While the OBM’s job is to make things easier for you, in turn, you should not be a drain on your OBM. You are the visionary, the queen bee, the leader and as such, you need to be effectively contributing to the success and growth of your business.
This means you should respect your OBM and their time. One way to do this is to keep emails and phone calls to a minimum, preferably setting aside a certain day or time to communicate each week or month.
Make sure you plan ahead for upcoming projects rather than waiting until the last minute to ask your team to drop everything & switch gears to meet your deadline.
Respect their days off. You don’t want to be bothered when you’re on vacation or taking the weekend off with your family and neither does your OBM – no matter what they say. Remember, your OBM is taking the work load off your plate. You don’t want to become an added burden to them.
Kill the urge to micro-manage. You are the visionary, the OBM is the manager. As long as goals are being met, there’s no reason for you to get in the way. Again, having measurable goals will allow you to watch how things are progressing and only step in when necessary.
Building trust, giving them freedom to do their job and showing respect are three ways to build a long-term relationship with your OBM.
Here are some more ways to show your appreciation & continue to build your relationship.
- A simple thank you is always appreciated. You’d be surprised at how little they hear this. Mail them a card for an added surprise.
- Pay them well. A good OBM is worth their weight in gold. If you’ve been working together for a while and are still paying the same as when you first started, offer them a raise or annual bonus.
- Talk about how much they help you to your colleagues and friends. Although they typically only work with a couple clients at a time, it never hurts for an OBM to have client referrals.
Referrals can also be for things other than just OBM work. Perhaps you know of a contest that the OBM might want to participate in. Maybe someone is looking to interview an OBM for a magazine piece.
If a JV partner is having trouble with XXXX and you know your OBM ran into this same issue and effectively overcame it, suggest your partner contact your OBM for advice (assuming your OBM is ok with that). All of these will help your OBM become viewed as an ‘expert’, something they will certainly appreciate.
There you have it!
As you can see, you don’t have to be a large corporation with a multi-million pound account to hire a qualified business manager. It just takes a bit of forethought, planning and of course, good follow-through.
Think you need an Online Business Manager or Virtual Assistant? Get in touch.