5 Automations Every Small Business Needs to Have in Place

Automations are one of the best (and easiest) ways to level up your business. It’s a simple solution to improving workflow productivity and communicating with clients. If you want to get the most out of your CRM and task management software, automation is the way to go.

Business owners assume automation is hard to set up because they believe it requires coding. This is a common misconception! Most task management and CRM platforms offer a user-friendly automation interface that doesn’t require any coding knowledge. Nowadays, it only takes a few minutes to set up all the core automations your business needs. 

What can you expect from automation? Implementing automation into your workflow will save you time from completing repetitive tasks and ensure you’re in touch with all your clients. So, what kinds of automation should you set up for your business? I wanted to offer some easy-to-implement automation examples for those just getting acquainted. Let’s get started! 

1. Payment Reminders

It’s frustrating (and a little nerve-wracking) when you don’t receive a paid invoice back by the deadline. When clients miss a payment, it can be an awkward conversation. Instead of constantly checking your bank account, set up an automation that sends reminders to your client about upcoming payments. 

I recommend setting up payment reminder automations at least three to five days before the payment due date. Then, I like to create an additional message notifying the client their payment is due. Sending gentle reminders about payment doesn’t come across as pushy and ensures your client has enough heads-up about their balance due. Payment reminders are an essential automation every business should have set up so they can continue to operate without issue.

2. Survey/Feedback Requests

Gaining feedback about your services is essential for improving your business and delivering a positive client experience. One of the best ways to gather this information is by asking your clients for their opinions. Collecting this data gives you the chance to enhance your workflow and elevate your customers’ experience. Making these shifts will result in more positive feedback and make it easier to ask for recommendations and referrals later down the road.

While this information is super valuable, it can be intimidating to ask clients for their honest opinions! Clients may feel uncomfortable being honest with their feedback if they have to respond to you directly. Create an automation that sends surveys and feedback request forms and receive the feedback you need to better your services. 

You can set up this automation to send survey emails after you’ve worked with a client for a bit. Three to five months is enough time to work with the client and deliver results, so aim to send your survey in that time period. 

If you continue to work with the client longer than this, set up a similar automation that sends a testimonial request form a few months later. CRM software like Honeybook and Dubsado consolidate this process by offering automated client feedback templates on their platforms.

3. Welcome Emails for Onboarding

Eliminating repetitive tasks from your to-do list frees up more time than you might think. Automate onboarding and welcome emails that outline the next steps and what you need from the client moving forward. For example, this email might request the client to send passwords, access to platforms, add you to the Slack group chat or Asana team, etc. With automated onboarding emails, you can get all the information you need all at once and quickly get to work. 

Automate follow-up emails if the client hasn’t responded to your initial email or reminders about an upcoming call. Sending individual onboarding emails isn’t the most efficient use of your time. Instead, stay productive and set up an automation welcoming clients and preparing them for work to make their onboarding as smooth as possible.

4. Proposal Follow-Ups

Rather than following up with an email concerning proposals, create automations to send clients gentle reminders to review and sign your offer. Most likely, the client did not see the proposal, or they lost it somewhere in their inbox. Communication is vital for an efficient working relationship, and you don’t want a proposal follow-up email to sound pushy. 

If the client signed or communicated with you, set up an automation with a reminder for the client to sign or contact you if they have questions. Instead of waiting weeks to hear from a client, some handy automations asking them to review your offer can save you some of the anxiety and time of an individual email. 

5. Inquiry Auto Response and Invite for Consultation

Inquiry auto responses and consultation invites are where automations really shine. When you get a contact form submission, create an automation that sends an auto-response email with their booking details. You can include a follow-up automation that sends a link to the call so everything is set and ready to go. 

If you require clients to book appointments, make an automation that automatically schedules those appointments into your calendar with the client’s contact form. This type of automation might seem complicated, but several CRM software actually streamlines the process, all without coding. 

For example, Honeybook offers a meeting scheduler and easy-to-set-up email notifications reminding clients about upcoming appointments, unsigned forms, invoices, or new messages. I like Dubsado’s enhanced flexibility with custom automation, especially their meeting schedule and notification preference automations. 

Don’t underestimate the power of automation! They are one of the most useful tools you can employ in your business. Not only do automations save you a ton of time from repetitive tasks, but they also allow you to be more efficient and consistent when communicating with clients.

While I firmly believe in the power of automation and its benefit to your workflow, it can be tedious to set them up. Take the work out of creating automation and allow me to do it! Contact me today for a done-for-you session to automate your business.

About Solution Integrators

To keep it simple, I’m Ashley, a Chief Systems Officer. I take your complex problems and find ways to simplify them. My goal isn’t just to save you time (saving you time is the easy part!) – I want to fully level up the way you interact, manage, and fulfill offers for your clients. I want to help you provide a cohesive experience. An experience that not only feels like quality but looks that way too. From onboarding to offboarding – I want to transform each phase of interaction from lead to signed client. Let’s work together!