Ep3 Stephanie Bonnie – Is a Website Necessary?

Urban Renstrom

Welcome to the “Yeah, I’m taking notes” show with Urban Renstrom. My guest today is Stephanie Bonnie. Stephanie from Stebbington.com, which is let’s call it a Six Sigma for construction companies with a smile.

And I’ll let her talk about that a little bit more as we get into the show.

But what caught my attention first about Stephanie is that she’s a website expert, and that’s what I wanted to have her come on, the show in chat and said I have a next project that I’m working on also.

Urban Renstrom

And can we talk about that also? Of course, we can welcome Stephanie.

Stephanie Bonnie

Thank you. Thank you for having me on you’re very welcome.

Urban Renstrom

You’re very welcome. And so why did you start what brought you in the direction of doing web design and websites? Because going in, you know.

Is a Website Necessary in the world of Social Media?

Stephanie Bonnie

The pandemic, because a lot of people that I was working with my clients to my initial business Acolyte, I found that they weren’t online. They didn’t have any kind of online person. I mean, some of them might have had a profile on Facebook or even LinkedIn. They weren’t utilising it. And then when we looked further, they didn’t even have a website. And if they did have a website, it wasn’t being found it they weren’t getting any lead, no return of investment. And I don’t agree with it.

Stephanie Bonnie

So with covid happening, of course, everyone needs to be online in the first place. You look if you’re looking for a service or product, Google. So you need a website exactly on your phone. And that’s the other thing website. They need to be usable on the phone as well. Phone friendly. You’ve got to be on the phone. So I realise that that like that these people kind of need some help. And I teamed up with Spear Marketing, who designed websites. And the tagline is making websites that make you money while you sleep.

Stephanie Bonnie

And that’s what like these websites, they come now with standard additional security. Because of all the cyber-attacks, we get a year of hosting and full support with each website and just low added value, including the coding for lead generation within the SEO. Of course, everyone has to be SEO.  So that’s yeah, got into it. Really. And the websites that are affordable, because that was the other thing, I’m seeing people being charged big money, and they will just not getting the return of investments.

Stephanie Bonnie

So that’s what it’s about keeping these small businesses alive by making sure that we have a website that’s working for them.

Urban Renstrom

Yeah. Where is it? Obviously, I have the statistic written down somewhere, but it’s like the majority of searches on Google are for local businesses. Here’s a plumber name or your restaurant near me. Whereas the personal trainer exactly. Of all searches are local and for local that’s within 15 kilometres, 10 miles, 15K of your own house is what people are searching for. And there’s so many that if you do exactly that, you just Google and you say, what’s a Chinese restaurant or fish and chips near me. And you’d be surprised at the local one that.

43% of all searches as local searches.

Stephanie Bonnie

Stephanie Bonnie

You know, doesn’t show up because and this and this is actually the keywords you see on offering free SEO reports to anyone that would like one give you three SEO report. And one of the things you can see is the keywords. I’ve seen a website with the keywords, and they are not keywords or just his common words of the English language English. So it’s making sure that you have your head is right. But you have the keywords in so that you will show up.

Stephanie Bonnie

That’s why when you’re looking for a local person and something might show up, there’s actually kind of the other side of the country.

Urban Renstrom

Yeah. Yeah, your local one doing that. But on one side of it, can you really blame people when they’re not understanding it from the level that you can at what is a keyword. And what do people actually search to find plumbers or a washing machine repair a guy or whatever and might be its electrician is simple. Electrician near me, but it’s something else, you know, that’s kind of a then it can pick up.

Stephanie Bonnie

I think this is what you said. There was quite clear as well. Is that yes, you can build your own websites. Of course, you can. And I’m all for doing yourself product projects. But there’s certain things you need to invest in and things like SEO if you’ve got that time to research and to learn how to do the SEO and then implement it correctly, that it’s actually beneficial to you. Well, maybe that’s your business because it takes time. And that’s why I would always encourage people to get in touch with the professional.

Stephanie Bonnie

You can make a website look good. I always like an iceberg. What you see is just one small aspect of a website. It’s behind the scenes work that’s what needs to be done correctly. Your website to work for you. And they say, what websites are not found organically. They don’t make it.

Urban Renstrom

They should because there’s some tremendous just unbelievably creative and capable, not necessarily creative, but yes, creative but capable and experts in their own field. But you don’t know of them. And one of the things that happened, we had an electrical problem here in our house. No, as a plumbing problem. And this was afterwards coming out of the first lockdown. I then went down my list of the local plumber that’s a few hundred yards away and phone him up and said, Here, can you help me with this?

We have a water leak or whatever it was. Oh, no, that’s I’m two months out, I’m fully booked, and he just essentially hung up the phone on me. And so I then had to do those plumbers near me and go down the Google list and start phoning people until someone. Oh, no, I’m booked. I’m booked, I’m booked. And about the 6th one finally and didn’t have a website. But it’s through Google search, the Google Maps that I actually found somebody. And it turns out to be highly capable.

And it was a man and his son and they just did spectacular work. Did exactly what we needed to have done kind of thing. But I just had to dig deep through the list in order to find it. And that’s because I knew as a person, as somebody who’s knowledgeable to find. But it just had the website anything that goes to the first question here, that

Is a website necessary?

If you are a business owner is a website necessary?

Stephanie Bonnie

It is so necessary. It’s like having a virtual shop that is open 24.

We hear a lot you need to like, know and trust and you can like and now a company, but you need to trust them. And if you see that they have an actual website there and it doesn’t have to be a full singing and dancing, it just two or three pages. Who are you? What do you specialise in? Why should we go with you? Yeah, it does.

Urban Renstrom

Contact us.

Stephanie Bonnie

Yeah, just, you know, to find them so important.

So like, yes, social media. And of course, you use social media free platforms, of course, use them.

But where do you take your customer on that journey? You’d want them really to end up on your website, see the work you do, and then contact you. And so, yes, a website is definite it also creates credibility for your company. If you’re willing to invest in your website, then you know you’re investing in your business. So, if you’re investing in your business, they’re going to invest in you.

Stephanie Bonnie

If you see a poorly designed website that’s just chopped up there just to have one doesn’t make you want to. You wouldn’t necessarily call that plumber. Okay. He didn’t have a website at all, but sometimes a website that’s really poor is actually get mental as well as a website to get a good one.

Urban Renstrom

Isn’t it is a reflection on you as a business owner, the quality or website or what it looks and feels like it does reflect on you? Because if a website is part of my business, which is me. Just like you’re in your new adventures is exactly the same thing as a reflection on you. If it doesn’t represent correctly, then how am I going to trust you then? You know, I know we like you, but am I going to trust you to pick up the phone and here can you come over and come into my house, into my dwelling and actually fix your due or whatever.

Stephanie Bonnie

You know, professional and with that as well, it’s the same with emails anta, a company, email, Gmail or Hotmail. Okay, exactly. I’ll just send it to a random five euro a month. You get a proper email through Gmail.

Urban Renstrom

But it says, you know, whatever it is, urban. Com or whatever you want Bonnie. Com or co or whatever it is a.

Stephanie Bonnie

A €5 a month then the yes.

Urban Renstrom

Exactly. What that’s the question is that we then are you a business or you’re not a business, you know. Very good. So yeah, the next question. I’m not sure if these are in any logical order. Not. So you create a website for me. You press published yesterday. There it is. Good. It’s online. I’m ready to go now.

Is a website a set it and forget it?

Stephanie Bonnie

Wannon. And this is why we do offer the year of support because the one you will not going to like your website as if two months, three months. We’re not like it. But you’re going to want to change it. You’re gonna say, oh, I like that then. But now I don’t we change it. We go, oh, actually, can we move that and then you want to keep it updated. So, you know, you don’t want to be looking at a website and seeing the last project they did a year ago because four years ago.

Urban Renstrom

One or five years ago.

Stephanie Bonnie

I’ve seen so to ten. And you’re going to that the way that you did that in 1997. But we have in 2021. Now, what have you been doing? What did you do last time?

Urban Renstrom

Yeah.

Stephanie Bonnie

Yeah. So, it’s not always think updating them.

Google likes it when you do that because it shows that you’re investing in your website. So it helps with the algorithm with the sea. But yeah, I keep it current. Keep it dynamic. Blogs are always handy for, you know, people that would be more kind of that way inclined, but if not just pure photos, you know, keeping up to date what’s been going on in the head office for the last month and what projects are you work? Is this something exciting that we should be aware of your new product?

Stephanie Bonnie

Change it, keep it. It shouldn’t be. It should be kind of once a month, setting a certain time, having a look at your website as if you were a prospective client looking at your time.

Urban Renstrom

What would they be looking interested in seeing and when something happens?

Stephanie Bonnie

You know, let them know, share. People like to know what’s going on within the companies. They don’t more and more now. I think that is even more so true is that people like to know, you know, their ethics. Well, what do they stand for? Do they support the LGBTQ community? This kind of thing they want to know.

Urban Renstrom

Are they dream dogs trust Ireland? Yes. I support Dogs Trust Ireland. 10% of November’s revenue goes to Dogs Trust or I support this chair or whatever it is. Yeah. That shows it puts life to the whole thing. Yes. You’re a plumber or electrician or an artist or whatever. But at least I can see. Oh, well, there’s more to you than just, you know that. Wow. You support this. You support dogs trust. Lovely on.

Stephanie Bonnie

The kudos to you.

Urban Renstrom

Kudos to.

Stephanie Bonnie

But yeah, no, exactly. People buy from people. So they want to see the company is professional at the company are great. But also, who’s running that company? Who are they going to actually be doing business with? They want to know, and they want to see that. And like I said, with the website, it’s a perfect platform. Lead them that way, you know, through the journey on social media to your website or get found in organic search and then make sure there are calls to action. Yeah, very good.

What are the routine updates owners should make to their website?

Urban Renstrom

Very good. So, I think you answered this one,

And I think you did. And actually, as you were saying this, and you were saying just some sort of updates. Funny, even a plumber and electrician. But there’s always regulations and rules that change. And electrician electrical stuff. Obviously, you can easily if you do the wrong thing, you can kill yourself, you know. So, there are no regulations. Who should you be employing and what kind of credentials should they have?

And are they on the website? Then how do you know whether approved electrician or whatever it is so that keeps keeping news comment and like that?

Stephanie Bonnie

You can have a little news feed. And then again, as dynamic to your website. And Google loves that.

Urban Renstrom

Google loves recent and relevant updates on the website. It doesn’t always have to be, I don’t know, many plumbers or electricians the tradesman that actually does article writing, you know, but there are other things that can be done. What is the connection between Google my business and your website? Is there any connection at all?

Stephanie Bonnie

Yeah. Well, you can add your website then to Google my business and it’s Google my business important to get found.

Urban Renstrom

Let me ask.

Is Google My Business Important for Local Businesses?

because of what you say 43% of all searches are local.

Stephanie Bonnie

Yes. Yes, yes, it should be one of those things. In fact, you should probably set that up before you’ve even done your website. If you’re a new company, really, the first thing you should be doing is setting it up because it’s free, especially for the new, smaller start-ups utilise what’s out there? And Google my business? Definitely. They want to know and add all the details. Don’t just be I’m a plumber in Dublin.

Urban Renstrom

Yeah.

Stephanie Bonnie

Whereabouts to Dublin yourself or not? What are you’re opening hours? Do you work on saturated or not? What’s the best contact way to contact you and then in Cask for recommendations of reviews because we can link it then to your website.

Urban Renstrom

If you did that, yes.

Stephanie Bonnie

And then you lose with the backing, then creates the authority again on Google to say, this is a proper website. This is a proper business. Please bring them up in the searches, because that’s what Google’s aim is to obviously give their customers the best results for the searches, so they don’t want to recommend dodgy companies don’t want to recommend, you know, that kind of thing.

It’s again the credibility to justify.

Urban Renstrom

So I kind of broke a rule that we were talking off-camera that I’m not going to be on my phone, that I am because what I did was restaurants and avoid restaurants in Athboy and came up with obviously the map of it, but also the restaurants that came up and he and the reasons why they come up these restaurants come up. Or if you do plumber near me or plumber in Dublin or Cork or London or Birmingham or Brighton, wherever it is, you know, it shows the results that are there.

Urban Renstrom

And if most people just go by the top three, if I understand correctly, the top three results there what’s on the map. And if your business is not there, then you might as well don’t exist. So yes, you need to have two things as a minimum. As you were saying, Stephanie is the Google My Business. You could set that up today and have it published by tomorrow. And the other is the website, which might take depending on but those two together, I think.

Stephanie Bonnie

And with the website again, that you don’t always have to start out big or expensive or expansive, even if you start with a landing page is something which gives that it is and then you can upgrade. You know you don’t go straight in and buy the biggest computer with all the fancy set you up with. Websites are the same.

Urban Renstrom

Yeah, exactly. And bare minimum is just an about us and a Contact US page, and that’s good enough to get you going. And whatever he is, that the thing, the address,

Is the Website URL words important for a Local Business?

If you’re a plumber, a Dublin plumber, should you use your name John Smith dot ie or should you use Dublin plumbers?

Stephanie Bonnie

What is the right the ul wouldn’t be as a matter or as a plumber or the keywords behind it? It’s the stuff you can’t see that’s more important to make sure that you have the keywords within that so that it’s the doubling plumber. You know, that you can direct it to that so that when you search Plumber and Dublin John Smith, I will be there. Oh, yeah.

The keywords are what is important not the URL.

Urban Renstrom

Okay.

Stephanie Bonnie

I can click on that. That’s more important than the actual that used to be more of a thing, I think. But now, like everything, everything is always changing.

Urban Renstrom

And that’s why it’s important to have a web expert on retainer, helping you to answer these simple questions.

Is Google Analytics or Web Analytics Important for a Website?

Stephanie Bonnie

In what way? If you understand them? Yes. Yes.

Urban Renstrom

Should you have? Is it something that most businesses should worry about having analytics connected to be able to track where the traffic is coming from?

Stephanie Bonnie

And I think if something is not measured, it’s not managed.

Urban Renstrom

You’re right and considering Google Analytics is free….

Stephanie Bonnie

And you use it. Yeah. That’s the thing. Use it if you have it. If you haven’t got it, get it. I would normally say that a lot of web people, web designers, developers, who you kind of do that included. So we can pin off, report every quarterly as a quarter and show you how many visitors you’ve got, how many in click-through rate all of those kinds of things anyone sessions and how far did they get and then they go. So was there something maybe in one page ticking them off?

You’ve got to look at that kind of thing. And this is what I would always recommend going with the website experts because they will be for you because Stephanie knows the stuff for you.

Stephanie Bonnie

So I’ll take the pain away?

Urban Renstrom

Yeah. Yeah. There you go. Take the pain away. Take the web pain away.

Is the design of your website important?

Are you supposed to have fancy videos and lovely pictures and, you know, the best fashion trends and all this kind of stuff on our website?

Stephanie Bonnie

Definitely. Definitely. I keep saying. But it does. The design needs to be customer friendly and focused. You know, people are going to want to see it, but at the same time, you have to be wary of file sizes.

If a website takes too long to load, you could have the best video in the world. But if it’s like, 50 megabytes, no one’s going to watch it because they’re not going to sit there and download it. So your site needs to be responsive. The design, it needs to look great, but it also needs to be responsive.

So I’m sure you’ve done it yourself. You go too upset, takes too long to load you click on and you go to the next one.

Urban Renstrom

You’re gone.

Stephanie Bonnie

So yes, the design is definitely important. It’s got to be appeasing to the eye, got to invite the customer in, take them on a bit of experience. And you think, how can the website just do that? That’s why spend marketing?

Urban Renstrom

I hear exactly that leads into the next question,

Is The Speed of Your Website Important?

because if I go to I don’t know, I don’t know, a high restaurant in Dublin and the website at home here. We generally have faster Internet than you do when you’re out on for or whatever. But is website loads the speed at which it loads is that important?

Stephanie Bonnie

People are very kind of about that in that generation. Now. I want it. Get it now. And if your page is taking like that too long. If it’s not responsive and it has too many big files on the site, it’s going to slow it down and then people won’t stay on it. They’ll just click away if it’s nice as it is not mobile-friendly.

Yeah, they’re good. They’re going these things are a lot more important. I think that people really realise a great question, but speed is the thing we have of seconds like

We have lower attention span than a goldfish

Stephanie Bonnie

Now we have mere seconds. I know, I know.

Do you remember growing up and it’d be like, oh, my case, you have the attention span of a goldfish?

And then it’s like, now, yeah, goldfish have a longer attention span than humans, because we’re so like, connected. But that is that’s wise. Speed matters. It does.

Urban Renstrom

It does. And it alone. Yeah. And I’m asking the questions because I knew that answer to that. And I worked very, very hard on my own website to get the speed up to where it’s at. And it’s part of Google’s algorithm that they’ll penalise websites that are slow to load that are not following, not meeting the core web vitals benchmarks. And so your website could not. It is a ranking factor. Moreover, then not forget about the ranking factor, even though that’s important. As you said,

if people have to sit there and wait and wait and wait, they’re going to say, well, did I even click the button for this website?

Urban Renstrom

And then they’re like.

I pressed and nothing happens.

And you’re like, did I actually press the button? Is there something wrong with my phone? And the answer is no. We’ve just taken a very long time for the website to load. And so it is really important that people want to see that something happens, you know, but when you press the button that it’s getting there and something’s happening and then it becomes interactive within very few seconds and every second counts because there is a time where it has to the core web vitals.

I think it’s within less than 3 seconds. And there’s a traffic light system red, yellow, green. And if it’s less than 3 seconds to load, then you failed. That is because of people’s expectations you’re right. Or this pan is like a goldfish, that’s less than 3 seconds. And so if it takes more than 3 seconds, then people leave and leave. That means they’re not going to stay and read your lovely pictures of what you’ve done as a restaurant or as a plumber, they’re not going to stay and wait.

Urban Renstrom

They’re going to go somewhere else that does deliver that quickly. And then somebody goes somewhere that’s a lost sale, essentially. Depending on if what is your average order value? Right. If your average order value is as a plumber is 5000 Euro to rewire a house or redo a house, well, then you just lost $5,000 right there.

Stephanie Bonnie

Plus, don’t be warehouses, an electric plane would feed you the that you see those links sometimes. And it says if this may take up to 10 seconds, the fact that they have them there, because like that, otherwise, people click off.

Urban Renstrom

“…this website appears to be unresponsive Would you like to continue waiting?”

Stephanie Bonnie

Exactly. Bye bye.

Urban Renstrom

Google tells you the website is slow and you’re losing business.

Stephanie Bonnie

And that’s the thing with the website. If you don’t have one, your competitor does.

Urban Renstrom

Yeah, we’ll have a website. And business is all about the know, like and trust, and if people can’t find you and like you and then trust you.

Stephanie Bonnie

They’re not going to know.

Urban Renstrom

And they’re not going to pick up the phone. They’re not going to phone you say, help me in my election with my electric wire are leaking water!

Stephanie Bonnie

My, my who do you call for that?

Urban Renstrom

Very good. One thing is you mentioned earlier off-camera is a CRM.

Do People Need a Customer Relationship Management Tool?

Is that important? Why?

Stephanie Bonnie

I need something. I need something to go. So you have your book and your pen. That’s brilliant. And then you have these fantastically built websites. They’re starting to bring in leads. And then what do you do with those people? How do you put them into the process? How do you know who you spoke to when you spoke to them? What were they about? What were they like? You know, maybe you don’t want to work with them. Have you made a note of that? The up and go, you need a yes.

“oh I remember you now!!”

Stephanie Bonnie

And that’s what CRM comes in. Right. Great. You get with these leads.

Now, what are you going to do?

It has to do with it. And this is where we have to manage it. Like I myself, of course, have CRM. And that’s what I do. I implement CRMs and software. We do it on a larger kind of more process improvement go through from the initial contact of the client all the way to the bottom to the actual delivering of the service and product and getting paid for it.

I mean, even that needs a process.

When you send an invoice, how do you know when it’s due? When do you start chasing people? It’s all it all needs to kind of be there and have a full process that works that is efficient. People seem to be so inefficient sometimes. And pen and paper are just that great. You know, it’s great. It’s great. And then what happens when you lose that piece of paper or you turn over to the next one, next page and you’re there and then you go, oh, I was meant to do that three weeks ago.

Urban Renstrom

So, yeah, that was today.

Stephanie Bonnie

And again, you know, let’s provide good customer service, but also for yourself. So, you don’t have to keep it all in there. You can upload it, update a CRM, you can integrate them now as well. There are so many capabilities and automation. I say that I love to make CRM dance, and that’s kind of what it is. You know, you put something in and then it’s there. So you’ll get the reminder. Don’t forget you need to call this person because it’s been a week since you last spoke to them to follow them up.

Those little things like that, there’s little tweet. So you don’t have to rely on pen and paper or your memory.

Urban Renstrom

Which can go bad.

So that leads me to my last question here about websites and then we’ll move to your other is about to say passion project. And it’s not the new iteration of your life and a new business. Yes.

Which CRM do you suggest?

Stephanie Bonnie

Not all about the free about

I honestly couldn’t for me personally to you because of pardon. Airtable is the one that I’m using as an Airtable. Yeah. And I actually have a little free pdf on how to set it up, so like to send that over for you.

Urban Renstrom

Oh, interesting. And then give you a link and then we’ll put that on the show notes. Right. Airtable is that CRM specific for anybody or any particular industry.

Stephanie Bonnie

No. I kind of like to think Airtable is like a spreadsheet on steroids, but that’s my favourite from my business. That doesn’t mean that’s going to work for anybody.

Urban Renstrom

No, of course not.

Stephanie Bonnie

And this is what we do. I’m not biased with them so recently and just for doing one for a coach. So Monday.com was the best one for him because. Because that’s the one that he needed for what he wanted it for. So it’s not just okay. Yeah. Have a CRN. It’s like. Okay. So what do you want out of that Cr? How do you want to use that? How is that going to fit into your business and make your life more efficient and organised? And that’s when we then go right.

Stephanie Bonnie

Which one for a plumber? For example, Asana can be really handy because you put the project function.

HubSpot is free but expensive really quickly. What are you using it for?

Like I implemented HubSpot or must be about three years ago now for a company still love it. Was on the phone in the other day. Loves it because it works for him. He doesn’t need the paid version. He just needs that. No, I’m not saying always. Sometimes you do need to pay for these things or what you want.

Stephanie Bonnie

For example, Monday.Com about €30 a month for what we wanted it for because we wanted all the automation so they could go, and they go to a different group, and it moves around.

So yeah, but start of free and build up. I always think just keep it simple to start with and then we can start building on that. But like a house you need to sound there, Trello Active Campaign, even Google, G sheets. You got the G suite. There’s a great feature in there and you can link it up to other the programmes again integrated so you shouldn’t have to copy and paste integrate things.

So if you put it in one place.

Urban Renstrom

You can have it where you need and available on your app for your phone such that those who are out and about can access it and update and updated it and that it’s only the data in your CRM.

It’s only it’s a reflection of what you put into it. If you put in, you know, poor information, let’s be a little bit friendly. You get that same thing out, right. But if you’re putting good stuff, then you’re gonna get the good stuff out of it.

Stephanie Bonnie

But that’s also supposed why what I love is being able to do that. So when you ask what’s your favourite for you. Yeah. For me, it works person for what I needed to do. I’ve got it set up. Lovely don’t, but for another company. So, we have to to make sure it’s working for you. It’s all about getting this digital era working for you, your website, you see or social media. Get it working for you.

Urban Renstrom

Lovely. Tell me about Stebington.com. What’s in that name? That’s not a bad name. You look in dictionary.Com and it doesn’t show up. But so what is.

Stephanie Bonnie

Stebbington is me and is my Debbie Crompton. 13 years ago, we came up with that name. It’s a mix of our names and it makes me smile. And to be honest, I find it makes a lot of people smile. It’s kind of our ethos bringing efficiency with a smile because life is too short. Not to be fun. It’s serious. But you don’t have to be serious about doing it.

Urban Renstrom

Stick in the mod doing it. No, you can have fun.

Stephanie Bonnie

Do I enjoy what we spend so much of our lives working? So let’s enjoy it. Have some fun doing it. So Stebbington came up because I’ve been doing this kind of thing as a sole trader, but for sole traders. So in Ireland and then she got made redundant because.

Urban Renstrom

You know, I think business happens. Yeah. Yeah.

Stephanie Bonnie

Yeah. And we were chatting. We were like, let’s do this. Let’s actually do this. I mean, we have a combined over 20 years of experience in exactly this process improvement.

We focus on the construction industry because it’s where we’ve worked and where we see the biggest waste. Like, so many people are still shuffling papers. And yes, in construction, you need a certain amount of paper tracing, but the delivery notes and the scraps to pet the paper you just don’t need.

Everyone has a phone now and like that, you can even just implementing a CRM.

Stephanie Bonnie

But having an actual process around putting manners around it like that with your plumber. How many times you do have to chase him up.

Urban Renstrom

Yeah, exactly.

Stephanie Bonnie

You don’t need to be doing that.

That is where Stebbington the evidence has come about. It’s very exciting because we do get to work together. Which was well, yeah. We actually met when we worked together years ago. That’s how we actually met. And since then, we’ve both I’ve been travelling, so being in her thing. And then it came up and was like, this is the time. This is the saying.

Urban Renstrom

Now is the time to put this together. Lovely.

What is it that you do and who do you serve?

Stephanie Bonnie

We just want the construction companies.

Urban Renstrom

As you said that. Sorry.

Stephanie Bonnie

Yeah, that’s okay. That’s why are you listening? But yeah. So what we do is we look at the kind of where they are. So we have a little form, take some kind of 5-10 minutes tops to fill out, tell us where they’re at now and then we can have a look and go in and see what we can do to help that to really improve the processes. And when I said processes, but everything has a process. That’s how it works. And in business operations, that’s how you become more efficient so that everyone is doing the same thing.

Stephanie Bonnie

There’s a standard operating manual that’s the big things.

And we will actually create that for those companies too. Yeah, I love as I love business. So, we go in, we have a chat, we see where they’re at and talk about any particular points that they need. It might be that they have an admin staff who seems overworked, and we can save them lots of time so that we don’t have to get a second employee that can manage it better. It’s that whole thing. “Oh, that’s the way we’ve always done it” again.

Stephanie Bonnie

Time to change. And you have to look at this thing. And people are so busy working in their business that they forget to work on it. And that’s what we come in and we help implement it. It can be a bit kind of what CRM do I do? How do I do this? There are so many different ways. I’ve got the experience in here to guide them through it and say, right. Okay. This is what we would recommend. Don’t get me wrong. Well, I’ve had someone come back on.

Stephanie Bonnie

No, I don’t like that. Okay. Come back here. We have nothing in. Yeah, there is a way. But then we actually implement it for them. So, we take away that headache of trying to do the systems on top of the day job and waiting for things because it never really gets going otherwise. So, we will help them through all that. We will work with their team, implement and change management. You know, people don’t always like to change the way they do things.

Urban Renstrom

Funny Stephanie.

Really funny, because I’m taking notes and what I wrote down was changed management. You about that as I was ready, See I wrote change management because I think that when you implement it, try to do something different. The first thing is people resist change.

And perhaps that’s why it’s so hard to make changes in the health system or any organisation is just resist change.

But that means I’m going to lose my job. If I use my left hand is on my right hand, I’m going to lose my job. And it’s like, no, we’re trying to make it so you don’t have to switch hands and such that we can make it your tasks that little bit easier.

Urban Renstrom

And it’s funny because a lot of people just wanted to go back.

And one thing you said there everything that you do is a process, whether it’s written down or not. It is a process, right? And most of the time probably in construction because they know they’re slow to change.

I suspect I don’t know that everything has a process, right. And whether it’s written down or not, and it’s in a manual, there is a process to it. And I suspect that you could go in your document and say, you know, well, step three to eight is not needed because you just click on this button and it does it for you and it comes back and you just one, two and seven, eight, nine and ten.

Urban Renstrom

And that is done. But if you don’t know the steps that you go through to move this to here and how you going to know how to improve it exactly.

Stephanie Bonnie

And you need to do like that with your website. You should also be having a review on your processes and going, Why are we doing it? And sometimes it works better. For a fresh pair of eyes,

I wrote the first standard operating manual at 19, I was working a business and I was just a normal at like, lowly kind of admin girl. And then they still use that to the day and they use it. They rolled it across all the departments because it ended up adding bits. And then it’s the whole overview of the business where each what person fits, what different cogs in the wheel.

Stephanie Bonnie

It all counts. So it’s doing it. And like you said, it’s not digital doesn’t mean taking away jobs. It means changing their focus. So they don’t have to be so mundane as exactly.

Urban Renstrom

And I didn’t write that down. But that’s exactly. My thought is to process improvement is removing the mundane, repeatable tasks that don’t need to be done by you and me. You and I and anybody else who works should be using the time that threat work to do higher-level stuff. That machines and buttons that you click won’t do. That’s what people should be encouraged to do the customer relations.

Stephanie Bonnie

People moan about it, and sometimes they don’t have time because they’re so busy clicking on to speak to people, you know.

Urban Renstrom

Yeah.

Stephanie Bonnie

Stop photocopying paper.

Urban Renstrom

We don’t have to send the fax anymore, you know.

Stephanie Bonnie

Always legal exactly.

Urban Renstrom

But we’ve always done it. Yes, but I have to do that anymore.

Stephanie Bonnie

Look at how much time you save them and that’s you look at how much time you can save companies and time is precious.

“You can make more money, but you can’t make more time”

Stephanie Bonnie

 and then you don’t even get me started on the paper. I mean, when you think of a printer that you’ve got the paper, the ink running off the pin, then the times, how many times people get up to walk over, then they’re going to met a colleague and they’re going to have the chat.

Stephanie Bonnie

Now I’m all up for the chat.

Urban Renstrom

I have to do this relationship building and is critical.

Stephanie Bonnie

You don’t have to stand around too to do it.

Urban Renstrom

Go get some things. I have to. If you need paper manuals, you have to print them out and whatnot but most of the stuff I can only imagine. Stephanie, honest, I can only imagine the kind of paperwork that’s involved. I think we’re chatting our air. You’re right on the construction site. You need drawings because people have to work on drawings and take them out of the office and look at things. But a lot of the other stuff it’s just I can’t even imagine the amount of paperwork.

Stephanie Bonnie

This one because there was one build and health and safety. So they had the template. They would print the templates off. They would then hand fill them out and then they would copy them and put them on to the site. And then there’d be a site on the office and then someone else is a copy. They would have to go in photocopy and really simply let’s do that online. As in on a computer. There’s the form, they’re still filling out the same form. But we did it nice and easy in a nice form, a PDF file.

Stephanie Bonnie

They can just fill out what they need to then save again the site. They have to print out one copy for the site. That’s an illegal requirement for them. They have to have so fine. We print out a copy. There you go. Done. Then it’s that anyone else you need it. It’s needed to take their boxes. You know, that way, like architects and engineers, they just have to have their risk assessments. And just to say, the eyes, that kind of thing, they don’t really need copy float around their off.

Stephanie Bonnie

So just email.

Urban Renstrom

You and it why didn’t we think of that early? That’s why you’re paying me the big Bucks to think of these things. You know.

Stephanie Bonnie

That’s why I’m here people way.

Urban Renstrom

That sounds really interesting. And what is you know, the change management. You mentioned people’s processes, which is changing their behaviour, went through a whole module on essentially changed management when I did my master’s degree and it’s a real problem. There’s no question about it.

And where do you find the difficulty on the changes at the owner, the founder, or is it the people who are actually doing the work here? Is it both sides?

Stephanie Bonnie

I think sometimes we have that thing from the top. They go, they can just do it and it’s like, but you have to lead the way with this. Like anything comes from the top down. So, you need to be following this as well. But I think the biggest change is just showing them the benefits, you know, like I had one lady, lovely lady. Wait for stuff. But this is creating more work for me. No, no taking you an extra 5-10 minutes now, but we’ve saved you 3 hours at the end of the month.

Stephanie Bonnie

So what are you going to do to an extra 5-10 minutes a week and keep on top of it or do you 3 hours in the end with no kind of where do you start with no mistakes and errors and forgot things?

Yeah, exactly. So it’s about it’s really kind of.

That’s how I kind of always approach it teaching in 60 plus-year-old foremen, and their reaction is like technology argh – that is not for me, and I ask “do you play poker online?” and say technology can help And then it’s like, you know, there are annoying phone calls you get just as you’re packing up will this will sort that out for you.

Stephanie Bonnie

It will cut that out now and then sometimes you have to be a bit more like just do it can be a space like sometimes you just have to go, just do it and then trust me.

But it’s also supporting them. I don’t say that, but it’s kind of saying yes, this is the benefit. But I need you to test it, get their buy-in from the start, or what would they like? How would it help them more? What would they like to see?

Stephanie Bonnie 

What don’t they like so we can tweak it now. Sometimes I might put in something that I know they’re going to want to tweak so that they can say, can we change that? And I can say yes. And then they’re like, oh, oh, okay. I can have this. Hell, I want it. Yes. This is the whole point.

Urban Renstrom

Of a little bit of jus to work together and modify.

Stephanie Bonnie

Gene goes in and changes a whole person’s world in a day at work.

Urban Renstrom

Nobody likes it.

Stephanie Bonnie

Nobody cares too much when you suddenly decide you’re going to be healthy. I don’t think this is the best analogy, but I’m going to go with it. So you and you decide you’re going to eat well, you’re going to drink those for and you’re going to exercise and you do it all and then you do it for maybe three days.

Urban Renstrom

We can come around. You’re like, Where’s the chocolate bar?

Stephanie Bonnie

Alcohol. But if you just gently, first of all, start drinking water when you add in an Apple and you just get it gradually. You know, six weeks later you can change your habits. I think it’s the same when you’re implementing change in a business. I do it slowly.

Urban Renstrom

I like that because you’re right. It’s not flipping a light switch. Where you come in. Here is the process. Boom, here you go and do it. So I pay me my invoice.

It doesn’t work that way. It is a gradual thing, and it’s just slow changes. So people see. Oh, yeah. Well, actually, you Stephanie, it was not 3 hours of Month. It was 3 hours a week that I saved by doing those five extra minutes a day and then they’re like, wow, that actually worked, you know, and there is the buy into the process and the trust.

Urban Renstrom

And then they’re like, what else you got for me?

Stephanie Bonnie

And they come out next time they go, exactly.

Urban Renstrom

And it was just, yeah. And that put a big smile on my face.

Stephanie Bonnie

That’s it. And then you get happy workers, productive work people that are happening, you know, yourself working in a happier environment, you know, nothing better instead of people like, oh, I have to do this. Okay. I’m just going to do this. Let me have a cup of tea.

Urban Renstrom

Where can people get in touch with you? Perhaps not so much on the web design stuff, because I think you’re kind of stepping away a little bit from that if it correctly to support.

Stephanie Bonnie

Still here to support. Do you just didn’t touch the best place really LinkedIn to connect it to me and me? Just how you found the open.

Urban Renstrom

Yes.

Stephanie Bonnie

Otherwise saving to know. So, yes, this kind of website stuff with the Stebbington.

We actually have a great little form that it’s kind of call the game to know you. And it takes five minutes to the top, depending on how much time you want to give it. But it showed kind of where you are and we actually found we send this out already, you know, a bit of market research. I just kind of put and we found even by people just doing that, it made them stop and think sometimes you might not need our full services.

Stephanie Bonnie

Maybe you just need a quick chat, and we can say, OK. Well, yeah. Maybe just swap that around. And boom, you’ve saved them 5 hours without even thinking it’s. So, we’ve said we’ve got a form which I said I’ll give you the link for.

Urban Renstrom

Yes please, the. Show notes for people. Yes. Absolutely.

Stephanie Bonnie

Lovely. Or email us at admin@Stebbington.com. Perfect cause we have got a professional email. Of course.

Urban Renstrom

Yes.

Stephanie Bonnie

The talk.

Urban Renstrom

Yes. Absolutely. That sounds great. You’re right. Because if you’re starting to have somebody is going to fill out a form that immediately opens the door to process improvement. Well, what are we doing? And before they fill it out, but even though even they fill it out today, the form and they don’t need your service. But maybe in six months’ time, they’ll say, you know, I actually really need Stebbington to come in and help me. And because I’m in over my head, I don’t know where to go.

Urban Renstrom

I’m running a business. I can’t work on it because I’m running it and all that kind of.

Stephanie Bonnie

Happy to help. We really want to help businesses, eliminate waste and be efficient. We want to keep them alive.

Urban Renstrom

Work on more customer relations stuff.

Stephanie Bonnie

Yeah. People making the money. Yeah. I feel make an audience, guys.

Urban Renstrom

Absolutely. Well, Stephanie, I want to say, first of all, thank you very much for taking the time and ever. Dana energy to come on the show this week and chat with me. It’s been absolutely fantastic. And my life is enriched by this hour or so that we spent together. And I just want to say thank you very much. I’ve learned loads. And hopefully, our audience is done the same.

Stephanie Bonnie

Well, thank you. Thank you so much. I mean, back in everything.

Urban Renstrom

I’m a.

Stephanie Bonnie

Pleasure.

Urban Renstrom

Perfect. Alright. Thanks.

Note: this transcript is mostly unedited. I’m using HappyScribe (affiliate link) speech to text app for my transcriptions.