How to use technology to automate your business

Elle says: “Write down all the repetitive steps your business does on Post-it notes and start mapping them out on a wall. When you get an enquiry from a customer, for example, look at what you do with it – do you normally ring them, do you email them, do you offer them an appointment? Obviously your process depends on your industry but a lot of the early parts of onboarding a client and getting a sale through is about delivering really consistent communication and getting information to them quickly, and that is where automation can set you apart, by streamlining the process.”

She adds: “When you map out the process it is amazing how many people realise that they are taking five steps when they could just be taking one, because instead of sending customers five emails really haphazardly, they could be sending them one really nice email with an information pack straightaway. Your conversion rate can go up by 20% simply by automating the process of ensuring that the customer gets everything they need, when they need it, and it is consistent.”

Ellie says: “The thing that has the biggest impact on most businesses is getting a CRM in place. CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management system, and it can automate and streamline most of your interactions with your customers, leaving you free to get on with growing your business. A CRM can automate things like sending out quotes, chasing invoices, getting contracts signed, reminding people that there is a payment coming up, booking appointments with you. It is all self-service. There are many of them on the market and they are not difficult to set up, and there are lots of people who can help you do it.”

She adds: “Don’t necessarily go for the one with the biggest marketing budget. I have worked with people who just bought the first thing that came up on Google because it seemed to do what they needed it to do, but actually you could save yourself £4000 a year by going with the next one down. It is worth shopping around for.”

Elle says: “Every business needs to do networking calls, site visits, quote meetings or sales calls, and using an app like Calendly or Acuity Scheduler means that you stop playing email ping-pong trying to get a diary date in, which is a major time issue for a lot of business owners. These apps link to your diary so people can go in and book their own appointments, according to the rules you put in place about when bookings are available, and they get an automatic confirmation and reminder before the meeting which reduces no-shows. It is a massive time saver and will make your life easier.”

Elle says: “Social media scheduling apps automatically publish your social media posts for you when you want them to be posted. They enable you to put all your content in, add your captions and hashtags, say what day you want them to be posted, and walk away. I actually schedule all my social media posts six weeks ahead - I spend four hours at the start of the month creating the posts and then it is done and I don’t have to worry about them. You are still in control: you are just focussing your efforts on what is going to make you money rather than the admin around it.”

Elle says: “Positive reviews can help you get more customers, but most business owners either forget to get feedback, or they are quite anxious about asking for feedback because they don’t want to be a bother. But you can get around the problem by automating emails to go out asking customers for reviews after you have finished the job you were doing for them and direct them to your social media or Google or Trust Pilot account, for example.”