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3 Easy Online Tools for Massive Efficiency
It’s easy to get sucked into the online tool vortex. Each tool promises to be THE answer to your productivity prayers.
I like to try new online tools fairly often so that I know what to recommend to Type B Studio clients but for efficient operations, the last thing I want to do is manage a list of tools. I only use online tools that pass my test. They have to meet at least one of these criteria, but preferably all 3!
Criteria for Online Tools:
- Save me time
- Save my business money
- Enhance the client experience
I’ve found several online tools that work very well. But when it comes to massive efficiency, here is my shortlist of online tools that do all 3 – save me time, save the business money, and enhance the client experience.
LastPass (Security)
If you’re someone who uses the same password for all of your accounts, you’re asking for trouble. For the sake of your online security, it’s important that each of your accounts have different passwords and they must be strong passwords, nothing that you’d actually be able to remember.
That’s where LastPass comes in. You can automatically save all of your passwords and then when you go back to the website, you click the LastPass icon and your username and password are added to the login fields.
Bonus Tip: If you have a team, you can easily use LastPass to share confidential logins with your team. Here at Type B Studio, we use LastPass to share our client’s logins so that we’re not actually seeing the passwords. We simply use LastPass to log in. It’s secure and amazing!
Acuity (Scheduling)
We have a steady stream of potential clients who want to schedule a free consultation. I chat with potential clients via phone or Zoom. I could spend a ton of time scheduling these meetings or have my assistant do it, both of which aren’t very cost-effective.
By relying on Acuity, potential clients can easily choose a time and date that works best for them. I then get an email notification that a meeting was scheduled. SO EASY! And Acuity takes care of the reminder emails. I set them up once and now people who meet with me get auto-reminders 24 hours before our meeting and another reminder an hour before our meeting.
The one thing to remember is that for it to be efficient, you need to connect your calendar so that meetings aren’t scheduled when you’re already busy. In my Acuity account, I block off days when I need to be working on or in my business rather than in meetings.
Acuity has several features that I don’t use regularly, but I like having access to them. You can create questionnaires for people to answer as they schedule a meeting, charge for meetings, schedule classes with multiple people instead of 1:1 meetings, and much more. All this for $10 a month – Absolutely worth every penny.
Proposify (Sales)
I use Proposify all. the. time. Whether a potential client is interested in a custom website, a Live in 5 website, marketing, or website management, they’ll receive a proposal/agreement from Type B Studio. It keeps every project nice and clean with a detailed scope of work and answers questions that may have been overlooked during the initial inquiry call.
The structure of the agreements makes it really easy. Each agreement begins with the proposal, which goes into the scope of work, timeframe, costs, etc. The second portion of the agreement is the contract so all of the information is in one place and easy for all parties to sign off on.
What I really love about Proposify is the templates. There’s no need to recreate agreements every time someone is interested in one of our services. The templates are ready to go at a moment’s notice. I even have templates set up for contractor onboarding and other documents that require a client’s signature once we’re working on a project together.
I receive email notifications when the contact opens the email, reviews the agreement, and signs it. So if there’s a pause in the process, I know exactly how to check in on the potential client based on where they paused. Proposify saves me time in so many ways!
Tools That Contribute to Processes
I don’t like going overboard and using multiple resources just to use shiny tech tools. I am a big fan of online tools that contribute to processes and make running my business easier though. That’s exactly what these 3 tools do for me.
If you’d like to learn about more of my favorite tools, you can see more on the Resources page. It’s got even more valuable, time-saving tools listed. Let me know if you have a favorite tool that I should check out!
