Technology For Your Small Business Toolbox


Technology is evolving quickly with new gadgets, gizmos, and
what-nots coming out everyday. It can be a little overwhelming
for small and home based business owners trying to figure out if
they need it, want it, can use it, should have it, will help
them. The most important factor in making a decision about
integrating technology into your business, and life, is whether
or not it is going to help you. Period. You have to ask
yourself, "Is this thing going to help me be more efficient?
Will it help me to better serve my customers?" Technology is
essentially a tool, like a shovel or hammer. These things should
help you do things easier, better and more efficiently. With
that in mind, here are a few technologies that you should
consider for your toolbox.

Contact Management

Regardless of the fact that much of our daily business is now
done online, through email, virtual fax, and over the phone, and
possibly because of this, it is more important than ever to
maintain good relationships with your customers. The
relationships you build with your customers are what will keep
them coming back to you. If you have any sort of customer base
you may think there is no way you could possibly build a
meaningful relationship with all of them. This is where a
contact manager comes in. There are a lot of different contact
manager programs to choose from. Regardless of which one you
choose, it is going to help you keep track of all of your
customers. It will help you quickly recall important information
about each person, keep track of communications you have had
with them, and easily find the people that you have not
contacted recently. A contact manager is also going to help you
stay on top of your deadlines and remind you of appointments,
conference calls or any other time sensitive details in your
life. So now ask yourself, "Will a contact manager make me more
efficient and help me to better serve my customers?"

Automated Communications

A common complaint among consumers is that once they do
business with a company, they never hear from them again. So how
do you make sure to stay in contact with all of your customers?
One way is with auto responders. An auto responder is going to
allow you to schedule regular emails to go out to your customers
at pre-determined times. The subject of the emails will vary
depending on your specific business. It may be just a note
checking in to make sure everything is working out well with the
product or service they purchased. Or, perhaps it introduces an
additional product or service that might be of interest of them.
Maybe some tips about how to get the most out of the product or
service that they bought from you. Another automated way to
communicate with your customers is a newsletter. Write one
newsletter and you keep in touch with all of your customers at
once. There are a number of newsletter software and templates
out there. Some are free while others charge per number of
subscribers. Your newsletter can be weekly, monthly, bi-monthly
or even quarterly. The important thing to remember with a
newsletter is that the information needs to be relevant to your
customers. It should not be about you and your company so much
as it should be about your customers. Figure out what they need
or want to know and give it to them. So now is the time when you
ask yourself, "Will auto responders and newsletters make me more
efficient and help me to better serve my customers?"

Advanced Telecommunications

In this day and age there is no reason that any business should
be using a local number with a standard voice mailbox attached
to it for their telephone line. There are options available now
that can unify our many sources of communications while giving
small and home based businesses a boost to their image at the
same time. Take a virtual pbx for example. A virtual pbx is
basically the same kind of phone system that a large Fortune 500
company would use, without all the hardware, software,
maintenance and expense. Technology has made it possible for
small and home based businesses to have a toll free number,
automated attendant that answers each call, multiple voice
mailboxes, have their calls forwarded to them on any land line
they like and have all their voice and fax messages be delivered
to one place, be it to an email address or an online web
interface. A virtual pbx can accomplish a number of things for a
small or home based business owner. One, it unifies their
communications with just one number for both voice and fax. Two,
it allows business owners to have one place to check messages
whether they are voice, fax or email. Three, it helps business
owners stay connected with their customers. Four, it helps the
business to establish itself in the eyes of their customers as
being an efficient, organized and professional company. So now,
ask yourself, "Will a virtual pbx make me more efficient and
help me to better serve my customers?"

It can be difficult to not get overwhelmed by all the
technologies being marketed to small and home based business
owners today. Not every one will be right for your business.
Look at each technology individually and evaluate whether it is
something that will increase your efficiency and enhance your
ability to help your customers before deciding if you should add
to your toolbox.