When you’re running a small business, every minute is valuable. You have a lot on your plate and only so many hours in a day to get it done.

Automation simplifies your business by automatically doing tasks you or an employee would otherwise have to do manually. Just look at your inbox for automation examples.

It’s the birthday coupon from a restaurant. The reminder from a webshop that you added a product to your shopping cart but never clicked “buy.” The link to the gift you received for opting into a list. The password you forgot and requested resetting. The email that brought you to this page…

They’re all automated.

You can save a lot of time by automating some of your routine activities and:

Save you and your team time to focus on more valuable work;
Eliminate human errors;
Allow you to make decisions based on hard data instead of guessing and gut feeling.

If you’re not automating – you’re wasting your time…

Here are 10 things you should – and can – automate in your business:

1. Lead and Contact Management

Dealing with leads and contacts manually can be a hassle. Consider replacing complicated spreadsheet with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. This usually will include sign-up forms, list segmentation, personalized autoresponder email/sequence and more…

2. Follow Up with New Connections

Whenever you meet a new contact (conference, networking event, in your store, on your website) – get their email address. Start communicating with your new contacts immediately by using an automation software to send a personalized template email.

3. Email Marketing

Email marketing has an incredible return on investment (ROI). But sending professional, personalized emails to all your contacts on a regular basis is more than you have time for. Email marketing automation software (like MailChimp or ActiveCampaign) makes it easier by sending automated welcome emails, abandoned cart emails, birthday and anniversary emails, newsletters and so much more.

4. Sales Funnel

An automated sales funnel (like LeadPages or ClickFunnels) is just a sales funnel with added automation to help keep things moving smoothly. Automated funnels can be time-based (e.g. every xx days send an email) or behavior-based (e.g. when a person clicked a specific link – deliver a specific email).

5. Welcome a New Client

A sale is only the beginning of your relationship with a client. Set up your software so that a purchase triggers a series of welcome emails (thank them, introduce your company, offer an extra gift, answer frequently asked questions…) to make a great first impression. 

6. Customer Support

I’m sure you care about your clients and are committed to offering the best support possible. But it’s not easy for a small business. Automation (like HubSpot or Groove) can help with ticket assignment (making sure you know as much as possible, before returning to the client), chatbots (can save you tons of time with the easier/simpler issues), smart frequently asked questions (based on keywords or tags in the client’s ticket).

7. Collecting Clients Feedback

As your client base grows, it gets harder and harder to reach out to each client and request personalized feedback. The customer isn’t happy? Find out (automatically) what went wrong or what you could have done differently. Does the client love your product or service? Ask them for a testimonial (automatically).

8. Social Media Scheduling and Management

Scheduling tools (like SocialPilot, Hootsuit or Buffer) allow you to manage your social media presence across different platforms, maintain a personal connection with your audience, and stay organized. Share a product update across your social networks and update your clients about special events automatically.

9. Contact Requests

When someone submits an inquiry on your website, what happens? To help save time and ensure every inquiry gets addressed right away, automate this initial email. This automated email can be as simple as a “Thank you for reaching out. We will be in touch soon.” Simple touches like this go a long way in building initial trust with the contact.

10. Appointment Scheduling and Reminders

With automation software (like Calendly or 10to8), prospects and clients can schedule an appointment at the time that works for them, and that’s free on your calendar. They can then receive a series of emails/text messages: an appointment confirmation, followed by reminders in the days or hours prior to the appointment. If they cancel, the software will automatically notify you so you can follow up and reschedule.

Now It’s YOUR Turn

For five minutes… come up with as many ideas as you can… what could YOU or should you automate in your business?