Tech Talk: Two Amazing Software Programs to Keep Us Efficient
Everyone with an online business uses tools and tricks to stay efficient every day. My team at Bright Moments and I have been through every scheduling, time tracking, email enhancing, marketing tool you can find.
It’s important for those of you who use tech for your business hear about the top software and apps that we use constantly at Bright Moments to stay on track. Most of our clients also have an affinity for these tools, too!
I always have available a downloadable list of resources we have used and tested if you ever need it, but these are some of my recent favorite additions to the list.
The two I wanted to talk about today that I LOVE are:
Honeybook. This has become the backbone of my business.
Honeybook is actually a software that was designed for the wedding industry. I’m obviously not at all connected to the wedding industry, but I find it so valuable for my business. And it houses so many cool features!
In essence, it’s a CRM — Client Relationship Management — system that allows me to collect contact information and follow up with leads in a way that makes sense to me. I love being able to see the pipeline of business, whether it’s an inquiry about my services or collaboration or virtual assistant training.
I truly love it. It makes it easy to connect and get going with clients right away.
I can easily collect their contact information and follow up with them by visually seeing a pipeline. You can send a virtual brochure and follow it until it becomes a signed contract. You can even do invoicing, light bookkeeping, and automated workflows. For example, if I send an invoice and it hasn’t been answered or opened, Honeybook will automatically send a reminder!
You can do everything within Honeybook. They recently added a scheduling feature that I’m learning to love after switching from my previous calendar software. It was in beta mode for a while, but now it’s up!
When you’re looking to talk to someone, whether it’s a quick consult or a meeting, it’s hard to go back and forth in email. At the same time, you don’t really want everyone seeing your personal schedule to find available time slots.
Honeybook’s scheduling system lets people find a time on your schedule without seeing every event and meeting on your list. It sends meeting reminders automatically, too! I highly recommend it to anyone with an online business if you’re looking to book appointments or meetings with people.
Honeybook does have a monthly subscription, but feel free to use my affiliate link for 50% off your first year!
The other recent addition to my list of resources is Boomerang.
I call it an extension, but it’s more like an app that runs behind the scenes. I always love something that can do tedious work for me. I use it with Gmail with my Google Suite.
I have the free version of Boomerang because why spend money when you don’t have to?
In essence, it “boomerangs” your messages for you. The number 1 feature is I can be working late on some communication and I can set it up where it will send the email later, whether that’s in the morning during business hours or in 2 weeks so I don’t forget.
Sometimes, you just want a delay. You want to respond to get it off your plate, but you also want the timing to be right.
You can also use it to pause your inbox, which Google also does.
I also use a feature that places the email at the top of my inbox at a later time or date.
Let’s say you’ve opened an important email, but you really don’t have time to give it the attention it deserves. You can ask Boomerang to schedule it to alert you again at a future time as a reminder.
When I get stuff late in the day that I plan to deal with tomorrow, I know I’m gonna get spam and other messages all night that could push that very important email a whole page back.
Both of these helped me be more efficient and on top of my communications and growth this year! And don’t forget, Honeybook does have a monthly subscription, but feel free to use my affiliate link for 50% off your first year!
If you have any questions about either of these pieces, email me and let’s chat! What are some of your favorite tools for your online small business?