10 Essential Business Systems For Female Entrepreneurs
Starting and running a business can be an overwhelming task, especially for female entrepreneurs who started their business so they could do more of what they love. Many start their business in a quest for time and financial freedom. Both of which can seem elusive initially.
As with most things, having the right tools can make all the difference in your success. Below I highlight 10 essential business tools that every female entrepreneur should have in her toolkit. From reliable technology to marketing automation and more, these tools will help you stay organized, connected, and competitive in today’s marketplace. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to take your business to the next level, these tools will give you the support and resources you need to succeed.
- Email Marketing system – An email marketing system is key to customer attraction and retention. When thinking of the customer buying journey, you may have to earn their trust and prove yourself as a trusted advisor/authority figure. An email marketing solution provides a means of communicating your value consistently. Email marketing systems, although used by some as a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool, are not CRMs. With some applications the functions overlap, but overall both tools are needed. The design of the email marketing system is to deliver mass email messages at a higher deliverability rate than other email marketing tools.
Popular Email Marketing Systems:
MailChimp, ConvertKit, MailerLite, Constant Contact, ActiveCampaign, Klaviyo
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM) System – A customer relationship management (CRM) system is primarily used to manage your interactions (online and offline) with your customers. It serves as a journal of reference and is an invaluable learning tool to better align with your customers.
Popular Customer Relationship Management Systems:
HubSpot, FG Funnels, Monday.com, Liondesk, Chime, KVCore
- Project Management System – A project management system is using for managing tasks associated with projects and/or recurring assignments. Many find that when mapping out workflows for the most common tasks, it makes it easier to delegate to others as well as re-engineer processes for efficiency.
Popular Project/Workflow Management Systems:
Microsoft Project, Asana, Trello, Click up
- Payment Processing System – If you send or receive payments, having a trusted and secure payment management system is critical to the success of your business. There are many payment processing systems that also perform basic payroll tasks.
Popular Payment Processing Systems:
MoonClerk, Stripe, ThriveCart, SamCart, PayPal, Square
- Social Media Management System – One of the most effective and economical means of marketing is via social media. While you do not have to actively engage on all platforms, it is recommended that you establish a presence on each platform. That provides the greatest likelihood of your ideal client finding you on their platform of choice. In order to make the process of posting to those platforms less daunting, there are many social media management systems that have calendars such that you can create and schedule your posts in advance. Advance scheduling of posts helps you to establish a strong social media presence while providing time to create a strategy that builds your authority.
Popular Social Media Management Systems:
FB Business Suite, HootSuite, Planoly, Later, Tailwind, Plann, SproutSocial
- Communication System – A communication system assists in your efforts to stay in touch with your customers. There are systems that allow you to send mass ringless voicemails, text messages, conduct virtual meetings and webinars. Think of your communication need and there is “an app for that!”
Popular Communication Systems:
Slydial, Slicktext, Zoom, GoogleMeet, Go To Meeting, CrowdCast, RingCentral, Google Voice
- Appointment Scheduling System – The key to a successful business is to always generate business. Any one in business is in Sales. In order for a business to thrive there must always be avenues to generate new/repeat business. After successful lead generation efforts, make it easy for people to get on your schedule with an online scheduler. If there are qualifying questions that need answers before an appointment, look for an online scheduler that has a forms feature that will provide you with a tool to create online intake forms.
Popular Online Scheduling Systems:
Acuity, Calendy, Simply Book.me, Book Like a Boss, Google Calendar
- Automation System – Automation Systems are by far and large the best thing to bring together data from different systems. With automation it is possible to have data entered into one system and automatically copied to several other systems. That saves time for both the customer and you. There are a number of uses for automation as it is a good way to reduce data entry errors.
Popular Automation Systems:
Zapier, Integrately, Integromat
- Cloud Storage – If you have ever spent the better part of an hour looking for a file on your computer, you know the value of having a good file organization system. I highly recommend that files are stored in at least two locations for redundancy. If you are unable to access one location, you should still have access to the other. With Cloud-Based Storage your files are always available from any device with internet access. That is a tremendous value when switching over to a new computer. In addition, you can perform keyword searches to quickly retrieve files.
Popular Cloud-Based Storage:
G Suite/Google Drive, Amazon Web Services, Dropbox, pCloud
- Business Management Solution – A Business Management Solution is an all-in-one solution. It combines a customer relationship management system with an email marketing solution and an invoicing and payment processing solution as well. You can implement a cost-effective and fully functional business management solution to be a one-stop-shop. The most popular business management solutions are very feature rich and customizable, several of which have the ability to collaborate with your customers via a secure customer portal.
Popular Business Management Solutions
HoneyBook, Dubsado, 17 Hats, FreshBooks, Hello Bonsai
After reviewing the list, how many of the essential business tools are you using?
Note: Some of the links are affiliate links. I may receive compensation if you make a purchase.
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