Smart Tools For Small Business That is Worth the Investment

[This article was written by Raviraj.]

Because piloting your business is important, but it is complicated, there are many software tools, most often available in SaaS (Software as a Service) and cloud mode, some of which are extremely practical and efficient.

Also, the fortune of having hundreds of tools focused on productivity can become torture for small businesses that cannot afford to spend resources indiscriminately trying out one by one, however, since such organizations require the usual tasks that they need. Below are the smartest tools for every small business.

PipeDrive

We start from the fact that the most valuable asset of a company are its customers, so its correct management is essential for the good results and sustainable growth of the company.

However, although in the network there is a range of options in terms of specialized software for such management (CRMs), it is useful to have at hand a tool that can do it but that does not complicate the task, on the contrary, that facilitates it to the maximum to increase productivity, and that can be used by a whole team.

Pipedrive responds well to these requirements with a rich platform that allows maintaining detailed profiles of clients, manage negotiations, assign tasks and perform an effective multichannel tracking (emails, calls, notes, etc.).

LeadFox

LeadFox is an email marketing, landing page creation and powerful automation tool with quite comprehensive features. It allows you to create contact lists and schedule a series of emails based on the actions of your prospects and the conditions you have chosen for your Lead nurturing process.

This tool is all the more interesting because all the work is done in visual, and this greatly facilitates the task because you keep an overview of the path of your prospects. The tool also offers a variety of email templates, landing pages and emails that you can easily customize via the interface. A little extra that has been added to this tool, a CRM adapted to small businesses that allows you to track the interaction of your prospects with your brand.

Leadsius

Leadsius is a marketing automation tool a little different from the others. In fact, this tool focuses a little more on the tracking aspect of visitors, while offering a range of interesting options for lead nurturing, lead qualification, lead management, etc. In addition, this tool allows you to create forms, landing pages and contact lists without using additional tools. The tool can be free depending on your needs and the size of your client databases.

Trello

Trello uses the Kanban methodology of project management. According to Wikipedia, Kanban (literally signboard or billboard in Chinese and Japanese) is a scheduling system for lean manufacturing and just-in-time manufacturing (JIT).

This method involves moving a task along with a series of “cards” as it comes to an end. As it is very visual, the Kanban methodology is ideal for a range of tasks.

With Trello, you can create separate boards for every aspect of your business (such as “Marketing” or “Inventory Management”). Within each board, you can create different cards that signify the current stage of a task (such as “To Do,” “In Progress,” “Finished”).

After adding a task, you can drag and drop from one map to another according to its current state. You can also assign a task to a team member, add attachments, and leave comments. Trello’s biggest advantage is its flexibility and ease of use.

You can start in seconds and use the software for virtually nothing – managing your inventory, collecting ideas for your blog, and maintaining a to-do list. The ease of use is also the biggest drawback of Trello. The Kanban method is difficult to scale for the complex, non-repetitive tasks. Trello’s support is also limited unless you spring up to the business plan ($ 20.83 / month).

Evernote

The application of multimedia notes and multiplatform makes it possible to take all kinds of notes instantaneously and collaboratively, with a system of organization by labels and notebooks of the most productive with a working chat to adjust details regarding the management.

Of course, the interesting thing comes when it requires much more than a simple note but without sacrificing ease of use: lists of things to do, document management, a collection of multimedia elements captured from the web, simultaneous use with other popular applications, programmable alerts for attending to certain materials on time, etc.

Sales Autopilot

This tool is a revolution for small businesses looking for marketing intelligence that is accessible and easy to handle. It allows you to plan your Lead nurturing processes, integrate SMS into this process, develop your contact lists, segment your lists and many other interesting options. In addition, if you have a direct sales department by phone, it is easily integrated with your telemarketing department.

EMERGE App

EMERGE APp іѕ аn іnvеntоrу mаnаgеmеnt app thаt аlѕо offers sales оrdеr, рurсhаѕе order аnd bаѕіс accounting functionality. EMERGE App offers multі-сurrеnсу functionality, mаkіng іt a gооd solution fоr smaller rеtаіl buѕіnеѕѕеѕ that ѕеll tо a global mаrkеt. Alоng wіth rеtаіl mаrkеtѕ, EMERGE wоuld fіt well with handicraft manufacturers аnd jewelry sellers and dіѕtrіbutоrѕ.

This cloud-based аррlісаtіоn іѕ designed tо suit trаdіtіоnаl whоlеѕаlе, dіѕtrіbutіоn, аnd оnlіnе еCоmmеrсе mеrсhаntѕ, аnd оffеrѕ free forever plan for startups. The price is as low as $30/month per user.

Azuqua

 This tool is a kind of melting pot full of various options. It allows you to virtually touch every aspect of your sales process, a little marketing, a little customer service, a bit of branding, and more in addition to standard lead nurturing options, and customization options.

Well, we agree that tools that touch everything do not necessarily do everything right, but Azuqua is a very good starting point because it allows you to group everything in one platform All-in-One.

Asana

Asana is a project management software from Dustin Moskovitz, one of Facebook’s co-founders. It is one of the most popular tools around PM with over a million users, thanks in large part to its popularity among start-ups.

Asana project management centers around individual projects, each of which may have team members. You can add a number of tasks to a project. The due date and priority for each task will be posted in the “Team Calendar.” You can also leave comments and chat with team members inside Asana. The “inbox” helps you keep track of all your tracked tasks. The flexibility of asana makes it ideal for any business whatever its size. The separation of workspaces and calendars means that you can accommodate 1 to 100+ people on it. The amazing visual design is a pleasure to use.

Google Docs/Drive

Although office-type desktop software has no competition for heavy work, Google’s document platform with its office suite is the perfect combination for creating text files, spreadsheets, presentations and quick but good-quality forms.

With huge online storage space to save, manage and share them in addition to working collaboratively -with a complete record of the editions- and having them on hand in multiple devices.

Groove

A marvel to provide online support, in the case of queries via email, with a report always specific to customers to attend so that none is left unanswered. The ability to assign each client to a specific employee, always visualize the current status of a request or ticket, record the times occupied in their attention and solution, a familiar appearance type email and apps to add special functions are among its main features.

Spokal

For a small business looking for a tool that touches all aspects of online marketing, Spokal is a great place to start. This tool allows you to create and format your content, to optimize the referencing of your publications, to monitor your analytics data, to automate and monitor your social sharing (integrable with Feedly), all in addition to offering the standard options of lead nurturing and lead scoring. In the end, it’s an all-in-one solution available from around $ 40 a month.

Base camp

As one of the pioneers in the online collaboration space, Basecamp has a long list of loyal users. Built from the ground up for small businesses, Basecamp is extremely friendly with a philosophy of “less is more” design. Basecamp aims to be the only communication and collaboration tool you must use.

Although not strictly a project management tool, these collaboration features work well for small e-commerce businesses, especially if you have a growing team. The unique dashboard communication capabilities make it easy to keep tabs on what your team is doing. On the flip side, there is no visual way to track the progress of the project. Lists of things to do well for micro-management, but misses the “big picture” of complex task management.

Author Bio:

Raviraj is Growth Hacker & Content Strategist at EMERGE App – a multi channel inventory & order management system for wholesalers, distributors and eCommerce sellers. Connect with Raviraj via LinkedIn or twitter.