Without a doubt, it’s an exciting time to own a business. Technological advances have made it possible for companies to be more efficient, produce and ship products faster, capture more opportunities, boost customer loyalty and, most importantly, make more money.
Think this is something only other business owners do? Think again. In fact, here are five specific ways any entrepreneur can take advantage of technology to become more profitable.
Automated accounting
With digital banking technology as advanced and secure as it has become, today’s businesses are able to process orders much more efficiently. Payments into and out of an account can be seen and accounted for in real-time, thereby speeding up the sales and shipping process and improving cash flow. Automating as many of these accounting functions as possible will save you time and money while providing you better access to and control over your funds.
Invoicing software
Invoicing customers manually can take hours upon hours away from your day-to-day operations. Thanks to technology, now you can automate this administrative task so you can focus your time and effort on other important business initiatives. It also makes tasks like accounts receivable and order tracking much faster and more efficient, which makes for a better experience for both the business owner and the customer. Don’t have the capital to invest in software? There are plenty of secure online alternatives as well.
Email marketing
While social media and other online platforms certainly have their place, email remains one of the most effective tools for generating, nurturing and converting leads. But what small business owner has the time to draft, send, monitor and respond to emails all day? Enter email marketing software, which lets you automate the entire process, from start to finish. Stay in touch with prospects, improve the customer experience, build on those relationships and increase client loyalty without having to invest hours upon hours in the process.
CRM to cut costs and maximize opportunities.
A customer relationship management system can provide even the smallest of businesses with a much broader reach and enable them to make a significantly bigger impact. How? By automating time-consuming lead and customer management tasks. A CRM will let you know when you need to follow up, send an invoice, etc. so nothing will slip through the cracks. In the meantime, you’ll be able to focus more of your time and attention on things like driving revenue and growing your business.
Sales funnel software
Are you wasting precious time on dead-end leads? Do you know exactly where each prospect is in the sales process and what you need to do to get them to the next stage? Sales funnel software can help you optimize your time by identifying the highest-probability leads and keeping track of every step of the process for you. What’s more, the vast majority of follow-up and lead nurturing can be fully automated. This can dramatically reduce your sales cycle and increase your close rate, which will ultimately improve your profitability.
Technology has revolutionized the way businesses operate and opened many doors of opportunity to smaller businesses, enabling them to compete on a much larger scale. The five types of technology listed above can be leveraged specifically to help small companies improve operations and boost their bottom line.