So, you’re trying to start or run your business but you don’t have the time. You may be working a full-time job, be a busy parent, or you already have a business that requires more attention. It can be difficult to use those additional hours to fit in a little more productivity and it can be unhealthy if you don’t get some downtime, so how can you make your business work with little to no time?
Many businesses are successful through business automation. Automation is done through establishing a process where there is very little manual interference. Here are a few ways you can automate your business.
1. Your Website
A website is more than just a way for people to find your services. A well-designed website can contain all of the features and information you need to free up hours of your time. A website can:
- Perform Booking and Scheduling
- Answer Frequently Asked Questions
- Take Emails Messages
- Present Products and Services
- Create Shipping Labels
- Input Accounting Information
- Present Your Work
- Display Customer Reviews
These are just a few tasks that a website can manage for you but there are several more! If you have a website, not having to perform the tasks listed can save hours of your week.
2. Customer Relation Management Software
Customer Relation Management software (CRM), is a program that manages your relationship with all of your customers. Instead of answering every email, having to remember every birthday, or remembering to follow up on each invoice, a CRM can do all of these things and more. A CRM can store customer information from the time they request your services until 10th anniversary as a customer. It is how you can build a relationship with each client but with complete automation. Most CRM’s have these features:
- Lead Forms
- Email Marketing
- Customer Profiling
- Scheduling Emails
- Take Payments
- Receive Invoices
- Store Customer Files
- Track Sales Process
3. Accounting Platform
Many business owners will agree that the financial books are probably the most tedious part of the job. It’s great to see the money come in but monitoring your expenses, taxes, and budgets can be even better with a accounts management system. There are several to choose from and these features are pretty standard across the board.
- Bank Account Connectivity
- Expense Categorization
- Tax Estimation
- Accountant Accessible
- Payout Implementation
- Account Suggestions
It’s safe to say there is a lot more to running a business than what these few suggestions can cover, but alleviating some of your time can be exactly what you need to increase your success.