technician, doing everything, and at first you love it.

    Then you grow your client base, and with it a team to help you serve them.   Yet it seems, no matter how much you reassure them that your team is capable, no matter how much extra you charge them for the privilege, clients insist that you are the one that looks after them.  Or, they insist that it's a particular member of your team that looks after them.    You get overloaded, and your team lose out on the chance to grow.

    The answer is to make sure a new client or a new project starts with one of your team, not you.  Perhaps random, perhaps thoughtfully matched to each others' working styles.   That means making sure everyone knows how to make and keep your business promise as well as or better than you, from start to finish.  And that means articulating what that experience looks like.

    There's nothing wrong with being relationship-based - I'm all for connection between people -  but the deepest relationship you want to forge is one between the client and your business, where the client's experience will be consistently outstanding, no matter who delivers it.  Not identical, consistent.

    The more you enable your team to stand up and say "I am Spartacus!", the more clients you'll be able to delight, without killing yourself or your team in the process.

    It’s me they want Row 1 image
Subscribe
  • Choose one or more of the following options: