[00:00:01] Speaker A: Made in the UK for HR consultants worldwide. You're listening to the HR Marketing Guys podcast.
[00:00:13] Speaker B: Hello James here, and welcome to this week's podcast. This week's main event is a really big one. I'm going to talk to you about the number one question that I get asked, and that is, what is the best CRM for your consultancy? In part one, I'm going to talk to you about what a big bunch of HR consultants and I are up to, as well as my personal opinion on capsule. And in this week's thought of the week, I'm going to talk to you about something that's been on my mind recently and that's burnout in the HR industry. So let's jump straight in.
[00:00:41] Speaker A: This week's main event.
[00:00:46] Speaker B: What is the best CRM for your consultancy? It's the number one question that I get asked by pretty much every HR consultant that I speak to. I know so many consultancies that are still working off good old fashioned spreadsheets. And while it's easy to manage at the beginning, as soon as you start growing, your client delivery becomes incredibly difficult to manage in this way. It's hard to know what work you're doing for them. It's hard to know how long it's taken and what you should be charging. And if you have a team or work off an associate model, then it's even more chaotic. Much like HR software helps your clients to organize their HR, you need software to help you organize your consultancy. And personally, I know that I would be completely lost without my CRMs and project management software. The software I use has 100% helped me to run my business scale more efficiently, and I wouldn't have been able to do it without them. But for you, I understand that finding the right CRM is a complete minefield. There are so many out there. What features do you actually need? What are the best ways to use them? How do you go about making a decision and is it worth the cost? It's probably one of the most difficult decisions that you need to make, and it's really important you make the right decision the first time around. Trying to research and make this call yourself is understandably completely overwhelming. But there's no need to worry, because I'm here to guide you through the entire decision making process.
So a few months ago, a client asked me to help them find the right CRM for them. And this kind of snowballed into me. Starting a big research project with an awesome bunch of HR consultants. And together, we are going to create the ultimate software stack for HR consultants. So a software stack is simply a list of different softwares and technologies you could use to run and grow your consultancy. For me, this is much bigger than just picking a CRM because whatever CRM you pick needs to support the work you do, how you actually work, and work well with every other piece of software that you use in your business. So think accountancy, emails, data management, HR software, email, signatures, Microsoft 365, video conferencing, task management, case management and CRMs, just to name a few. The list is honestly huge. So it's my goal to not only help you pick the right CRM, but to create some awesome guidance on what software you need and the best software to use to run and grow your consultancy. So why am I the best person to facilitate this? Well, I'm not only the world's go to HR marketing guy, but I'm also the growth strategy director for an international marketing company that has over 800 clients worldwide. For the last few years, I've turned our marketing service into marketing software, which has been really cool. So in the world of software development, I've actually taken on the role of product manager most recently. So throwing software lingo at you right now. When we say product, we mean the online experience that you're creating, whether that's an app or portal. And the product manager is responsible for development, the vision, strategy and roadmap of the product, ensuring it meets the user's needs. Being user centric is the most important part of being a product manager and creating online experiences. And to help me, I've worked with some awesome UX strategists over the past few years and have learned some really clever frameworks to help me create a user centric approach to my work. So helping you find the right software solutions for your consultancy is an area that I'm very experienced in. So with that in mind, when I started this project, I kind of took a step back. You're asking for a CRM, but what are you actually trying to achieve here? What jobs do you need help with? How do you need to use the software? What are your software requirements? What software is out there that can best help you? And what is the best software stack you need to run and grow your consultancy? So I'm not going to lie, it's been a really big undertaking and that's why I've called this episode part one because there will likely be more to come. But I've made an awesome start and I've got lots to tell you. So in part one of what's the best CRM for your consultancy. I'm going to talk you through the research I've completed so far, my findings, what I'm currently working on, and how I plan to help you in the future. So let's start from the very beginning. With the help of a close client, we got an awesome bunch of HR consultants together and got a call booked in the diary to discuss all things CRMs. Before that call, it was really important for me to understand what the group wanted to achieve as a result of the call and what they wanted from CRM software. So I asked them to send me an email with their thoughts. I did this because the term CRM can mean different things for different people, and this is often the first hurdle that you'll fall at when trying to make a decision about software for your own consultancy. And as a marketing professional, a CRM is something that primarily helps you with your marketing. But for you, when you say you want a CRM, what you often mean is software that can help you manage clients and workload. And in my experience, there's not many CRMs that can do both well. So that's why it was important for me to clarify exactly what you wanted. From the very beginning, everyone was very good and gave me their answers. And from those answers I received and subsequent conversations that I had with the group, I was able to create a master list of your requirements. This was broken down into the following headings. So the first requirement is data management. Instead of having all of your client information on a spreadsheet, you wanted software to manage all of your client and prospect data for you. The second requirement in centralized communication. This is important for team collaboration and comms. You need to be able to share client information safely with team members and for all communications between client and team to be recorded in one place. The third requirement is task management. So having the ability to manage workflow, create tasks, assign tasks to team members and to track progress of tasks is really important, as well as having reminders to follow up on actions too. The fourth requirement is marketing. This was loosely included within the research, so having the ability to send emails to prospects and to set up marketing automations. And the fifth and final requirement is sales. So having the ability to integrate with the proposal software and track the prospect journey using pipeline functionality. So this is a really good list of requirements to get us started and this thinking will definitely help you to clarify what you need from a CRM in the future.
So once this preliminary research was completed, the group and I then jumped on a call. We discussed and confirmed the above requirements and then spoke about all of the different pieces of software and technology they use in their consultancy. So think emails, Microsoft 365 accountancy, and all of that jazz. We also spoke about the different workflows in which you would potentially need a CRM and other pieces of software, thinking about how you would manage incoming questions from clients, how you would manage a grievance or an investigation, for instance. I did this because I wanted to think big. To create the ultimate software stack for HR consultants. I needed to know every scenario in which you would need to use software, and as a result of the call with the group surveys and independent research, I created a list of 30 different software types that you would need to use to run and grow your consultancy. And the complete list of this can be found in the HR growth academy. So at this stage, I have a master list of your requirements that you have from CRM software, and I have a master list of softwares you need to run your consultancy. And while doing this, I was also jumping on calls with clients who were showing me around the various different CRMs that they were using. So I've looked at capsule, I've
[email protected] I've looked at HubSpot and there are also lots of other CRM softwares that I'm previously familiar with.
So what will the ultimate software stack for HR consultants eventually look like? Well, imagine a big comparison table. On one side you have every situation requirement you could possibly think of. On the other side, you have a good, better best choice of softwares that you could use, all of which have been field tested and approved by successful HR consultants, allowing you to pick and choose the best software stack for you and your budget. Right now, I'm focusing my attention on capture and HubSpot. So let me give you an overview of my thoughts at this stage, but with the warning that my thoughts haven't been field tested yet. So I'm just going off my current understanding of what your requirements and what I've seen to date. HubSpot for me is the Rolls Royce of CRMs, and from my initial research it seems to be able to do everything you could possibly need from a CRM, both from an operational and marketing point of view. If you wanted something all singing or dancing from the very beginning, or if you are a bigger consultancy that employed multiple people, then I'd probably steer you towards HubSpot for now. But you would need to keep a close eye on costs. If you're a startup, independent consultant or smaller consultancy, then I would probably steer you towards capsule for the operational stuff. Capsule seems to manage data management, centralized communication, task management and prospect pipeline quite well and is probably the most popular CRM for operational stuff in the industry for this reason. But sadly it doesn't have the ability to set up marketing automations or broadcasts, which is a bit annoying. But they do have integrations though. But with software I'm unfamiliar with from a marketing point of view, which is why I would probably recommend activecampaign or mailchimp for that stuff at this stage. So to help me with my research, I'm currently working alongside a software consultant who is setting up capsule on behalf of a client. I'm hoping that we'll be able to map out everything you need from an operational point of view and potentially provide you with the setup service, which is all very exciting. I'm also in the process of merging all three of my CRMs, yes, all three into HubSpot. It is a bit of a nightmare, but hopefully it's going to work. Once this work is done, I'll then be able to add them to my software stack comparison table and share this with you alongside any other CRMs that we decide to focus on. Frustratingly, research like this takes time and it is a really big job, but I hope the research I've completed today and shared with you in this podcast has already been helpful. I am 100% committed to creating the ultimate software stack for HR consultants and if you would like to follow me on this journey then please head on over to my website, thehrmarketingguy.com. go to the top where it says HR Growth Academy and add yourself to my weekly update list for more information as I have it.
So if you like the sound of the ultimate software stack for HR consultants and would like to learn more, then you'll love the HR Growth Academy. So I have two services, the HR marketing box and the HR Growth Academy. Inside the HR growth Academy you'll find lots of best practice guidance on things like packaging up your services, the ultimate software stack, and lots more. And the HR Marketing box is an online content library that gives you all of the marketing content you need to grow your consultant, saving you lots of time, money and hassle. For more information about how I can help, head on over to my website, thehrmarketingguy.com and check it out for yourself.
[00:11:29] Speaker A: James thought of the week today.
[00:11:34] Speaker B: I'd like to have a nice little chat with you about burnout. Since COVID Burnout has become a household topic and working in the HR profession, we often talk about burnout and the importance of looking after employees health and wellbeing for organizational success. But when was the last time that you thought about your own health and wellbeing? How often are you experiencing burnout, and how is this affecting your business productivity and personal happiness? These are the questions that I'd like to ask you today, not to be all doom and gloom, but to raise awareness of it in a supportive way. For the HR marketing box we create content about burnout on a regular basis, and I edit and approve every piece of content that goes out to our members. So I'm clued up on what burnout looks and feels like. I'm a business owner. I have ADhD. Burnout is something I dance with on a regular basis. I've been burnt out in the past, and I'll likely be burnt out in the future too. I think it's inevitable to some degree. But what I've realized recently is that I seem to be stuck in a bit of a high performance burnout cycle. It's a pattern, and I've started to recognize behaviors that are keeping me stuck in this pattern. And I think it would be silly of me to not address this in order to try and flatten out the curve for myself. And since realizing this, I wanted to talk to you about it in this podcast episode because I wonder if you're the same. Burnout is super common in business owners. The stats about burnout in the HR profession is actually really worrying. 75% of the industry is women. Women are statistically more likely to have higher personal responsibilities than men. I can see the strain that summer holidays are already having on my friends who are working mums, for instance. And women are statistically more likely to mask symptoms not only to other people, but most worryingly, to themselves. So it doesn't take a genius to think that you, as a HR consultancy owner, listening to me right now, might be suffering from burnout and trapped in a burnout cycle too. I talk about this stuff not because I think that I'm an expert, it's something that's been on my mind. I'm super open about this stuff, and helping others fulfill their potential is what matters most to me. And in last week's episode, I asked you if there was anything stopping you from fulfilling your potential. And maybe burnout is something that you're struggling with. So burnout is more than just being tired or stressed. It's a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by lots of different factors. Feelings of burnout will vary from person to person, but you might feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to meet constant demands. You'll know what burnout feels like for you in your mind and in your body. Burnout isn't something that just happens overnight too, which is why it can easily creep up on you. It's a gradual process, and the first step in breaking this cycle is recognizing behaviors or situations that can lead you to feeling burnt out. And only then can you figure out what preventions you can put in place to break the cycle. And this is kind of where I've got up to. So I don't think preventing burnout is this big old task for me. I think the key to managing my own burnout is more of a daily habit. So I've looked at what I can do on a daily basis to prevent me from feeling stressed and exhausted. Back to back calls throughout the day stress me out way too much. So in my calendar I've put buffers in and I'm more strict on how I manage my diary. I also know that trying to give myself way too many things to do in each day really stresses me out. So instead I now only give myself one or two big things to do in each day. In reality, I know I have hundreds of tasks to do, but why am I pressuring myself into doing way more than I know that's physically possible?
Feeling time pressured is also another stress factor for me. So now if I've got something important to do, I'll block out big chunks of time in order to get it done. And I've stopped putting pressure on myself to work in the evenings. I hate doing it and I kind of have to apply so much pressure to myself to actually force me to do it in the first place, which just isn't healthy at all. Instead, I make time to go to the gym, go for a walk, or connect with friends. So maybe there's a few things that you can do each day to help you stay a bit more chill. Like I said, I'm not here trying to be an expert on burnout. It's just something that's been on my mind recently and wanted to chat about it. In case it's something that's been affecting you too. Like me, you might put a lot of pressure on yourself to run and grow your business. So if there's anything that I can do to support you, then please drop me a message and let's have a virtual coffee or hug if you need one. I also follow Kelly Swingler, the burnt out ologist on LinkedIn. I really like reading her posts and have reached out to her to chat more, so maybe you can give her a follow on LinkedIn, too.
[00:16:12] Speaker A: You've been listening to the HR marketing guys podcast, helping you to get new clients and create a life you love.
