Across all industries, automation has become a critical factor in a business’ success. According to a study conducted by Gleanster, almost 80% of top-performing companies use automation for marketing and have done so for years.

What’s great about automation is that it can be used by companies of all types. Big corporations, startups, small companies, and even freelancers can benefit from incorporating automation in many business processes, to include capturing leads, communicating with customers, and completing routine tasks in the office.

When processes are automated, business owners can devote more time and energy towards growing the business and ensuring it stays on the right path. Read on to learn about 5 business processes that every business owner needs to automate.

1. Office Management

It’s impossible for automation to replace all of the tasks that employees perform in the office. But automation can be used to improve repeatable and repetitive processes that require human input. By automating these processes, you can stay organized, save time, and improve employee productivity.

In the office automation can be used for a wide range of processes including:

• Document collaboration
• Hiring & applicant processing
• Timekeeping
• Meeting scheduling

By automating these office processes, you minimize human error and allow employees to focus on those tasks that have a serious impact on the direction and success of the company.

2. Lead Management

Lead management is one of the most important factors in growing your business. Whether you’re looking to bring on new clients or looking to respond to prospective customers who have already reached out to your team, automated processes are effective in helping to better track, manage, and retain leads.

By using automation you can immediately respond to email or direct message contact requests. This is crucial as studies have shown that waiting half an hour to respond to a contact request decreases your odds of solidifying a lead by 21 times. An immediate response shows customers that you care and lets them know when to expect a more in-depth response from your team.

Automation can also be used for lead management for returning phone calls, following up with social media connections, and assigning leads to sales representatives.

3. Sales

The more efficient your sales processes are, the more money you can expect to flow into your company. Automation can be used at every stage of the sales journey, from lead management to determining when to contact a lead to qualifying a lead. One of the biggest problems that sales teams run into is having too many leads and not enough time to contact them. The easiest solution is to use an automated process that can:

• Prioritize leads based on engagement
• Communicate with leads
• Minimize wasted time spent on cold leads
• Ensure reps to stay engaged with on-the-fence prospects

Automation and sales processes go hand-in-hand. If used properly, automation can increase conversations that can lead to repeat and long-term customers.

4. Invoicing

Consistent and accurate invoicing is an integral part of running a successful company. Good invoice management helps to ease accounting and financial stress while also encouraging normalized cash flow.

Proper invoicing not only benefits your company, but it also makes paying as convenient as possible for your customers. An efficient invoicing process should include the generation, sending, and management of invoices.

The most effective way to automate invoicing is to use an invoice generator online. This type of app can be used to create template-based invoices that include all of the details a client needs to make timely payment. Invoice generators keep track of paid and unpaid invoices and can create all sorts of reports.

With an invoice generator, there’s a lot less manual work for your accounting team, which opens up more time for proper bookkeeping, budget tracking, and other important financial tasks.

5. Customer Service

A successful company is one that has high customer satisfaction and engagement ratings. Customers are more likely to be happy with a company that quickly responds to inquiries and is available via email, phone, and direct message.

In regards to customer satisfaction, automation can be used to provide customers with a faster, better, and personalized response to their question or concern. When customers reach out to your company, an internal tool can be used to track the inquiry, allowing you to assign the inquiry to a customer service rep who can then sign a prompt response.

Automation can also be used to gauge customer satisfaction, to collect customer feedback, and to ask customers for referrals.

Conclusion

By automating these five business processes, your company can make each day more efficient and productive. Automation saves time, money, and allows your employees to focus on pertinent tasks to better themselves while also contributing to the company’s direction and success.