With the increasing popularity of breakthrough technologies like artificial intelligence, virtual realities, cloud computing and more, it has become necessary and easier for businesses to satisfy customers with better service delivery.
According to a Salesforce reseacrch in 2022, 89% of consumers are more likely to make another purchase after a positive customer service experience and also 93% are likely to make a repeat purchase with companies who offer excellent services in another research done by Hubspot.
Businesses can easily become relevant therefore grow quickly if they are able to leverage technology to provide fast, quality and better services.
I have a deep passion to make the life of business owners easier by helping them identify processes that are very repetitive and then try to find ways to automate them.
Process automation is not only for large businesses
Today, I want to talk about 10 simple tools that can help you automate processes in your business.
- Plan and schedule your social media posts using free tools like Facebook Business Manager. Facebook Manager recently called Business Suite was created by Facebook to make planning, scheduling and posting easier for business owners. With setting time aside to plan your content, you can spare yourself the pain of looking for what to post every day.
- Have you ever had to run an ad and every single customer is asking for pictures? Use free landing pages especially from fintech (your payment processing) companies to showcase your products so you don’t have to always send all products at every customer request. If you have some funds, buy a domain and hosting at affordable charges and host a simple website. A website has a way of automating the buying process for you and your customers. Be very intentional in describing your products, give shipping or delivery information, especially add FAQs to your page.
Linked to e-commerce, use WhatsApp catalogue; a feature connected to your WhatsApp page so clients can view all your products or you can just send them your catalogue.
- Add auto responders to your WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram pages. Have you had an issue when someone sends a message and you are yet to respond? That is not good for your business.
- Join a marketplace in your niche or industry. There is a reason why you are called a small business because you don’t have all that it takes to be everywhere at the same time. Platforms and marketplaces were created for this reason. Use those platforms to get more insights into your sales and customers. You can use those insights to build your own platform. If you are a course tutor, check eschoolfinder.com. If you are an e-commerce check Aftownmall.com, Jumia etc
- Set up simple workflow emails in your system so you don’t forget to engage a client. These days, if you are worried about writing, you can get a template or you can use text/SMS.
- Digitize your invoicing system if you are product–based or even service–based business. This will help you in record keeping.
- Use a digital document system like free google docs to help streamline your processes. So, for instance, add all your documents in one place when reaching out to a client in order to avoid back and forth emails. Remember you can collaborate on google docs by commenting, making live edits etc.
- Use google forms to collect clients’ data and link the responses to excel sheets. That way, you have enough data to fall back on when you need it.
- Facebook shop, IG shop, Flutterwave store, Paystack store. I am not sure why you would not want to increase your sales channel. If you are a business owner who has every intention of growing your business, you want to be looking for more places where you can place your products, that way you can increase visibility and sales. These shops on social media and your payment processing platforms are great ways to increase your channels.
- Use Calendly for free: I have personally followed Calendly and seen how they have improved their system over the years. Use Calendly to schedule meetings with your clients especially if you are service–based business.