5 Amazing Tools That Will Help Business Thrive
Technology is the cornerstone of just about every business today. Think about it, almost all systems and functions that occur in business require some level of technology to facilitate the business process.
My business uses various programs and apps to help my team stay on task and support our customers. I couldn’t imagine having to manage all of our important customer and prospect contacts without a CRM. A CRM helps you communicate more efficiently and effectively and with Infusionsoft, you have the added benefit that the platform was built for small business owners so it caters to the needs of the small business owner. Since I’m not a one woman show, I have to have a way to communicate with my team on important projects and email gets out of control on these issues. When we started using Trello, we cut our internal emails down considerably. I’ve highlighted the important ones we use and how below. Don’t waste time struggling to track and manage your business because you haven’t implemented the right systems. Check out these 5 tools that can help you run your business instead of your business running YOU!
Here are 5 of my absolute favorite tools to help business thrive:
1. Infusionsoft — is a CRM for Small Business where you can import and organize the contacts that come to your business (both online and offline) with tagging and segmentation. Collect data about your leads’ behaviors, score them based on marketing interactions, and prioritize the leads that are hottest and ready to buy. Track engagement and customize follow-up messages based on unique customer profiles. Basically, organize contacts so you can get to know them better and speak directly to their needs. It’s everything you need to know about your leads and customers in one place, so nothing falls through the cracks. CRM for small business has never been more powerful. The features that help us generate revenue and support our customers are an essential part of my business. All of our prospect leads and customer contacts are stored in our account and from there, whether we are sending an email blast, providing an affiliate link, promoting a product or keeping track of important data for our clients, we are connecting with those contacts. To find out more about Infusionsoft for your business, click HERE.
2. Trello for Business — is the easy, free, flexible, and visual way to manage your projects and organize anything. My team uses Trello for all of its projects. Its a simple, visual place to keep track of all the details to a project, communicate with each other and send reminders. The thing I love about it is that it keeps us from sending 100’s of emails back and forth with each other. If I want to know what is going on in a project, I can just look at that project card in Trello and communicate from there. For more information on Trello, click HERE.
3. Interactive Life Coach — Get clear on your goals, track your progress and create explosive success from one simple application. I’m really partial to this one. When I created the Interactive Life Coach, I did it because I wanted a complete online system to help people dream bigger, track their goals and move forward. With ILC discover your true passions, target specific goals and actually bring them into reality. Interactive Life Coach will help you design, organize, implement and keep track of your progress toward creating the life and business you want and deserve. You can’t wish for things to happen, you need a solid plan of action. Interactive Life Coach will help you design your winning plan for every aspect of your life, business/career, relationship, wealth, spiritual, health and personal fulfillment. Upload photos and text to personalize your Big Picture Vision Boards and stay motivated with our one-of-a-kind Life-O-Meter and Interactive Life Coach practices. Now you have access to your very own success coach… anytime… anywhere. This is a must for anyone in business. I truly believe that you must map out your goals and life objectives in order to stay focused and on target. To learn how Interactive Life Coach can help YOU, click HERE.
4. Evernote –– Business doesn’t happen at a desk anymore. Evernote is one workspace that lives across your phone, tablet, and computer, Evernote is the place you write free from distraction, collect information, find what you need, and present your ideas to the world. Whatever you’re working toward, Evernote’s job is to make sure you get there. I use Evernote as my digital notepad so that no matter where I am, I can access my notes, projects and attachments. One great thing about Evernote that I love is the ability to capture images and I often use it as a way to send business receipts to my accountant. Takes away the mess of receipts everywhere, the hassles of getting to it later to scan them and provides up to date accounting for the expense. Create your own Evernote account by clicking HERE.
5. Dropbox — Dropbox keeps your files safe, synced, and easy to share. Take your docs anywhere. Save files on your computer, then access them on your phone from the road. Everything you keep in Dropbox is synced automatically to all your devices. Our team has almost all of our files in the cloud on Dropbox. Our business account lets us share files, provide links and organize the 10’s of thousands of documents we have created to support our clients. By saving our files on Dropbox, it stops our team from asking for files and waiting for a response. We can just go to the folder we need and access everything from there. The most important thing about using a system like Dropbox is to be clear on structure and organization. Make sure you have a plan in advance for folder and file naming so it is easy for your team to find what they are looking for. To learn more, click HERE.
By setting up systems to help your business run efficiently, you can move on to working on your business and not in your business. Often, when we work with our clients, we find that inefficient systems are holding them back from success. Reworking, disorganization, lack of systems are all indicators of a business in chaos. By creating systems that serve you, you will shorten the time it takes for you to plan and execute a project and that means you have a chance to generate more profits! I’d love to know what programs you use in your business that help you stay on top of the game. Please leave a comment below.
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