Avoid The Mistakes Made With A New Client! With Melissa Morris

Episode Summary

This week Melissa Morris talks to us about onboarding clients and setting boundaries. Sounds easy enough? Well, join us as we dive into some ridiculously simple tips that can yield you big results so you can avoid even bigger mistakes.

Lots of “aha” moments here for me. I had a real awakening of how much I was overlooking!

Learn how to:
-set your client up for success from day 1.
– avoid all sorts of misunderstandings and expectations.
-create a relationship that will benefit you financially for years to come.

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You can find Melissa Morris at:

Website: www.melissavmorris.com

Get your freebie here: www.melissavmorris.com/wth

Check out the Outsourcing Playbook For Busy Entrepreneurs here: https://winthehourwintheday.com/outsourcing-playbook

Check out the Outsourcing Playbook For Busy Entrepreneurs here: https://winthehourwintheday.com/outsourcing-playbook

Melissa Morris Podcast Interview

Kris Ward: [00:05:30] Hey everyone. Another episode of Win the Hour Win the Day and I am Chris ward, and today we are with Melissa Morris. Now let me tell you about Melissa. Melissa is a business operation consultant.

[00:05:47] Okay. All right. That sounds a little bit dry, but I’m telling you it’s going to be really exciting. So she specializes in client processes, including client onboarding management and offboarding. I know I’m a big fan of processes, but when you lay it out and you explain it right. It doesn’t sound exciting, but this stuff is really going to be things you need to know today.

[00:06:05] Now, let me tell you why you’d want to listen to Melissa. She uses her 10 years of client management expertise to help service-based business owners, streamline and automate these processes and eliminate tech setup. Headaches. Okay. If I got your attention yet, listen, Melissa has been around. She’s been seen in publications, such as inc.

[00:06:25] Magazine, a keeper. Business success, blog, CEO, blog nation. And she’s been also heard on many podcasts, including my biz, bestie productivity straight talk, the sassy strategist I’ve been there too. It’s awesome. And, uh, you know what? She really frees business owners from overwhelmed. So let’s dive in. Welcome to the show, Melissa.

[00:06:45] Melissa Morris: [00:06:45] Hi. Hi. 

[00:06:46] Kris Ward: [00:06:46] Thank you for having me. Okay. So I get it and I’m a junkie for loving that kind of stuff. But when I talked to other people about it there, I start to roll back in their head and they think that I’m talking about really dry things like, you know, an airplane manual, which by the way, not so dry when the plane has to land and there’s a problem, right?

[00:07:05] So what I want to talk about today, you and I had a little bit of a conversation. It was really interesting. And this is a thing I think that we don’t talk about enough. And I know I was victim to this. In the beginning years of my business. So we’re talking about setting clear boundaries. Now that again, sounds kind of vague, but we’re talking about the boundaries of when you get a new client on board, you know, let’s set up from the get go, let’s train them how we’re going to communicate with them.

[00:07:33] Now, some of it is I did really well in the early years and some of it I did really poorly. But I know this is something that people struggle with and they really want you to set yourself up and it’s a problem. It’s, it’s a much harder way to crawl out of. So let’s start with what’s the situation one Oh one.

[00:07:51] When you are onboarding somebody with communication, where do we start? 

[00:07:56] Melissa Morris: [00:07:56] Yeah. So I actually kind of want to mention for a minute, I feel like boundaries tends to be this conversation. Like I see it in Facebook and on social media on, well, you’ve got to hold your boundaries or your client’s not respecting your boundaries.

[00:08:10] And I think sometimes we, we need to stop and think, what does that even mean? 

[00:08:16] Kris Ward: [00:08:16] Right. 

[00:08:17] Melissa Morris: [00:08:17] If we don’t even know what our boundaries are, what boundaries we’re supposed to have, how in the world are we supposed to. Hold them and force them with the clients. And what are these boundaries, right. That we’re supposed to be setting.

[00:08:31] Kris Ward: [00:08:31] So they sound kind of like, almost like you’re just going to try and take advantage of me. So I’m going to put my hand up and I’m going to set boundaries with you. It almost sounds like I’m going to protect myself from being victimized and it doesn’t sound proactive or business like it does to me. It’s you’re right.

[00:08:46] I hear that all the time. It sounds very wishy washy. Like, I don’t have time for that. I got stuff to do. Nevermind boundaries. I got stuff to do. 

[00:08:53] Melissa Morris: [00:08:53] Exactly. Like, it just feels such like a gray and confusing thing. And so first I want to address what do we mean when we say, 

[00:09:03] Kris Ward: [00:09:03] okay, 

[00:09:03] Melissa Morris: [00:09:03] create, you know, holding setting boundaries.

[00:09:06] So first obviously this is between the business owner and the clients, whether it’s a coach, whether you’re a service provider and what I’m talking about is. 

Specifically, there are two boundaries that I think everyone needs to create and hold in their business when they’re working with clients. And that is your deliverables to avoid scope creep and your preferred method of communication.

[00:09:31] And these, if you hold on, let’s 

[00:09:32] Kris Ward: [00:09:32] pause for a second deliverables to avoid what scope creep. Scope 

[00:09:37] Melissa Morris: [00:09:37] creep. 

[00:09:38] Kris Ward: [00:09:38] Yes. Okay. Not what scope creep. So scope 

[00:09:41] Melissa Morris: [00:09:41] creep is it’s when the things you have said you’re going to do, you’re suddenly getting asked to do that one extra thing and that one extra thing. And now suddenly what was supposed to be a 10 page website is now a 15 page website.

[00:09:57] And that couple of rounds of revisions have turned, suddenly turned into. 

[00:10:02] Kris Ward: [00:10:02] You recreating 

[00:10:04] Melissa Morris: [00:10:04] the entire design and rewriting entire blocks of copy. 

[00:10:09] Kris Ward: [00:10:09] You have just mentioned my first two years of business because you know how they got me is they got me on the grounds of I won over-deliver and then they paid you this.

[00:10:19] So you think, Oh, what’s one more thing you don’t want to get that. Stuck on one thing. Right? So you think, okay, well let’s not be petty and we want to overdeliver and then when they get you the second thing, you’re like, okay, well now we really don’t want to get her back up. And all of a sudden you’re right.

[00:10:33] Like now we’re into dealing with, we have to react. Okay. So scope creep. Okay. That’s important. All right. So continue my apologies. 

[00:10:41] Melissa Morris: [00:10:41] That’s okay. So you’re deliverable. So you want to 

[00:10:44] Kris Ward: [00:10:44] specifically 

[00:10:44] Melissa Morris: [00:10:44] and clearly outline those so that you don’t have that scope creep, 

[00:10:49] Kris Ward: [00:10:49] because that is the most 

[00:10:50] Melissa Morris: [00:10:50] common thing I hear a business owner say is like, keep getting asked to do X, Y, and Z.

[00:10:56] I did it because I never really said it wasn’t included. I never released that. I wasn’t going to do that. And then here we are in this. In this little, yes, we backed herself into a corner. And then the second thing is your preferred method of communication. And this is a big one and it is to include when you are available to communicate with your clients.

[00:11:18] Now we have Voxer, we have Facebook messenger. 

[00:11:20] Kris Ward: [00:11:20] We have direct messages 

[00:11:22] Melissa Morris: [00:11:22] on IgE. We have LinkedIn, 

[00:11:24] Kris Ward: [00:11:24] we have all 

[00:11:26] Melissa Morris: [00:11:26] the places and all the things right that people can get in with us. And what can happen too is sometimes maybe that conversation and that relationship building is happening on social media. And then they actually convert into a client.

[00:11:39] But are they still sending you messages via social media? We all think about email too. Sometimes email is the best way to get in touch with somebody. Sometimes that is like a nightmare for people. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and so being really clear on how you want your clients to be getting in touch with you and when, and how you’re going to be getting back in touch with them is very, very important.

[00:12:03] Because again, that’s where you kind of get yourself stuck. Is that. Instagram direct message comes through. And you’re like, well, we kind of started where we were messaging there because that’s how the relationship was built. And we really bonded and connected there. But 

[00:12:18] Kris Ward: [00:12:18] now they’re no, you can’t know the answer cause now you’ve lost a friend because you’re paying me.

[00:12:23] Right. 

[00:12:23] Melissa Morris: [00:12:23] Correct. So now, but now yes, now you’re paying me and. Yeah. Do I still do it that way, but it’s really inconvenient because that’s not really how I want to be doing this is answering your IgE message at 10 o’clock at 

[00:12:34] Kris Ward: [00:12:34] night. And you know what, it’s hard to because I’ve been in situations where, I mean, I’ve so much to say on this subject and it’s really interesting to me.

[00:12:42] So in one hand I’ve been in situations where you’re right. I did connect with somebody. We sort of became business friends. I picked her brain and wrote a few things. And then the relationship grew to even the fact that I knew like, okay, We’re, you know, I’m past the point where this is friendly information.

[00:12:58] So now we started our relationship where I, you know, bought purchases from her, uh, you know, services from her bought purchases. Write that down. That that was really, there’s my why sentence, where today I bought services from her. And then it’s like, well, and that was just, I went the opposite way. I was like, Oh, I had this question.

[00:13:17] She said, well, why didn’t you send it the way you always did? I’m like, Oh, well, because now I’m paying you. And I didn’t want to be stepping over that boundary. So I changed the dynamics in fear of overstepping a boundary, which were fun for her. So 

[00:13:30] Melissa Morris: [00:13:30] true. So true. And that’s, what’s important about clearly communicating.

[00:13:35] Those is because I was speaking with someone. And we were kind of having this conversation. Um, she was a client and I mentioned, we are working on her expectations, email, which is how you deliver these and how you set this. So we’ll talk about that more in a second, but we were talking about the language to include in that.

[00:13:53] And I said, you know, so what’s the turnaround time for reaching back out to somebody with a email or a call, you know, day, two days. She was just like, Oh my gosh, like I need a week. 

[00:14:05] Kris Ward: [00:14:05] Oh, 

[00:14:06] Melissa Morris: [00:14:06] Very different expectation. 

[00:14:07] Kris Ward: [00:14:07] Right. And 

[00:14:09] Melissa Morris: [00:14:09] I said, and that’s fine, but here’s what we need to make sure of is we need to make sure that the people who are working with, you know, That you need a week.

[00:14:18] Kris Ward: [00:14:18] Yeah, 

[00:14:18] Melissa Morris: [00:14:18] because here’s, what’s going to happen is if they don’t know that and they send you an email in 24 hours have gone by and they haven’t heard from you. And that was their expectation. 

[00:14:27] Kris Ward: [00:14:27] And here’s the second one. Oh, did you get my email? 

[00:14:29] Melissa Morris: [00:14:29] There you go. Now here’s the next email. Hey, now here’s the third email.

[00:14:33] Where are you? What’s going on? Yeah. And all the, while you are oblivious to the fact that your client’s getting really frustrated with you, because what is perfectly acceptable to one is just not acceptable to the other. So if we can lay that out upfront, two things are gonna happen either that client’s going to say, okay, you know what?

[00:14:53] That’s not really what I’m used to, but I’m totally okay with that. I still want to press forward. I love you. That’s great. Or they’re going to say that actually doesn’t work for me, and this is no longer a good fit, which is a good thing, because it’s better to find out in the beginning that this is not a good fit versus having a really disgruntled client and you hating the entire project. 

[00:15:13] Kris Ward: [00:15:13] You know, you bring up some really great points because I thought I was really good at setting boundaries. Well, not year one or two that’s for sure. But I will, it was in some aspects like they did creep in and get extra things for me. But one of the things I firmly believed in is I would never answer emails after hours.

[00:15:31] However, I probably did answer them too quickly or whatever, but if I had to. Meaning, like I wanted to get this off my desk for the morning, whatever I would respond, put it in draft, send it in the morning. Now you can automate it. No big deal. So I was always training my clients that no, you’re not going to get me on evenings and weekends.

[00:15:47] And then I had to control it and stay within like, you know, you’ll get this email tomorrow morning and learn not to respond right away. I learned to set that up, but I thought I was being, you know, with great business maturity training them. But how about not training them? How about just telling them from the get go?

[00:16:06] Here’s how it looks like, like now we think, well, that was a big gaping hole. I stepped over. Well, where was my mind? Like, why didn’t I say, okay, just so you know, this is how, because they got the idea when they started working with me. Okay. I operate on appointments. If you need to talk to me, we have a, you know, even back in the day, you’d have a.

[00:16:23] Phone appointment before we all got very virtual and I’m not talking like 20 years ago when dinosaurs roamed the earth, I’m talking like 10 years ago when I wanted to have a virtual appointment or something. This was new for a lot of people. Right. So I thought, Oh, look at me. I got altogether. I’m setting all these boundaries, but you’re you’re right.

[00:16:39] This is ridiculously I, and I don’t mean to minimize it. It’s ridiculously simple, but yet so profound, like we’re not talking about what that looks like. Not when I purchase things and not when I’m giving services. Yeah, 

[00:16:54] Melissa Morris: [00:16:54] exactly, exactly. And if you can just say these things up front and be clear, then we don’t have to worry about.

[00:17:01] Training or beating the system or, and then we do, we get all up in our own head about, Oh, I saw that email come through. Well, I better wait and not answer it even though. And sometimes we make it even more inconvenient for 

[00:17:14] Kris Ward: [00:17:14] ourselves. 

[00:17:15] Melissa Morris: [00:17:15] Like, Oh, I could answer that real quick and just get it done and not worry about it.

[00:17:19] Or like what I don’t want to look like I’m answering too fast. And then we start to play these games with ourselves. And here’s the thing I tell my clients. I will get back to you in 24 hours. Yeah, it’s often sooner, but I know I’ve got 24 hours and if I want to answer emails quickly, they sent me some and I just happened to be at my desk or in my inbox at that moment.

[00:17:39] And it was real convenient. I’ll answer right back because I know the next time they send an email, I’ve already told them I have a full 24 hours. So don’t ask me until that amount of time has passed. 

[00:17:51] Kris Ward: [00:17:51] Yeah, that’s it. So what’s another thing that you feel like we all skip over that is ridiculously simple, but yet it, but you, you know, you’re really at a deficit.

[00:18:03] When these things come back to bite you in the butt, like now all of a sudden somebody is frustrated with you cause you’re not answering their emails or they like that. Client thought, well, I have a week, right? Like that’s a big gaping hole. Cause I think most people have this expectation that it should be instantaneous.

[00:18:18] And I think even learning that you’re going to hear back from me possibly tomorrow is really a big leap. So to go, you know, so again, you’re right. There can be real miscommunication as far as the expectations. 

[00:18:31] Melissa Morris: [00:18:31] Exactly. And getting clear on that is so important. And then in addition to. You know this timeline piece of, when am I going to get back to you?

[00:18:41] The, how do I want you reaching out to me? And we started to touch on this. You intentionally now took your relationship off of Instagram and this person’s there waiting for you, right? Like, well, why isn’t Chris reaching out what she needs support. I’m here for her. Meanwhile, you’re sending her emails or whatever, because that expectation just wasn’t clear on how you should be getting in touch with her.

[00:19:06] And for some people they’re like, yes, like if you want to talk to me, you’re going to have to get me on social media or you’re going to have to get me on Voxer. If you send me an email, good luck. I’ll never see it, right. Your people are the complete opposite, you know, and this goes with their clients as well with some people really wants you involved in Slack or on a Trello board and sending notification that way.

[00:19:27] Kris Ward: [00:19:27] This is ridiculous and you’re right. This is stirring up a lot of things that I never a business therapy here, people that I never even really thought about. But I remember working with this guy and we he’d started messaging me through Facebook. That’s fine. And I was getting a service from him. And then I sent him an email cause we’re working together now.

[00:19:48] And he tells me like a week later, like, Oh, I don’t answer my emails at all. My assistant does that. Whatever, if you want to talk to me about anything, you go through messenger. Which to me is so like, just not how I operate. Cause it’s like, I don’t have it on all day. I don’t have these things timing. And I’m like, well, how am I supposed to know that?

[00:20:03] Like I was sent, like I had no idea I wasn’t using Facebook and this was a couple years ago. So I wasn’t even. The only one on Facebook messenger for me at that time was my mother sending me funny little means. Right? So I’m like, Oh, when I see an alert, I’m assuming it’s something funny for my mom. And now you’re sending me important stuff.

[00:20:20] So you, I realize you’re right, that we have these innate ideas in our head that these are the rules of engagement. And then when somebody is doing something different, you’re like, Oh, well, that’s weird. And now I realize it was just all under the umbrella of nobody communicated what our expectations were.

[00:20:39] Melissa Morris: [00:20:39] Yes. Yes, exactly. And, and we all just operate from our own space of what is appropriate, what works for us, what is acceptable and then less we get on the same page. And what could have been really frustrating is, you know, you send this person an email. Yeah. You’re never on Facebook, man. Now you send them another email.

[00:21:01] And now you’re getting really frustrated saying, wait a second, when we were 

[00:21:05] Kris Ward: [00:21:05] chummy and friends. Yeah. 

[00:21:06] Melissa Morris: [00:21:06] We were in the sales process. You were just so happy to chat with me. Now I’ve passed over the money and you got the sale. And now I can’t get ahold of you to save my life. I can’t find you. And you, you know, now you’ve potentially gotten yourself in a situation where you’ve got a really upset client and all the while you’re completely happy to serve them.

[00:21:24] You just have no idea that they’re reaching out to you. 

[00:21:27] Kris Ward: [00:21:27] And, you know, we do have these preconceived ideas that I in my mind are ridiculous. Sometimes I have ideas that I don’t even know where they came from, because I know. Like when I wrote my book, when the are, when the day, and I would be pitching to get on other people’s podcasts.

[00:21:40] And I would say something to someone I would connect with them on Facebook and somehow they would hear of this book and they’d say, yeah, okay. Send me information about it. So then I would go overthinking. The professional thing to do is I would send them a pitch in an email yet I had direct access to them in Facebook.

[00:21:56] And so I would say to them will say, can I have your email address? They’re like, we’ll give it to me here. I’m like, Oh, okay. Here’s a video. Like I can, I just, I don’t know why I thought that that was casual. Maybe I can blame it on my mother again, but I was like, Oh, I thought I had to send you a proper email.

[00:22:11] Okay. Well here’s the video and here’s what you need to know about me. Yeah. Okay. Let’s do it. Oh, all right. So why I had them, I had their attention. They’re talking to me. Why the heck would I take them over to email, to another platform? Like so, so I think these limitations that we get caught up in perceptions.

[00:22:29] Of being professional, then they don’t connect with other people and then the wheels fall off. Right. 

[00:22:35] Melissa Morris: [00:22:35] Totally. And you know, it could’ve gone the other way too. You could have been there. You could have been a messenger, fired it off and they could have said, Whoa, lady, you need to put this in my email. This needs to go through proper channels.

[00:22:48] Kris Ward: [00:22:48] Yeah. 

[00:22:49] Melissa Morris: [00:22:49] And so sometimes, you know, we don’t. Always know. And when it comes to them, working with our clients where we’re going to be in, you know, at the very least, if it’s a project several weeks, but if it’s a retainer style, I mean, months years working with the clients, how many headaches will you solve and disagreements, if you could just lay these expectations out very clearly and lay them out upfront.

[00:23:15] Kris Ward: [00:23:15] Now am I the only one that dealt these things wrong? Or how did this became your area of expertise? Like share with us? Like, do I have all these odd rules of engagement in my head? Or how did this evolve for you? 

[00:23:28] Melissa Morris: [00:23:28] No, no, no, no. So I spent about 10 years working in ad agencies and my role was the account executive.

[00:23:34] So I was the liaison between the client and the agency. So I was very heavy client facing. Okay. And. I can tell you, this is exactly where I  got all of this experience, because all the mistakes, the answering, the too many emails, the jumping, every time the client was there, the having them mad at me because I didn’t send the proposal before I showed up to the meeting.

[00:24:02] When I thought I was supposed to bring the proposal to the meeting, all of these, all of these missteps and points of confusion, I certainly. You know, did them all, 

You know, I say the saving grace for me was fortunately, because I was in like an agency model, there was a mentor there for me who was, you know, showing me the ropes as we went along.

[00:24:27] And who said, well, no, no, no, no, you need to ask them. And you need to be more clear in that email because you weren’t very clear in that email, what, you know, and now the agencies. Eating the cost of a project. So it wasn’t really clear,  right? When you had these emails, what tone are they written in on the fact that like, if you say what I’m thinking of right now is how to soften it.

[00:24:53] I in the beginning. So when it’s like, okay, we want to avoid these things. Like, what does that look like? So it doesn’t come off. Like, you know, when you go to join a Facebook group, like yesterday, somebody sent me something and they’re like, Oh, we’d love you to be in our group. And I said, okay, fine. I’m pretty grouped out.

[00:25:07] But sure. They were really nice. I said, okay. So then they sent me this list of expectations for the group and boy, Oh boy, we went from, this would be fun too. I feel like I could be shot if I step out of line, like it’s re it was very intense and I know they were obviously covering themselves from things that had happened in the group, but it started off really.

[00:25:24] Uh, not, uh, not life affirming, it was not fun. So how do you set up these expectations in an email where you’re not listing things? Just saying, okay. Our expectation is I will get back with you in 24 hours. How do you soften that? So it’s not already, you know, Laden with rules. 

[00:25:41] Melissa Morris: [00:25:41] Great question. Because I think this totally comes back to that at the beginning where we’re like, I have boundaries and it concealed carry.

[00:25:49] Defensive and building up a wall and that’s the last thing we want with our client. We want a relationship with them. Yeah. So I always recommend as part of your onboarding process, you send an expectations email, and within that, your outlining. These things and the language you use with it is very important.

[00:26:08] And what you always want to do is you want to highlight the benefit to the client. Okay. So for example, my ex, right? So for example, in mine, I say, um, I know throughout this process I offer done for you setups in terms that’s the tech headache I get rid of. Um, so I tell them, you know, throughout this process, I know you’re going to have ideas and thoughts that you may want to include.

[00:26:36] And I really want to hear them all to make sure I don’t miss a single one. Please send them via email because that is hands down the best way to get in touch with me. Okay. Okay. If it is an emergency, you’re going to have a situation with a call, something you broke something, then you can get me on Voxer.

[00:26:55] Kris Ward: [00:26:55] Okay. Okay. 

[00:26:56] Melissa Morris: [00:26:56] So see how I’ve highlighted the benefit. I didn’t just say, send me emails only. That’s the only place I checked, you know, and, and I know you didn’t mean it would come across, but versus this random bullet point of email me, I said, And it’s, and it’s true. Like it’s 100% sure. I’m not saying that to be us.

[00:27:15] That is how that is where I triaged. Right. That is where things come in. They get funneled out. And that really is the best way to make sure that I don’t miss one of these thoughts. This is how it gets put into my project management queue. 

[00:27:30] Kris Ward: [00:27:30] You’re right. Cause I do that. I have notes. I have a it’s all set up.

[00:27:33] So when we, with my coaching clients, my 90 day coaching clients, what happens is you’ll send me email and copy and paste it and put it into your, your sheet. So when we go to the meeting, it’s right there and I’m not looking for emails. So it is part of my process. And I do that to help you. I actually have a mentor I work very closely with, and he does not like email.

[00:27:51] So like you meet with him and he. Really just has zero emails. I think it’s wonderful. I don’t know how you master, but anyhow, and he does give you per month, you get this many emergency phone calls, which by the way you did no, I don’t like then you start questioning, like he admits he’s doing it to minimize the interactions.

[00:28:11] Cause you’re not going to be like, what is an emergency? Like. So I’m like, Oh, I can’t see. I cannot see me having emergency. So you just eliminate the phone call, which is fine because he provides so much value and he’s so smart. So you just take whatever, you know, you’re fine with everything, but it is your right now.

[00:28:29] I see it’s the managing the language and showing it how it benefits them versus setting it rules. That is very important. Okay. Yeah. 

[00:28:38] Melissa Morris: [00:28:38] Awesome. And always when you’re setting quote unquote rules for your clients, and this goes the same with bringing existing clients into the fold, because I talk a lot about that client onboarding, getting this set up right away, this expectation email is the first thing that should be going out after that contract is signed.

[00:28:57] And that first invoice is paid, but then my clients say, well, that’s great, Melissa, for all my new clients, but what about the stack of existing clients who are driving me crazy, right? Yeah. Same thing. You work them through kind of an abbreviated new onboarding. Okay. And they start, but you start more slowly right.

[00:29:17] With your existing clients. We’re not going to send them an email with suddenly this long list of new rules and you know, these firm boundaries that you’re suddenly going to hold, but again, you start to praise on it as the benefit to them say, you know, in the past I have. You know, I know we’ve chatted via Instagram or Facebook messenger.

[00:29:38] Et cetera. However, moving forward as part of my new process, I have put in place to better serve my clients to be actually better equipped to handle requests. I need you to send them to this email address, 

[00:29:52] Kris Ward: [00:29:52] right? So that’s 

[00:29:54] Melissa Morris: [00:29:54] highlight the benefit. And it’s true. It’s true. It’s 

[00:29:58] Kris Ward: [00:29:58] true. Everything is to serve them.

[00:30:01] Cause you realize, Oh, I dropped the ball. I miss that because you’re running around like a crazy person checking all these portals, right. That is, you know what, this is a simple, but very powerful stuff. And I think it’s something that. It’s one of these things where you don’t know what you don’t know and you know, you would not even think you’re just going full speed.

[00:30:18] You get so excited. You got a new client, you’re doing all this stuff. And this is something that I think, wow, how once you set it up, how easy it is to implement and the amount of. Future. I have somebody in my team, Evan. He always says, that’s a future Evan problem. Right? So the amount of future problems you save yourself, a future.

[00:30:37] Chris problem is profound with such simplicity. Well, this has been really super time. Well spent, Melissa. I must tell you that. So tell our audience, where can they find you? Where’s the best place to reach you. 

[00:30:51] Melissa Morris: [00:30:51] I’m on Facebook and my handle is at follow Melissa V. Morris. Okay. Okay. And then I also have an expectations, email templates that I can offer.

[00:31:01] So we’ve talked a lot about these boundaries, how to set them. You mentioned the language. Yeah. So if you go to Melissa V morris.com/w T H. For Win the Hour w T H you can download, it’s a client onboarding checklist, and that’s a great way to get you started. But within there is a link to this swipe file, and it’s a template that tells you what should be included in your expectations, email, and it offers a template where you can plug and play and use it 

[00:31:28] Kris Ward: [00:31:28] yourself.

[00:31:29] Well, we will have that in the show notes for sure. And we, and then we’ll be the first one chime in because I’m telling you that is just awesome. I think, I think it’s really important work and I’m so glad you’re doing it because again, I’m just repeating myself. It’s just stuff that, you know, it all of a sudden your right, how many times, those first few years I found myself going, huh?

[00:31:50] You know what? I, this person expects me to get back to them within a half hour. And although I was good at. Pacing it and sort of unfolding that that was energy or stress that I wouldn’t have had to manage to contain or deal with. And no distraction was needed. Had I done this correctly in the beginning?

[00:32:06] So I think it’s important work. So we are thrilled to have you here. Thank you so much, Melissa. Please do check her out online and I would definitely make sure you check the show notes and get her expectations, email template. Thanks again, Melissa. 

[00:32:22] Melissa Morris: [00:32:22] Thanks so much, Chris.