Setting up a membership site can be intimidating, especially if you have different member levels, want to accept payments and have limited tech skills.

Poetically named membership management app Wild Apricot says it provides Member Management Magic. As a freelancer, I have worked with a client who used Wild Apricot before and I must confess I already loved it. But, I never looked past the tasks I did for the client. So I was super excited to look closer at it. Ready?

OK, let’s give it a look.

Either Too Complicated or Too Expensive

Setting up a membership site can be a complicated proposition. You can sign on with a membership management company to do the work, a great solution if you can afford it. Let them worry about  emails, events, payments and content for you.

The cheaper alternative is to use separate tools to control emails, take payments, keep the books, handle events and set up content like member directories and documents to share. That’s a lot of data, dashboards and programs to keep track of.

Wild Apricot offers you a third way to handle creating and administering a membership site.

Customizable Membership Software that is Easy To Use for You and Members

Wild Apricot is targeted to nonprofits, associations, clubs and subscription websites, from under 50 members to over 15,000. It is cloud-based so there is no software for you to worry about installing.

You have full control of the membership from application through sign up, payment and renewal. Easy to use website software lets you set up a customized community that reflects the group’s interests and is easy for administrators and members to use. They have a variety of templates to get you started.

The system lets you send out emails and newsletters quickly. You can handle events like workshops and make documents available to members.

Create an Easy-To-Use Community Quickly and Inexpensively

Starting with the ability to create an application that has all the information your group wants to collect when you sign up members online, Wild Apricot gives you full control of the membership process. You decide about your renewal policy and target emails announcing it. You can track the renewal rate easily from your dashboard.

It’s easy for members to create profiles and access the information on the site. Blogs, forums, emails and newsletters make an active community that invites participation by members.  Events, sign ups, reminders and calendars keep them up-to-date.

With professional looking templates even non-designers can put together an attractive website for the group. It is easy to take Paypal and credit card payments, manage invoices and export the information to QuickBooks.

You can also take donations for your nonprofit and followup with donors. You can access financial reports with one click from the dashboard.

The Basics: What Does It Look Like?

It is easy to create your own application form.

You have full control over membership levels.

Easily customizable templates make it simple to create an eye-catching website.       

Add blogs, forums and calendars to keep your members well informed.

Check your financial information easily from the dashboard.

Donations are easy to accept with custom made forms.

Professional Membership Sites are Super Easy to Set Up with Wild Apricot

If you want a good looking, accessible membership site, Wild Apricot provides all the  functionality you are likely to ever need for your nonprofit, association or group. It handles the member process from sign up to renewal, letting you make targeted decisions at each step.You can build an attractive community that is accessible for your members. Email, newsletters, forums, blogs and calendars invite them to get involved in the online community. Events, payments, donations and financial reports are handled from the dashboard.

Extensive product documentation is available on the Wild Apricot website, and the support team can be reached by email or phone. There’s also a call-back option if you want to schedule a call.

Will It Fit Your Budget?

An ad-supported free service is available for groups under 50 members. For larger groups Wild Apricot offers a free 30-day free trial. Monthly fees are based on number of members, with price points at 250, 500, 2,000 and 15,000 or more members. Most membership groups, whether online groups or off-line groups will be able to support the cost via their membership dues.

Is It For You?

If you want an easy-to-setup, easy to customize membership site with full functionality for emails, payments, memberships and events, Wild Apricot is a good choice. Your club, association or subscription website will have an attractive, accessible community with minimal stress and time.

If you like this article, follow us on Twitter, Google+, Facebook and grab our GetApp.com blogfeed

Cloudfinder is a web-based product that works with your unique domain to store files and emails, enable you to search for files and emails, restore previous versions of files and even get back deleted files and emails. You cannot delete anything accidentally, any longer. It seamlessly links with your current Google apps (and in the future with Salesforce apps).

Sooner or later, everyone loses an important file or email. It has happened to me. One time, I had a client who used Google Documents (now Google Drive) to collaborate on articles that we would write together. One day, I just accidentally hit the “delete” icon. Unfortunately, we had not saved other versions and it was just gone. As a freelancer this was not a good thing!

Cloudfinder is something very much needed. Let’s see how it works.

It’s File & Email Storage, It’s a Files & Emails Search, No … It’s a Vault!

Guess what, it’s really all three. Cloudfinder stores files, enables you to search for those files or emails and unless you ask them to erase your data, guess what, you can still access it!  Sign into the intuitive portal and you immediately gain access to a dashboard that gives you updates on recent backups, new files added, and more. You can search for all your Google Drive files from one central search feed, which is very convenient. If you accidentally delete a file, or someone hacks into your Google account and edits or destroys your files, guess what? You can still retrieve them from the Cloudfinder server.

Document Centric Businesses and Freelancers Need Cloudfinder

Okay face it; despite trying to cut down on time wasting administration, most businesses have a lot of documents to deal with today. However, the days of outdated photocopied documents sitting in file cabinets are over. Today, documents need to be dynamic, collaborative, and most of all accessible – via digital document management technology.

If internal documents aren’t easily accessible to your entire team, what point is there to use them? If collaborative material gets lost, knowledge sharing becomes a nightmare instead of the creative and productive force it can be with the right tools.

So, if you have any size business that has either internal or external documents that you need to keep updated, easy to find, and assessable then you need Cloudfinder.

Documentation and Information Drives Business

Information is the single most valuable asset that a business has today. The ability to create, share, and store documentation is the lifeblood of the freelancer and business owner. This is especially true when more businesses are shifting towards paperless office processes and virtual work environments. Therefore, any business with paperwork needs an application like Cloudfinder.

How Can Cloudfinder Help You Manage Your Documents?

First, and most importantly, Cloudfinder provides fast and secure access to all your Google apps and document files in one easy-to-navigate dashboard. This can save you time and protects your information when using Wi-Fi hotspots because you don’t have to use your actual Google password.

Second, your document storage is unlimited and you can load up to 500 apps at once to this robust product. As it’s operated by an independent cloud-based storage server, you don’t have to worry about buying more external storage space, hard drives, or other paid file storage products. This is all you’ll ever need.

Files are regularly backed up by Cloudfinder, so you never have to worry about the integrity of your data. If, for any reason, one of your Google files goes missing (which happens more than you can imagine) you simply get in touch with Cloudfinder’s live support team and your file will be restored from their backup server.

No more lost or compromised documents. Since Google has a tendency to experience downtimes, this is an opportune time for hackers to try to break into Google app user accounts to steal data. Cloudfinder acts as another line of defense to keep your information safe. You’ll see all activity displayed in a well-organized list on your dashboard at all times.

Having access to your data from anywhere is also a great feature of using Cloudfinder. Instead of needing to log into each Google app separately, it’s all there at your disposal as soon as you log in using their secure, cloud system that’s password protected and encrypted to the highest industry standards.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

Logging into the Cloudfinder portal – Two options:

Use your Google Apps Credentials

Sign in Directly

Using Cloudfinder search to find documents

 Use search terms that you’ve created. One or two words is best.

 See what types of documents you have.

What Are the Pros and Cons of Cloudfinder for the Docu-file?

There are several good aspects and not so good aspects to using Cloudfinder to manage all your Google apps. Keep in mind, this is a product that is still making improvements, including integrating with Salesforce apps, so this will update with time and keep improving.

Here’s what I experienced as a user.

The Pros of Cloudfinder:

• Very easy and simple to log in and navigate to find the information needed.
• All Google files listed in order of recent updates for convenience.
• User storage data and visuals to help me make the most of the space.
• Easy to file the files or emails  I am looking for using the central search feed.
• Full online help database and support forum for users.
• Simple and secure backup completed automatically.

The Cons of Cloudfinder:

• Long-tail searches make it harder to find files so you should use one or two words only.
• Currently no user-driven customization options available.

Will it Fit Your Budget?

Cloudfinder is easy to afford, even for the startup freelancer. Sign up for a free trial first, and then decide if the investment is right for your needs. Plans start at pennies a day per user, and there are also enterprise rates for companies with more than 200 employees as well as schools and colleges. Whether you are a small fry or a big company, Cloudfinder is cost effective and worth the money.

Is it For You?

Signing up and using Cloudfinder is so easy, even a novice Google App user can do it. I’d have to say that while I am a more advanced user and I’ve tried dozens of cloud storage options, I like the streamlined approach that Cloudfinder offers. I can find everything in one place, and I trust that my files and emails will always be there when I need them. Best of all, it’s no risk to try it out, so what can you lose?

If you like this article, follow us on Twitter, Google+, Facebook and grab our GetApp.com blogfeed

Basecamp isn’t the first project management app to be introduced here (we already reviewed Mavenlink, Clarizen, Attask, etc,..), but it is one of the most popular ones, and for good reason. It offers so many features as standard, such as having single-page projects and a place to combine your projects, employees, companies, vendors and other details in one cloud-based location.

As a freelancer who often uses Basecamp with various clients, I can tell you already that I love Basecamp. Let’s learn more about why with this Basecamp review.

Single-Page Projects

Basecamp is one of the only project management apps with single-page projects, regardless of how big or small your project is. That way, no data is lost and your team will be able to follow the projects quickly and easily. Another benefit to having everything in one place is that you know it is all secure and safe.

All projects are on one page, even if you have 20 or 50 projects going at one time. A quick look and you know what’s going on. This is very useful when you have multiple projects with multiple contractors working simultaneously.

When a project is completed, archive it so it is stored for later use if you ever need to look back on it. Basecamp also now offers a personal membership plan for individuals who want to use the project management tools. So, even if you’re a one man or woman operation, who manages projects, whether for business or not, Basecamp will work for you.

Basecamp For Business And Personal Use

In the past, basecamp was only for business professionals and small business owners who had work-related projects to manage. However, they now offer a personal plan that lets individuals organize their projects and update followers of projects that aren’t related to their business.

This option is less expensive than the business plan with all the same features. No matter what plan you choose, you get access to features like adding team members, keeping groups organized and viewing all current projects on a single page.

Improved Features

With Basecamp, you will find dozens of features that make it beneficial for business and personal use. It is fast loading and very easy to use. You can use it to get caught up on projects after business trips, use the web-based calendar and assigned tasks, recover information from projects completed years ago, collaborate with others in real-time documents, organize people into groups and categories, and invite people and companies to your projects. The list of functions is truly endless.

Basecamp Email Lists

The newest feature to hit Basecamp is the Basecamp Breeze which lets you create email lists. Each of your groups will get a separate email address and you can invite up to 50 people to that group. That way, if a member sends an email to the group email address, each person in the group gets it right away. This is going to save time and energy from sending multiple emails. It is great for sending emails to your book club, family members, friend, church groups, committees, or other uses.

Basecamp Integrations

Basecamp has a long list of integration partners and through their open API they integrate well with other business apps you may use such as customer support apps (Zendesk, Desk.com) where you can automatically create a todo in Basecamp each time there is a new support ticket or even Google Calendar so you can create a todo when there is a new event in your calendar. CloudWork provides a good number of Basecamp integrations.

The Basics: What Does It Look Like?

To start with, the sign up process and interface of Basecamp is easy to use and loads very quickly. This makes it even easier to use. Once you sign up, you are directed to the home page where you can search for a project, person, company or group.

You will also have different tabs to choose from such as the Project, Calendar and Everything tab. To view or edit your projects and see them on one page, click on the Projects tab. Here, you will see a list of current projects, access old projects, view sample projects and add a new project by choosing from 3 different templates.

Basecamp also includes a web-based calendar that can be accessed by clicking on the Calendar tab. This lets you view the next 6 weeks of projects and appointments, a list of calendar items, list or projects with settings to customize the calendar and alerts.

One of the most popular features is the Everything tab. Here, you can choose from different options such as viewing every discussion, review all open to-do lists, see every single file, read all text documents, or show all forwarded emails on a single page.

Advantages And Disadvantages

With Basecamp, you’re going to find a long list of benefits, such as adding updates and notes, attaching documents, email without signing in, sharing filed by dragging from your desktop to the app, and viewing everyone’s schedule.

If there is a downside, it will be that the lower costing plans are rather limited with how many projects or people you can have. If you’re a one person business, the cost might be too much for you. The other downside is that I have discovered is that sometimes it’s hard to get clients to use the system.

True life disclosure here: I love Basecamp, but I often could not get my own clients to use my system, but rather they always wanted to use their own. I’m very thankful when my clients are using Basecamp, and disappointed when they aren’t because those clients aren’t as organized as clients using Basecamp are.

Will It Fit Your Budget?

Basecamp makes it easy to afford their software as there are five different plans to choose from. The plans include Online Simple Start, Online Essentials, Online Plus, Online Essentials with Payroll, and Online Plus with Payroll. Each plan has a low monthly fee and differs in the number of projects, users and features you get.

Again, if you’re a single business person with a low number of projects you might find the price prohibitive but I am here to tell you that it’s worth it to give it a try. However, even if you can’t get your clients to use Basecamp for business, perhaps you can find use of the new personal option.

Is It For You?

Whether you need to manage a small project for your book club or little league team or multiple large projects for business, you can find a use for Basecamp. With low monthly costs, a free trial to start with and multiple features on each plan, there’s nothing to lose.

Alternatively you can compare Basecamp with alternative project management apps.

If you like this article, follow us on Twitter, Google+, Facebook

With the unemployment rate so high, you would think that finding good employees would be easy. Unfortunately you still have to interview many candiates you find one who fits the position properly.

In this GooodJob review, we will explore how GooodJob Mobile, the new referrals app from GooodJob, makes it simple for your current employees  to refer new employees through your employee referral program. Most of the time the best employees are recommended by current employees. An employee would not want to recommend someone who would do a bad job – nor would an employee want to recommend a friend to a bad job!

Let’s learn how you can benefit from this cool recruitment app.

Social Media and Recruiting

Everyone is connecting online; social media is the new way of keeping up with your friends. And GooodJob Mobile is the social media app for your company’s recruiting department. With it, employees can stay connected to your referral program even when they are outside of the office. They can refer your open positions to their Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter social media connections, and send candidate leads directly to your recruitment team.

Everyone Can Use Good Help

Mobile is a great way to source top talent. Even if you only need temporary or part-time help, you can get it easily when your employees can seamlessly refer candidates for your jobs, whenever and wherever they are. This handy tool is also a way to keep workers motivated to stay involved in your referral program.  It tracks which employee referred which candidate, so that your recruitment team has a bigger picture of employee participation. In addition, employees automatically receive e-mail notifications alerting them to their referrals’ progress. All of this is done to show continuous appreciation to employees, and to acknowledge their efforts.

Simplify the Hiring Process

When you need help you often do not have the time to advertise, wait on applications, review the applications, interview and then finally decide who to hire. GooodJob Mobile simplifies the whole process. Employees can refer all jobs or a specific job to their social media connections or e-mail contacts; candidates can apply directly via the link with a resume or LinkedIn profile. Additionally, employees can refer leads from the app in seconds, with just a candidate name and contact details.

The referrals’ information is sent to the recruitment team, and then can be interviewed or contacted for more information.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

Everything about GooodJob Mobile was designed to be simple and easy. Employees can access it on their mobile devices anywhere.  Due to this, if they are out to dinner and happen to meet someone who would be a good fit for the company, they make a referral right then and there.

Mobile App View That Lets Potential Workers See All Jobs

Super Easy To Share Across Social Media Channels and in Email

Completely Personalized For Your Company

Employees Can Send Leads Via Mobile App Easily

What Makes GooodJob so Good?

Part of running a business is making sure you have enough workers and that they stay motivated. Using GooodJob not only keeps your company supplied with needed referrals, but it also gives your workers a chance to feel like they are doing something that is appreciated. It gives them the push to get involved – and stay involved – in your referral program.

Will it Fit your Budget?

A better question would be can you afford not to use GooodJob? You pay for the app monthly, a flat rate no matter how many applications or referrals you receive in the month. The only downside is if you have no regular hiring needs.

Having been a director of a preschool in the past, I can see a great benefit to having this type of application to use for the preschool. We needed to continuously interview, hire and train new employees. Our best teachers always came from recommendations from people who worked there. This app would have kept us supplied with a constant influx of new people to put through the hiring process.

Is It For You?

GooodJob is for any business that needs to hire people on a continuous basis. To see just how much you can benefit from it, take advantage of the free demo. It only takes a few minutes to get everything set up and working. You’ll see how much help it can be in just a day or two.

If you like this article, follow us on Twitter, Google+, Facebook and grab our GetApp.com blogfeed

Email marketing can be intimidating. Beyond trying to figure out what to say, how do I make it look nice?

Mad Mimi says they are for people who want email marketing to be simple. That sounds like me! Let’s give it a try.

Mad Mimi was started by a couple who wanted to send stylish emails to promote their music company. When they couldn’t find an email marketing platform with an interface that worked for them, they started Mad Mimi and kept adding services. The goal was “well-designed, elegant emails” that even Grandma (Mad Mimi herself?) can create.

Building an email for an ad campaign is hard unless you hire a designer or have artistic skills yourself. Figuring out who is opening them, dealing with bounced emails and tracking the results are all complex. A company that simplifies any of it is worth looking at. If they can do it all, it’s a winner!

Simple to Design, Manage and Track

Mad Mimi offers a simple drag-and-drop, WISYWIG interface for designing the emails. They provide the code for a sign-up form on your website. It integrates with a large number of major platforms including Google Analytics, Survey Monkey, Shopify and social media.

Though somewhat newer than many of the email marketing companies, Mad Mimi can proudly point to a number of very big customers including AOL, Seth Godin and Columbia University.

Great Looking email, Easy List Management, Real-time Stats

Mad Mimi is known for how easy the graphics tools are. Creating an email with your own artwork and templates, or theirs, is fast and produces eye-catching results quickly. They will store all of your images for free indefinitely. Everything you need to put an opt-in box on your website so people can sign up for your emails is provided.

List management is uncomplicated. All the features are on one page, easy to find. Bounces, unsubscribers and duplicates are handled automatically. You can copy and paste a list of new members. Scheduling follow-up emails is done with a few clicks. You can put together segmented campaigns easily.

You get real-time stats so you know how your campaign is going: who clicked which links and which emails were forwarded. Graphical charts give you the information you want at a glance. You can get an overview of how your campaigns are going by arranging them in a row and checking the stats singly and together.

Their authentication tools make sure your emails get through to your subscribers. Mad Mimi has a good reputation for best practices for bounces and spam control.

The standard system is complete, but they recognize that many companies want special add-ons. The list of options they support is huge, from SalesForce to FreshBooks, to Etsy, to Facebook signup.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

This view shows their super-easy interface for designing your email.

The interface makes it easy to track stats.

And users seem to like them a lot!

Easy to Design, Manage and Track

Mad Mimi has a reputation for ease of use, especially creating good looking emails. They allow you to add just the features you need so you aren’t paying for unused extras. They employ the latest technology for security, to see your emails get delivered and to make tracking easy.

Customers rave about their support staff going above and beyond what is expected. It is available via email and chat.

Will It Fit Your Budget?

You can sign up for free account without a credit card. It lets you have 2,500 contacts and send up to 12,500 emails in a month. You can switch at any time to a paid subscription. This is monthly and based on the number of contacts. Remember to look ahead and foresee how many emails you will realistically send out per month, and how may contacts you will realistically have before choosing this option to ensure that it fits your budget.

Is It For You?

Mad Mimi is simple, yet provides gorgeous design that can’t be matched by the other’s in the market.  Anyone dreading starting an email list and marketing campaign should take a good look at Mad Mimi.

If you like this article, follow us on Twitter, Google+, Facebook and grab our GetApp.com blogfeed

As a business owner, you know the importance of having a web presence. You know that more people are finding services and shopping on the Internet so you are always looking for a way to make sure that your website has something your competition lacks.

This week we review GimeTalk a live chat app that gives you that something. You can now interact with the people visiting your website just as you would if they came into your physical store or office.

Provide Personal One-On-One Customer Service

The one thing consumers miss when shopping online is the personal touch. One big complaint about online business is the inability to contact someone in the business to ask a simple question. Some businesses do not even put contact information on their websites. If you need to get in touch with them there is a form to fill out and they will get back to you, when they get around to it. GimeTalk gives your visitors the ability to chat with someone in your company live. Right now! It is a simple live messaging program that can be started with the simple push of a button.

Never Miss a Chance at Making a Sale

GimeTalk is more than just a chat application your customers can use; if gives you the ability to see who is on your website and strike up a conversation with any of them. If you notice someone going back and forth between pages or items, ask them if you can help. Offer to explain the differences between products or help them find what it is they need. This type of customer service is invaluable to any business and will help your website have better conversions.

Good Customer Service Wins New Customers and Keeps Them Coming Back

When consumers feel they are going to be treated with respect and get the help they need when looking for a product or service, they will keep going back to that company. They will also recommend you to their friends. It used to be that location was the biggest determinant on whether or not a new business would make it, now it is all about customer service. GimeTalk gives you the features you need to make your customers happy.

• You can easily find information on a previous visit so you know their buying habits and help this time.
• If a customer is having a problem with a prior purchase, using video chat allows them to actually show you the problem.
• Usable with most Smartphones and tablets.

You customers will feel as if they have walked into your store and have been greeted in person.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

GimeTalk is very simple to use, for both you and your customers. In most cases, it is like most other chat applications, you simple type in the person you wish to message and then type in the message. As people visit your site they are assigned a visitor number or they can have a user-name if they log in.

Sign in option:

Agents can be helping more than one customer at a time and also have the option to chat with other agents  if they need to. The chat program can be easily hidden on the page by clicking on the close arrow. If a customer does not need any help, they can simply keep the chat closed.

One chat view option:

Another chat view option: 

The Pros and Cons of Using GimeTalk

Being able to interact with your customers is very important if you want the Internet portion of your business to take off and grow. This is especially true if you do not have a physical location where people can come and visit. It is very easy to get set-up and start using it on your website, for both you and your customers. The only downfall is that you will need to have someone there to answer the calls. While you do not need to have an operator standing by 24-7, you should have the hours listed when someone will be available and make sure someone is.

Will it Fit your Budget?

One of the great things about GimeTalk is that you can start out with just a few connections available and then add more as your business grows. You do not have to pay for 100 possible connections until you are having 100 people needing to chat at the same time. There is no need to hire a lot of operators if you don’t need them either. Start off with you as the on-call operator and just a few connections.

Is It For You?

How much business you do on the Internet will depend on how well people know your name and to look for you. If you are a small business in a small town, the competition is fierce. The best way to keep your customers and have them tell friends about you is with high-quality customer service. In a virtual world a chat application is a great way to provide the service people want. To find out just how much your visitors enjoy being able to get answers from a real person, give GimeTalk a try; sign up for the free two week trail and have fun getting to know the people who you are selling products to. You really have nothing to lose and a lot to gain.

QuickBooks by Intuit is now available in an online version to allow you to keep track of your accounting and bookkeeping tasks all in one place.

We will see in this QuickBooks Online review how you can get immediate access to secure online accounting software and the ability to keep everything organized in one place. I got the chance to try it and am impressed by how easy and effective the program is.

Track Expenses And Manage Accounting In One Place

With QuickBooks Online, you don’t need to worry about spreadsheets with confusing formulas and piles of paperwork. You can get access to everything you need in one cloud-based application. You will be able to track your sales and expenses, create custom-made invoices, accept credit card payments, sync bank accounts and credit cards, turn on payroll, use a variety of helpful apps and be tax-ready for the next tax season.

Business Owners Save Time And Money With QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks online can be used by anyone but as a business owner, you will find the most benefits to using the program. You will be able to access payroll and pay your employees in just 3 steps, accept credit cards through the online program, tablet, or mobile phone, and even customize your own invoices. The streamlined cloud-app has other features as well, like reports, paying bills, project estimates, and writing checks.

Access To Apps And Data 

There are a variety of exceptional apps that can be linked to your QuickBooks Online account, including Bill.com, SalesForce and eCommerce Cloud. Aside from the long list of apps, you can also import your contacts and get access to different types of financial data. Contacts can be imported from just about anywhere, including Outlook, Gmail, and Microsoft Excel.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

Signing up and getting immediate access to the QuickBooks Online software program is quick and easy. Once you sign up, you will be automatically directed to the dashboard. From here, you get an overview of your company information, customers, contacts, vendors, employees, banking information, reports, invoices, and the app center.

To add, edit or view your vendors, click on the Vendors tab. This allows you to see a list of your vendors, search for the one you want, and get access to purchase orders, enter bills, pay bills, pay a single vendor, or view vendor credits.

Click on the Banking tab to write a check, view your credit card expense reports, add bank accounts, access cash expenses, make a deposit, download transactions and access bank registers.

Advantages and Disadvantages

QuickBooks Online offers many advantages and very few disadvantages. The list of benefits include having a 60-day money back guarantee, a safe and secure website for entering your information, automatic data back-up, free expert advice, no installation or downloading required, and a simple set-up. The only disadvantage I noticed while accessing it is that because you don’t install the program, you will be relying on your Internet to be in working order to use the software. However if your Internet is down, you can still access it from a tablet or mobile phone.

The other issue with QuickBooks, and this is true with most true Accounting software packages, is the learning curve. You may need to hire someone to help you set it up properly such as a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor. Most CPA firms have someone that can assist you with proper set up. Proper set up is crucial to ensuring that you keep your books accurately.

Will It Fit Your Budget?

QuickBooks Online offers three easy plans, all of which include a 30-day trial that doesn’t require entering credit card or banking information. The three plans include the Simple Start plan, Start Your Business plan (the most popular choice) and the Grow Your Business plan. All three plans charge low monthly amounts.

Is It For You?

If you’re a business owner who is having difficulty keeping your finances on track, need budgeting help, or like cloud-based applications, you will find many benefits to using QuickBooks Online. With a free trial and no obligation, there’s no reason not to give it a try.

If you like this article, follow us on Twitter, Google+, Facebook and grab our GetApp.com blogfeed

Imagine being able to collaborate in real time on group projects, share files, surf the web, send emails and chat all in one secure location?

Well, you can…with LinkGard’s Google Apps offering, a way to manage all your work processes efficiently and effectively. Their full range of IT services include software development, information security, cloud computing, app management, and more.

As a Google Apps Authorized Reseller, the LinkGard team offers Google’s convenient, cloud-based product, with full user training, product customization, and support to help you get the maximum benefits. And for a small business owner, I am impressed with how easy it is to use all the great features that Google Apps already offer. Let´s see in this LinkGard review how this can be useful to you.

LinkGard Increases the Value of Google Apps 

As a busy freelancer or business owner, time is precious. That means you need the convenience of an easy-to-access environment where you can process all your data securely. LinkGard is a leading SaaS firm providing on-demand IT and software solutions for today’s modern business professional.

LinkGard was founded in 2004 by a team of information security experts to help the average business owner successfully manage product development, maintain secure data, and make the most of their IT investments. Their expertise and experience allows businesses to make use of Google Apps to the fullest, with the peace of mind that comes from knowing that expert help – should you ever need it – is only a phone call or an email away.

Google Apps is Great for Independent Business Professionals On-the-go.

LinkGard is perfect for the small business owner, the freelancer, and the independent consultant working remotely. Why? It’s managed completely via a web-enabled, cloud server that seamlessly integrates with the full lineup of Google’s powerful business and personal apps. That means no coding or fancy installations needed. Just pure simplicity.

It is worth mentioning that Google Apps is also adopted by large businesses and Google has published customer stories about several large companies that have switched to Google Apps, including Roche Group (90,000 employees) and BBVA (110,000 employees). I would  urge you to read the customer stories as they do a good job of explaining why larger companies made the switch to Google Apps.

Instead of logging into several  products individually, or being forced to search for and install multiple apps on a mobile device, Google Apps gives you the necessary functionality to collaborate and communicate like never before. You just log in and voilà, you are ready to be productive

Why Buy Google Apps from LinkGard if I Can Get it all from Google?

Google Apps is not free anymore. There used to be a free version of Google Apps, but Google discontinued the free version of Google Apps recently. The package you can get from Google is already very compelling, so why LinkGard?

LinkGard provides the right Google Apps services, such as setup, deployment and migration.

I’d like you to consider LinkGard as a way to boost productivity and get more out of the apps you often forget you have access to. LinkGard offers more than just access to Google Apps; it offers high level IT services, software customization, on demand training, cloud server security, and more for just pennies compared to if you had to hire these specialties on your own.

 The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

 Log in view of LinkGard

Quick and Easy Setup

Learning Center and Tutorials

The Good and the Bad?

Google Apps, just like any other cloud based service, has its own unique pros and cons. Although, I would be replete if I didn’t mention that I found it to be a very easy to use method of managing all my apps. But, in the spirit of being objective, here are some of the plusses and minuses of Google Apps to be aware of.

Pros

• All in one application center that includes full IT services, security, and training.
• Low cost for full IT support that any freelancer or small business pro can afford.
• Easy to integrate all apps into one centrally-located web portal.
• Accessible on the cloud, meaning can work from anywhere there is Internet.
• Seamless migration of existing products to the LinkGard platform.
• On demand, fully customized IT services from seasoned professionals.

Cons

• May be too simplified for users who like all the “bells and whistles”.
• Cost of Google Apps might be a factor for a start-up business or freelancer.
• Some features may not be needed, although they are standard with the service.

Will it Fit Your Budget?

For most single users or small teams, the cost of LinkGard is quite reasonable at just $50 per year, plus a charge per user. Keep in mind that this includes full access to all the Google Apps for Business services from day one. For this rate, a LinkGard customer gains access to not only the app portal, but also an introductory webinars, available with a minimum purchase requirement, that include advanced use of the applications.

Customers can request a quote for additional customization as needed, at standard development rates.

Is it For You?

LinkGard has created an impressive list of IT services, support, and development options in its key offerings. To decide if it’s right for your needs, you need to ask yourself how often you’re using the business apps and tools you have currently, and if you would like to get the maximum value out of them?

Businesses of any size can derive value from the 100% web based solution from Google.

If you like this article, follow us on Twitter, Google+ & Facebook

Salon owners are experts in hair color, pedicures, and makeup application. They don’t have time to become booking software experts too.

Trust me, I know this because my mother was a cosmetologist, and so are several of my friends.  I’m a beauty school dropout. As cosmetologists, we just want to do hair and service our clients. We don’t really want to learn about software.

SalonBooker says they can take over the technical muddle of handling booking and virtually all aspects of your business. Let’s investigate with this SalonBooker review.

Customers Can Make Appointments Anywhere, Any Time

The day of receptionists handling walk-ins and scheduling appointments over the phone is over. Customers now expect to book appointments online and on their mobile devices, whenever and wherever the mood strikes them. That means an online presence is necessary to stay competitive.

Creating a website from scratch that allows users to book appointments, pre-pay with credit cards, and print gift certificates is complicated. The cost in time, energy, and money is more than a salon owner can handle. Plugging in a ready-made online booking and salon management software is a sensible and cost-effective alternative.

Real-time Customer and Salon Management for Any Size Business

SalonBooker provides an online software tool that handles booking, payment, retail product sales, and personalized gift certificates. It also gives you a complete picture of each customer’s history and preferences.

As one customer said, “Implementing SalonBooker was the best decision I ever made for my business, bar none.” This salon owner used to manage everything with a cash register and an Excel spreadsheet. With SalonBooker, he can check inventory, monitor employee output, adjust prices with a click, compute commissions, look up outstanding gift certificates, and export everything to Quickbooks.

Comprehensive Salon Business Software

SalonBooker handles everything. Your customers can book any time, anywhere from any computer or mobile device. You get a complete, up-to-the-minute view of how many appointments are scheduled, when and with whom. You can instantly confirm by email and send automatic reminders.   It links all of your resources together to avoid overbooking.

Customer Relation Management is the heart of the software. You can check the history of any customer, update likes and dislikes, and see what they have purchased. Not only does this make it easier to upsell and cross-sell, it also lets each customer feel like you know them personally. That connection is what keeps them coming back.

You can sell your own products online, including gift certificates, with an online store that has the look and feel of your own website. At the salon itself, SalonBooker is a point of sale system that links with your credit card processor. Everything is handled by SalonBooker. Managing inventory and calculating commissions and taxes are a snap.

Monitor your business with custom reports on everything from sales and appointments to customers and products. With all of the data available, you can make informed decisions in real time.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

See a detailed schedule of appointments at a glance.

Customer profiles capture everything: staff preferences, notes, billing information, photos, referrals, and purchase history at your salon. 

Your Shop Online page matches look and feel of your salon’s website.

Personalized gift certificates are a big profit center and marketing tool for salons. SalonBooker makes it easy

Monitor your business with one-click reports.

All the Software You Need to Run Your Shop

SalonBooker is a comprehensive software package. It covers booking appointments, scheduling, inventory, point of sale, eCommerce, employee management, and reporting. You and your customers can access its features from any mobile device or computer. It handles small, medium, and multi-location businesses.

It’s a web-based platform, and that’s one of the best things about it. But web-based software has its problems too. If your internet connection goes down, you won’t have access to the software. It is not available as a downloadable package. However, SalonBooker has 99% system uptime and around-the-clock support. You can talk to the customer service team through phone, email, live chat, and scheduled online learning sessions. If you want to find the answers yourself, you can watch training videos, search the FAQs, and read user manuals. One customer said, “Anytime I call with a question, I am amazed how quickly someone picks up! They are right there for me every time.”

Will it Fit Your Budget?

SalonBooker has four pricing levels, each with a setup fee and monthly subscription. All include appointment book, point of sale, eCommerce, and staff and payroll management. Larger salons and franchises looking for more extensive features and custom development pay higher fees.

Is it For You?

If you’re daunted by the idea of setting up online booking, check out SalonBooker. It is comprehensive, with features for managing all aspects of your salon. Support is thorough and quick.

If you like this article, follow us on Twitter, Google+, Facebook

Doing the payroll for a small to medium size business is no fun. Who am I kidding, it’s not fun for any business!

Getting the hours right, calculating taxes, adding commissions, bonuses, subtracting the coffee fund fee—it’s complicated and easy to make mistakes.

PaymentEvolution says it makes doing a Canadian payroll fast and user friendly. I know as a small business owner that it can be confusing to keep everything straight. I often wish I had a software that let me keep track of everyone. Let’s take a look with this Payment Evolution review.

End The Headache of Setting up Payroll and Keeping Up With Tax Laws

PaymentEvolution is an online, cloud-based payroll system for small to medium sized Canadian businesses and accountants. With the easy-to-use interface, it takes five minutes to set up your account and start doing a pay run. You don’t have to worry about law and tax rate changes because the updates are automatic. It also easily integrates with other software you’re familiar with such as  FreshBooks, Kashoo,  PayChequer, Quickbooks and others.

Small to Medium Size Canadian Businesses and Accountants

PaymentEvolution is available only in Canada. Small to medium size businesses get secure, easy to use payroll processing at a reasonable cost. Accountants can offer payroll services to their clients through the service. PaymentEvolution also keeps track of payments to contractors, which makes it super efficient to handle all your payroll needs.

Easy to Set Up, Easy to Use, No Updates

PaymentEvolution has an simple interface. One reviewer said, “I actually learned how to use it within just a few minutes–and within about 15 min of registering, we had finished our first payrun.” It works with Quickbooks, Freshbooks, PayChecquer and many other accounting tools.  You can offer electronic payment services like direct deposit.

You can access the app from any browser. Each employee can also access her individual payroll history. It’s convenient because you don’t have to deal with paper checks unless you want to because they will handle your automatic deposit payments.  That makes it eco-friendly too! The company uses data centers that are state of the art and is “paranoid about keeping your data safe.”

You don’t have to update anything in order to stay current with Canadian tax law changes. It’s all handled by PaymentEvolution. You can add custom deductions and benefits. Basically you enter employee data and pay rates and the software does the rest.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

When you are ready to do payroll, your first step is decide the pay cycle.

Then you check that salaries and pay rates are correct.

At the next screen, you update the hours worked.

You can look at payroll reports based on a number of criteria. Here you see the full list of employees and their data.

Here you can access employee time-sheet reports.

Easy, Quick and Up- to-Date, Always

The goal of PaymentEvolution is easy payroll operations. The interface is simple to use and to figure out. Most people report getting up to speed in minutes. Information is available to managers and employees from any web browser. You no longer have to worry about changes to tax laws, all the updates are automatic. You can handle payroll with print checks or direct deposit. Get one-click reports on a variety of topics in order to keep track of your metrics.

Unfortunately the service is strictly for Canadians or those with Canadian employees. This is very sad, indeed.

Support is comprehensive.  Customer service is very friendly. You can get help by phone or online in the forum, via chat, support ticket, FAQ and Knowledge Base.

Will it Fit Your Budget?

The service is free if you have five or fewer employees and one user. Two paid monthly subscriptions are based on the number of users and employees.

Is it For You?

If you are looking for a simple, full featured payroll service for your Canadian business, PaymentEvolution is an excellent choice. You can get up and running in minutes and customize it easily. The price is awesome and I think anyone who owns a Canadian business should try this software.

If you like this article, follow us on Twitter, Google+, Facebook and grab our GetApp.com blogfeed

Keeping track of who is off work, how much time each employee has used and the vacation schedule for the business year is complicated. So is keeping everyone happy about time off, from workers to managers.

TimeOffManager says it has organized this tricky part of business life. Let’s take a look in this TimeOffManager review.

Who is Taking Off Too Often?

One of the knotty problems that every business has to deal with is who is abusing the time off policy. Managing sick leave and vacation time with all the attendant data is confusing. Without a clear record, people can take advantage of the system. With an organized set up, managers can effectively plan around time off and employees are more likely to comply with company policy.

Save Time and Money, Reduce Errors.

TimeOffManager works for small, medium and large companies. It’s a cloud-based attendance management system that reduces how much time you spend tracking time off. It makes it easy for employees to request time using their own log-in, and simple for managers to see at a glance who is off at any given time. Large businesses like Honeywell and Sony Computer are using TimeOffManager.

Easy to Use and Customize.

Employees request time off online, managers approve or reject them online and email is used to convey information, saving time and effort. It is easy to customize different types of time off, adding holidays or labeling certain days off limits. You can set particular requirements for each employee. It keeps track of sick leave, vacation and other balances for each worker.

It is simple to track how many requests an employee has made and how much time off in each category he has taken. Employees can see their totals at a glance. The software makes it impossible to request time if they have used it all. Managers can check absenteeism easily and   see at a glance how much vacation is being taken any given day or week.

It integrates with iCal, Google Calendar and Outlook. Each employee can be set up with a personalized calendar year; allotted time off can be prorated. You can track specific metrics; for example, if an employee has taken more than a certain number of sick days in a row.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

The dashboard shows you how much time is being taken off each day, week or month and by whom. 

The form requesting time off is complete and easy to read.

You can customize how you view information, types of time off, special days and other metrics.

 You can easily define specific types of days off

Your employee’s request is complete, easy to fill out and includes his personal balances.

You can get a monthly report of time off grouped in different ways, for example by types of users, by types of time off and by dates.

It is easy to check an individual’s time off and balances.

Organize and Manage Time Off

TimeOffManager can significantly reduce the amount of time you spend keeping track of employees’ time off requests and balances. With the ease of a web browser your workers can make requests and check balances. Managers can respond just as easily. Errors are reduced or eliminated with everyone working from the same set of information. It is simple to customize and since it is cloud-based, there is nothing to install.

There are several steps you need to run through in order to set up your company’s plan. It can be tedious but only has to be done once. It is important to get the right information in at the beginning so that policies are correct.

Support is offered in a FAQ, with an online contact form and by phone.

Will it Fit Your Budget?

The free plan is for companies with up to three employees. If you have more employees, you can try it out without charge for 15 days, no credit card required. If you continue, you have a choice of six monthly subscription plans based on the number of users.

Is it For You?

If you want to bring a sense of organization and clarity to employee attendance, TimeOffManager is a good choice. it is comprehensive, customizable and will reduce the time and effort you put into scheduling and tracking your workers’ vacation and sick leave.

If you like this article, follow us on Twitter, Google+, Facebook and grab our GetApp.com blogfeed

This week we review KiSSFLOW that offers a streamlined option for managing for workflow. Creating and managing workflows can sometimes be frustrating but KiSSFLOW takes the work out of by offering a more simplified process.

They have created the first known business workflow application used with Google Apps to allow for an easy-to-follow workflow system.

The set-up and steps are easy to follow as are the approval processes. I reviewed this product previous, if you’d like to see that review click here. This is a follow up review to talk about the new changes and updates.

Simple Set-Up Process

The first thing you will notice with the KiSSFLOW method is that it is easy to get started. No downloading or installing is required and you get started right away with your Google App ID. The easy five step wizard will guide you through setting up your workflow and teaching you how to streamline the process; this saves you time and relieves frustration by automating your different tasks.

Workflow For Business Owners And Developers

Regardless of why you use Google Apps, the workflow process by KiSSFLOW is going to be advantageous for you. As a cloud-based application, everything is available at your fingertips from any electronic device. This includes immediate access to your apps along with spreadsheets, documents, budgets, expense claims and other important files. Please refer to the original review for more about KiSSFlOW but now let’s talk about the updates.

Update: Real-Time Sync To Spreadsheets

KiSSFLOW now lets you automatically sync your updated workflow data to Google spreadsheets and is done in real-time. This is going to save users even more time and streamline the process even further. You can choose to export your workflow data to a spreadsheet of your choice for improved function. The spreadsheet allows you to analyze Google App data for an impressively easy workflow system. You can also increase a table within your spreadsheet that allows you to analyze and compare data from your workflow and expenses over time. Other charts are available on the Google spreadsheet, including pie charts, animated motion charts and line charts.

Update: New Masters And Users Look-Up Data

Among the recent updates to KiSSFLOW include the ability to look-up data and create masters data. This will let you assign different users as masters of workflow systems to better keep everything organized. Master data includes Vendor Master, Customer Master, Account Master, Item Master, and others. These can be created and imported easily with KiSSFLOW by granting permissions from your Google Apps marketplace and export the information to spreadsheets. Included is the new look-update within the Masters section of your workflow.

Update: Google Analytics Reports

KiSSFLOW is also now offering reports that let you utilize various methods of analytics in your workflow spreadsheets. Some of the reports include reports permissions, list reports, report aggregates, and export data. Reports are available for data within the last 12 months.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

KiSSFLOW not only makes creating and managing workflows more streamlined, but it is easy to use as well. The simple interface is easy even for someone brand-new to this type of workflow system. You will log in with your Google Apps ID and go through the wizard that helps you set up your account. Exporting to spreadsheets from your KiSSFLOW workflow is incredibly easy as you can see:

From the Masters tab, you will be able to access, view, edit or delete individual items quickly and easily.

Click on the Reports tab to view more in-depth information about each individual item within your workflow, including expense reports and other items to be managed.

Will it Fit Your Budget?

With KiSSFLOW, you get to choose from three pricing plans including Free, Business and Enterprise. If you want to try out KiSSFLOW, you can start with the Free plan which includes up to 10 users and workflow processes. When you feel comfortable with the workflow and how it works, you can upgrade to the Business or Enterprise plans, all of which are affordable.

Is it For You?

KiSSFLOW makes it easy to manage your workflow as you use Google apps for the many benefits to your business. This lets you keep track of your workflow without learning complicated coding techniques. The newest updates to KiSSFLOW, including syncing to spreadsheets and having more user capabilities, make it that much more beneficial to business professionals and business owners.

If you like this article, follow us on Twitter, Google+, Facebook

How many times have you wished your postal mail was as easy to manage as your electronic mail? If you’re anything like me, it’s a wish you’ve made on more than one occasion. Email is simple to deal with and you don’t have to worry about recycling, shredding, or someone sifting through your garbage to gather sensitive information and data.

Honestly, not everyone recycles at home like they should. You may want to do your part for the planet, but fear the potential ramifications if you were to do so with the many paper products you receive in the mail. After all, how secure are current shredding machines or recycling facilities?

In this PostScan Mail review, we will see how this app allows you to manage your post mail, as you would email.

PostScan Mail offers realistic solutions for real people. Whether you’re a single person, a small business, or you’re trying to find a more effective mailroom solution for your large business, they have you covered.

What is PostScan Mail and how can it help you with your paper problem?

Very few people, in this modern world can claim to have no paper problems. No matter how diligent efforts may be to clear out the clutter paper leaves behind, there always seems to be a steady stream of new paper coming into the home. Newspapers, legal documents, bills, junk mail, and real mail – the cycle of paper coming in never seems to end. At the very least, the mail never seems to leave as quickly as it arrives.

All this paper leads to clutter problems and misplaced documents. In the world of business, a poor chain of “custody” for important documents such as legal briefs, medical records, and other important information businesses must be treated with confidentiality and discretion on a daily basis. PostScan Mail solves this problem by checking your mail for you, then scanning in documents so that you can control them digitally.

Who benefits most from a product like this?

The PostScan Mail system is one that actually has far reaching implications. It’s not a product that’s good for one specific group of people. Almost everyone can benefit from this service to some degree. Families, small businesses, charitable organizations, large businesses, and community groups are all potential clients for this service.

One major benefit for large and small groups alike is that this is a service that’s rather simple to use. The hardest part, for most people, is going to be signing up because you must have a consent form filled out and notarized using two forms of identification. It seems the U.S. postal service takes mail tampering seriously and want to make sure it’s really you consenting to this service.

How does PostScan Mail help you deal with your postal woes?

It’s really an ingenious plan. You probably get a fair amount of mail on a weekly basis despite your efforts to minimize the mail coming into your home. There are magazines, catalogs, bills, solicitations, junk mail, and more. You may even feel as if you’re going through an entire tree or more each month with all your junk mail and leftover paper.

PostScan Mail actually receives your mail instead of it coming straight to you. Then they scan the mail they receive on your behalf and load it to the computer where you can access the mail. No more paper cuts from opening your mail.

From there, the decision about what to do next rests on your shoulders. You may have them store the mail on-site, forward the mail to you, or shred the mail and recycle the paper. You have the ultimate choice and if you’ll have a physical copy stored off-site in addition to a digital copy you can access on your computer and/or share with others as needed.

The only thing you need to do to make these decisions is type a few commands into your computer. All the heavy lifting is done for you once the decision has been made.

The Basics: What does it look like?

The site itself is clean and professional in appearance. You can easily navigate from one page to the next and the information is easy to read and comprehend.

The site offers a wide range of services many people may not associate with scanning mail. However, when you get down to it, any of the features of the PostScan Mail service benefit individuals and businesses alike. Neither receives a distinct advantage from this service over the other.

The consent form is something that might seem intimidating at first, but they even walk you through that process. All you literally need to do is print it out and bring it, along with two forms of identification, along with you to the post office.

Putting it all together and seeing it in action though is amazing once you realize that you never need to brave wind, rain, sleet, or snow to answer your mailbox on any given day again.

The Good and the Bad about PostScan Mail

There’s plenty of good to consider as you explore your options for dealing with the mail problem in your home or business. The service is fairly budget friendly, saves you time in your busy day, and helps you take care of a problem that’s plaguing countless homes and offices throughout the country – too much paper.

The one biggest downside, at least at this stage of the game, is the limited number of facilities in the country to handle the PostScan Mail responsibilities. This is one business that will be interesting to watch and see what it becomes as it evolves to meet the needs of an expanding customer base.

Pricing: Will it fit your budget?

Budgets, as much as we’d love to claim otherwise, are still an important part of our home and business life. The good news about this PostScan Mail review is that the product is reasonably priced for what it offers and it’s willing to cut out some of the full service features you may find in other programs in favor of distance and a lead. This makes the product accessible to a wider audience so you can begin taking advantage of this service right away.

Is it right for you?

It’s something everyone can use to free up his valuable time, get rid of clutter, and manage paper in a whole new way. Whether you’re looking to clear out the clutter in your personal life, want to get your business back on track, or simply want to see what the PostScan solutions for the mail-room can do for yours, there will never be a time that’s better than right this minute to get started. I can see a huge advantage to using this system for a medium to large sized business due to the enormous amounts of paperwork that pile up.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 4/5, value 4/5 and ease of deployment 4/5

If you like this article, follow us on Twitter, Google+, Facebook

Time is the one commodity in life that can never be recovered. There are only so many hours in a given day. No one understands this better than busy business owners struggling to juggle the demands of their businesses with the demands of their families and their own desired qualities of living. This Infusionsoft review will help you see how Infusionsoft helps business executives, entrepreneurs, and struggling up and comers recover some of their time by automating the marketing process for them.

Automating the Marketing Process

How often have you wished there were two of you? One to handle various aspects of operating your business that are tedious and boring to you and the other to handle the business tasks you feel are more in your “wheelhouse?” Infusionsoft automates the marketing process for you. However, the benefits do not end with marketing. Officially, it doesn’t even begin with marketing. Infusionsoft is, at its core, dedicated to the customer relationship management process. It also happens to be a solid platform for e-commerce and integrated email marketing. The most important element to take home about Infusionsoft is that it is a product that allows you to “do more with the time you have.” As we all know “time is money.”

Who Benefits Most from Infusionsoft?

Marketing professionals in every field and industry can gain tremendous benefits from using Infusionsoft to help build relationships, attract customers, automate the marketing process, and sell products online. However, this is not a system that’s designed for those who are casually interested in marketing online or those who are unwilling to make a significant investment in their business.

Why Should You Invest in Infusionsoft?

Do you have enough time at the end of your workday? If the answer is anything other than yes, you have your reason for investing. It’s important to note that the investment isn’t one that’s painless. However, return on that investment, for most businesses, is substantial enough to warrant it. In addition to gaining time that would otherwise be devoted to learning and mastering the art of building better relationships with customers, you’re improving your financial outlook at the same time. You’re saving time while making more money.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

Infusionsoft doesn’t stand out from the crowd based on looks alone. At first glance, it’s just another automation tool designed to help busy marketers make more of their time on the World Wide Web.

Once you take a look at the many features available through Infusionsoft, the difference become obvious. Where other systems on the market specialize in one aspect (attracting customer, automating marketing, relationship building, or selling online) Infusionsoft offers a full service automation system that does all these things and more.

Once you’ve put those features to work automating your business, you might need a little help understanding all that you’ve accomplished in so little time. So there are reports, graphs, and other visual tools you can use to see how just how much you’ve managed to leverage your most valuable resource, time, by automating so many business tasks.

The Good and the Not-so-Good

With most opportunities in the world of business, this one comes along with its own set of pros and cons. On the positive side, the results speak for themselves with Infusionsoft. Reports are generated and stored in the cloud so they are easily accessible from multiple devices and locations. Your dashboard, with Infusionsoft is fully customizable so that you can have the records and information most important to you at a glance and the navigation bars are customizable so they can take you where you want to go, on the side, without any fingertip gymnastics to get there.

One of the biggest benefits, however, initially presents as a very possible negative. There are many out there who believe Infusionsoft is complex. In many ways it is. That’s why Infusionsoft offers their famous Kickstart Coaching to train new users on the system and get them up and running as quickly as possible. This is one-on-one intensive training for 30 days that’s dedicated to helping you achieve verifiable results for your business.

Will it Fit Your Budget?

This is the question most small business owner and aspiring Internet marketers will have to consider carefully. For some, the answer is no. Others may see it as right now. It’s important to remember that this is an investment in yourself as much as it is one in your business. You’re trading dollars for freedom from a life chained to your computer keyboard.

Is it for You?

The only reason this program wouldn’t be for you is if you either have more time on your hands than you know what to do with or you make so much money that you have no idea how you’re going to spend it all already. If you’re not either of these people, then you’re probably one of the people who stands to gain a lot of freedom, time and money by trying out Infusionsoft today so you can see for yourself how much it could mean for your unique business needs.

Ratings: ease of use 4.5/5, features 5/5, value 4.5/5 and ease of deployment 4/5

If you like this article, follow us on Twitter, Google+, Facebook

Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a SEO tool tool for businesses and Internet marketers that allows you to track inbound links to your sites as well as your competitors, track SEO performance, analyze keyword positions in search engines, and pinpoint under-served niches in your industry?

These are just some of the features Colibri Tool claims to offer users. This Colibri Tool review will find out.

Miracle Tool for Measuring Trends and Analyzing Conversions

Colibri Tool gives businesses and individual marketers a decided edge over their competition because it shares inside information about all the top keywords on your sites as well as competitor sites. Many people new to marketing on the Internet, as well as a few seasoned old pros, have a hard time measuring the success of certain keywords to see which ones are really converting for them and which ones aren’t really making the grade. Colibri Tool spells that out for you so that there is no room for doubt.

What’s so miraculous about this?

Colibri Tool is the first of its kind that provides accurate measurements for things such as keyword positions, traffic trends, and even conversion rates for certain keywords that isn’t search engine specific. This means that it isn’t isolated to Google results, or even Bing results. The tool analyzes all of them. It goes even further, however by showing you how well your keywords are ranking in each of the search engines for your sites as well as for the sites of your competition.

Who Needs Colibri Tool?

The ability to quickly access and analyze the data across multiple platforms saves business owners and marketers a great deal of time, and money. It also makes it much more difficult for key information to get lost in translation from one search engine or web screen to the next.

Anyone who does business online that relies on search engine traffic for some or all of their business stands to benefit from proper use of Colibri Tool. Whether you’re a dedicated Internet marketing professional or a brick and mortar business owner attempting to create a significant web presence to complement your storefront, this tool offers many benefits.

Why do You Need Colibri Tool?

Not everyone needs this tool. People who aren’t interested in really cornering the market, even on the local level, in their industries don’t need this tool. It’s a powerful tool that does have a bit of a learning curve in order to use it effectively. It’s easy to use, don’t get me wrong. It just takes a little time to understand how all the information applies to your specific business. With a little effort you’ll use this information to build your Internet presence bigger, bolder, and better than it’s ever been before. If that isn’t in your mission plan for the coming fiscal year, then this tool might not be the one for you.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

Navigating to Colibri Tool landing page takes you to a crisp clean screen where you can easily sign up for the Colibri free trial.

Before you sign up though, it’s a good idea to sneak a peek at some of the high profile companies that use Colibri tool as part of their overall Internet marketing strategies.

The back office dashboard is uncluttered and easy to use. The side bar navigation makes it easy to find the appropriate information you’re looking for and there are clear explanations every step of the way to help you get the maximum benefit from your user experience.

If you’re having a little bit of trouble making heads or tails of what you’re seeing on the computer screen, you can use the “Report” button to get detailed reports relevant to your site including traffic information, backlinks, and brief reports that simply hit the highlights.

The Good, the Bad, and the Noteworthy

There are plenty of benefits to consider with Colibri Tool. The fact that it’s easy to input your information and navigate the back office of the website is a plus for users of all levels of experience. The wide range of features offered by Colibri tool give it depth – making it so much more than a mere keyword reporting tool. This one tool replaces several other products and puts all the information together in one convenient location.

Colibri tool, in spite of its many benefits, is not exactly perfect. There is a bit of a learning curve associated with the tool that will put off some. Oddly enough, those with brick and mortar business backgrounds may have a better time understanding the charts and graphs than those who have more Internet-based marketing skills.

The best thing, for many users, however, is the ability to compare keyword performance across multiple search engines in one location. This is a huge benefit over similar products currently on the market.

Will it Fit Your Budget?

Times are tough for businesses in every industry these days. Belts are getting tighter. It’s understandable that your business may not be interested in spending more money than is necessary when there are free products that can do the job – or something similar. However, Colibri Tool offers the convenience of monthly payments at several different price point packages to accommodate a wide range of business needs and situation. The price for this service, however, is worth its weight in gold for almost any small business out there.

Is it for You?

Colibri Tool is one of the few tools available today that impacts almost every marketer out there. If you’re looking for ways to bring in more traffic, to take greater advantage of competitive keywords, and bring in more search engine generated traffic to your business website while monitoring what your competition is doing at the same time, then this is the tool for you. The free trial is merely calorie-free icing on the cake.

Ratings: ease of use 4/5, features 5/5, value 4/5 and ease of deployment 5/5

If you like this article, follow us on Twitter, Google+, Facebook

If you want to improve your entire sales, marketing and customer service cycle and save both time and money then you’ve probably looked into various forms of marketing automation software.  Founded in 2006, Marketo seeks to simplify, streamline, automate and measure marketing tasks and work flows in order to increase efficiencies and grow revenue.

With this Marketo review we will find out how powerful marketing automation can be.

Do What Gets Results

We all know about the 80/20 rule by now. In short, 20 percent of our hard work gives us 80 percent of our results. Marketo seeks to help you know what 20 percent is working best for your business and then helps your business optimize and automate these processes and channels.  Marketo’s marketing automation software includes many different functions to support inbound and outbound marketing, such as email marketing, landing page & form creation, lead management, CRM integration, social marketing, event marketing, marketing budgeting, and marketing analytics. It also has convenient cloning features so you can easily copy successful emails, landing pages, and even entire programs.

Marketing Software that is Easy, Powerful, and Complete

Marketo offers many features that will help improve, streamline and automate your marketing. Let’s go over a few of the features:

• Analytics – Without useful reports and analytics, you won’t know which programs are most effective at hitting your goals. It’s imperative to know which programs are performing the best, and which are bringing in the most qualified leads and converting them to actual business revenue. Marketo offers all that  plus standard reports on email, landing pages, campaign performance, web tracking, and more, as well as the ability to fully customize reports.

• CRM – Customer relationship management integration is an essential component to successful marketing automation, allowing tracking and reporting on the entire sales cycle, from first contact with potential clients/customers.  What’s more, if you make a change in your CRM or Marketo it will sync and make changes in both areas, ensuring consistent data and cutting down on duplicate data entry. Currently integration is available for a wide variety of CRM tools like Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, NetSuite, Oracle and Sugar CRM.

• Email Marketing – You can easily design emails with a drag and drop interface that anyone can use. All the lovely scheduling features of other email marketing programs are also available along with great reporting features so that you know if it’s working or not.

• Landing Pages – Landing pages are critical – without an easy to build landing page to capture incoming leads, the best programs can ultimately flop. Landing pages are critical. Like the email feature, its drag and drop interface makes creating excellent landing pages and forms easy and fun. Marketo offers various testing abilities and personalization features that other landing page templates do not allow, making this feature topnotch.

• Lead Management – You’ll be able to score and nurture leads based on demographics, behavior and engagement, product of interest, and much more. For instance if a lead downloads a white paper, the system automatically notices and can then can deliver a targeted followup relevant to that topic. You can also set up alerts to let sales reps know when a lead shows buying behaviors and even send automatic emails from your sales reps.

• Social Marketing – Today every marketer knows the importance of including social media into their marketing channels. Marketo makes it easy to get a social lift on every program with their easy to use social marketing features. You’ll be able to conduct referral campaigns, sweepstakes, contests, and other social campaigns to keep your database engaged and promoting your message for your.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

Marketo looks clean and visually pleasing. But, it’s also user-friendly in that it’s not hard to find what you need. The visual editors are especially awesome, so creating emails and landing pages is simple and they look fabulous.

General Marketo Lead Management Marketing Activities View

Social Dashboard View

Marketo Sales Insight View

Reporting Analytics Program Cost View (your reports can be customized)

It’s An Awesome Investment

Marketo is an investment, but those who have budgets that allow the expense will not be disappointed. This software provides everything any marketer would want in a marketing automation software. It does what it says it does, and it’s simple to set up and easy to use. The advantages of having Marketo are enormous, and while it’s not cheap, the price is right in line with comparable software. While medium to large sized businesses will likely see a good return on investment it can be a bit harder for very small businesses to get the full impact from software as robust as Marketo. But, if you use a CRM and are trying to optimize your marketing spend and processes, then Marketo cannot be beat.

Will it Fit your Budget?

The barrier to entry is always the budget, but if you have a good marketing budget and want to make the most of it, and can start out around  $1200 a month to use all the features and get all the benefits from this marketing automation software then it’s for you. If you’re a sole proprietor or a very small business it probably isn’t for you.

Is it For You?

As mentioned previously if you already use Salesforce or some of the other CRM’s mentioned then yes, you should give Marketo a test. At the very least, experience their terrific Demo with knowledgeable sales staff who can help you see how Marketo can benefit your organization.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 5/5, value 4.5/5 and ease of deployment 4.5/5

If you like this article, follow us on Twitter, Google+, Facebook

Customer engagement must be high on the list of priorities for almost any business today. Unfortunately, not all businesses have the tools, tactics, and talents to properly engage their customers before and after the sale.

That’s where Zendesk comes into the picture. Read this Zendesk review to get a better idea of whether or not Zendesk will work for you.

How Can Zendesk Help Real Businesses?

Customer support is one of the biggest engagement opportunities for businesses today. It is also a field where there is great need for improvement by businesses large and small. A recent series of television commercials even touches on how bad things have gotten. People are actually surprised, and delighted, to call and talk to an actual person rather than a computer generated voice menu.

It should be noted, however, that Zendesk is more than mere customer service and engagement software. Zendesk also offers webinars, forum training, and white papers, in addition to Zendesk university for onsite private training to help businesses provide better customer service.

Who Benefits Most from Zendesk?

Any business that relies on customers stands to benefit by using Zendesk software, tools, and services. The scalability of Zendesk makes it ideal for businesses set to grow in the coming years and makes it an excellent choice to assist in that growth.

Why Should You Invest in Zendesk?

The buying public is demanding more and more engagement from companies that are getting their hard-earned dollars. They want to feel as though businesses are hearing their voices, acknowledging their concerns, and actively interested in providing better service before and after the sale. Zendesk makes your business look great to potential customers even if you don’t have a full-time staff dedicated to answering emails, responding on social media sites, double checking invoices, and countless other things that often fall through the cracks in small and large businesses.

The Basics: What Does It Look Like?

Zendesk is an attractive site that isn’t overly cluttered. In fact, it’s quite peaceful and easy on the eyes.

Navigation throughout the site is simple with top navigation menu. Once you sign up for the free trial, you’ll be taken to the dashboard, which is equally easy to navigate and will become your hub of activity. Thanks to its Zendesk Apps  platform you can easily add on other business applications to work with Zendesk, and their open API means you can also use services such as CloudWork  to connect Zendesk with a multitude of business applications.

You also gain access to the wonderful help documents and forum in the back office area of Zendesk. This is where you’ll get all the help you need to get started on the right foot.

The one thing to remember, when you do business with Zendesk is that you’re not alone. There are plenty of really big names in the world of business, across many fields, that are using the services Zendesk provides. This is a true testament to the scalability of Zendesk that major corporations as well as one-man operations can benefit from these services.

The Good and the Bad about Zendesk

The name Zendesk implies a peaceful experience for businesses. On a large scale it delivers. The Zendesk software is simple enough that ordinary people can use it effectively. The software is scalable so that it can accommodate small businesses as well as major corporations. The forums are there to provide advice, helpful hints, and even commiseration on the rare occasion that problems do arise. The training is first rate. These are all great things in the world of business today.

The downside comes with the scope of the service. While the software is easy to navigate and use and there is extensive training, it can seem a bit overwhelming at first. This is especially the case with smaller operations where one person is doing all the digging. Once the learning curve is over, however, it’s smooth sailing.

Will it Fit Your Budget?

For many small business owners, the affordability of Zendesk will be quite surprising. Just as the product itself is scalable to meet the needs of growing businesses, so are the prices. Four different plans are available at per person rates that can be paid yearly (with a discount), quarterly, or monthly. The prices increase with the range of services.

Is it For You?

The truthful answer for this is that if you have customers, this is a product for you. Customers need to feel important to your business. It’s an important part of the relationship building process. Zendesk has a lot to offer and a 30-day free trial gives you plenty of time to work out the kinks and see just how much it can mean for your business. Sign up for the free trial today and see what it can do for your business.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 5/5, value 5/5 and ease of deployment 3/5

The world was not enough for James Bond, perhaps because he didn’t have the WinWeb family of apps at his disposal. Q is good, but even he has his limitations. This WinWeb review will attempt to tell you what WinWeb can do for your business. Starting with the Projects & Helpdesk and moving on to more critical business functions, WinWeb apps make it easier than ever for businesses to make their presence felt on and off the World Wide Web.

What is WinWeb and How Can it Help Your Business Grow?

In the words of WinWeb, “We help create financially sustainable enterprise.” For some people that will sum it up quite succinctly. However, it helps to know how they go about accomplishing that lofty goal for the businesses they work with. WinWeb is a series of service and function apps, some sold in bundles, that work together to help businesses become and remain profitable.

Some will say that WinWeb is cloud computing in its element. Various apps, provided by WinWeb, help businesses stay connected, in every conceivable way, with their customers.

Who Does WinWeb Serve Best?

With so many potential benefits, bells, and whistles, you may believe that WinWeb is most decidedly outside of your price range — especially if you own or operate a small business or a medium-sized business working with a shoestring budget. However, nothing could be further from the truth. WinWeb apps are available on demand, or as needed. You aren’t forced to purchase a package deal you neither want nor need in order to get the service. You pay for the services you need and don’t pay for those you aren’t interested in.

The real beauty, though, is that you’re free to change your mind at a later date and add or remove services whenever the need, or desire, arises. WinWeb offers an unlimited number of updates and customizations at no additional costs to you. Bug businesses, small businesses, and growing businesses are able to benefit, from day one, from the wide range of apps and services WinWeb offers. You don’t even have to invest in pricey equipment to operate these apps. They’ll work on PCs, Macs, iPhone, Android devices, and iPads.

How Can WinWeb Help You Solve Your Business Problems?

No matter what kind of business you’re in, your business has two goals:

1) Minimize Spending

2) Increase Profit

Those are the names of the game for all businesses — of any size. WinWeb offers a wide range of apps that are all devoted to helping businesses operate more efficiently.

Some of the services WinWeb offers

Enterprise and Manufacturing Resource Planning (ERP/MRP) in the form of financial management, order management, billing and invoicing, shipping and fulfillment, supply chain solutions, warehousing, subscription and time billing, and many more features.

Invoices

Production Data Acquisition (PDA) in the form of monitoring production and providing real-time reports on the manufacturing aspects of the business.

Online Disk Sharing

Online Disk

Online Disk Sync

Client Relationship Management (CRM) by way of on-demand information about clients including their buying histories, social media participation, and so much more.

Contact Profile

Email, SMS, and Newsletter with easy-to-use Email Creation Programs

Webmail Creation

Webmail Reading

WinWeb helps businesses by giving them the tools they need to build a bigger social presence, engage their customers, and stay on top of their own financial, production, and distribution needs and responsibilities. All this information is accessible by business owners on their mobile phones, at the office, or at home thanks to the flexibility keeping this information in the cloud provides.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

You’ve already seen some of the outstanding views of WinWeb. But let’s take a look at even more. The WinWeb Dashboard is easy to navigate with easy access icons according to the package you’ve created for your business.

In the back office area you’ll also find access to your address books and calendars, which are important tools for keeping everyone on the same page whether they’re in the office next door or working in the field.

Address Book

Calendar

While some products have a back office area that’s ruled by chaos, the back office at WinWeb is easy to navigate with plenty of white spaces and opportunities for training.

WinWeb Pros and Cons

The biggest benefit most businesses will find with WinWeb is the limitless customization the product offers. The fact that it’s hosted in the cloud, however provides an unexpected benefit as businesses can easily adopt a BYOD (bring your own device) policy for employees and contractors while, at the same time, avoiding a massive investment in server infrastructure that would be required if the businesses were interested in building these own features for themselves.You really can run your entire business from WinWeb.

The other pros of doing business with WinWeb are quite extensive and involve the long list of charitable organizations WinWeb supports including:

• The Princes’ Trust by providing their Business Planning App free of charge to all members for 24 months or longer if they have not found employment within that period of time.
• The Brain Tumor Research and Support Charity by providing, free of charge, their Online Office Product, email campaign templates, CRM data, and WinWeb product training.
• The Enterprise Rockers Community Interest Company by providing web services that includes assistance with online marketing and raising awareness of the cause.
• Shell liveWIRE members receive the Business Planning App for 24 months, free of charge.
• Other charitable contributions go to: Environclean, The Institute of Enterprise and Entrepreneurs, Ellies Fund, and Construction Yorkshire.

The downside, or cons, of the WinWeb business cloud is that it can be confusing in the beginning. It can do so much. I mean you can even set it up so that you can post to your blogs from the WinWeb Dashboard. The other potential problem is that businesses aren’t always sure which products will serve them best. There may be a bit of trial and error involved in finding the perfect set of applications for your business needs.

Will it Fit Your Budget?

WinWeb offers a wide range of features and applications. Some products require a one-time fee while others require monthly subscriptions. Some of the monthly subscription programs are “per person.” This means that the product represents a wide range of price points that are appropriate for small businesses, large businesses, and growing businesses in their own rights. There are sure to be projects that fit your businesses budget even if shoestring is the first word that comes to mind. Many of the financial planning tools can help your business operate more efficiently to the point that they pay for themselves almost overnight.

Is it for You?

With so many products on the market today to help businesses grow, it’s hard to pick one and say this is the best. However, it’s even harder to find a reason not to appreciate WinWeb and the wide range of services it offers at prices almost any business can afford.

The cloud is the future of business and WinWeb helps your business navigate the cloud seamlessly. If only Mr. Bond had such a tool to help him work his way through the perils of his Queen’s service.

Ratings: ease of use 4/5, features 5/5, value 5/5 and ease of deployment 4/5

Once upon a time, dozeo founder, Maximilian Mack of Stuttgart, Germany, had to travel all around presenting seminars, or worse, rely on inferior webinar software to help him make his point from a distance. He didn’t like operating that way and an idea was born that would, two years later, revolution the way businesses conduct online meetings and webinars.

This dozeo review seeks to find out, did he succeed?

What is dozeo and How Can It Help Your Business?

Max had an idea, a mission really, to “beautify digital encounters.” He accomplished this goal by creating dozeo, a B2B platform for online meetings. Businesses save money because they’re able to conduct the same high quality seminars they’d like to without the high costs of traveling from one location to the next in order to do so. In fact, dozeo is completely scalable to handle large groups or settings that are more intimate. This means businesses can do multiple webinars in less time than it would typically take to accomplish one seminar saving time, labor, and travel expenses.

Which Businesses Stand to Benefit Most from dozeo?

Any business interested in expansion of market share, consumer base, or looking for partnerships stands to gain much by using dozeo for online meetings. Businesses that operate across state lines or across national borders also have much to gain (or, as the case may be, to save) by taking advantage of the dozeo service. The benefits, however, do not end with online seminars. The software is also highly useful for collaboration, customer service, sales, and even coordinating research and product developments. The possibilities are almost limitless for any business. Even companies that accommodate remote workers can easily include them in vital company meetings – no matter how remote their locations may actually be.

What Makes dozeo Different from Similar Products on the Market for Businesses?

There are several well-known solutions for webinars on the market today. Why should businesses consider dozeo over the other available options? The long and short of the answer is that dozeo is more elegant than the other products on the market. It’s the difference between a Chevrolet and a Cadillac.  The other platforms will get you there, but the ride won’t be nearly as comfortable, seamless, or luxurious. They simply lack the bells and whistles that come with dozeo. These bells and whistles make the system so impressive.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

The landing page is inviting and informative without being overbearing. You’re not overwhelmed with too much information.

Once you reach the back office area there are small signs to point you in the right direction and the layout is very simplistic.

You won’t even have to worry about complicated processes for scheduling meetings. The process is a cinch that requires no real technical expertise to get rolling.

Adding new contacts is very simple process in the back office area. It’s one of the simplest interfaces for this type of software available.

The Good and the Bad about dozeo

dozeo almost seems too good to be true – especially for anyone who has struggled with complex software and platforms in the past. Not only is it easy to follow and navigate, but there are also plenty of bells and whistles that let you do more than simply “meet” online. Some of the popular features dozeo offers include: screen sharing, the ability to watch YouTube videos at the same time, uploading documents to share in the meeting. The fact that no downloads are required and that the system works with all browsers is an added benefit.

Features like SSL encryption, calendar integration, and extreme scalability make it a real win with businesses expecting growth in the future or that simply want more options when scheduling and planning their meetings.

So, what’s the bad news? The bad news is that you must pay for the convenience.  However, that pales in comparison with the money you’ll save with improved efficiency, saved labor costs, and lower travel-related business expenses for things you can now handle online without missing a beat.

Will it Fit Your Budget?

While there are costs involved with dozeo, the system is a solid investment for your business that will generate a substantial return.  There are three different monthly subscription plans at three price points. You can change your plan at any time. This means it’s perfectly acceptable to start small and upgrade if, and when, needed. There is also a 14-day free trial. This allows you the opportunity to try the software out for yourself and see how you like it.

Is it For You?

There are few businesses dozeo can’t help. The 14-day free trial allows you the opportunity to see exactly how much it can help your benefit. The truth is you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by trying it out to see how much it can help your business break new records for sales, customer service, recruitment, and innovation.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 5/5, value 3/5 and ease of deployment 5/5

Customer service is one of the most important aspects of your business. Having good customer service will increase your sales by creating repeat customers and fans of your business. Your job needs to be to exceed the customer’s expectations, every time.That is why most business experts always tell you to under promise and over deliver.

If you give more than your customers expect, even if a mistake has been made, you’ll find that your clients remain happy and continue to be customers. You, as a manager can start with empowering your customer service agents to address customer’s issues.

What Aspects Of Customer Service Is Your Team Probably Getting Wrong?

1. Worrying About What Vs. How

Believe it or not it matters little what the problem is, but more in how your team handles the problem. Mistakes happen, it’s part of life, but how you rectify that mistake is what the client will remember forever. For example, on my birthday my husband took me to our favorite restaurant for dinner. It was a night of errors.

Our appetizer was never delivered, we had to ask for bread, and refills were slow in coming. I voiced my concerns with the waitress about our appetizer and before you knew it the manager came to speak to us. He apologized and offered us a free appetizer tonight, plus one next time we come in and I got a free dessert!

Was the service lousy? Yes. Absolutely. But will we go back? Absolutely! Not once did the manager or waiter say that they had a busy night, or that the waiter was new, or make a single excuse for the issues. He just wanted to make it right. He succeeded in our eyes and we had a lovely evening.

2. Not Listening To The Client

For a customer, how they see the issue is more important than how you see the issue. That is why it is important to always listen to the complaint. Your customer service professionals should be trained to listen to the entire complaint and also to ask what can they do to help make it better. Usually the client is happy to let you know what will make the situation better.

In today’s social media environment it is also important to realize that any dealing with a customer can wind up the next most shared social media event in history. What could have been a very small issue could turn into a very costly issue. It’s much more important to deal with the client’s perception than your perception because, after all, perception is reality.

3. Agents Not Working Together

Today with all the various technology available all customer service agents should be able to collaborate on various client issues. For instance, each time a client calls, the agent should be trained to type into the online system the complaint, the problem, and what they did to fix it. That way if the customer realizes later that the issue is not resolved, they don’t have to repeat the entire story over and over again.

4. Not Empathizing With The Customer

Customer service professionals need to be trained to relate to the customer. If the agent shows no empathy at all to the issues the client is going through, the client will feel mistreated and misunderstood. Once your agent shows empathy the anger and upset feelings the customer has will usually go away. A simple “I totally understand how you feel, that must be frustrating”, will go really far in turning a complaining customer into a lifelong fan.

5. Not Apologizing To The Client

Customer service reps need to have the power to apologize for the company and seek to remedy the situation by offering something more to the client. Giving the customer something extra that is free of charge to them, but that shows you want to make “it” right, even if it was a misunderstanding, or not your businesses fault, will go far in creating good will. In the rare case that the customer is out of line, it still won’t hurt to just give them a freebie, and move on. You end the issue, and don’t need to escalate it further.

6. Not  Using Technology Efficiently

Today there are so many types of technology that there is no reason why your company should not have the best technology for dealing with customer service that you can afford. The cost will be offset by the loyal customers you’ll create by having topnotch customer service. There are many types of customer service software on the market that will make even the smallest business experts in client care.

7. Blaming The Customer

We all know the saying, “the customer is always right”, but most of us don’t agree with it. This is a serious problem getting in the way of providing excellent customer service to clients. We need to get back to the days when the customer was always right. Outside of out and out theft attempts, a customer with a complaint needs to be heard, and your business needs to take responsibility for it. If your customer service agents are empowered with the ability to solve issues before they escalate you will see a huge return on your customer service investment.

 Best Customer Service Apps

Zendesk

Everyone needs a little “Zen” in their lives and with Zendesk you’ll get it everyday. Popular with businesses of all sizes thanks to strong language support and excellent customization flexibility.

Adding to these is the fact that it’s easy to use, no wonder more than 40,000 businesses the world over rely on it.

Able to be used by as many customer service representatives as your business needs, Zendesk is the go to app for Customer Service.

Freshdesk

Keep your customer service reps motivated with Freshdesk’s unique gaming feature, combined with a simple interface and user-friendly ticketing system.

With Freshdesk you’ve got an all in one customer support package featuring email, social, mobile and chat- based customer support ticketing. Fully customizable with an incredibly user friendly interface.

You can even brand your customer support portals with your own logos and themes and if you are so inclined you can code (CSS AND Javascript)

Desk.com

Easily one of the best customer service apps currently doing the rounds. It’s a multi-channel customer service app that makes dealing with requests via email, social media, phone and chat a breeze. Depending on customer demand you can add agents as needed.

Being a Salesforce App you can nurture relationships by using the excellent customer history and data available to you. With Desk.com you can really get to know your customers, building on the developer’s knowledge in customer data collection.

If you like this article, follow us on Twitter, Google+, Facebook and grab our GetApp.com blogfeed

The post 7 Things Your Customer Service Team Is Probably Doing Wrong appeared first on GetApp Learning Center.