In our business one commodity which we wish could produce more of is time. Some days seem to run away with us and before we know it the day has ended and we still have only checked the first two tasks off our to-do list. So how can we better utilise our time? Automate some of the mundane tasks within in your business. If you do this, you will be able to focus more on growing your business and developing better processes. Here are some tasks you should consider automating.
Finances
By creating a more streamlined process for your finances you can be sure you get paid on time and that you follow up on any outstanding payments. You can set reminders on your accounting software and create emails which can be sent when payments are outstanding. You will also be able to pull up performance reviews quickly by using an accounting package. One tools consider is Xero.
Email marketing
Building and nurturing relationships with your customers is crucial for the growth of your business. By using an email scheduler, you can create drip marketing strategies which will be released when a new customer registers for your email newsletter. One of the best tools on the market for this is MailChimp.
Social media marketing
Some people often find themselves engulfed by the rabbit hole known as social media only to come out of it a few hours later. This is when social media post scheduling becomes important to save you time. There are many tools available to help you keep your presence on social media without you losing time.
Employee scheduling
The days of excel spreadsheets to manage your employees is over. When I work will help you to schedule your staff and communicate with them easily. It also has a mobile app which can be used by your employees to check their shifts and make them more accountable.
Automatic logins
Every day you may have webpages which you regularly log-in. Have you ever thought about the time you have spent logging into those sites? Why not make use of an app which will securely keep your log-in details and make it easier for you to log-in to the websites your regularly frequent. The tools to consider are 1Password or LastPass.
Customer service
Automating your customer service will improve your reliability when a customer’s query is answered quickly and accurately. Their opinion of your product will also improve. A good tool to start out with is FreshDesk. You could also look at Zendesk.
Internal communication
Automating internal communication can assist in getting projects completed on time and you will be able to see where people are on different projects. You will also be able to assign tasks to different team members within the tools. Some good tools for internal communication are Asana or Trello.
By automating these tasks, you will be able to enhance the customer’s experience of your brand, centralise the communication of your team, streamline workflows and reduce the amount of manual errors that may occur.
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