Amy Vaughan:
Hello, everyone, and welcome to our weekly power lounge. This is your place to hear authentic conversations from those who have power to share. My name is Amy Vaughan, and I am the owner and chief empowerment officer of Together Digital, a diverse and collaborative community of women who work in digital and choose to share their knowledge, power, and connections. You can join the movement at togetherindigital.com. And today, I am thrilled to welcome Christi Stafford, CEO and founder of Automation on a Mission. Kinda two of my favorite things, missions and automations. Let’s do this. For over twenty five years, Christi has been transforming how small businesses operate, helping hundreds of entrepreneurs generate millions in revenue through intelligent automated systems.
Amy Vaughan:
If you’re not intrigued yet, I don’t know what you’re doing here. What makes Christie’s approach so powerful is her attract, sell, and wow framework that turns customer journeys into seamless experiences that not only drive revenue but create lasting client relationships. Since founding Automation on a Mission in 2014, she has been on a mission to make entrepreneurship more sustainable, yay for that, by giving business owners back their most precious time. You know what it is. Right? Resources or resources. Time. It’s Friday. Your most precious resource is a resource.
Amy Vaughan:
No. It is time. Christi brings a unique perspective that blends technical expertise with a deep understanding of the human side of business growth. Today, she will share insights on how automation can take your business from surviving to thriving, helping you reclaim time, increase revenue, and, oh my goodness, scale with confidence. I mean, I’m excited. I don’t know about you all. Welcome, Christi, to the Power Lounge. We are thrilled to have you here.
Christi Stafford:
Thank you so much.
Christi Stafford:
I am so excited to be here. I’m I and I loved your own enthusiasm about all this, so I am in good company.
Amy Vaughan:
This is you speaking to my soul. You’re speaking my love language. Like humans, but also automation and time. Like, all of these things, they’re so essential and important to our business, and, you know, we throw the word out of balance far too much. Yeah. But business owners, we put everything into what we do, and sometimes that could be at the expense of ourselves. And it’s just something I don’t ever wanna see because we need our small businesses. So, yes, I’m very much behind the mission and the work that you’re doing, Christina.
Amy Vaughan:
I love that you’re doing it through automation. But before we dive into some automation strategies and nerd out more in that area, I would love for you to share with our listeners what inspired you to create Automation on a Mission, and what were some of the problems that you were seeing that needed solving?
Christi Stafford:
Okay. Well so, you know, you mentioned, you know, over twenty five years doing, you know, systems and things like that. And so I think an important part to sort of point out is that my history came from nonprofit management. So I was doing a ton of stuff in the grassroots nonprofit world where you have to have, you know, like, 10 times more, creative ideas than you have, you know, capabilities to actually execute because you’re the you know, you’re wearing this hat, you’re wearing that hat, and so on and so forth. Like, I can ask for a hundred thousand dollars and then go change the tire on a 15 passenger van all in the same afternoon. So, you know, I think that I kind of hit the adult world early on learning about those things because it had to be, simply in the type of work that I was doing. And I finished a master’s degree, and here’s the God honest truth about how this thing all came to be. I opened a social enterprise in Denver, Colorado called Monkey Bikes Recycling.
Christi Stafford:
It was an amazing experience. I was able to take the business from a place of, you know, asking for money in exchange for warm fuzzies to provide a service and also train our youth and all of these really great things. And I was doing all this alongside building, or I’m sorry, finishing a master’s degree in organizational leadership. So I was specifically studying those things so that I can, you know, do something meaningful with it in the future, except I failed to ask what one does with a master’s degree in organizational leadership. Right. And so I spent two years in school joking about how I was gonna get a job at Google and push the coffee cart and make $85,000 a year, which was, like, twice of what I was making Right. As an executive director. And then I finished the program and realized I had nothing. I had nothing planned.
Christi Stafford:
You know? Like, I’d done all this stuff, and I built this amazing business, inside the nonprofit. And so then it was like, okay. So what do I do? So I literally called the school, and I was like, in hindsight, I should have asked this question beforehand. What does one do? And, like, literally, the idea came from somebody saying, well, you can solve it. And it was kind of like an obvious answer. You know? And so when I launched the business in the very beginning, it was actually designed to be a coaching business. And, it turned out it was like the moth to a flame. I was not interested in waiting for you to have a personal transformation.
Christi Stafford:
I was like, let’s just nip this in the bud, and let’s talk about your systems and your processes. Like, twenty five years of doing it in so many different environments, I was like, I could not do it. So I feel very blessed and fortunate to be one of those people who very clearly cannot do something that I’m not in alignment with, and this is what I was meant to do. Does that make sense?
Amy Vaughan:
Absolutely. I think you know it when you find it. Right? It’s kind of like finding that soulmate walking into the house that, you know, was always meant to be yours. But to your point and what it sounds like in your experience, you kind of had to take the winding road to get there. Right? It takes some time and takes some exploration to figure it out. And then also another part I resonated with was that sometimes you don’t realize, like, the answer right in front of you. You need other people to be like you. You know, this is kind of what your jam is and where your, like, like, zone of genius is.
Christi Stafford:
Right.
Amy Vaughan:
And then you’re like, oh, duh. My god. Because sometimes the most obvious is hard to see.
Christi Stafford:
Yeah. I felt like I was, like, trying to stuff myself into pants that didn’t fit. You know what I mean?
Amy Vaughan:
Like Yeah.
Christi Stafford:
But, also, you can’t wear pants that don’t fit for very long. Right. It was less than, like, a two week period where I was like, okay. This doesn’t feel right in this whole way. How do I find my place as an entrepreneur? And so when I really thought about, like, what is it that I am drawn to? What is it that I see everybody needs? Yes. Eleven years ago, I felt like every business needed automation, including my own, which had a list of two people, my mom and my brother. Uh-huh. And I was like, I’m gonna spend a lot of money to do this, but I know I need it in order to go where I wanna go.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah. There’s so much. This is a benefit, even small businesses with automation. We have a lot of members within the Together Digital community who are small business owners, digital professionals that are juggling a ton of priorities. My next question for you is, what is the first automation opportunity that they should look for when they’re starting to feel overwhelmed? Because sometimes that keeps you from moving at all. Right? That analysis paralysis is a real thing.
Christi Stafford:
So I think you know? And I wanna start not only with, you know, low hanging fruit, but also something that’s easy. Mhmm. And that would be things like making sure that you are automating how people schedule time with you. And the reason why I say that first and foremost is specifically because, number one, it’s 2025. And we are you know, like, if we put ourselves in the position of being the consumer, we want ease. We want an effortless process. So when we’re doing that back and forth thing where, like, I’m free at such and such dates and times and so on and so forth. Right.
Christi Stafford:
You know, so one, it’s a lot easier. And I say that also because I also hear some resistance around, oh, that feels so impersonal. But at the end of the day, your job in your business is to serve your ideal client. And if that’s your goal and you are wasting time doing this back and forth and you lose opportunities. Yes. So take the stress off of your plate. Give somebody an easy way to schedule time with you. Yes.
Christi Stafford:
And then automate those reminders because that’s gonna help you ensure that they show up. Mhmm. You know, like, I got tons of support from you guys to make sure that I knew what I needed to know in order to be prepared for here. So then I did all the homework. You know what I mean? And that’s what we get, and I don’t have to do it. You know. As the person who has those reminders in the background, they are there to serve me so that I can focus on other things and then show up on that call ready to be present and supportive and so on and so forth. It’s so true. Easy.
Amy Vaughan:
I love that. I yeah. Remove the barriers for yourself and for them. That’s such a great point. I will plug for a hot second, you know, Calendly now that they’re paying for it. But, Calendly, if you wanna send us some money, please do. I’m pitching it all the time. You know, a lot of people will use virtual assistants or assistants with calendars and things like that.
Amy Vaughan:
I have used Calendly, and I have created, like, different types of meetings for different types of days to really only allow people to schedule meetings when I want meetings scheduled. Yes. And it’s so much easier to send a link. And then the beautiful thing is afterwards, you can create a whole workflow for follow-up emails to really make sure that you’re hitting those touch points and make sure they have what they need in, like you said, before, during, and after. And so it’s not just creating a better experience for you. It’s creating a better experience for your potential customer. Acuity is another one we’ve used as well. There’s a lot of great automation tools for calendar management.
Amy Vaughan:
I honestly agree with you. I think calendar management is a great one because I think that’s a good place to start. Right? Because we’re trying to make our time more available and efficient. So why not start with the calendar possibly? But, again, like you said, low hanging fruit makes a lot of sense. What are some of the most mundane routine tasks that you’re doing? And really think about, like, how could I make this simpler? How could I automate it? I love it. I love it.
Christi Stafford:
I love it. Well and you said something too that I also wanted to just point out, and that was around when you give people access to you. And so one of the things, especially with women entrepreneurs, we’re not necessarily always the best with our boundaries. So you could set up the boundaries when nobody’s watching, and that’s in your availability. So
Amy Vaughan:
Absolutely. Oh, 100%. Yeah. I have what? I have two days of the week that I take meetings, and it’s like those are my two meeting days. That’s just the way I like to work. And, again, as an entrepreneur, you own your time. It doesn’t own you. And you’re right.
Amy Vaughan:
Nobody can see those boundaries. It’s just they go on my calendar. They find the time that works for them. And, honestly, it has saved me just hours and hours of back and forth. You know? I really do, I really do love it, so I do recommend doing that if you can. Alright. So, also, in some of our material that you were sharing with us before we got on here, you mentioned that most businesses lose leads and miss sales opportunities from a lack of automation? What are some of the most common blind spots you see in the customer journey that could potentially be solved with automation?
Christi Stafford:
So I think I like to think about it as, like, hidden opportunities in your business. And so I wanna introduce this concept of if we think about our customer journey in three buckets, they are the attract bucket, the sell bucket, and the wow bucket. And automation can happen in all three of those phases. And so when we think about it from the hidden opportunity or the potential lost opportunities, it’s things like in that attract stage, what are you doing to make sure that you’re speaking to your ideal client, that you know who that person is, and that when they come into your ecosystem, how do you make sure that they they get the experience that, that they deserve and that they’re expecting? In the selling, sales side, stage, it is looking at, what is your buying process look like? I sorta hinted at this with the calendar piece around friction in the experience. Mhmm. So how easy is it for people to know and understand what it means to work with you? How much does it cost? Can they check out on your website? If they buy on your website, does it work? What happens after they buy? And then in that final stage, how do you deliver value? How do you want to deliver on your promises and continue to make them feel like an amazing, wonderful human being that you’re grateful to have as a part of your ecosystem because the easiest client to acquire is the one that you’ve already Absolutely. Over overcome. And so if we can create new buying experiences, continue to deliver value over time, if they’re happy, they’re not going anywhere else.
Christi Stafford:
You know, they become the raving fans that help us drive business into our world by referring to their friends and their family.
Amy Vaughan:
100%. Yeah. No. I could not echo that enough. Referrals and existing customers. Marketers, we know these are, like, the key people. We need those referrals, especially small businesses. We need those referrals, and we need those testimonials.
Amy Vaughan:
In fact, you got a little shout out from our live listening audience. They love your website, Christi, and your testimonials. So well done. I think oftentimes that’s one very underutilized thing as business owners. It’s like sometimes we feel like we’re bragging, which you ought to be doing, folks. If you’re running your own business, you gotta be believing in yourself more than anybody else. But at the end of the day, having other people speak on your behalf just lends to that level of authenticity, the ability to create trust, and, like you said, referrals, which are so essential to our business. And, you know, the last thing you want to do is lose leads and sales opportunities by, really, like you said, having, like, a poor user experience, and the best way to address that is through automation.
Amy Vaughan:
But let’s talk a little bit about the human element. Because like you said earlier, some people feel like automation is like a cold thing or feels impersonal. How do you balance creating automated systems while maintaining authentic connections with your customers?
Christi Stafford:
Well, I think the first thing is to, I was and I was thinking about this at, like, 06:00 in the morning because I truly do wake up in the morning thinking about these things. You know, there are parts of our business that we can’t and we don’t want to replace ourselves. Mhmm. And so when it comes to the one on one relationship
Amy Vaughan:
Yep.
Christi Stafford:
This can’t be beat. Most people who sign up for Automation on a Mission and when I say most people, I’m talking, like, 95 of people want to see me, meet me, you know, but and and know I’m real and human and all of those things before they become a member of Automation on a Mission. I know that. So I’m not trying to sell you know, like, I’m gonna give people an invitation in the email, but I’m also gonna say, I get it. You probably wanna talk to me. Let’s schedule a conversation. You know what I’m saying? So you can have a personal relationship through automation, but also recognize where you shine and not and don’t take that away from yourself because at the end of the day, you’re just sort of crippling your own experience. And then the other side of that is that automation can be super magical, and this is the thing that I think a lot of people who have not had the opportunity to work with it, underestimate.
Christi Stafford:
It doesn’t need to be generic. It doesn’t need to be sterile. It can feel really personal. Yeah. And all that really it’s not the issue isn’t automation. The issue is messaging and knowing who it is that you’re talking to and making sure that when you’re speaking to those people, that they can really see themselves, you’re picturing them. So my client avatar, her name is Scaling Sarah, and I visualize her. And she looks an awful lot like all of my clients.
Christi Stafford:
So when I am calling out the struggles of business owners, I’m pulling from real life experiences. I can talk about those in my automated emails, and that’s gonna really bring home that personal connection that they’re building. And I wrote that email five months ago.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah.
Christi Stafford:
And it’s just you’re hitting it now because this is where you are in my automated customer journey.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah. I think that’s a great, great point as you’re working through automation, paying close attention to your messaging and really keeping your customer in mind, making them the hero, making it about them, the problems you’re trying to solve because then you’re always going to be relevant. And, again, they’re gonna be like, oh my gosh. How does she know me so well? It doesn’t feel like an automated message. Right? Because you’ve done the research and you’ve taken the time. You’re right. I think some people might kind of just jump into the process of automation and just think, well, I’m just gonna write a nice little template here, and I’m just gonna make it as vanilla and bland as possible. It’s like, no.
Amy Vaughan:
Make it personable. You know, I was at Content Marketing World. It was two years ago now, and, there was a a team, a duo, a guy and a gal who did, a fantastic talk on your newsletter and your first opening welcome email and how, like, it’s like email marketing is a relationship, but it’s not like you’re gonna go and propose to them at the first email. But then why as marketers do we try to propose to people on the first email? I thought it was such a
Christi Stafford:
Or the second one.
Amy Vaughan:
Right? I thought it was such a fun analogy, but what they really talked about was, you know, asking the new, you know, email list member, what is it that you hope to get out of this?
Christi Stafford:
Yeah.
Amy Vaughan:
What are you looking for? How can I help you? How can we make this the most valuable email you receive every week?
Christi Stafford:
I like that.
Amy Vaughan:
And I was like, I love that. I added a question like that to ours, and we actually get responses from people for our welcome emails. And I’m like, whoever replies to a welcome email? That’s awesome. And it’s an automated thing. It’s just that as soon as they sign up, it just goes straight to their inbox. So I agree with you. Like, there’s a lot to be had when you understand your audience and work your messaging in the right way that automation doesn’t even feel like automation on the other end for sure. I love it.
Amy Vaughan:
Alright. You have helped businesses generate millions of revenue through automation, snaps to that. Can you share a success story where a simple automation tweak helped to create some kind of impact?
Christi Stafford:
Yeah. You know, I have lots of fun stories, but I think, in light of, you know, who we most often serve today, I’ll share, you know, from our ideal client pool. So we worked with a human design expert for several years, and she was amazing at selling, on this webinar schedule that she was running. Like, she could be, like, at the last minute, yep. I’m gonna do it on such and such a date, and she’d have 300 people registered by the end of that afternoon. That’s fine. And then she would sell a $15,000 program.
Amy Vaughan:
Mhmm.
Christi Stafford:
And she was really, inspirational in that moment. But then when they paid, nothing happened. And it was essentially like chaos behind the scenes. Yeah. And so nobody ever complained. Nobody ever, you know, gave up on the program, but they also didn’t renew. And so the issue, you know, that I saw here is this amazing program. I do believe that you’re delivering tangible results, but the issue is how do they see it? How do they make that connection? And so what we did was we immediately built a new client, new member customer onboarding experience that helped them understand what’s the value of the program that you just signed up for, helping make that emotional connection to the big ticket items so there’s no buyer’s remorse afterwards.
Christi Stafford:
And that sort of spread out over time. We created a regular, reminder series around when she had, you know, teaching classes, when there were, you know, private coaching opportunities, making sure that they were actually doing the things that they paid for because, you know, the further away you get, the less likely they are to do that. Mhmm. And then at that nine month mark, we started a reminder series, for the coaches to let them know, hey. So and so is getting ready to come up for renewal.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah.
Christi Stafford:
And for the client themselves, starting to, like, let’s look back. Let’s reflect on where you came from. Where are you today? How does transformation feel? And sort of warming them up to this idea if you’re about ready to make another really big decision. What does this look like for you? So when the coach had the conversation about renewal, it wasn’t a surprise. They’re not coming in disappointed, disgruntled, you know, etcetera, etcetera. So they already felt, and could see their own success and joy, and so they were more readily saying yes to so we drastically improved their conversion rate to that second opportunity. So, again, it was all about how she showed value to her existing clients instead of always having to go fish in a new pond
Amy Vaughan:
Oh my gosh. Yeah.
Christi Stafford:
After a new set of clients.
Amy Vaughan:
That is a fantastic example. So easy. You actually gave me some ideas. I like the reflection. Like, look at how far you’ve come, or do you still have so far to go? Like, why give up now? Why and because I think sometimes, again, like, automation mind comes into play, and you’re like, nope. You’re lapsing. You’re it’s ending. You know, these kinds of things instead, like, how do you kind of bring them back into the story of why they were there, what they had hoped to achieve, and why they maybe need to stay on and continue.
Amy Vaughan:
Because, yeah, I can imagine. That’s a pretty big ticket price there to then, like, kinda just leave them high and dry, give them all this love and attention to then they fork over, you know,
Christi Stafford:
their money. Yeah.
Amy Vaughan:
5 figures, and then you’re like, k. Well, thanks for the money. And then, like, kinda crickets. Like, you want to feel seen and heard. I think especially when you’re dealing with those kinds of programs. I don’t. I love I’m a human design nerd as well, by the way. We’ve had a whole podcast episode just on that a while back if you ever wanna go back and listen Okay. To Diamond’s episode.
Christi Stafford:
Do you mind if I say so? So please. One of the things that we teach our community is prospects are people.
Amy Vaughan:
Yes.
Christi Stafford:
And, and so one of the things that’s really helpful, when you’re thinking about your own process is to put yourself in the shoes of or in the seat of your client, of your customer. And so I want you to think back to the last time you got billed for something on an annual basis Yeah. And they didn’t tell you that the payment was coming and how pissed off or angry you were. Mhmm. And it’s like, that could have been avoided. Yeah. You could have you know, number one, talk to me sometime in eleven and a half months Yeah. From the time I purchased, but also, like, giving me a heads up, and then I could make an educated decision.
Christi Stafford:
Do I wanna stay on? Yeah. But, you know, what we’re trying to do is avoid that shock feeling. We want them to feel valued. We want them to continue on because, you know, this is just the beginning. You know?
Amy Vaughan:
Right. Well and with that kind of a business model, like you said, it’s gonna cost you 10 times as much to go fish and find a new person than it is to keep an existing one. So you should be doing everything you can to keep those existing and maintain that retention. I wholeheartedly agree. I love it. This is so, like, all my jam. I’m liking this. Alright.
Christi Stafford:
I feel like you and I drink from the same punch list. So
Amy Vaughan:
We do. We gotta hang out some more after this. As we all know, the digital landscape, it’s always changing and ever faster and faster, it seems. So have you advised business businesses to future proof their automation systems as newer technologies seem to be just popping up everywhere?
Christi Stafford:
Well, so I would say, first and foremost to your point that technology is popping up everywhere. So our system is an all in one tech platform that we build, create, serve our ideal clients in, and we automate their customer journey. Right. But I also say to them, yes. These technologies could be a dime a dozen. It’s really about the time and energy you’re willing to put into that.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah.
Christi Stafford:
And to that point, in terms of how do you future proof your business in, not I would say being agile, recognizing you know, even if you said I’m gonna change from, you know, this technology to this technology, there’s time energy involved with that. Yeah. What does support look like to get you there? But the other important thing that I wanna point out is that I think that when automation started to become a more common thing to even small businesses, it was sold to people with this idea of setting it and forgetting it. Mhmm. And I think that there were huge lost opportunities simply in that mindset because what you should be doing with that is automate as much of your business as you realistically can and then go back and start to optimize. Because what automation is doing for you is it’s helping you create consistency in every stage of the customer journey, And then you can go back and look at the data. What does the data say in terms of what’s working and what’s not and fix it. So, for example, our onboarding process, so when a new person becomes an Automation on the Mission member, we’re on version six point o in three years. And the reason why is because when we fix, you know, the latest things that feel like friction in our process, whether it’s for the client or for our team, it exposes the next layer.
Christi Stafford:
You know what I mean? And so, you know, from the fall of last year to the spring of this year, my team has cut six six weeks out of the onboarding process.
Amy Vaughan:
Wow. That’s amazing. Good for you all.
Christi Stafford:
And then and the only reason that that happened was, number one, a willingness to devote the time Yep. And a critical eye to say, this isn’t perfect. How can I make it better?
Amy Vaughan:
Yes. Yeah. It’s more agile than that. Right? It’s, like, constantly looking for improvement and being willing and open to change and being flexible because, ultimately, yeah, you have to keep automation. I agree with you. It’s a good point. It’s not a set it and forget it. It is you know, it’s just to keep in mind that it needs to be optimized from time to time to kind of be at its peak and to really do what it is, doing what you want to do.
Amy Vaughan:
Because I was even thinking, you know, we’ve both been kinda talking in the membership space, but, like, I wonder if you could give some examples for, like, you know, people who are providing either services or selling products.
Christi Stafford:
In terms, can you clarify the question?
Amy Vaughan:
Of, like, what ways and they would like, automation might benefit them, or what are some examples of ways in which automation has kinda come in and really help them gain additional revenue or sales Yeah. When maybe they might have left them high and dry without any automation process or follow-up?
Christi Stafford:
Okay. So let’s go back to those three buckets that I talked about, attract, sell, and wow. So in the attractive stage, my favorite automation is a long term nurture. And a long term nurture can start as big or as small as you want, and I and I wanted to point that out because as soon as I talk about days, weeks, months, years, people start to hibernate. And the goal is just to start. And every time you write a new email, pack it in there. But the purpose of that is it really helps make sure that you are building that relationship. You’re not going from, hi.
Christi Stafford:
My name is Christie and will you marry me overnight.
Amy Vaughan:
Right.
Christi Stafford:
And you’re also creating an environment where you are saying, I’m open. I’m here, and I’m ready whenever you are Yes. Instead of saying, buy my stuff now. And when they don’t buy, you feel like you are a terrible business person. So in the attractive stage, long term nurture. I love it. In the selling stage, I think I would. It’s truly a tie, especially because different businesses have different methodologies for how they sell. Some can productize and offer, you know, pricing, checkout, and all that stuff on their website, whereas others need, you know, estimates and, you know, custom pricing.
Christi Stafford:
Whenever possible, I always recommend productize, productize, productize, productize because it reduces the friction in the buying experience. Yep. But, really, what I would say my favorite would be what happens after they buy. Mhmm. How do you make sure that that process is nailed down with automation? Because, again, it’s all about making sure that they get the best experience possible and you get the best experience possible. And you know so, like, I know every single person who signs up for automation automation gets the exact same experience. And you can’t tell me you didn’t get such and such email because if you’re in the automation, you got it. Now we just gotta go find it.
Christi Stafford:
Yeah. So there’s that consistency piece. And then in the wow stage, it’s about that, and my favorite would be okay. So my favorite automation is and we separate this out into three. So I think of satisfaction surveys, testimonials, and referrals. And the reason why I break those up is because I have found working with a lot of diverse clients and a lot of women that there was apprehension about asking for testimonials and referrals. And so the concern was, well, what if they’re not happy? And so my reaction to that is, don’t you wanna know?
Amy Vaughan:
Don’t you wanna know? I’m not happy. You need the feedback.
Christi Stafford:
So are we you know, we have an automation now that goes out before you ever ask for a testimonial, and it’s essentially just two emails. Thumbs up, thumbs in the middle, thumbs down. Yep. It takes your reader two seconds to pick the right, you know, emoji. And then depending on how they answer, and this is the amazing thing of automation, if you push the happy button, then it triggers a request for a testimonial and a referral. If you push the neutral button or an unhappy person, then it gives the owner a notification. Hey. You might have some problems that you wanna address, and how amazing is that they’re giving you a chance to fix it.
Christi Stafford:
Yeah. So that would be my favorite in that stage.
Amy Vaughan:
I love it, and I love that example. I do think that it is sometimes scary asking for feedback, and then people are like, oh, feedback is a gift, and you’re like, But it is true because it all depends on how you spin it. Right? So we just recently did some past, you know, lapsed member surveys and conversations, and we happened to find a member who was like, I’m semi retired, and I’m on a fixed income. I love the community. I still do some of the work. I’m still working a bit, but it’s just it’s not within my budget anymore. And so we created a retiree legacy leader membership type so that these women who still wanna give back to community, wanna learn from community, be in community, have the opportunity, and it doesn’t take it away from them just because they happen to have their regular income changed. And because, again, it’s like it’s that depth and breadth of, you know, diversity within the community that makes it so rich.
Amy Vaughan:
But it was like, just think about that. Every time you’re asking for feedback, you’re asking for an opportunity to actually improve on what you’re doing already. Absolutely. Yeah. So while I know it’s hard, you know, we do surveys every year too, and I’m always, like, a little gut in my tummy. I was, like, all tight, and I’m like, oh, what are they gonna say? You know? We all take the feedback so personally, but, again, look at it as that opportunity. So I love that you encourage that, and I do think that is definitely one of those places that leads into the next question nicely, of when you’re looking to retain. You know, often retention gets overlooked in prioritization of acquisition, I guess, because it’s sexier.
Amy Vaughan:
I don’t know. I never quite understood it myself. What automated processes have you found most effective for keeping clients coming back?
Christi Stafford:
I think it really depends on the type of business. So I will share an example of human design. And, can I tell another short story?
Amy Vaughan:
Oh, I love it. We love the stories. Bring them.
Christi Stafford:
So here’s another, very different kind of business. So I worked with a whole bunch of different master spa dealers for several years. And when I had an opportunity to visit a master spa dealer in Ohio Mhmm. And they had a brick and mortar store, and we were building out solutions for their business. And he said, my customers are transactional customers. And I was like, okay. Well, what do you mean by that? And he said, well, you know, we deliver a $50,000 swim spa, and then we never hear from them again unless there’s a problem. And then I’m like, why? What kind of problems do they have? And he said, cloudy water.
Christi Stafford:
Cloudy water is a party stopper. I’ll never forget that thing because I was like, that is I had this picture of, like, Super Bowl Sunday. You got the wings and the beans, and your water’s dirty, and nobody’s gonna get in there. And, and so but but the irony of it was I was I I was in his physical space that was covered wall to wall of chemicals, filters, and smelly goods. And I’m like, why aren’t you selling those? And he said that, you know, the business goes elsewhere. They go to this online store to order their products. And I was like, well, I mean, we could solve that problem. And so I also had learned that you don’t buy a hot tub and take it home in the back of your car.
Christi Stafford:
It’s a multi week process. And so during that time, the first thing we did was we automated what happens from the time they buy to the time their hot tub is delivered. And all the content was about preparing your space, helping you understand permitting, making sure that you have the right kind of electrical outlets, all this kind of stuff. And did they need it? Maybe a few of them, but, really, what it was was helping them understand you didn’t just take $50,000 of their money and run away with it.
Christi Stafford:
It’s helping them understand you’re actively working on their project, etcetera, etcetera. And then after the hot tub was delivered or the swim spa was delivered, it was all about how to maximize the use of said hot tub. These are the health benefits. How do you do exercise? By the way, did you do it? You could buy this little floaty thing that you could put your snacks in, all that kind of stuff. And then we went one step further. We already know what you bought. So we know what schedule you need filters and chemicals. Like, let’s use that information Genius.
Christi Stafford:
To automate reminders. And so it went from just a little bit of value around how to get the most out of it to let’s help you proactively avoid the problem that they hear about to let’s help you create a subscription program. So rather than waiting until, you know, a couple of days before every single time, let’s save you money with a subscription program, you’ll have your filters and your chemicals on your doorstep before you even need them. And I’m telling you overnight, tens of thousands of dollars. And when and and one of the cool things about getting to and this is what my my my, my message around niche down is I served about a dozen different master spa dealers, and they all got along really well and shared and collaborated. So when I built it for one, we could take it and put it in another business and another biz and so not only was it tens of thousands of dollars for one store, it was tens of thousands of dollars for all of the other master spa stores. And, you know and so and and the moral of the story is deliver value. And the last piece that I will say about all of this is I wish that I could buy from the first guy.
Christi Stafford:
Uh-huh. When we were moving into this house, I wanted a hot tub. And I went to my I. They’re in Ohio, and I’m in Colorado, so that wasn’t gonna. But I went to my friend and said, hey. I know you have a hot tub. Where’d you buy it from? And it had only been a year previous that she bought it, and she had no idea who she bought it from.
Amy Vaughan:
Tell you something, the relationship. It’s like, it is transactional at that point. But, yeah, how can you take that trade, purchase and make it more relational than just transactional? Yeah.
Christi Stafford:
And that pups up for her wasn’t the value. The value was what they could have done. Like, the experience was so unmemorable. She had no idea who she made a sizable investment with.
Amy Vaughan:
That’s impressive. It tells you something, doesn’t it? Yeah. Oh, that’s such a great story and example. Oh, yeah. No. We love our stories here. So you just keep on bringing them. We don’t mind it at all, especially, like, those kinds of case studies and examples because it really, again, can be applicable across so many different types of businesses as well.
Amy Vaughan:
That’s what’s so amazing. Yeah. For business owners who might be hesitant about automation or maybe fearing it’s too technical or too impersonal like we touched on earlier, what perspective shifts would you suggest for them?
Christi Stafford:
You don’t have to do everything. Mhmm. I would say start small.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah.
Christi Stafford:
And, and like I said before early on, like, just start with one thing and let that one thing take something off of your plate. And then, you know, maybe, but I think the most important piece about all of that is that just because you have automation doesn’t mean that you have to have it in every part of your business. Absolutely. I have our system integrated with QuickBooks. Mhmm. I do not integrate my system with QuickBooks. Do I tell our clients they can? Absolutely. And for me, that’s just one area that I want a little bit more access to, a little bit more manual control, and I’m okay with that.
Christi Stafford:
And that might change. But to that point, you don’t have to do everything. And so if you’re feeling like it’s an all or nothing kind of thing, start small, pick one thing at a time.
Amy Vaughan:
Mhmm. Yeah. No. Again, I think that’s always the best way to start. Right? Baby steps. Yep. One little thing at a time. Rue is jumping into the chat with our live listening audience.
Amy Vaughan:
She says that she loves that you mentioned checking for the friction and the client experience. Speaking of that, I remember this platform, which we’re on, by the way, Riverside. She loves it. Glad that you love it. Requires Chrome or Edge browser. This led to a bit of confusion and error messaging when she tried to join this webinar today from Firefox. So, yeah, thanks for the feedback, Rue. We love to hear that.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah. And you’re not the first person to mention it. And then their online web platform is also kinda heinous. So, yeah, Riverside, if you’re listening, we got feedback for you. But it is about that experience. Right? Because you want people to show up. And if they’re having problems and struggling to log in, then it is a pain in the butt. But we also have automated emails that go out to remind people two hours ahead of time, ten minutes beforehand, that we’re like, we’re waiting for you right now.
Amy Vaughan:
So people hopefully start to try to get on early in case they need to log in extra things, but it is that. It is that attention to detail and friction. I think, like you said and mentioned earlier, even in our, like, podcast guessing process, we try to alleviate and remove a lot of the friction by, you know, listening out. Here’s kind of what you need to do to prepare. Here’s how you need to show up so that it is easier for you, and you can just show up and not be, like, you know I mean, I don’t know. You’re doing fantastic. It sounds like you just sit around and talk on a podcast all day every day. But, yeah, some people come on.
Amy Vaughan:
They’re like, ah. You know?
Christi Stafford:
Sometimes they get really excited, and I get a little bouncy. So I’m really proud of myself that I’m sitting still.
Amy Vaughan:
You’re still? You can bounce around. That’s alright. But yeah. No. It definitely helps. You know, even when we’re doing, like, in person events, we have learned just really making sure that people know and and and can see and understand where they’re meant to be, what time, what to expect, because it does reduce a certain level of anxiety for people as well because you want people to show up and be present for the impending event. So there’s definitely so many ways, you know, outside of just even our business that you could think of to kind of make automation. So Laura did have a question from our live listening audience.
Amy Vaughan:
She says she notices that you have an affiliate program. How many affiliates are in your ecosystem?
Christi Stafford:
That’s a great question. Yeah. So I would guess probably between 75 and a hundred.
Amy Vaughan:
Wow.
Christi Stafford:
And Awesome. The reason that I would estimate that is because that’s the number of members that we have in our system. Yeah. So anytime somebody becomes a client or a member of Automation on a Mission, our automation automatically adds them to the affiliate program. So our private member only community gives them access to all kinds of content and things like that as well as an affiliate dashboard. So they get a custom link if they want to sell our program, or refer business, they can, and they can watch their own dollars and cents, you know. So smart. You know, generate through there. And then we do have, you know, folks that are not a good fit for one reason or another in their own business, but they love what we do, and so they share, you know, so they get added as well.
Christi Stafford:
I will never tell somebody they can’t sell it to me.
Amy Vaughan:
I know. Right?
Christi Stafford:
Oh, you wanna spread the word, please?
Amy Vaughan:
Right? Yes. Make it easy for them. Make it easy. That’s a great question to ask yourself too, business owners. How can I make it easier for my existing customers to sell for me? You know, whether that’s a referral program or an easy way to share your services or an easy way to discount their sharing, like, that’s always a great way to go. I love the live listening audience. You’re super engaged today, which means, you know, we must be doing good, Christi. Yeah.
Amy Vaughan:
So I got a couple more questions for you, but the live listening audience, you know, you keep the questions coming too. You are absolutely a part of this conversation and why we do this and why we’re here, so don’t be shy. Looking ahead, Christi, what excites you the most about the future of business automation, and how do you see it evolving for small businesses in particular?
Christi Stafford:
Okay. So, first thing, I have to give a confession. I was really excited about this question.
Amy Vaughan:
Yay.
Christi Stafford:
So I I I’m I am type a
Amy Vaughan:
Mhmm.
Christi Stafford:
Or a minus. And I say that because there are parts of my business and my life that I’m all about structure and setting things up in advance, etcetera. And then there’s plenty of things that I am also flying by the seat of my pants. And so one of the things that I see happening is we’re seeing more and more about AI getting put into anything and everything. Obviously, the work that we do is going to be hugely impacted by AI. Absolutely. I am very excited for the point in time where I can go in and say, I need an automation that does this, this, this, and this, and it just whips it out, and I don’t have to take an hour to build it. Mhmm.
Christi Stafford:
Because then my fly by I mean, and maybe it won’t serve me super well because I’m already a little too fly by the seat of my pants sometimes. But at the same time, I think so for me, I I love that I I I see that coming, and I see it happening very soon.
Amy Vaughan:
Mhmm.
Christi Stafford:
But I also think about the struggles that I’ve watched our clients experience in learning. And one of us made a big shift last year. We went from offering our program as a DIY solution with a course to doing the setup for our clients. And, and the reason why we made that change was because we were seeing that they weren’t getting it. And as much as they tried, as much as they wanted to learn, as much as they showed up for our live q and a calls, participated in our training, the learning was happening. It was just happening slowly. And, what I felt was a sense of responsibility. Like, this is not where you need to be spending your time.
Christi Stafford:
Yeah. And so I could see AI coming in with a bigger presence in how we run our technology so that rather than having to do all these things Yep. We can tell AI what we want and need it to do, and it will do it for us.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah. I agree. I’m a huge fan and super kind of nerding out right now on AI agents and workflows. Yeah. Because workflows are definitely, I think, that next phase, that next step, in kind of creating those automated multi step tasks instead of just, like, a singular task, which actually leads into Betty’s question very nicely. So thanks, Betty, for sharing your question. Zapier is very popular. We use it for a lot of things.
Amy Vaughan:
Zaps, man. They feel like magic sometimes. Does a lot of automation. She has found it, though, to be a little buggy. I don’t disagree depending on what it’s trying to integrate with. Are there any other automation tools you have used or have found reliable?
Christi Stafford:
Okay. So I wanna break that question down if that’s okay. Please. So, Zapier actually has Zapier as an element of automation. So it’s my job I like to say and I’ve been saying this for a decade now, and I do this. Zapier is me, and it’s shaking hands with different systems. And so to that point and I can’t believe I’m defending Zapier because they all submit sometimes make me wanna pull my hair out. Uh-huh.
Christi Stafford:
But they are Zapier’s gonna do as good of a job as the people who develop the solution. So Zapier doesn’t write for Calendly or DocuSign. They just create the environment for these two companies to come together. Yeah. And so, you know, and and I’ll use DocuSign, and I I don’t mean to sort of diss them, but I’ll use DocuSign as a good example of the imperfection there. When DocuSign first created their solution with Zapier, they were like, yeah. We integrate with Zapier. Yeah.
Christi Stafford:
If you have more than one contract in DocuSign, it does not work because it will just willy nilly pick whichever it didn’t have the sophistication to say, I want this contract versus this contract. So and that’s not on Zapier to solve that problem. That’s on DocuSign. Yep. So that’s the piece that I would say about that. But in terms of how Zapier has an integration tool, other there’s, make, and I think more and more products are becoming more user friendly with just using webhooks in lieu of Zapier. So, you can just sort of skip the middleman and just go straight from connecting point a to point b. And then if it’s okay to do a plug for our system
Amy Vaughan:
Sure.
Christi Stafford:
You know, our Automation on a Mission is all the technology that you need to run your business online. And so when you have, your calendaring and your ecommerce and your website and your CRM and your emails and your automations and your membership and courses all under one roof, you don’t need Zapier. You don’t need Yeah. Somebody to say, hey. Forms talk to, you know, CRM, for example. You can build all of that all in the same place. And you can use, you know, some or all of it. Mhmm.
Christi Stafford:
But, you know, the fewer places that you have to make connections, the fewer things that you risk breaking down, the fewer things that you have to troubleshoot, you know, something I was with Keap for a very long time. Mhmm. Keap has three different integration solutions with Zapier. And I’m like, okay, well, pick your poison. Which one’s gonna work today? So
Amy Vaughan:
Right. That is such a fantastic point, Chrissy. I 110% agree. Zapier is kind of that conduit between that makes the connection, but depending on how it’s integrated, how it’s integrated into the other software. I’ve definitely found that where it’s just more limiting or things don’t work quite the same because it’s you’re asking one software to talk to another software and then be that go between. And so oftentimes, it’s not necessarily Zapier. Sometimes it is the setup.
Amy Vaughan:
Sometimes it is the software that you’re trying the pieces of software you’re trying to get to talk. Right. And it sounds crazy y’all, but I have actually also used AI to be tech support for me to help me if I could find that, like, setting up a Zap isn’t working quite that so well. And I’ll tell you, it keeps defaulting me back to just making, like, build like, creating webhooks and things like that. So I’ve all of a sudden learned how to do that.
Christi Stafford:
And what you’re doing is you’re getting a layer underneath of Zapier. Yeah. Zapier just makes all of that pretty. So
Amy Vaughan:
It’s just a nice pretty interface. Also, Dan, included, System IO. He says it’s a lot of, built in inbuilt automation tools, including CRM, email marketing, and website courses. So, yeah, those are some good solutions as well as alternatives. So thanks for that. Yeah. And then as I mentioned earlier, live listeners, there’s some links to the chat. If you want to meet up with Christi to talk more about these awesome things, there’s a link to her calendar above, and then I’ve also linked her website.
Amy Vaughan:
We’ll be sure to include those in the show notes as well. Alright. Keep the questions in the comments coming to live listeners. We’re gonna move into the final few questions, which is our power round. This is just a fun kind of quick hit set of questions that we’ve got for you, Christie. One of my questions that I had for you was email sequences or chatbots. Which automation tool delivers the biggest ROI for most businesses do you think?
Christi Stafford:
I’m gonna start with email sequences, and I feel fearful to say that answer because I do feel like it might date me a little bit. Like, I don’t want technology to leave me behind.
Amy Vaughan:
Sure.
Christi Stafford:
But here’s what I will say about chatbots. I think they’re incredible. Mhmm. I think that the potential is huge. Yes. And unless you have the time, and the technical know-how to really make sure that your chatbot is getting your voice and your brand and is going to behave themselves, then I would say, you know, like, be really mindful of them. And, as a quick example, we have a chatbot. It is presently turned off because it was trying to sell Automation on a Mission to our clients.
Christi Stafford:
And so I was like, okay. Great job. A little too ambitious, and we need to, like, tone you down a little bit. So, she is turned off until further notice. So,
Amy Vaughan:
Fair enough. You know? And there’s still something to be said. I mean, I don’t know. Email marketing, man, it’s been a big conversation lately with, you know, with platforms, like, within social media shifting. That is like my friend Lucretia says you are renting that house. You do not own that house. Yeah.
Amy Vaughan:
You own your email list. Yeah.
Amy Vaughan:
All of these properties, x Facebook, Twitter what was Twitter, I guess, and Instagram, all those things, LinkedIn. I mean, it’s just so volatile right now. I think there’s a lot to be said for that email automation and building and establishing that relationship, building the trust, etcetera. And for those of you
Christi Stafford:
And it’s still the cheapest.
Amy Vaughan:
It is. Right. Yeah.
Christi Stafford:
The cheapest marketing strategy.
Amy Vaughan:
Absolutely. It’s very, very underappreciated. And, I was getting ready to say, we haven’t had her on the podcast yet. I was going back through my episodes going, where’s the link to Lauren’s podcast episode? She actually just did a master class on chatbots and automation and, you know, not automation, but, like, creating and building chatbots. That’s what her business does. So members, if you haven’t checked it out yet, jump into our digital IQ master class, channel on Slack, and you can kind of go back through and see the whole series of our master class videos. But, I mean, she almost broke my brain with that master class talking about chat box chat boxes and their capabilities, but I agree with you. Like, you know, you and based on what she shared, you know, I’m like, oh, if you if you’re gonna do this, you have to do it right.
Amy Vaughan:
Because like what you were saying earlier, customer experience is everything and maintaining, retaining, keeping them, generating that additional revenue. So you could say it’s much like AI. It can be if you’re not careful and you don’t do it well and you aren’t thorough about it, it can backfire. So I am still aligned with you. I don’t think that age is us. I just think so. It just makes us wise, Christie.
Christi Stafford:
And I and as time passes, it’s going to get better and better and easier for that. And mine is only turned off long enough for me to figure out what I need to do to have it be a little bit more discerning about who it’s moving that conversation forward.
Amy Vaughan:
Happy to connect you and Lauren if you’d like. She’s a little firecracker, man. She’s a blast.
Christi Stafford:
Yeah. I would love that, actually.
Amy Vaughan:
Okay. I will. I will.
Christi Stafford:
I’m interested in that. Thank you.
Amy Vaughan:
I’m always down for making those good connections. Yeah. She’s great. Wonderful. And then alright. My next one is, oh, what’s one business task that should never be automated?
Christi Stafford:
And I would say that it’s possible that not everybody will agree with me, but I kinda hinted at this with the affiliate stuff. Or, I’m sorry, QuickBooks Mhmm. Payments. Money out of the business, in my opinion, shouldn’t be automated. I wanna know. You know? Like, it could be something as simple as you think a subscription has been canceled and it hasn’t. I want to pay out my affiliate program. I wanna pay my bills, things like that.
Christi Stafford:
You know, like and that’s not because that’s to me, that’s not the same as autopay. Autopay is a different setup and arrangement altogether. But it comes up often with our clients around, how do I automate paying the affiliate commissions? And I’m like, I think you probably number one, you can’t in our system. And number two, I think you should be grateful for that because you wanna know whether or not somebody got credit for a sale that maybe didn’t belong having that, you know, for one reason or another.
Amy Vaughan:
I love it. It’s a great example. Alright. Complete this sentence. Good automation is like a good assistant because?
Christi Stafford:
She shows up on time. She’s never late. She never takes snow days, and she always does the best quality work that you’ve told her to do.
Amy Vaughan:
Right? Hey. So I agree. There’s a lot less
Christi Stafford:
And it doesn’t have to be a she, but mine’s name is Scalise Harris, so that’s it.
Amy Vaughan:
That’s right. I love that. I like the alliteration. I like the alliteration there. That’s amazing. Yeah. You’re so right. They can’t take a sick day.
Amy Vaughan:
And, you know, and if there’s any human error, it’s yours. So there’s nobody else to blame. Alright. My last question for you is, what is your go to respond when clients say, but my business is too unique for automation?
Christi Stafford:
Your business might be unique, but your automation is designed to be custom tailored around your business. So we figure out what we can automate in your business, and we go from there. So, again, we start with step one. And a lot of times, you know, when I talk to clients, I tell them I’m super nosy, and so I’m gonna get in under the hood of your business, and I’m gonna poke around and find you know, like, I love finding things that people do with paper, and I’m like, yeah. We’re gonna eliminate that. Oh, okay. You know? So it really doesn’t matter how special you think your business is. Mhmm.
Christi Stafford:
The intention is that automation isn’t cookie cutter. So, yes, you can use, you know, these sort of themed solutions , but the experience gets built around what you need in your business because it’s really for you.
Amy Vaughan:
Yep. Exactly. I love it. Fantastic answer. Christi, thank you so much for all of these amazing insights. Very actionable on creating seamless customer journeys through automation. You have definitely shown us how to work smarter, not harder. One of my favorite sayings, I don’t care how old it gets for our listeners.
Amy Vaughan:
You can find this recording on YouTube. We’ve got a channel with all of this and all of our past podcast episodes, so be sure to check it out and subscribe. Connect with Christi on LinkedIn or at her website, automationonamission.com. And remember, even small automations can create a powerful ripple effect in your business, so don’t be shy. Don’t be afraid of it. And don’t miss next week’s Power Lounge, Friday, April eleventh, when we welcome financial therapists. We’re just, like, we’re just we’re just solving all the world’s problems, all of our small business models.
Christi Stafford:
That. Yeah.
Amy Vaughan:
Right? With Cara, cost weight, brittle, she is going to help us explore how our Enneagram type influences our relationship with money. I know we talked about human design. Now we’re talking about Enneagram. See, you’re in good company. Yeah. I love it. Share some insights from her book on healing financial trauma and shifting from scarcity to empowerment. So another great conversation lined up for next week.
Amy Vaughan:
Christi, thank you so much for being here with us and, you know, talking to our amazing community. If you’re not a member yet of Together Digital, check us out togetherindigital.com. If you are looking for the opportunity to get more content like this, connections, conversations that are definitely gonna move you and your business forward. Again, Christi, I can’t thank you enough. This is like food for my soul. I’m such an automation nerd. I don’t know why I’m this way, but it’s good to be in good company.
Christi Stafford:
We can’t help it. Right? We can’t help it.
Amy Vaughan:
Nope. It’s all good. Alright. Thank you all so much for being here with us today. Thank you, live listeners, for all your engagement and amazing questions. We appreciate you as well. Until then, keep asking, keep giving, and keep growing. We’ll see you all next week.
Christi Stafford:
Bye. Thanks.
