An Overview of Apps to Use to Document Your Standard Operating Procedures

Having your Standard Operating Procedures in place is the only way in which you can ensure consistency and grow your business. However, it is often perceived as a difficult and time-consuming task to compile Standard Operating Procedures, especially in the light of them not staying the same over time due to improvements.

Fortunately, there are some clever people who designed easy ways to compile and maintain Standard Operating Procedures online and on the go.

Process Street

This is a really simple way to manage recurring workflows for your team.

You can set up templates that can be used over and over. In addition, it allows you to track your team’s progress on each workflow so that you can see at a glance.

There are wonderful templates available so that you can set up your processes easily and quickly.

It integrates with over 500 apps, which is great if there are some apps you are already working with.

You can start out with a free plan for up to 5 templates.

SweetProcess

SweetProcess has a 14 day free trial, after which it will cost you $99/month for up to 20 active members.

Like Process Street, it offers you a way to document your procedures and track your team’s progress on them. You can also export your procedures into an Excel or PDF file.

Pipefy

Pipefy offers a little more than Process Street and SweetProcess. Not only can you document and track the progress your procedures with templates provided, you can set up a seamless flow between your different business processes.  You can create templated emails and send them out from Pipefy. In addition, you can create a database for your company’s information. The paid version also offers you the ability to create powerful reports based on your processes.

Small teams (up to 10 users) can sign up for free to begin their workflow controls. However, if you need all Pipefy’s features to grow your business, it costs $30 per user per month. Additional plans for larger teams are available as well.

Of course, if you just want to compile standard operating procedures for reference and easy edits, you can also use tools such as Evernote, Wunderlist, Workflowy and Trello.

If you need help in setting up any of the above apps and capturing your workflows and processes, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I’m passionate about setting up and effectively using standard operating procedures!

10 Free Business Tools to Help Your Small Business Succeed

Any small business owner would like to keep input costs to a minimum, and nothing beats free!  Listed below are free business tools (click on the image to visit the site) that most business owners will use at some or other time.

Dropbox

This application makes it easy to store, access and modify documents, pictures, and videos online.  With a 2MB free plan, it is to be recommended.

 

Google Docs & Apps

Also very handy to access documents from anywhere online with Google Drive with 5MB free storage.  You can have an e-mail address end with @yourdomain for free through Google Apps.

 

Dooster

A very handy project management tool that allows you to keep track of project, people, milestones, and online documents.  It also has a time tracker tool.  You can have up to 3 simultaneous projects for free.

 

Contactually

This application keeps track of all your e-mails, and reminds you who to follow up.  It can integrate with most CRM programs, and is useful even as a stand alone application.  For more information, see my detailed post reviewing Contactually.

 

Quora

A questions and answers site for business owners where you can showcase your expertise or ask questions.

 

Free Conference Call

This allows you to make conference calls and host webinars for free.  It also has a recording function, which is very useful.

 

Square

The easy way to accept credit cards on the go on your iPhone, iPad, or ITouch.  You pay per transaction in the same way as with Paypal.

 

Skype

An indispensable way of communicating online with business partners and clients internationally, either for free, or at a very reasonable rate.

 

Mailchimp

A free newsletter email list for up to 2000 subscribers.  A great way to stay in touch and build up your credibility as a small business owner.

 

Wave accounting

A free accounting system which can be compared to Quickbooks and is specifically for small business owners and freelancers.

 

 

If you have come across any other really useful small business tools, please share them below.

Contactually: the most practical way to keep on top of your business relationships

I was recently asked to review Contactually, an online tool designed to keep you on track with your customers, potential customers, and other business relationships.

CRMs are incredibly useful tools that, when utilized properly, can be a tremendous asset to an individual, a team, or a company. The problem is that CRMs don’t properly reflect how we work. We interact with them through clunky web applications, and endless forms. We have to remember to feed your CRM more data, otherwise it’s rendered useless.

In comes Contactually, which brings simple, easy-to-use business tools where you need them.  Acting as a personal assistant, Contactually synchronizes with your email accounts and contacts, tracking how you met them, reminding you to follow up, and more.  No software or plugins are required.

It is extremely easy to set up, and integrates with existing CRM software like Salesforce, Highrise, and SugarCRM.  You can also sync your Linkedin contacts with Contactually.  They pull in all your relationships and merge it with your email contacts, so you can see not just who you are connected to, but how well you know them, and when last you talked to them.

From the Contactually dashboard, you can now also do much more than follow up with a contact – you can schedule when to speak to them or record when you contacted them.  You can also keep a task list with dates to be reminded to do those tasks.

When you set up Contactually, you have the option of choosing when to receive your daily email reminders of who to follow up with. This is extremely convenient, because even if you don’t log into the Contactually dashboard, you are kept up to date as to what your next steps should be.

Your contacts on Contactually can be searched via name, alphabetically displayed, displayed according to importance, or displayed according to your last contact with them.  In addition, you can categorize your contacts.  In a similar way to the circles in Google Plus, you can drag and drop your contacts into various buckets, making it so much easier to follow up.

What I really like about Contactually is their excellent customer support.  Not only do they make it really simple to get started, but they keep you updated on new developments and ways to use Contactually.  There is also live support available from your dashboard.

Contactually has also recently become available for teams, giving you the ability to share contacts, collaborate on follow-ups, and ensure that all the external relationships for you and your company are strong.  Staying on top of what your team needs to do helps you make sure you never miss an opportunity.

Claim your first month free to test out their fantastic service by visiting them for instant access.  I can really recommend it.