We work with a wide range of industries. One of the challenges every company faces is how to get more money and resources. My goal in this article is to give you tools that will solve that problem. How do you build processes in your business that supports growth? What tasks are you repeatedly doing that wastes your time and resources?
Zapier Can Help You Get More Customers
Zapier is like the glue that connects applications together. For example, running a coworking space, you’re using several tools to manage daily operations. Depending on your space management system, having an external tool may be necessary. We provided an example of how you could eliminate some of the extra work. In the screenshot below, you can see as the new customer makes a purchase, a client folder is created and a Trello card gets sent to the onboarding team.
Although the screenshot below is an example with Entreprov internally, this can add value to your business as well. Why? Because having a smoother and faster onboarding process does two things.
- Better customer onboarding process increases customer retention.
- Saves you time so you can focus on getting more customers.
Every new customer that starts with Entreprov, the onboarding team is notified with specific tasks. As a result, we save at least a few hours onboarding new customers. Multiply 2 hours by 12 new customers a week and see how your time management disappears. You want to eliminate things in your business that can be automated.
If you’re running a coworking space, automating the followup after first- time visitors would be a great starting point. In fact, all of our Coworking clients use some automation in the initial visitor engagement. Why? Because you want to spend your time as an owner with the most interested people that visit your space. As a result, you’ll make more money while deepening the relationship with your best customers.
The Right CRM will Help You Convert More Customers
Having the right CRM will help you get more customers and build better relationships. For example, clients use our CRM to understand how potential customers browse their site. We’re able to track open rates and see what pages a user repeatedly visits. As a result, we can help our clients tailor their messaging and target the right people first. Take a look below at the short video example.
Imagine constantly following up with the wrong candidates first because you don’t know where to start. You don’t have the time and resources as a coworking space owner to keep following up with slightly interested people about joining. Let your visitors show their interest level with their actions and words. In conclusion, you’ll save dozens of hours weekly by targeting the right people first.
Many coworking space owners try to rely on space management software to be their CRM. According to Igor Dzhebyan, founder of Andcards says “too many space management tools try being the Jack of all trades but become the master of none”. Andcards is a powerful platform for coworking spaces that sticks to its core abilities. Sign up below to see how they rank amongst other coworking platforms.
Too many space management tools try being the Jack of all trades but become the master of none
Igor Dzhebyan
These Appointment Scheduling Tools Will Save You Time
The last thing you want to be doing is shooting emails back and forward to schedule a meeting. There’s a ton of scheduling tools available but I’ll share the ones I know work well. These tools are geared for professionals that book one on one meetings. In addition, they integrate with other systems well while getting their main job done.
Acuity
Acuity is one of the most powerful meeting scheduling tools available. With Acuity, you will have the power of flexibility while representing your brand with a white label option. Enjoy the power of being able to integrate Stripe or PayPal to accept payments as well.
vCita Online Scheduling
Although I’m not a fan of all-in-one systems, this tool has quite to offer. You can accept payments while sending SMS messages if needed. You’ll be able to review invoices, accept payments and sync with multiple calendars.
Calendly
Calendly can be a powerful tool when it comes to schedule a meeting. It’s easy to use and has a great support network. In fact, you can embed the tool on your site or have a link in your email.
Customer Journey Mapping
Although this isn’t an application, customer mapping can have a huge impact on growing revenue. Mapping out your customer processes is like looking in the mirror of your business. For example, one of our clients would manually follow up with customers about specific product dimensions. He directed potential customers to the website.
We sat down with the owner to map out how he followed up with customers. We quickly realized that there was no follow up plan. Since he only had a few items, we decided to automate the follow-up. Any potential customer that wanted item dimensions would automatically receive an email. The email included the item they were interested in buying with a link to the purchase page. This involved creating an easy-to-use form on the owner’s phone. Whenever the customer wanted to get more information, the owner would collect their name, email and requested item.
As a result of mapping the customer journey first, we were able to strategically plan a follow-up. We wanted to take interested buyers directly to the item they wanted to buy. Every potential customer received a personalized follow-up. We increased their sales by mapping out and implementing this journey. Take a look at the screenshots below.
How You Can Start Saving Time Now
As a business owner, your time and resources cost money. If you get anything from this blog, at least spend time mapping your customer journey. In fact, we provide a customer mapping exercise with every new client. As a result, we’ve saved our customers dozens of hours a week. In addition, we’ve helped our clients recover dozens of prospects in the customer journey.
Get signed up with our newsletter and I will add the example customer journey map. This worksheet will help you create a framework. Customize this tool to fit your needs. On the left side is how you currently do things while the right side should be your improved flow.
Alex Brooks is the founder and CEO of AE Brooks, LLC (d/b/a, Entreprov), a Seattle-based firm that builds marketing automation tools to help businesses increase customer retention and engagement. Sign up for our newsletter to learn more customer engagement strategies.
