There are many things to consider when running an online business, beyond finding clients and developing services for them. You have to manage contracts, invoices, quotes, requests, and more. You need to keep clients informed about the progress of payments, collections, and any that are lost. You also need to have a repeatable process that can be applied to all projects without running into any hiccups.
In the following article, I will share some of the tools I use to run my online business. I do WordPress maintenance and support at FixUpFox and have tried dozens of tools to try to make my job easier. It doesn’t matter if you use WordPress or not, my goal is to help you run your business by focusing on the most important part: making your customers happy and successful!
Contact Management
Since I use Trello for all my project planning, it makes sense for me to use it to track leads malta mobile database as well. I use custom fields in Trello to add various details. I display the lead’s name, email, and phone number on the front of the card. Links and files attached to the form also populate the card for review. I also see the date when the form was filled out so I can set a deadline to contact the lead. Finally, I use the comments section to keep notes, making Trello a simple and flexible CRM. With Trello’s free plan, you can use a “power-up,” so you can set up the above workflow for your WordPress site for free.
Then there’s Zapier . If you’ve never heard of it, it’s a service that will automate the management of your various tools. Zapier lets you take two online services and connect them together. For example, you can tell it to monitor your company’s Twitter account and send you a message when someone responds. Or you can have it update a spreadsheet when a sale is made on your site. Zapier has a free plan that’s a good place to start to see if it’s the right tool for you.
You can also set up an integration in Zapier to send the output of one of your contact forms to another service to track leads. Zapier supports Gravity Forms, WP Forms, and Ninja Forms. I use Gravity Forms and send leads from my site to Trello to stay organized with all the leads that come in. If you decide to use WP Forms, which can be easily integrated with Zapier, and you are a SiteGround customer, you can get a 50% discount on the Pro version by visiting the Marketplace section in your SiteGround Customer Area. With a little more manual work, you can also set up other contact form plugins.
Invoicing and estimates
I’ve been using Sprout Invoices to manage invoicing and quoting for my business for years . The paid business plan for the plugin lets you manage recurring invoices and payments for clients, with payment information stored in your chosen payment processor. This lets you set up a recurring invoicing system that doesn’t constantly require clients to enter data, while keeping their information safe. I also like that clients can have a section on my site that lets them view and print past invoices, as well as edit contact and payment information.
If you already have an invoicing system that you like, I’m not suggesting you change it. But if you don’t already have an invoicing system, you might want to give it a try. Most of the differences between the major providers are minor, and the plans are priced low enough to justify the benefit of having a repeatable process for collecting payments from customers.
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