‘I don’t have enough time to do everything!’ is a common cry I hear from small business owners.
And that’s because you’re busy trying to juggle all aspects of running your business.
What you need is a system! The trouble is, there is a bewildering array of online tools that can help you and it’s difficult to know what works best and what to use without it costing the earth.
When I started it took me a good 12 months or more to start putting the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together.
To help you shortcut the pain I went through I’d like to share with you the systems that will help your business run smoothly allowing you to concentrate on the things that really matter – sales and marketing! And along with having documented processes, they make it much easier to take on people to support you as you grow.
Here are the basic building blocks any small business should have in place:
Mailing systems
These allow you to create sign up forms, automated emails, automated funnels and landing pages.
You can create automated flows e.g. where someone signs up to your newsletter and then you can send them a series of follow-up emails which will hopefully lead to conversations and sales. All without you having to do anything.
CRM
Or Customer Relationship Management tool. This is a database on steroids where you capture details about your prospects and clients including sales. You are generally able to customise the tool for your specific requirements/business and most will include some form of workflow management so you can start doing repeatable processes in a consistent way. And importantly, you can set automated reminders, which will do the job of reminding you what needs to be done eliminating the need for long to-do lists or worrying about missing important actions.
Calendar scheduling tool
Stop the constant ping pong of emails trying to find a date to have a meeting and set up a calendaring system where you can choose your available times and integrate it with your calendar allowing people to book slots to speak/meet with you without your involvement. You can add links to your website and social media if you like so people can book calls with you that way too.
Accounting package
Easily keep on top of your business with an online accounting package that links to your business account. Makes invoicing a doddle and you can get all the reporting you need from your dashboard. If you have an accountant (and why wouldn’t you?), it makes it so much easier for them to help you manage your business.
Tools that talk to each other
And the beauty of all of these, if set up properly, is that they talk to each other, so if someone fills in a form on your website or books a call through your diary system, not only do they go into your mailing system, but can also be pinged across to your CRM. Or sales can be zapped across to your accounting package. This saves duplication of effort which also reduces the likelihood of mistakes or having different information for the same contact.
I like simple and efficient, so my tools of choice are Mailerlite, Calendly, Capsule CRM and Xero. All of which cost me a grand total of £30 a month. A small investment for a set of tools that help you be in charge of your business.
Here’s a link to a pdf with some alternative suggestions for each tool with their pros and cons and costs.
What are the tools you use to help you run your business?