The handover period includes the first steps of the delegation process once we've matched you with your dedicated assistants.
This period can last anywhere between one and six months, but we encourage our clients to view the handover as an ongoing process, since we hope you'll continue to delegate more to us as trust is built.
The handover is vital because it allows us to learn more about what kind of email and support tickets you receive, how you currently handle them, and — most importantly — for you to feel comfortable giving up control by experiencing the process in a carefully managed handover.
You will start by delegating the emails, tickets and tasks you feel comfortable letting go of, then slowly work up to higher-level items. The goal is to move from delegating to decision-making, where your manager understands your goals and priorities so well that they can make pre-approved decisions in your place.
The following breakdown is a general outline of the process we take each client through. We understand this may be the first time you've ever delegated your email or customer support, so your Manager will be trained to carefully walk you through each step of the process.
Handover Phases
The Cleanup
Objectives: Begin with a clean slate by organizing your inboxes, dealing with your backlog of messages, learn about any existing systems you regularly implement and gather context about each email/task.
- Your newly-assigned assistants will determine how best to communicate with you, including what tools to use (Slack, WhatsApp, SMS, etc), how frequently to communicate (daily, weekly, monthly) and what information you want to see (content summaries, urgent emails, general updates and questions).
- Your assistants will determine upfront if your goals are more freedom-based or revenue-based (or both) in order to inform the systems they will build.
- Your assistants will study your website, sales pages and social media as if they are a prospective customer/client of your business to gain an aerial view of your processes. The more context we have upfront about your products, services, sales process and other team members, the faster our progress will be.
- We assess your current folders, working to improve efficiency, organize active/inactive folders, suggest methods to refine the system and create new, relevant folders as needed.
- We review your filters and analyze for efficiency, then set up new filters to automate the processing of email and support tickets, including unsubscribing from unnecessary messages.
- Your assistants will process all emails and/or support tickets currently in your inbox and help desk to bring you down to ‘Inbox Zero’— whether you have 10 or 10,000 emails/tickets in your backlog — and use your backlog as a training tool to gain context. Your Manager will pay special attention to messages from the past 30 days, placing them into categories as needed and making sure you don’t miss any mission-critical emails.
- Your assistants will learn what messages you need to know about immediately and what doesn’t require your immediate attention. The priority of all messages will be determined (low, medium, high priority) and appropriate labels applied.
- We learn about your current calendar scheduling system. If required, take over the communication process for all your calendar bookings (team calls, sales calls, customer calls, interviews, etc) so you don’t have to deal with the back-and-forth of confirming meetings.
After these steps are complete your inbox will be clean and optimized. During the next phase, we learn how to respond to your messages and begin creating draft replies for you to approve and send.
Replying To Messages
Objective: Develop a system for you to monitor/critique your assistants responses; your assistants will learn how to master the day-to-day maintenance of all incoming emails/support tickets and respond to as many as possible.
- Your assistants will review your Sent folder and look for patterns in the messages you receive. This will help them create a library of templates to dynamically reply to common emails and support tickets that match your writing style and tone (formal vs. informal, lengthy vs. concise). These will include everything from customer retention, new sales, product returns/refunds, scheduling, general inquiries and all FAQs. Templates are never sent blindly; instead they are tailored to each query.
- You decide what types of messages you’d like your assistants to take responsibility for. These can be assigned to your Manager in their own personal folder. Any emails you decide still need your attention/expertise are assigned to you in your own designated folder.
- Your assistants will write draft replies using your previous responses as a reference point. You can send these drafts out as-is, or edit the responses as needed before sending them out.
- You provide feedback and changes to your assistants so they can incrementally improve during the drafting process — to the point that they write better replies to messages than you do!
- Your assistants will add the responses you’ve approved to your template library. This library is saved inside your own private knowledge base and can also be accessed inside your inbox or within your help desk tool of choice. Templates act as the foundation for responses, but templates are always personalized to fit each specific context.
- Finally, with your approval, your assistants will reply directly to your emails and tickets without your involvement. This only occurs after you have gained confidence in your Manager through the draft writing process.
Throughout the handover and beyond, your assistants will continue to build your knowledge base, creating reliable systems for handling your email and common support questions that other people can step in and take over if needed.
At this point, your inbox is well on its way to being a well-oiled machine, while still retaining a high level of personalization. You will only see the emails you want to see (or any information necessary to keep you in the loop). Your assistants will handle everything else!
Continuing To Delegate
At the end of your first month, we'll schedule a call to evaluate your subscription plan to make sure it’s the right fit for your specific needs.
We will also begin to work through your Wish List and take over some of your higher-level requests. Every step of the systems we build for you will be recorded in your personal knowledge base and available to you at all times.
We don't lock you into a long-term pricing contract — you can cancel at any time. Regardless of whether or not you continue with us long term, you will always have an inbox with streamlined systems and a training manual to reference at any time.
Although rare, some clients are so excited about who we've matched them with that they decide to hire their assistants as an employee. If this is something you'd like to pursue, we have a process in place that facilitates this transition.
If you are ready for your own specialist email assistants, the first step is to book your Discovery Call.
Book A Discovery Call To Discuss Your Needs
Enter your details into the form to book your discovery call, then choose a day and time for the call on the following page.