Tips on hiring a Certified Zapier Expert

Zapier Experts are certified consultants, freelancers and agencies that can help you do more with automation. They can help you improve processes, recommend applications and streamline your workflow. 

How to identify a Zapier Certified Expert?

Zapier Certified Experts are distinguishable in Community via the Expert badge and title. These identifiers are visible on the Expert’s Community profile page and beside their name within any responses or topics they share in Community: 

How to get started and what should you ask an Expert you may be interested in hiring?

We sat down with Zapier Expert, Andrew Davison of Luhhu to learn more about what to consider and prepare for your first chat.

General questions that a client should consider before hiring an Expert or any third-party to assist with their Zaps are:

• What timezone are they located in? 

• What their working process is (does this align with your own?)

• How will projects be managed and who will be the main point of contact?

Timing is a large component to consider as well. 

• If you’re working to a deadline, communicate that with an expert early on - and be flexible to changing that, as workflows can be complex and may take longer than initially anticipated to create. 
• Also keep in mind, an Expert can advise on how long it will take to build certain automations from a technical standpoint, but clients should be aware that automating their business will lead to internal changes (additional staff, training, etc) which clients need to consider. 
• It’s important to note that if you're a client that is working on behalf of another client, sub contracting work to an Expert,  this needs to be communicated upfront along with timing expectations so that everyone is aligned and feels in the loop.

What about when it comes to pricing?

• Know what you’re willing to spend and be transparent. Some Experts charge by the hour and some a fixed price. Before moving forward with an Expert, get a good understanding of what’s going to be delivered and what level of support you will receive.
• Also, remember that some things are out of the Expert’s control. Unexpected roadblocks, errors, downtime, etc. Factor this time into your budget as a buffer so that you are prepared for the unexpected.

Tell me more about expectations

• Be as specific as possible with your desired outcome. For example “‘Every day it takes me 3 hours to manually do [a process], could you automate that with Zapier.” This gives us a clear path forward with finite results. 

What if I don’t know what exactly I need help with?

I typically tell folks to sit down with a Google Sheet open and write down every process in their business that they do daily/weekly/monthly. In another column calculate how much time it takes.

Then, taking into account the salary of the client’s staff, it becomes easy to prioritize that list. An Expert can then go through it and work out a) if the process can be automated, b) how long it will take and hence, how much it will cost them.

From here - we can work out a phase 1, 2, 3… of work, aiming to hit the most impactful things first.

Ready to connect with a Zapier Expert who fits your needs? Head over to our Experts Directory to get started!