How to Grow Your Remote Business With the Use of Automation Tools‍

It would have been unthinkable to run a business from home 20 years ago. But thanks to technology, lots of companies now operate remotely. In fact, many leading entrepreneurs believe that embracing remote work is an excellent way to future-proof your business. That is because it offers flexibility, which is a crucial factor that many job seekers look for when exploring career options. 

While running a business remotely does have its share of advantages, one cannot deny that it also comes with specific challenges. Remote business owners face unique difficulties, specifically in collaboration, productivity tracking, morale improvement, and leadership. All these could become huge obstacles to achieving business growth.

This is then where automation tools come in. If you’re one of the many businesses struggling to do remote business management work, we’re here to help. Here’s how you can use automation tools in managing and growing your enterprise:

 

Take advantage of Project Management Tools

 

Project management tools like Asana, Basecamp, and others are a great way to overcome the collaboration challenges your team might be experiencing. 

With one or two of the tools mentioned above, you can assign a task to one of your team members and set a due date. Once everyone has their assignments, they can work on it then submit once it’s done.

You can also set up reminders for deadlines and overdue work. This ensures that each team member stays on top of their responsibilities and completes the tasks, so your company’s processes can go smoothly. The more you can do in a day, the closer you’ll be to achieving business growth.

Automation testing course may require a high learning curve at first, but it will be easier for you to manage your business’ day-to-day activities once you get the hang of it. As a business owner, the last thing you want is to chase your team members and bug them about their responsibilities. With these project management tools, you can let the system do the job for you. With one task off your hands, you’ll have more time to spend on your strategies and other vital aspects of the business. 

 

Collect and Nurture Leads Through Marketing Automation

 

Whether you’re an IT firm or a restaurant business, taking advantage of automation is worth considering. With the use of certain tools, you’ll be able to collect more data about your customers, automate payment processing, and make the hiring process smoother. Plus, with most of your systems automated, you won’t have to hire people to handle repetitive everyday tasks like bookkeeping, efficiently reducing your company’s costs. 

As the name implies, marketing automation is the practice of using technology and systems to automate repetitive marketing activities. It could be sending welcome emails to your new subscribers, social media posting, or showing ad campaigns to appropriate audiences. 

Marketing automation takes mundane everyday marketing tasks off your hands, so you can have more time to focus on more important things – like improving specific marketing strategies you might be performing poorly in. By relieving yourself of some tasks, you can dedicate most of your effort towards that aspect and work on its improvements. 

Marketing automation also helps you collect information from clients and website visitors. From there, you can generate leads and create high-value and targeted content specific to where they currently are in the sales funnel (i.e., awareness, interest, consideration, etc.). 

Of course, with marketing automation, you have to make sure that you have a strategy in place to improve your current processes. Before proceeding with any automation tool, be sure to study what you can do with it first. That way, you’ll know whether it’s an appropriate tool that will help you reach your goals. 

 

Provide Better and More Personalized Customer Experience Through Analytics

 

Nowadays, consumers are not basing their loyalty on brands and prices. Instead, they’re focusing more on the business's ability to provide them with a great customer experience (CX). With that, it’s no wonder why businesses are reprioritizing their marketing strategies and focusing most of their efforts on customer experience. 

If you’re still not convinced on the impact of customer experience on businesses, consider these statistics:

• According to Salesforce, 67% of the consumers are more likely to pay more for a service or product if the company offers a great customer experience. 
• A study conducted by Khoros, a leading customer engagement service platform, found that 86% of consumers are more likely to turn into long-time brand loyalists after one good customer service experience.
• 32% of the consumers will walk away from a brand they love after a single bad experience, according to a study conducted by PwC. 

All these statistics point to one thing: customer experience is making a significant impact on business success and will most likely continue to be an important factor in the growth and success of businesses in the future. 

Automation tools like customer experience analytics can help businesses collect data from their existing and potential customers. This includes data about the products they frequently view or the type of content they usually consume. They then convert this data into useful information which you can use to offer a more personalized experience to your customers (i.e., targeted ads).

 

Automate Invoicing Processes

 

Unfortunately, unpaid invoices are a reality among many business owners, and sometimes, it could be the main reason that hinders business growth. The cash tied up on these invoices can hold the business owners back from taking on potentially beneficial business opportunities. 

One solution that business owners can use to resolve this issue is by improving their invoicing processes through automation. Accounting tools like QuickBooks, FreshBooks, and Zoho Invoice allow you to set up recurring invoices for your clients. All you have to do is input the amount and date when you’d like the invoices sent. You can also set up a reminder for your clients to alert them of the upcoming payment due or if they missed the payment deadline.   

Using these techniques will help ensure that your clients will pay their dues on time. With that, you won’t have to worry about cash flow gaps and have enough cash on hand to invest in specific growth opportunities, like mergers, product expansion, collaboration, etc.

 

Automate Onboarding Processes

 

The recruiting and hiring process can be a long one. However, with automation tools, especially in the onboarding process, this process can be cut short. Once the candidate is ready for onboarding, the system will automatically send the digital documents. The employee then reviews and sign it. 

Moreover, automation streamlines the process of scheduling and training for the new candidates. It automatically grants the new employees access to important company documents and guidelines. This way, they won’t have to wait for the authorized person to accept their request for access, saving much time and effort for both you and the new talent. 

As a business owner, automating your onboarding processes can make the hiring process more efficient and less time-consuming. Plus, there is less need for you to hire more people to handle the process, which essentially saves you money. 

 

Wrapping up

 

There are a lot of ways you can use automation to your business’ advantage. As your company works its way up, you can invest in more automation tools to streamline your company’s processes. While it does require you to shell out a bit of cash, it’s a worthy investment if you’re looking for a way to run your remote business efficiently. 

Automation may require a high learning curve at first, but it will be easier for you to manage your business’ day-to-day activities once you get the hang of it. Before you know it, you’ll well be on your way to business growth and success.