Don't keep doing the same old!
Automate and grow your sales with these four tools.
Taking time to grow your business is important and finding the right tools and solutions can provide you more time to increase sales and strengthen your customer and potential customer reach. We've found a variety of tools to help you conquer your sales and management goals:
Credit Card Processing: Being able to accept credit cards as a form of payment is important to ensure you don't miss out on sales. When exploring solutions, remember to ask about the cost, including the terms and rates, flexibility of terms, contract requirements, cancellation fees, equipment leasing, customer service, fraud detection, mobile processing, and funds availability. Here are five to consider: Square, Paypal, Cayan, Merchant Services, and creditcardprocessing.com.
E-commerce solutions: Billions of dollars of services and merchandise go through the e-commerce marketplace, so don't get left behind! If you have a product, you need people to be able to find it and buy it online. Consider the following ecommerce platforms for your business: Shopify, Magento, woocommerce, and Selz. Remember to pay attention to the cost, ease of use, customization options, payment processor integrations, merchant tools, automation, contract, limitations, and customer service.
CRM: Have you thought about how to turn one-time customers into repeat customers? A Customer Relationship Management system, or CRM, can help you grow your business and build loyalty, track consumer patterns, and communicate with customers about products and features they’re interested in. Special features needed will vary depending on your goals and budget, but consider Zoho CRM, HubSpot, Agile, or Sugar CRM to get you started.
Customer Survey Tools: Asking for feedback on your business can be a daunting task, but surveys provide critical information and insights that can help you create better products and experiences for your customers. Thanks to services like Survey Monkey, Typeform, Google Forms, and Zoho Survey, you don’t have to be a tech wizard to create a survey anymore - so ask away!
Lifting Passionate Mom Entrepreneurs like Adrienne
Meet Adrienne, a mom, daughter, stylist, and entrepreneur. (Pictured in the center)
Adrienne Velazquez started a successful career as a stylist in the early 2000’s focusing on providing women of color an unparallelled salon and styling experience. She was proud that she had a gift in making people feel good and look beautiful.
In 2007, she took a leap of faith and opened her business Joyez Beauty Salon; little did she know owning a business would lead to personal and professional growth.
During a beauty appointment her client asked if she would host a group of foster children at the salon for a makeover day and she said yes! Her continued involvement inspired her to adopt and grow her family. Fast forward to today, Adrienne is a proud mom of Jadon, Josiah and Ashton, who now fuel her desire to push herself and her business.
With a growing family, Adrienne realized she wanted to grow her business, provide a unique experience for women of color, and support her fellow stylists in the industry, but wasn’t sure how.
“I just wanted to do what I love and what I’m passionate about, but I realized that includes education and encouraging other stylists to grow,” said Adrienne.
That’s when she found LiftFund; the team equipped her with education and capital to grow her business. She participated in a women’s business accelerator and received a small loan to expand her business from a 300 sq. ft. salon to a 2,105 sq. ft. space with 10 stations, a massage therapist and esthetician area, and a coffee and beverage bar.
“I'm always telling my kids that ‘you create your future,’ in spite of what others have told you, you control your destiny,” Adrienne said. “Anything [you set your] mind to, it’s possible to accomplish.”
LiftFund is proud to share the journey and support momentrepeneurs like Adrienne; you too are part of that journey and we wish you a Happy Mother’s Day!
|
Share the love! #ReferAFriend to LiftFund
Do you know of someone in need of business support and capital to start their business? We'd love to help! Refer a small business owner to us - we'll take good care of them!
|
LiftFund is a non-profit financial and business consultation organization that helps diverse entrepreneurs strengthen their businesses, stabilize and increase their incomes and assets, create employment and contribute to the economic revitalization of their communities.