Those running a small business alone might at times wish they could clone themselves if for no other reason than that it would give clients the impression that they have a full staff at their disposal.
Yet there are plenty of tools to help so-called “solopreneurs,” one-person entrepreneurial operations, make it seem as if they have larger staffs, reports the New York Times.
Some of the services recommended by businesspeople include the following:
Batchbook: This customer relationship-management software targets entrepreneurs, consultants, and social-media companies, among others. For each customer, it pulls up an array of information, including their latest three tweets if they’re on Twitter, since tweets can prove to be a helpful conversation starter for any businessperson.
MailChimp: A Web-based email marketing platform, this tool automatically generates and sends a follow-up email to leads, and can do so in conjunction with Batchbook. Currently, it is offering the ability for users to send 12,000 emails per month to a list of 2,000 subscribers free of charge. This type of service is handy for anyone who walks away from a networking event with a pocketbook or wallet full of business cards, knowing that it will be hard to write an email to each one of them.
Google Voice: This phone service automatically transcribes your voice mails into emails, which means you have a record of the call in writing, so that it won't be deleted automatically after a period of time. It also allows users to arrange to have phone calls go to multiple phones at once. So if you step out for lunch with your cell phone and someone important tries to reach you at work, you won't miss the call.
Shoeboxed: Even larger companies have few if any office assistants to handle filing and expense reports these days. Shoeboxed can organize your piles of papers and receipts. You can either send it in using a prepaid envelope so that the material can be digitized and placed into a content management system or you can use the camera function of your mobile phone. An iPhone app scans business cards and receipts and grabs the necessary details.
This article was published by Portfolio.com.
