As a small business owner or entrepreneur you have probably wondered whether you should invest in a smartphone, tablet, and other mobile devices. Maybe you think it is an unnecessary expense, or it’s only beneficial to the big companies. Truth is that smartphone and related mobile devices are becoming important for any business, even small business.
You have personal phone, but you should separate your business and your private phone.
According to the latest statistics, more than 120 million Americans (40% of the population) own a smart phone. What’s more, tablets are becoming the preferred option for online trading (buying and selling). Also, 50% of the internet searches are done using smartphones. Based on these statistics, you can benefit in the following ways:
Keeping Your Business Mobile
Running a small business is a challenge on its own. You constantly have to keep track on your customers, learn the market, keep up with the stiff competition, and also engage your customers. Rather than going the traditional way of employing more staff, you could invest in the latest technology. In addition to keeping your business mobile your Customer relationship management will be top-notch.
Applications such as PunchMe allow you to create a loyalty-program for your customers. Batchbook helps you learn and understand your customers, while ContactMe, a web-based CRM, comes with a range of tools for emailing, taking notes, calendar, task management and more. Zoho CRM helps you automate your day-to-day activities, and Nimble is effective for managing social relationships.
Mobile Money Payment
Mobile payment is one key reason why you need to invest in smartphones and associated technology. People rarely visit a physical store or pay using cash or checks. Instead, they prefer mobile payments or money wallets to settle bills online from the comfort of seats. As a small businessperson, you will also pay your supplies using the same options.
Square, PaySimple, PayPal, Pay Anywhere are ones of the most popular apps that are easily installed on your iPhone, Ipad, IOS, or Android device and allow you to swipe credit cards. To enjoy maximum benefits such as high-speeds and minimal interruptions, the smartphone or tablet should be linked with a business broadband that runs on 4G.
Better Accounting
One of the biggest challenges to small businesses is keeping their accounting in order. This has become more challenging today as most businesses are operating online. Also, hiring a bookkeeper, accountant, or any other financial expert is an additional cost. This is more reason for any owner of a small enterprise to invest in smartphones and tablets. If you are familiar with accounting, you could do it yourself using specific tools and applications.
Mobile apps such as Intuit GoPayment synchronize your sales and accounts books making it easy to manage and audit your business transactions. FreshBooks comes with a discerning user interface and consists of “on-the-go” accounting tools. Wave Accounting is a free, cloud-based accounting application that is ideally designed for small businesses. Other apps that are accessible via smartphone include Xero, Zoho Books, Quicken, Sage, Outright, and Less Accounting.
Social Media and PR
In addition to the above, operators and owners of small enterprises/business also need to focus on the social media. Facebook and Twitter allow you connect with your customers and suppliers, while LinkedIn helps grow your business connections. You can use YouTube for marketing your business using videos or Pinterest to showcase your products. Other professional social sites that will keep your small business mobile include Ryze, Google Plus, Talkbiznow, Affluence, and Quora.
Using technology trends will not only make your job easier you and your team will be better organized. Communication is crucial for anything, so, if you are informed you can take actions in real time. Also, having a satisfied customer is really good and being able to answer their questions or fix problems fast and efficient will pay in the end.
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