We all need technology to get our jobs done in small business. Like never before, inexpensive technology in your office will not only save you money, but can actually help build your business. Start here:
1. Accounting Software: You need to financially track your company. Know how to enter sales, pay bills, make deposits and generate the financial statements you need to run your business.
I recommend: Quickbooks if you do not need to track inventory.
Because: Ok, it’s boring but it’s also inexpensive and fits most businesses out of the box. It’s also ubiquitous so other people know how to use it and it integrates with other applications.
Cost: $8 a month
Alternative: Freshbooks has been getting good reviews. Its totally online and that may be an advantage for your business.
2. Contact Management System. You need to keep track of your sales suspects and prospects. The technology is just too easy to make yourself look sharp. You can try to do this on a very basic level in Microsoft Outlook or one of its add ins, but you should probably get a system that is specific for your industry or meets your level of sophistication.
I recommend: HighRise by 37Signals
Because: It is much simpler than Sales Force, which is too much for most businesses. Remember, if it is too complicated, no one will use it. The only things you really need to do is tag prospects in your pipeline, record the last time you called and make follow up reminders.
Cost: $29 per month
3. Telephone VOIP: This is less expensive than having those standard phone systems, but you need to ensure you have good Internet connectivity for clear service. Through inexpensive VOIP, you can also route the call and track the number of calls to each person or department. We are not ready to go totally cellular since the service and call quality is not yet universal.
I recommend: I don’t. I have used Skype and Vonage and their quality are both too variable to be considered reliable for business. Do you have suggestions for this one?
Cost: As low as $3 a month
4. Web Site Content Management: I am a strong proponent of using standard software and templates. You will be refreshing your web site every year and you do not want the cost of customizing it each time. You also need to easily update your web content frequently and don’t want to pay someone outside your company to do it.
I recommend: WordPress, Joomla or Drupal.
Because: While I only have personal experience with WordPress, I find that the template themes and plug-ins available make management of the web site simple.
I recommend: Feedburner
Because: Prospects and customers need a way to subscribe to your blog or recent content and get it in their inbox.
Cost: Both are free, but you can also buy more sophisticated themes stat at $19.
5. Social Media Management: We all need to be involved in the conversations going on the web about us, our company and the areas we are interested. This builds our reputation and our brand.
I recommend: Seesmic or Tweetdeck
Because: They can search and post to Twitter and Facebook simultaneously. It is just to difficult to check multiple sites or post multiple places. You can also save searches you want to monitor.
I recommend: Addictomatic
Because: It’s a great way to search recent mentions about you in all the different forums including Flickr, YouTube, Vimeo, Blogs etc
Cost: Free
6. Email Marketing: It’s one of the best ways to keep us in front of our customers because we actually can’t sell anything to anyone, we just need to be there when people are ready to buy:
I recommend: I use Constant Contact. Others have had good results with Vertical Response, Aweber, and Mail Chimp.
Because: There is a software for your price range and communication is key for your business.
Cost: As low as $15/month
Remember, the true cost of using any of these software systems is your time in investing to make it work in your company. Choose wisely.
What other tools have you used? Leave a comment.
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I have found the Grasshopper is a great way to get your business started on the cheap while still sounding professional. It is a Virtual PBX that allows you to set up extensions and forward them to different phone numbers. So basically, you can get a cheap VOIP line (Skype or other) and then have Grasshopper forward callers to that line based on what button they press. It has full voice prompts for your call-in line.
Good choice on the accounting software. I personally like Vertical Response better then Constant Contact, but might be a tiny, tiny bit more.
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