Season 1 - Episode 2

[00:00:01.140] - Gordon
Hello. And welcome to "This Week With Taylor and Gordon." My name's Gordon.

[00:00:04.230] - Taylor
And I'm Taylor.

[00:00:05.790] - Gordon
So welcome back. Those of you who joined us last week, thank you so much for your messages and your comments. And thank you for contacting us to let us know that you enjoyed it. That was really, really good for us.

[00:00:19.940] - Taylor
Yeah.

[00:00:20.820] - Gordon
So it's been another week in lockdown, another week of hair growing longer.

[00:00:25.560] - Taylor
Yeah.

[00:00:26.100] - Gordon
And I've just noticed that we've colour coordinated today.

[00:00:29.190] - Taylor
Yeah.

[00:00:29.190] - Gordon
With our grey tops and black trousers. We hope you've had a good week. We've had quite an interesting week.

[00:00:37.150] - Taylor
Stressful, I would say.

[00:00:39.010] - Gordon
Stressful? Why's it been stressful Taylor?

[00:00:40.860] - Taylor
Because we've had internet problems, so we want to get fibre optic cable. However, where we live, they don't have them installed. And we've been on the waiting list since 2007. And, you know, we still get terrible internet considering we have two internet based businesses running from this household.

[00:01:02.190] - Gordon
It's true. It was bad enough when it was just me, and Taylor was going to college. But now he's at home full time, working here as well, that's twice the amount of data we're pushing through and downloading. And our internet is just not coping. And we had a big meltdown at the beginning of the week, where the internet was at the point where you would load a web page, you would go and make a cup of coffee in your case.

[00:01:29.140] - Taylor
Not in your case.

[00:01:30.240] - Gordon
Not in my case.

[00:01:31.920] - Taylor
You don't drink coffee.

[00:01:31.920] - Gordon
Because I don't drink coffee. Yeah. Go and grab a can of coke, open it, drink your coke, come back, and then see if that page is loaded. It was just terrible. To be fair, in this house we do have an awful lot of internet usage; because not only do we have probably more computers here than an average household would have, we also have a smart house. So we have cameras, we have an alarm system.

[00:01:58.170] - Taylor
Alexas.

[00:01:59.100] - Gordon
We have Alexas, we have lighting.

[00:02:01.110] - Taylor
Yeah.

[00:02:02.100] - Gordon
We have internet enabled washing machine, don't ask.

[00:02:07.980] - Taylor
Overkill.

[00:02:09.060] - Gordon
But... It's not, it's really cool. It keeps track of every time we use the washing machine so I know how often we need to buy washing powder. Anyway, we do have a lot of internet usage here, but it's always struggled along, until this week when it just...

[00:02:26.700] - Taylor
Grinded to a halt really.

[00:02:27.960] - Gordon
Pretty much stopped. So we spoke to Sky and we just recently took out a new contract with them for 'superfast broadband.' That was a month ago.

[00:02:39.240] - Taylor
Yeah.

[00:02:40.020] - Gordon
We weren't getting superfast, and they reckoned it was because our router wasn't compatible. So why they didn't send one out at the time we made the order, goodness only knows.

[00:02:51.330] - Taylor
Yeah, no idea.

[00:02:52.890] - Gordon
However, they did send one out. It wasn't the one I was hoping we would get. So I spoke to them again and they've now sent out the correct one. We've installed it today. It arrived today. And at the moment, fingers crossed, touch wood, everything is looking good. So let's hope it continues to stay...

[00:03:14.220] - Taylor
Yeah, hopefully.

[00:03:14.220] - Gordon
At a, it's still a pittance. It's, our minimum guaranteed speed is twelve gigabits per second, which is, pretty slow.

[00:03:24.900] - Taylor
Megabits.

[00:03:24.900] - Gordon
Yeah.

[00:03:25.590] - Taylor
You said gigabits.

[00:03:26.460] - Gordon
Megabits per second. Yeah.

[00:03:28.200] - Taylor
Gigabits would be very fast.

[00:03:29.280] - Gordon
That would yeah, that would be fine. That's not what we're getting. 12 megabits per second is the guaranteed minimum, and it's pretty much what we get, so...

[00:03:39.720] - Taylor
Yeah, just about.

[00:03:41.820] - Gordon
So yeah, that's been our internet problems. Anyway, on to happier things. Why don't you tell us what you've been doing this week?

[00:03:50.670] - Taylor
So I've been trying to, while we've been in lockdown, improve my skill set. So this week I've been learning about PHP, improving my knowledge on it and trying to do some really cool things with it. So I've been creating a, my chapter website for my 'BNI Lightning Network.'

[00:04:11.790] - Gordon
Oh, yeah.

[00:04:13.020] - Taylor
And I wanted to have the date at the top to say "next meeting is" and I wanted to automatically update with the next meeting. So...

[00:04:23.070] - Gordon
Ok.

[00:04:23.460] - Taylor
So that was on a Thursday, so I needed it to, when it got to Thursday to say, "ok, update to the next week."

[00:04:29.010] - Gordon
Yeah.

[00:04:29.280] - Taylor
And then show that for the next week or so until it comes to the next week and then it would automatically update. So I was using PHP to write a script which got the current date and look to see when it, what day it was and if it was Thursday or later it showed the next week's date.

[00:04:49.770] - Gordon
Ok, and did it work yesterday, on Thursday?

[00:04:52.410] - Taylor
It did. Yeah. It worked.

[00:04:53.910] - Gordon
Very good. There you go. And that will now continue to work because it's an automation.

[00:04:58.200] - Taylor
Yeah. So it just updates.

[00:04:59.490] - Gordon
And automation is a really good thing to use for your business, because if you have to do things manually, sometimes you make mistakes, sometimes you forget to do them. If it's automated it normally, as long as the automation is working properly, it will normally work. So it's a good thing to do, put automation into your business. So, I've been playing with this testimonial software that I've purchased, and it's really, really good. So the problem with testimonials and getting them through your website is a. Getting people to fill them in in the first place. But more importantly, they only benefit you and your website because that's the only place they go. You have a form to fill in; people leave a message as to what they thought; you put it up on your website; everyone sees it, if they visit your website. That doesn't actually help you gain a great deal of business unless people are looking at your website. What you need to do is have testimonials in the places that people are. So on Google My Business or on Facebook, Facebook pages, that is where people are looking. And that's what this software that I've now set up and I am using and reselling will do for you. So the idea is you send people to a feedback form; it asks them to decide how many stars they want to give you out of five, that's the first question. And then if it's, and this is subject to the owners rules that they can set up.

[00:06:41.820] - Taylor
Yep.

[00:06:41.820] - Gordon
If it's a certain number, for example, four or five, it will send them to a page, which will then say to them, "that's great, please leave me a review on Facebook or Google." And there's two buttons and they can click on both or either, it takes them through to the relevant place; they can leave a testimonial on those services; and then the software will pick those up from those services; bring them back into the website; and display them on the website. So then you're getting double bubble. You've got them on Google, you've got them on Facebook, and you've got them on your website, which is great. Now, if they don't give you a four or five, you can send them to a different form, which then says, "really sorry that we're not up to your expectations."

[00:07:28.920] - Taylor
Yeah.

[00:07:29.430] - Gordon
"Please tell us why." And it then gives them a form they fill in as to why it's not working the way they want it to work, and it comes to you. So instead of them leaving a testimonial on a service, that's then going to say, "yeah, we weren't happy," it actually sends the information direct to you and you can then do something about it.

[00:07:48.870] - Taylor
Contact them back or, you know, try and improve where they had an issue really.

[00:07:53.040] - Gordon
Exactly. And your customer service is good for that. And you get better loyalty from the customers because you've fixed something that they had a problem with so next time you send them to leave feedback, hopefully they'll give you a four or a five and it will go onto Google or Facebook. Now, there's going to be more services you can add to this in the future. I showed it to one of my customers today, I just let them go and have a look at the one I'm doing. And they came back and they said, "this is amazing! I want it for my website. Can I buy it from you right now?" And I was able to do so because I am now selling this as a service. So if this is something that would be of interest to you, currently it works on WordPress websites, so if you have a WordPress website, then this will work for you. So get in contact with me. Details below. You can find them at the end of this video. It's not a great deal of money. So contact me and I'll show you how it works and you can add it to your business.

[00:08:57.250] - Taylor
Yeah.

[00:08:58.390] - Gordon
Have we got anything else that we've been dealing with?

[00:09:01.960] - Taylor
I'm not sure. Have you?

[00:09:03.550] - Gordon
I can't think of anything off the top of my head.

[00:09:05.950] - Taylor
What have you been working on?

[00:09:07.150] - Gordon
Well, I've been working on this testimonial software a lot. Plus re-doing all the internet cables which were plumbed in and having to be moved to a different place. So that took a long time. And dealing with a lot of admin. I've been working on Drayson Design's new website again. That's starting to look really good. I'll let you know when it's ready.

[00:09:29.140] - Taylor
Oh, I just thought of something; my automations for my renewals. I've been working on that.

[00:09:33.430] - Gordon
Ah, ok.

[00:09:35.020] - Taylor
So I have a renewals that I send out for hosting and maintenance, things like that. And I have a, created a spreadsheet which is sort of like a database which, it holds all the client database, client details sorry, with kind of how much I charge per hour; all of their details about the website; their company name; when they became a client. And then I have a separate spreadsheet which has all my renewals in, so I can then add them to that spreadsheet by just adding the number for their customer ID, which automatically fills in their details. I can then select the product type, so if it's hosting; if it's a maintenance plan; if it's domain name, I can select that.

[00:10:19.870] - Gordon
Whatever the service is and you can add new services in.

[00:10:22.030] - Taylor
And then it will automatically add the price in, at the time.

[00:10:25.870] - Gordon
Yeah.

[00:10:26.530] - Taylor
I will have a field for 'current price,' 'new price' and 'what it should be.'

[00:10:31.660] - Gordon
Yeah.

[00:10:32.890] - Taylor
This is because I have some people on a legacy, call it a legacy system.

[00:10:38.230] - Gordon
Yeah, so these are people who came in and got a special deal right at the beginning when you were starting out.

[00:10:42.790] - Taylor
Yeah.

[00:10:43.070] - Gordon
And so they get a special price.

[00:10:45.220] - Taylor
So that takes into account so it's, if they're a legacy client then the price will be altered a tiny bit differently so the price, the updated price isn't the current price.

[00:10:54.930] - Gordon
Ok.

[00:10:56.050] - Taylor
And I wanted to automate that so that when it became within 30 days of the renewal, I wanted to send them an email, just to say, "your renewal is coming up. Please, if you'd like to renew, please click the button and get in touch." And it works really, really well. It uses a service called "Integromat," which is, connects to lots of different services, online services. So you can connect your email, you can connect Alexa, you can connect, you know, anything really. Lots of CRMs you can connect, and things like MailChimp, you can connect them to work together with them. And it then send them an email with all their details, so it pulls in their name, price, the type of product it is; and then has a button which they can click, which when they click on it, it will open up a new email. It automatically pre-fills the send email to my renewals email, adds, it says, "Hi Taylor, please renew" and then puts the service in, it puts their company name in, and it says "thank you. From" and then puts their name in. All they need to do is click 'send.' That comes straight to me. I can then update the spreadsheet and say "yes, they want to renew." This will then stop sending the emails, the renewal emails for the...

[00:12:13.420] - Gordon
Because they've already renewed.

[00:12:15.010] - Taylor
They've said they want to renew.

[00:12:16.080] - Gordon
Yeah.

[00:12:16.360] - Taylor
And so it'll stop sending the reminder 14 day and on the day...

[00:12:19.510] - Gordon
Yep.

[00:12:19.780] - Taylor
Email. I will then send them a invoice manually. Once they have paid I click, tick for 'paid.'

[00:12:27.160] - Gordon
Yep.

[00:12:28.030] - Taylor
This then will send them a thank you email saying, "thank you for renewing."

[00:12:31.780] - Gordon
Yep.

[00:12:31.780] - Taylor
And it wipes all of the ticks basically that I have set so that it's back fresh and updates their renewal by one year.

[00:12:40.870] - Gordon
Very good. So it basically automates all of the renewals and lets the customers pay you, or let you know you want to renew... Let you know that they want to renew, at which point you renew; send them an invoice; once it's paid it puts them on the bottom of the list again and waits until their renewal date comes around.

[00:12:59.170] - Taylor
Pretty much.

[00:12:59.950] - Gordon
Yeah. So if you have a similar sort of system or you're looking to get a similar sort of system, then you need to contact Taylor, details will be at the end. And he can create a system for you that will do exactly what his system does and basically create a bit of automation in your business.

[00:13:17.870] - Taylor
It can be really good for saving time if you, I know a lot of tradespeople, they're admin is always not the best because they're always out working, doing jobs, and they don't have the time to normally sit down. I mean, they probably do at the moment. But don't normally have the time to sit down and, you know, sort their admin out fully, working. And so having something automated can be really helpful and beneficial because it's one less thing you need to worry about. And yeah it just...

[00:13:44.010] - Gordon
And he's doing all of this while still trying to be able to see through his hair, due to the fact he can't go and get a haircut.

[00:13:51.150] - Taylor
Yeah. I could do it, I need the back and sides need doing.

[00:13:55.120] - Gordon
Yeah. And some of the fringe. Anyway, I think that's pretty much it for today. Seems like our conversation today was all about automation and bad internet, which don't go hand in hand at all, but anyway. So please, if you are watching this on Facebook, please leave a comment and let us know that you were here. Let us know what you thought of it. If there's any questions you have, let us know, we'll try and answer those. We're also streaming live on YouTube now. Now, we don't have an address yet because you have to have a 100 subscribers before you can get your own vanity URL, or vanity address, so we don't have that yet so the link will be on the page now. So go and join us. If you hit the 'subscribe' button and then the little 'bell' icon that will notify you when we go live next. That's it from me. Thank you so much for joining us. My name's Gordon. You can find me at draysondesign.com.

[00:14:57.420] - Taylor
And I'm Taylor and you can find me at thecreativetinker.com.

[00:15:02.250] - Gordon
So thanks for joining us and we'll see you next week with "This Week With."

[00:15:07.920] - Taylor
Yeah.

[00:15:09.020] - Gordon
Bye bye.

[00:15:09.850] - Taylor
Take care. Bye.