Portfolio
Ability to apply best practices to run a successful inbound business, using the flywheel framework to attract, engage and delight prospects. Understanding the buyer’s journey, creating buyer personas for your business. Identifying your company’s purpose and goals in order to create experiences that make your customers feel valued.
Ability to create email marketing strategies that are human and helpful and build trust with your prospects and customers. Use Email Marketing to build your inbound strategy through lead nurturing. Provide value to your prospects and customers by creating timely, efficient and targeted emails.
Cost Savings & Database Management
This is a case study of a project I once worked on for a global IT & Communications organisation, headquartered in London. My work approach is methodical, detail oriented, organised and personable, which has contributed to providing outstanding results for organisations and clients I have worked with.
Situation
The project team was experiencing difficulty with the purchase order and invoicing process, as a result of having ineligible contacts and purchase orders (POs) stored in the project’s database. Part of my responsibility was to erase and update a significant number of contacts and POs from the database. Now this wasn’t just some small project. This was a multi-million-dollar project we were working on, therefore doings things correctly with as less risk as possible was important.
Managing the PO process was essential for the project’s success because
a) It impacted the project’s budget, and keeping an eye on the expenses to make sure the project didn’t run over budget was important
b) The POs were associated with the workforce hired to work on the project, which included contractors, engineers and software developers
c) Making sure that suppliers were sent the correct POs for services & products delivered
Challenge
So back to the project task I was responsible for – clean up the database and update it with only the contractors who were actively working on the project at the time. It was during the time I started collecting the data that I started to see the challenges. Since I had only joined in the middle of the project, I began to question myself how the team had managed for this long amidst all the disorganisation.
The data was all over the place. Mis-matched POs, overdue invoice payments and contractors who had moved on to other projects but still claiming expenses on the current one. Previous contractors who were no longer working on the project but whose names were still showing up. Team members having to source information from many different places, which delayed work flows and service delivery. It was a mess.
Solution
With the raw data I had managed to collect from my team and other resources, I used Tableau and good old Excel pivot tables to erase out all the inactive contractors on the project first. Of course, after making sure that they were no longer actively working on the project.
I then moved all the active contractors under their approved contracts respectively and marked the dates when their contracts would be up for renewal. I also made sure I tracked their time and effort on the project and claimed expenses. I would review and update the database each month or each time there was a change to make sure we were on track with new POs, invoices and payments.
Outcome/Results
It took about 2-3 months to complete this task, also taking into account my other responsibilities on the project. There was alot of back and forth behind the scenes, but thanks to a collaborative team, everyone was on board to get this part of the project resolved. I can’t stress enough how important it is to have a great team of people to work with, who are all working together toward a common goal.
My team now had a clean and up to date database with accurate information to source from. It was also a lot easier to track resource expenditure and the amount of effort/hours the contractors put into the project. If at anytime one of the project managers wanted to renew a contractor, they could easily see when their contract was due to run out and when to renew it. It was easier to track and monitor the overall project progress including timeline, milestones and where the funds could be best utilized.
Shout Outs
Takeaways from Partaking in this Project
Communication is Really Important
Communicating effectively, asking the right questions and speaking to the right people keeps things moving in the right direction. Also, working with a supportive and collaborative team is highly encouraged and helps produce great results. Which brings me to my next takeaway.
Team Work
No man is an island, as the English Poet John Donne once said. Working in a team teaches you how to take on other people’s ideas on board, see things through a different perspective and come up with well thought out solutions to solve problems. Team work also provides the opportunity to delegate responsibilties, taking the pressure off you having to do everything on your own.
Flexible Working Makes All the Difference
There are times where I had to juggle a million different things all in one go. You have to remember this task was a part of my other responsibilities on the project. And the remote working really did make a difference. The time I would have spent commuting, I used productively on other tasks that needed my urgent attention.
Also, with the help of technology, my team and I could communicate easily over webinars, email, skype and slack. When I needed to, I could step away from my laptop, go for walks outside and come back later to my work with a fresh mind and renewed energy.
The Best Way to Ever Learn Anything is by Doing
By doing things, taking action instead of pondering, I was able to learn things a lot faster. Whenever I felt like I had done the best I could and still felt stuck, I wasn’t afraid to ask for guidance, additional information or feedback along the way. There’s no shame in asking for help. The truth is we can’t know everything. There’s always something the other person knows that you don’t know and vice versa. Asking for help is a better option than making assumptions and paying for expensive mistakes later.
Always Show Up and Do Your Best
It’s important to take accountability for your actions, and do what you say you’re going to do. Your clients and team members will respect you and appreciate your efforts. And if they don’t which is highly unlikely unless you’re working with a bunch of idiots, doing your best will always pay off in some way down the line.