3 Kinds of Tech Tools That Mean Big Gains for Any Small Business

No matter how smart or talented, there are three things all small business owners struggle with: time, money, and manpower. At the same time, small businesses can’t overestimate the importance of staying on top of every minor detail as they’ll all impact business in a big way.

How can small businesses stay ahead of the competition if they don’t have the funds and manpower often afforded to giant corporations? The answer: thinking strategically about growth-hacking tools to organize, manage, and keep business in accelerated drive mode.

Below are three kinds of tech tools that lead to explosive growth for small businesses:

1. Automate … as much as you can

As a business grows, there’s no way you’re going to be able to keep up with every customer interaction, stay on top of emails you need to send, or social updates you need to post, all the while still running and growing a business. How can you with your tight budget and limited manpower?

At the same time, all of those “little things”—the email marketing, the social updates, the customer relationship management—are essential to growth. Why not automate what you can so you can focus your attention where needed? Additionally, automating reduces operating costs, increases productivity, and prevents human-errors that often mean costly errors. In fact, even skilled operators average one error in every 300 keystrokes, according to this report. Think about all the countless hours that could be spent on correcting the error.

A few automating tools all small businesses should consider using are: email marketing, automating social media, and automating reviews.

When it comes to email marketing, 46% of small businesses utilize it, according to a 2015 State of Small Business Report, which means they’re bringing in $40 for every $1 spend, says the Direct Marketing Association.

Why is sending out email newsletters so important and how does automating it make it better? While it may seem old-fashioned, email marketing simply works. In this study, consulting firm McKinsey and Co. found that email marketing is 40 times more effective than marketing on Facebook and Twitter combined. Through automation, you can track what subscribers are doing with your messages and what items are bringing in the most income streams. It also enables you to easily build greater credibility and brand recognition.

A similar argument can be made for social media. Why spend all day thinking about social media when you can automate everything beforehand? Pushing these tasks aside will cost you social media presence, which will quickly hurt your bottom line. A social media automation tool is simple, easy, and offers you valuable algorithms which can be used for higher levels of engagement later on.

As for automating reviews, it’s a small step that shows big gains, yet few businesses have mastered it. No matter how far we’ve come in advertising and marketing tools, recommendations from friends, family, and even the online community is still more effective than a traditional piece of advertisement. In fact, 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as they do a recommendation from friends and family, according to this 2014 study. How do you get customers to write glowing reviews and basically become brand ambassadors for you? The first step is simply to ask them.

This study of 6,000 small business customers found that 89% of customers would leave a review, but only 7% has ever been asked. By simplifying, and automating, this process, you’ll make is easier for customer to do what you need them to for your business. Case in point is 3M ESPE, a manufacturer of dental products, which increased its customer testimonials by 200% in three days after automating its process.

2. Use tools to make sure customer and employee satisfaction doesn’t suffer because of human error

The success of your business is dependent on the satisfaction of your customers and happiness of your employees. Without happy employees, your customers won’t get the positive experience they need to become brand ambassadors. By using the latest business tech tools, you’re ensuring you’re doing everything you can to keep everyone happy.

First, let’s start with every business’ most valuable asset: employees. To benefit from a productive, highly motivated workforce, you must first invest in their happiness. More companies are figuring this out. In 2014, research by Deloitte found that U.S. companies spending more on corporate training grew by 15% in 2013, the highest rate in seven years, meaning companies spent $70 billion on training. For companies that want to continue educating employees and invest in their growth, MOOCs are excellent learning tools. Some companies even use technology, like mood sensing, to track employee happiness.

Next, as mentioned earlier, customers only become brand ambassadors for your business if they’ve had an extraordinary experience. As your business grows, it can be difficult to remember all of the interactions you’ve had with every customer. At the same time, you kind of have to because, as we all know, communication makes or breaks any relationship.

Here’s how an effective CRM software that tracks interaction can boost your business’ bottom line in a major way. The State of Small Business Report found that only 71% of the 1,088 business owners and executives surveyed admitted to not using a CRM software of any kind. This is a bad business move as these softwares provide access to customer information, manage sales pipelines, analyze performance and business metrics, note any kind of interaction you’ve had with a customer, and remind you when you need to follow up.

Recommended CRM softwares to think about are Salesforce, which track sales activity as well as “every lead, opportunity, and customer” for more than 100,000 organizations and Zoho CRM, which takes visitor data from your website, tracks their behavior, and transfers those notes into sales leads.

3. Inventory control will make or break you

With all the responsibilities that small business owners have, running around managing inventory might not seem like it should be top on the list. In fact, thinking this way is the exact reason why failing to implement a proper inventory system is the one of biggest reasons small businesses fail, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. Want proof? Just take a look at the Bay Area Air Quality Management District which, until recently, struggled to keep accurate counts of its goods sourced through nearly 100 suppliers.

“When a technician needed a replacement part, he would spend between two and three hours calling around to the various field technicians looking for it,” said Bryan Bibeau, a senior air quality instrument specialist for the Ambient Monitoring group. “Since we replace between four and five parts a week, as a group we were wasting between 500 and 750 hours a year just tracking down parts.”

On the other hand, forward-thinking companies know just how much a proper inventory management system can maximize sales and minimize costs. According to Microsoft’s Midsize Business Center, companies that make inventory top priority decrease costs by as much as 35%.

When you’re able to stay on top of your inventory, track it, and accurately forecast it months in advance, you’re able to identify trends, which means better overall investments and positive cash flow.

As small businesses today are trying to survive in the increasingly saturated market, the smartest ones know they can’t run and grow a business while staying on top of every detail by themselves. They also know they can’t beat their competitors this way. Instead of relying solely on manpower, consider implementing the tech tools above to make sure details aren’t following through the cracks while you’re busy running and growing a business.