How productive is your business? In business as in life, the basis of success is hard work, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t tools that can give us a helping hand along the way. In this article, we are going to delve into four business tools that many organizations may consider indispensable, simplifying the daily life of a small to medium enterprise.
Project Management Tool
Much of business comes down to ‘getting stuff done’, and just because your team is small, that doesn’t mean you don’t need to be organized. Project management tools such as Trello can help, allowing you to break down projects into smaller tasks and track their progress. Each area of your business can be designated a board. On these boards, projects can be given a “card.” If your team members are working on a particular project, simply assign them to the card. This means that they can discuss the work that they are doing with other team members and will be notified of any communications to that particular card. Give project management tools a try. They are simpler than they sound, and they really help to make working fun.
CRM System
How do we ensure our marketing and sales campaigns dovetail effectively, feeding off each other to increase customers? One way is with a customer relationship management (CRM) system that provides us with an overview of customer communications from both a marketing and sales standpoint. You can time and tailor each communication with customers individually, according to who they are, and your relationship with them at a certain time. For example, you might want to send a regular customer or subscriber different messages than you would a prospective customer who has not yet bought your product or service. You can find CRM systems as software as a service (SaaS) packages which may be more cost-effective for smaller businesses.
Video Call Software
During the pandemic, we couldn’t always be in the same room, at the same time, and that doesn’t just apply to family. Video call software such as Zoom and Skype can help to keep in touch with clients, suppliers, and other business contacts at times when face-to-face isn’t possible. Also, if you are working on gaining customers overseas, these tools can also be fundamental to your success.
Social Media Scheduler
Whether you are setting your sights on a local or online market, there aren’t many types of businesses that don’t benefit from a social media presence these days. Consistency is key when it comes to your social media output, and that’s where a social media scheduler can help, allowing you to upload your posts in advance for the coming days. Using a social media scheduler such as Hootsuite allows you to ensure that you are creating a good variety of informative, helpful and fun posts that contain the right images, tags, and hashtags! Use this technology to give yourself the peace of mind that comes with knowing your social media posts are already scheduled.