As a business owner, you have to perform many different jobs every day to keep your company afloat. If you’re starting to feel overwhelmed or feel that your business isn’t performing as well as you’d like, automating certain areas can be helpful.
Read on to learn more about the benefits of automation for businesses. You’ll also learn about five key areas of your business that you should automate as soon as possible.
Why Automate?
Are you on the fence about automation? If so, learning more about the benefits it has to offer might help you to change your mind.
The following are some of the greatest advantages business owners and their teams experience when they automate certain processes:
- Increased productivity
- Improved communication
- Reduced costs
- Increased efficiency
- Improved work quality
- Better time and task management
- Improved customer satisfaction
Do any of those sound appealing to you?
Top Five Areas to Automate
Remember, you don’t have to overhaul everything all at once. If you want to automate parts of your business but aren’t sure where to begin, consider starting with these five areas:
1. Sales
Sales automation is one of the most beneficial forms of automation you can implement in your business. There are many aspects of your sales process you can automate, including the following:
Sales Pipeline
Successful sales start with a well-defined sales pipeline. Sales automation software can make it easier for you to map out the customer’s journey and define different aspects of the sales process. This then makes it easier for reps to keep track of where people are and continue moving them through the pipeline.
Lead Nurturing
Lead nurturing is essential if you want to eventually convert someone from a lead to a paying customer. It can be time-consuming, though, which is why automation is so helpful. One of the most effective ways to automate this part of the sales process is by using software to send emails or resources that gently nudge a person toward making a purchase.
Lead Call Back Software
Don’t forget about the importance of prompt lead call back, either.
The sooner you contact someone after they’ve submitted their information, the more likely they are to eventually become a paying customer. When you use an automated lead call back system like Callingly, you can boost your response times and your closing rates.
Callingly integrates with more than 1,000 different apps through Zapier, a powerful tool that links apps and automates workflows without any additional coding. You can use it alongside other automation tools to keep your business running smoothly.
2. eCommerce
When you use automation software to streamline the eCommerce side of your business, you can keep your customers engaged and encourage them to shop with you again. One way to introduce automation into your eCommerce processes is by automating prompts for future sales.
Instead of waiting for your customers to realize they need to restock on a particular item, use software to send them emails at regular intervals reminding them to make another purchase. For example, if someone bought a 30-day supply of a product, you could set up an email to automatically be sent a week or so before they’re expected to run out encouraging them to buy more.
3. Customer Service
There are plenty of ways to incorporate automation into the customer service area of your business, too.
For example, you could include a “Contact Us” link in all of your emails to customers. That way, people have direct access to you if they need help and don’t have to do extra research to find your phone number or access your chat line.
With the right automation software, you can make sure that someone on your team gets notified as soon as a customer clicks the “Contact Us” button. From there, they can follow up right away and provide them with assistance as soon as possible.
4. Office Management
Many office management tasks can be handled more efficiently with the help of automation software. For example, you might want to think about automating scheduling or task management processes.
This can help you keep track of your employees and make sure everyone knows where they need to be and what they need to be working on. You can do this without having to hold as many meetings or send out as many emails.
As a result of automation, team members will be able to get down to business sooner. You’ll also have more time to dedicate to other, more important tasks.
5. Human Resources
Every day, human resource managers have to handle a variety of tasks, many of which could be carried out more efficiently if they were automated.
For example, using software to automate things like time-off requests and leave approvals can save a ton of time and simplify life for everyone. If people can request time off without having to fill out a bunch of paperwork or talk to several other people before they get approval, everyone gets to spend more time focusing on their work and will be able to get more done throughout the day.
Start Automating Today
Now that you know more about the advantages that come with incorporating automation into your business, as well as the specific areas that can benefit the most from automation, what are you waiting for? It’s time to streamline these processes so you and your team can work more effectively, better serve your clients and customers, and grow your business.
Of all the areas listed above that can benefit from automation, lead response is one of the most important to focus on. By investing in automated lead response for your business, you can ensure you’re getting back to potential customers or clients as quickly as possible before they have a chance to reach out to one of your competitors.
To start automating your lead response process, check out Callingly today. Callingly makes sure that every lead gets a callback within seconds, tracks all of your results, and always keeps your CRM up to date.
Contact us today to learn more about it or to give it a try.