Have you seen the TV show The Profit? Small businesses could learn a lot from the advice shared on the show by investor Marcus Lemonis. His catch phrase is "people, product and process." All three elements have to be finely tuned for a business to grow profitably.
Let's talk about your sales process. Nothing is more important than keeping track of your existing and potential customers. They drive the income you have now and enable additional growth.
Many small businesses have no processes at all for staying connected with current customers or reaching out to new ones. This is a serious deficiency that results in lost sales and unhappy customers. It is easily resolved, however, through the use of automation solutions that do not have to be expensive.
Email Automation
Is your business still manually generating sales quotes, contracts, proposals, and other documents you routinely mail to marketing leads or clients? There is no reason to do each of these processes manually. Create processes using PandaDoc and save hours on every project.
Every small business should be using an email solution to build their lists and send autoresponder or "drip" messages to all new subscribers. Next to keeping on top of existing customers and leads, and getting paid, nothing is more important than growing your relationships via email.
CRM (Customer Relationship Manager)
According to Wasp Barcode Technologies' 2015 State of Small Business Report, 71 percent of small businesses still do not use a CRM:
Small business CRM usage percentages ~ Source: 2015 State of Small Business Report
The first priority is to use a CRM to keep track of your existing customers as well as incoming leads. A CRM does not have to be expensive.
For example, I use Time & Chaos Intellect which unfortunately only runs on Windows. For a one-time payment of $59.95, I have a complete email system, contact manager, calendar, and task list. The built-in database allows me to track current projects of multiple types plus sales leads to follow-up on should I ever get slow on work. And the company provides free phone support during business hours.
If I worked with a team that needed access, I could pay less than $10 per month to use ChaosHost which syncs between devices and allows access to other team members. It also has a time tracking system called "legal billing" if you need that ability. This, however, is only one of many low-cost CRMs small businesses could be using, and many have these same capabilities.
There are mobile CRMs and social CRMs like Nimble. If your sales or support teams are on the road, you might want a mobile CRM. If they use social to connect with customers, a social CRM might be best.
Even though I interact across all social networks, I don't typically use my social CRM nearly as much as my customer contacts in Intellect. I've created fields for social accounts, but find I rarely use them.
Unless you can afford a marketing system to track leads, choose a CRM and start using it.
Accounting, Invoicing, and Time and Attendance
Getting paid is so important that it is essential to have a consistent process. Where once most might have used QuickBooks, today it is more common for businesses to have their accounting solution in the cloud.
Besides complete accounting systems, there are many invoicing and time tracking solutions. If you aren't sure which invoicing solution to use, start by reviewing these "Top 10 Free Online Invoicing Software Tools: Which One Is Best for You?"
A great time saver today is that other applications -- inventory management, e-commerce sales, and time and attendance -- can integrate with accounting systems and automatically handle payroll and tax forms.
Inventory Management/POS
Only 34 percent of small businesses use an inventory program to track products or fixed assets. Even fewer are likely to use barcodes, QR codes, and barcode readers to speed up their inventory process.
What Small Businesses Use to Track Inventory ~ Source: 2015 State of Small Business Report
Any business that sells products should be using a point-of-sale (POS) system that records products as they are sold, and automatically adjusts inventory. You can even turn your smartphone or tablet into a POS system at no cost through PayPal, or with the ability to integrate into your accounting system with Vend HQ.
Benefits When You Automate Small Business
None of these automation solutions is expensive. While they don't have the power of a marketing system like Marketo, they will save your business time. Every process ensures that nothing falls through the cracks, every lead is followed up on, and your business becomes scalable.
Don't wait until you grow too fast and can't keep on top of everything. Create your processes and train your team now so when you land that big customer or have a growth spurt, your business can grow smoothly and keep everyone involved happy.
