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6 Must-Have Tools for Small Business Efficiency


Small Business

Just because you run a small business, it doesn’t mean you can’t compete with some of the bigger and more established players in your marketplace.

To do this effectively, all you need is to embrace some of the many new technologies that have recently been developed to help you operate more productively.

But what are they, and how can they help you to level out the playing field?

Here are 6 must-have tools that will help your small business enhance its efficiency and, ultimately, improve its bottom line.


1. Professional business phone number

There was a time when professional business phone numbers were seen as a luxury, especially for small businesses. However, there are several compelling reasons why you should get one for your company.

One of the main ones is that they give your venture a more professional look and feel. They also give you the flexibility to move locations or open new offices without negatively impacting your customers' experience when they call you.

Perhaps most importantly, they can manage your customers' calls more efficiently because you can set up a touch-tone system where they press a specific number to speak to a relevant individual in any given department.

Additionally, professional business numbers can be customised for better branding. So, you can adopt 1800 COFFEE or 1300 PHOTOS as your new phone number to make it more memorable.


2. Electronic Payment Systems

To survive in business, you are going to need to make as many sales as possible to cover your costs and increase your profitability.

As every customer has a preferred way of paying, incorporating a wide range of electronic payment systems into your purchasing process is a good idea.

This range should include EFTPOS and direct debit. It should also embrace online payment platforms like PayPal, mobile wallets like Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, and Google Pay, and Buy Now Pay Later systems, including AfterPay.

These systems facilitate smoother payments and also ensure that your business benefits from better cash flow as they tend to deposit the funds in your bank account within 24 – 48 hours.


3. Project Management Tools

As a small business owner, you probably struggle to manage several tasks and projects simultaneously.

As any juggler will tell you, the more balls you have up in the air, the greater the inevitability of one falling to the wayside. So, to reduce the likelihood of this happening to you, it is a good idea to use project management software to schedule, monitor and track the delivery of these activities. 

Many small business owners use platforms like Trello, Asana, and Jira to plan, organise, and manage their projects in one convenient, centralised environment.

This enables them to work more efficiently, thanks to better communication, instruction, and accountability. Ultimately, this results in tasks being completed quicker and with less likelihood of error.


4. CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems

Customers are extremely important to any company, but especially a small business that relies on them for growth and to establish a presence in the marketplace.

Therefore, it is worth using a customer relationship management system, such as Hubspot, Salesforce, or Zendesk Sell, to help you manage the lifetime potential each of your customers brings to your organisation.

These platforms allow you to conduct, evaluate and measure the effectiveness of all aspects of your customer communications and relationships. For example, it can highlight valuable metrics like which customers are receiving your emails and whether or not they are actually opening them.

Thanks to their analytical abilities, they can even predict the most effective step to take for your next engagement with any specific customer.


5. Freelancers

Freelancers are a significant resource that every small business should consider utilising. 

As they are experts in their field, they can grant you access to a range of skill sets that your small business currently does not have. This could include everything from SEO, marketing and social media content creation to web development, data analysis and business consultancy.

Hiring full-time staff can be expensive and risky if your employees aren’t as effective as you want them to be. Subsequently, engaging the services of freelancers can be a great way to streamline and grow your business operations. You can find them on LinkedIn or platforms like Upwork.


6. Social Media Automation

Over the last decade, social media channels like Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Twitter and Facebook have become an essential medium for many small businesses to promote their brand.

However, if you run any or all of these accounts and don’t have a dedicated freelancer or employee to manage them for you, it can be very difficult to manage them to a level that maximises their reach and harnesses their full potential.

Thankfully, there are a range of automation tools, including Hootsuite, Social Poster, and Buffer, that you can use to schedule your social media posts. These tools enable you to schedule posts for many weeks or months in advance for multiple networks.

Using them enables you to easily manage your posting timeline. It also allows you to track the success of each communication in terms of views, clicks, and other interactions to quickly ascertain which are the most effective.

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