I love a good project! I especially love the part of my job where I can break down projects for clients. If you are getting ready to scale your business or are increasing your client load, I would expect that there are several new “projects” you are working on. Like, a funnel, launch, email sequence, new tools, new plans or updates to your SOP’s.
Sometimes these projects are handled in-house (like your own VA or by yourself), but sometimes you need some outside help. As someone with lots of PM experience and who has helped build many teams, I have a list of things to look for. Some of these are fairly routine, but some are not something you might think about.
6 Things to Look for When Hiring a PM (also applicable to a VA or OBM):
1. Personality and Work Style
Finding the right combination of personalities for your team is crucial- especially in a role like this. Every new hire can affect the culture you are working so hard to cultivate. So personality and work style are really one of the top things I look at when bringing on a PM (or any team member for that matter). It is really important to think if the entire team would be a good fit, not just you + the PM. Your VA, designer, tech gal, and social all have to work together- so personality and work style is really important.
2. Method or Framework
Every single person that has lasted in long-term PM roles are ones that provide a solution to our very specific need. Even I was hired because of my ability to wrangle #alltheideas. If you are a PM looking to find more clients, consider developing a method, framework, superior client experience so you can more easily be seen as the answer to whatever problem!
3. Tools and Systems
We have a set of tools we use on the daily: Slack, Asana or Trello, and a handful of other apps/software. Someone who already is familiar, uses frequently, or has the platforms built into their service gets extra points!
4. Packages and pricing
Obviously you want to look at packages and pricing. This will depend on if you are hiring them for a stand alone project or to become a regular ongoing member of your team.
5. Preferred communication
As mentioned above, tools and systems are important. So is how (and the frequency) of communication. Weekly communication is the BARE minimum for our teams and in crunch time we are operating at daily touches with each team member. Depending on the type of project, your level of communication will be important.
6. Recommendations
It’s not what you know, its who you know! That is for sure. I have a handful of business friends that I take recommendations from. Many of us- oddly- share some teammates and I have my handful of people I bring on when I get to build a team from scratch. It’s always nice to ask for recommendations from other business owners- but take them with a grain of salt! You’ll want to find out not just if they liked the PM but why. Did they provide a great outline/timeline, customer experience, or was their communication top-notch? Just remember that while PMs should have testimonials on their site and easily accessible, sometimes we work on projects that are proprietary and many can provide more recos after the first “get to know you” call or inquiry.
Building your team – the right team- is crucial to the success of scaling your operations! You gotta get the right people in the right roles. I LOVE finding a tight group of people then bringing them on for other projects too. These 6 factors play a major role in finding and keeping talent. Progress is key, even in team building! To learn about my methods and and hear my somewhat comical side of being a traffic director (like when I was in a Slack standoff with a client), sign up for Your Progress Gameplan and get The Benchmark delivered straight to your inbox on Mondays.