Lean transformation: how we digitised literary scouts FLO with Airtable & automations, and gave their clients a pro experience
Frankie and her team read and recommend books to film & TV companies to adapt. FLO are literary scouts, processing the latest news in the industry, passing their clients the best opportunities before anyone else. Their business is about speed and data, requiring a lot of syncing between team members, industry, and clients. Prior to Clean Power, all info was kept in their heads and communicated on an as-needed basis — meaning a lot of duplication and ad-hoc workflows.
Today, FLO spend less time on admin so they can focus at the task at hand. All data is kept in a central Airtable database. This enables improved systems, automations, data analysis, and scaleability. New info is entered in only once, and automations trigger next steps. Clients use a linked ‘Portal’ website to log in, track their opportunities, and receive notifications. This reduces time spent on follow-ups and emails.
THEN
Through-the-week calls and emails chasing and flagging between FLO & clients.
Data is only in team’s working memory, requiring continual updating between team members & clients.
Workflow scattered across different tools.
Duplicated work: same information sent separately to different clients, using different clients’ systems.
Entirely manual.
Not scalable.
Excess time spent on admin.
NOW
Central ‘Portal’ so clients can always check and see the latest updates; notification system.
Central Airtable database.
Streamlined workflow.
Team updates Airtable once only, which then displays on each client’s Portal and triggers appropriate automations.
Automatic processes — FLO can automate as much as they like.
Scalable.
Freed up time to focus on value-adding work.
WHAT WE DID
Vision Statements
‘In an ideal world…’ FLO wrote out their Vision Statements, including wants like ‘Share best upcoming opportunities with clients’ ‘Minimise time we spend on different tools e.g Trello, Dropbox.’ ‘Clients feel reassured they aren’t missing out on opportunities.’
We then formalised these into a technical document, guiding our transformation.
Operations Flows & Terminology
We learned FLO’s business and field, producing systems diagrams. We also created standard language necessary to systemising FLO. We named various actors, items, and contexts such as ‘opportunities’, ‘titles’, ‘clients’, ‘agents’, ‘active’, ‘tracking’, etc.
Airtable & Automations
We architected an Airtable database, allowing FLO to (i) retain and structure daily business data, (ii) eliminate duplicate activity, (iii) automate regular flows, and (iv) have a central work platform for the team.
Automations were built for regular flows such as email notifications, file management, data updates, and their weekly client report.
Pro Experience
We built a Client Portal linked to the Airtable database, where each client could log in to view their opportunities. This (i) eliminates emails from FLO and clients chasing up on opportunity details, (ii) acts as a central document for meetings, (iii) assures clients that they are always presented the hottest opportunities with up-to-date information, showing FLO in a positive light.
Time Task
FLO completed a Time Task, measuring how much time each team member would spend on business activities each week, before and after the transformation. Frankie says that it was her favourite exercise that made her think about her business in a more macro, birds-eye way.
Clara took the time not only to understand my industry & my business' place within it, but also focused on me as a small business owner.
She recognised where I needed help and which automations/builds would add the biggest value/time savers for me. We could then stagger the work accordingly.
Clara is a delight to communicate and collaborate with. Via the tasks set and questions asked, I was encouraged to view the business through a more strategic lens.
— Frankie, Director at FLO
BOOK NOW
We offer a unique introductory consultation, where you get to bring your ideas, questions and current position to a 1.5 hour workshop with Clara. You can discuss anything that suits you. Ideas? We can: Hash out a game plan, see what working with us could look like. Answer any question under the sun. Have us do something for you, such as look at a piece of code/bug, audit a platform/software. Provide any analysis/recommendation we can that time. Book via link below, or simply contact us to inquire more about our services.