How to Automate Done for You Fulfilment in Your Agency

What is a program, and why does it help fulfilment?

A program is a set of related activities aimed at a particular long term goal. Examples include increasing a conversion rate in 90 days, building a sales team in 60 days, or setting up a company YouTube channel in 120 days. What you offer will depend on your niche.

Programs help fulfilment for four reasons. You have a clear idea of the final output. You have a clear duration, so clients know how long the process takes. It is easier to productise, because a set of steps is easier to automate than a retainer where many things can change. And there is no built in recurring revenue, which is the one trade off to plan around.

You can run this same system for a retainer. It is harder, because a retainer has no fixed structure and more moving pieces. A program makes your life easier, especially at the start.

How do you break a program into stages and steps?

Think of it like baking: inputs, a process, an output and an outcome. The inputs and process can change from client to client, like using a different brand of milk in someone else's kitchen. The output stays the same, because that is what you promise your clients. Use a whiteboard to break the work down. A physical board or an online one such as Figma, Miro or Lucidchart all work the same way.

Start with the outcome of the program, which is the hard problem. Break it into the easiest stages to follow. For example, a program to increase a conversion rate could have five stages: change the copy, optimise the landing page, add email warm up sequences, add follow up sequences, and optimise branding. A YouTube channel program could have four: set up the channel, plan the content ideas and format, onboard editors, and build the content systems and testing.

Then break each stage into steps. For a stage that adds warm up sequences, the steps could be:

1. Set up an email tool.
2. Create a mind map.
3. Meet with the client to go over the plan.
4. Add refinements.
5. Create the emails.
6. Request approval.
7. Launch the sequences.

How should you organise the map?

Colour code the board. We use green for your own work, yellow for the client's work and blue for meetings. This keeps things clear when a program has many moving pieces. Repeat the process for every stage.

The clearer the map, the easier it is for employees to know what to do and for clients to understand the process they are going through. It is much harder to do this before you have a clear outcome and stages, because the work ends up scattered.

How do you track project stages?

You need one platform where you can see every client's stage. It can be a CRM, a project management tool, a Google Sheet or a custom internal platform. We prefer an internal platform because it is fully custom to your needs, but you do not have to use one. We have run the same setup in Airtable. Starting with something simple and upgrading later is better than having nothing.

Set up two databases, whatever the platform:

• Projects: the project name, the project stage, related tasks and the assigned client. You can add a channel ID if you want to message the client from automations.
• Tasks: the task name, the task stage, related projects and the assigned employee. A due date, notes, status and task type are useful additions.
• Link each task to its project, so you can open a project and see every task attached to it.

What are internal and external triggers?

To automate the program, you need a no code automation tool. The two main ones are Zapier and Make. Zapier is a bit more beginner friendly. Make takes longer to learn, but you can probably do more with it. Both have free trials, so try them and pick the one you prefer.

Most of your automations will create tasks, send client reminders and notify your team. The hardest part is working out the triggers you need for each stage. There are two types:

• Internal triggers happen inside your platform, such as moving a project from stage one to stage two or pressing a button.
• External triggers happen in another application, such as a client signing a contract, completing a form or booking a call.
• A full program normally uses a combination of both.

Automation 1: a completed form as an external trigger

In this example the trigger is a client completing a form at the end of a stage, for example during a call. The scenario in Make.com has these steps:

1. Trigger: Google Forms, watch responses. Enter the form ID from the form's URL and set a limit for how many responses are processed each run. The scenario runs at a regular interval, such as every 15 minutes.
2. Search the projects database for the record that matches the email the client entered on the form.
3. Create a task for the next stage. Fill in the task name, project, due date (today plus three days, using the add days function in Make), notes, status, task type, the assigned project from the search result and an assigned employee.
4. Update the project record to the new stage, using the record ID from the search step.
5. Send a Slack message to your team saying the client has completed the form and the next stage can start.
6. Send a Slack message to the client's own channel, using the channel ID stored on the project, to thank them and say the next steps are coming.

Automation 2: a stage change as an internal trigger

The second automation does the same job but is triggered by changing a project stage in your platform. It is a copy of the first scenario with a new trigger. In your platform's workflow builder, create a workflow that runs when a project record is updated, watching the status field. Add a filter so it only continues for the status you care about, because you do not want it to run for every change.

Then add an action that calls a webhook. In Make, replace the first module with a custom webhook, create a new hook and paste its address into the platform's workflow. Test the workflow so the data comes through. After that, the steps are the same, with two changes: use the project ID from the webhook instead of searching by email, and drop the project update step, because the stage change was the trigger. Update the message text to match the new stage and turn both automations on.

Many project tools have their own automation builder, but it is never as powerful as Zapier or Make. For anything complicated, hand off to a dedicated tool.