Simply Junior

When it comes to small business, it’s never enough that you have the motivation and even the expertise. It’s also not enough that you have the right core staff who can help you manage the different aspects of your enterprise. You also need good small business software, which will allow you to automate your business, speed up the entire business process, and assure more accurate and fresh data that you can utilize.

Choices for Your Business

Today, there are a lot of small business software that you can select from, each having its own distinct functions. However, because of the uniqueness of your enterprise, not all will be useful. You only need to pick those that you think will be highly essential.

To give you some idea, you can start with the following small business software:

CRM Software. This software is important for contact management. You can easily manage information that is related to your customers, such as personal information. You can also easily determine the products and services they have purchased or enquired about, which then provide you data on what sells the most and what doesn’t amongst your line. Furthermore, you can keep track of your marketing campaigns generate reports and much more.

Lead Management System. When you are looking for prospects, you need to have a dependable lead manager. A lot of them are affordable, so you can get hold of them quite easily. The lead management system can help you keep track, score, and prioritize your leads. Also, lead managers can be customized according to the needs of the business and the industry you’re in.

Accounting Software. There are various types of financial applications that you could get for your business, but you may start with the accounting software since you want to determine the actual income and expenses of your business. However, unless you have solid or at least inkling of how accounting works, it would be ideal if you can pick an accounting program that is very easy to use. To know which will suit you it is advised you read online reviews.

E-mail Platforms. E-mail will be one of the best tools your business can have. You can market products and services through it, and you can communicate with your staff. With e-mail, you may want to stick with Microsoft Outlook, but remember that your valuable customer data will be housed in multiple computers and multiple email accounts.

It is important to understand that sometimes less is more. Try to implement the minimum number of solutions as they will require expensive integration to function effectively. If possible look for 1 sales system and 1 accounting system.

In looking back over the ten years while in the employ of a family real estate business, I came to the conclusion that real estate salesmen have a heavy load to carry. You may well ask why I have said this? The reality is, that unlike most other jobs, you are viewed with suspicion, the occupation carries a stigma which is a nasty sore to nurture. To become successful you have to develop a defense mechanism, it took me years to perfect it, but I eventually did.

Working in a small country town added more pressure, one wrong move, when someone feels they have paid too much for a house, can really have a disastrous affect on your reputation and future earning prospects. I well recall a blusterous prospective buyer storming into our office, his wife behind him, and telling all in earshot that “all real estate salesmen are crooks”. Immediate action was required, so I invited him into my office and told him that if what he said was true, he may as well deal with the nicest of the crooks, me!I sold him a house that day, we became good friends, and three years later I resold it for him at a handsome profit.

real estate is not every ones cup of tea. I was well into my fifties when I gained my license, our kids were off our hands so weekend work was not a real issue. Weekends were often quite productive, but one bracket of customers were my most dreaded group. They appeared on weekends, usually without making an appointment. He was the rich boy, out to impress a much younger, usually some one else wife or girlfriend. He had no intention of buying a up market home, but she was not to know this. Squiring these sorts around and wasting a couple valuable hours, was a common occurrence. You had to get it right, what say your judgement proved wrong, and the chap was genuine?

The purpose of the exercise, from his point of view, was to give her the impression he was going to buy and hopefully share with her a very nice love nest. She thinks this guy is loaded and making a rosy future for much future week-end fun. The reality was normally that he was paving the way for tonight, and tonight only. The only one to miss out was, you guessed it, the poor salesman, who wasted fuel and time, and possibly missed genuine enquiries while looking after Prince Charming.

The upside of the job was meeting dozens of first class people to whom it was a pleasure to serve. We have maintained many close friendships from my real estate days, and we value them highly. Earnings were unpredictable, you never knew from one day to the next what lay ahead in the way of sales. You could gain several good listings only to find lenders were more demanding than usual by way of deposit or equity, and lose sales as a result. Maintaining a sense of humour, at all times, was a must, and in this department I was lucky.

Your real success always came through referrals, happy customers being visited by friends, finding out how well their agent treated them, put butter on the table. I thrived in this area, I learned all about first class service from day one as a 16 year old bank employee. I have never forgotten it, it works in every single business, not the least, real estate. Nothing made me more happy than to meet a new resident in the street, and be told their friends simply loved this town, they are putting their house on the market and will shortly call on you to find them a nice house like ours. Not hard to take.

In the year 2000, I was awarded “Citizen Of The Year”, completely unexpected, but something I am proud of. I often wonder how many other real estate salesmen have received a similar honor? At acceptance, I thought of the fellow who declared “all real estate salesmen are crooks.” This one was not, I valued my name and never let a fishy deal get under my guard.