Many small businesses need to look bigger and act bigger in order to secure whale-sized business. Whales prospects are afraid of doing deals with businesses that look like a Mom and Pop shop. Is this you? Be honest. What can you do to look and act bigger? Solopreneurs and small businesses now have the advantages of technology to make them look and act bigger in order to win the bigger sales. (Being more efficient and eco-friendly can’t hurt either). Below are some suggestions for how to use technology to come across more polished and professional in order to win your next pitch and/or improve your company.
- EchoSign: Death to the fax machine. Use this tool to virtually sign and send your contracts. Tree killing and ink expenses not included. http://www.echosign.com/
- FreshBooks: Helps you with online invoicing, time tracking, managing clients and even contractors. They even say on their website they want to help you look like a Fortune 500 company! http://www.freshbooks.com/
- Salesforce: Manage your contact, customers, and follow up with more ease. This CRM has small business solutions priced right for you. http://www.salesforce.com/smallbusinesscenter/
- Evernote: If you’re like me and do a lot of brainstorming and note taking, you may want to check out this services that keeps all of your notes, files, ideas, images, organized all in one place. Your personal virtual assistant. http://www.evernote.com/
- ActionMethod: If your team struggles to keep on top of multiple projects (and the multiple email strings that go with them) consider using this superior, web-based project management tool as you work on your big pitch. http://www.actionmethod.com/
- Shoeboxed: Need a filing assistant? Are those piles of paperwork and receipts piling up? Shoeboxed can take care of that. They can even scan in all those business cards and add the contacts to your Salesforce account (if you have one). http://www.shoeboxed.com/
What other technology do you leverage to be more efficient and successful? We’d love to hear from you!
This is a great post, Lindsay! Seems like tools your listed integrate together really well. How do you feel about Google as an enterprise platform?
Also, AplloHQ is a great FREE project management system.
Hi Merlin – Thanks for your comment. Glad you liked the post. I’ve heard very good things about Google as an enterprise platform from others (although I haven’t used it myself). Thanks for the suggestion on ApolloHQ. I will definitely check it out!
I’d add Grasshopper or a virtual phone system to the list. A virtual phone system is a great way to make your business look bigger and sound more professional and has tons of great benefits for small businesses. With a virtual phone system, you can have a toll free or local number forwarded to your cell phone and work out of the basement of your house without the callers even knowing. I work for and use Grasshopper, so when I work from home all I have to do it have my calls forwarded to my cell phone, which is a great feature for small business owners who are always on the go. They never have to miss a call just because they’re not at their desk.
Hey Allison – I’ve never heard of Grasshopper, so thanks for sharing! I’ll check it out!