What does your current marketing strategy say about your business? Whether you’re new to the game and the ink just dried on your LLC papers or you’ve been around long enough to reinvent your business several times, marketing is crucial to your success. Let’s clarify—strategic marketing is essential for the success and longevity of your business. Marketing trends come and go, and sometimes they even come back to leave again. If you pay attention to marketing tips for any length of time, you’ll see they ebb and flow like the tide which can leave business owners like us feeling overwhelmed, right?
Thankfully, our business partners and rad friends over at Lucent Creative, an all-female digital marketing agency, help us to stay focused and on-point with our marketing efforts. Today, we’re sharing some nuggets of wisdom their team shared with us. Before we jump in, let’s review a few stats about marketing.
These marketing stats are just scraping the surface of why strategic marketing is essential to the life of your business. Marketing gives you a platform to share your product or service, but strategic marketing gives you a direct line with your ideal customer. See the difference?
Let’s get straight to the tips from our friends at Lucent Creative. Take these five action steps straight to your team today.
Do you feel that your marketing strategy is complex, but not accomplishing much? If you’re following marketing trends rather than your ideal customer, it’s time to reassess. For example, if your ideal customers are retirees looking for wealth management options, your TikTok strategy probably isn’t yielding great results.
Lucent Creative’s CEO and Founder Kendall Walker shared,
“I have been in marketing for years and have seen a lot of ambitious and well-intentioned businesses stall in their growth because they weren’t focused on their marketing efforts. Thankfully, there are always opportunities to stop, reassess, and pivot. My advice to businesses with any marketing budget is to study where their ideal customers are and put their marketing efforts exclusively into those platforms.”
Read all about creating an email campaign that rocks with Zoho Campaigns.
Customers purchase from brands they trust. Earning the trust of your ideal client or customer requires engagement. Ironically, this is a step that is either neglected entirely or not focused on enough in marketing strategies. We got some insight into engagement with Lucent Creative’s social media strategist.
“I encourage clients to engage with their followers daily. If someone comments on your post, it’s crucial to reply. It’s a marketing 'hack' that humanizes your brand and helps build trust. Engagement doesn’t take a lot of time. If you spend ten minutes a day engaging with your followers in the comments and stories, I bet you’ll see an influx in sales soon. You’ve given them a reason to go all-in with just a few minutes of approachability.”
You may know what to say about your product, but do you know how to reach your ideal audience? This is where brand voice (what you say) and brand tone (how you say it) come into play. A business selling life insurance plans wouldn’t have the same brand voice or tone as a hot sauce company. Technically, anything could happen, but we’d venture to say it just wouldn’t be strategic or best practice.
Lucent Creative’s copywriter gave us a few tips in this area.
“Establishing your brand voice and tone is the foundation of your marketing strategy. It all starts with being incredibly intentional about who you’re talking to and how they can benefit from your product. Explore your ideal customer’s needs, struggles, purchasing habits, and anticipated hesitations about buying your product. If you do this, you’re going to set your entire marketing team up for success.”
Marketing isn’t a “set it and forget it” aspect of business. It’s as important as your product development, sales, and employee retention. What is working today may need adjusting next quarter.
Kendall Walker shared another piece of wisdom with us about the need for pivoting often.
“Marketing strategies need to grow and change with your business. Algorithms change, of course, but so do your customers and their expectations. What works now may not work next year. Keep an eye on the data, customer feedback, and ultimately, the trajectory of your business. Think of your marketing strategy needing frequent “checkups”. Schedule these and get your team thinking creatively about how to make your great strategy even better.”
How’s your website working for you? Read Your Guide to Designing an Epic Website
Be mindful to recognize and thank your loyal customers. Your business can do this in a lot of ways, but starting with a simple loyalty program or exclusive offers is a great place to invest your time and money. 75% of consumers will favor a brand if there is a loyalty program. 71% of consumers who are members of loyalty programs say membership is a meaningful part of their relationships with brands.
To wrap up, we asked Kendall, her social strategist, and copywriter to share their insight on how businesses can best show appreciation for loyal customers. Here’s what they had to say.
“I can’t stress the importance of creating the image of being a thorough and approachable brand. People want to know they can ask questions, express concerns, and rely on you, the expert, to give them valuable insight.”
Kendall, Lucent Creative CEO and Founder
“I agree with Kendall. The way to create a multiple-level point of contact people actually want to take advantage of is through intentional copywriting. Show your brand personality and always put the customer first in all of your written content. People catch on immediately if they’re appreciated and if they can keep trusting your business/product.”
Lucent’s copywriter
“To go along with this theme, I think it’s important to remind businesses that their social media is their “storefront” and their “first date”. This is the first impression of your brand. This goes beyond social media, of course. Your website matters. Email marketing campaigns are also a first-row view into your brand. Be consistent and your customers will continue to trust you and purchase from you.”
Lucent’s social media strategist
We all know marketing is important, but these five tips are ways to go the extra mile for your customers. The main idea is to not become complacent in your marketing efforts. Keep an eye on the data and your customers’ needs.
If you’re looking to partner with Woggle and Lucent Creative for your marketing efforts, get in touch to book your free consultation call.
Your website acts as the first impression for customers and clients. In part one, we gave you the rundown on web design statistics and a few pointers on creating an epic design. If you missed that post, check it out here.
You may not be designing your site from the ground up, but we encourage you to audit your existing site against today’s tips. What checks out and how can you make improvements? A well-designed website doesn’t mean it has to be a robust or high-tech site. Really, a lot of intentionality and attention to detail will result in a website that puts the user’s needs front and center.
Let’s get straight to today’s tips!
There are multiple reasons to give site visitors value straight out of the gate.
Here are just a few:
So, how do you provide value on your website? We discussed social proof in last week’s post and how it elevates your brand’s expertise. There are multiple ways to pique visitors’ interest and get them to stick around.
Three ways to provide value to your customers:
Integrate a chatbot into your web design. Customers need a place to get answers to their questions. Enter chatbots. They provide the customer service element while also adding value to your brand. Customize your chatbot to fit your brand to create a memorable customer experience.
Have a free resource library. Provide immense value while also capturing emails and building your email list. A free resource library should be more than just one pdf download. We recommend using multiple kinds of media since we’re all unique and retain information differently. Webinars, downloads, audio recordings, and interactive worksheets are all great fits for a resource library. Build a robust library that rivals your competitors and you’ll generate loyal customers!
Our web design partners at Lucent Creative built an epic landing page for a boutique African travel agency. Check out the value that’s offered to customers right away.
Web Design and copywriting rely on each other to create a memorable site for your potential customers/clients. Work with a designer that sees the value of emphasizing your brand’s message. A web designer and copywriter essentially have the same goal–to put your brand on the map and create an uncomplicated journey for your customer to commit to a purchase.
Here are a few tips to keep in mind for optimizing your message through design:
Your design and brand messaging should go hand-in-hand. Our biggest piece of advice would be to have a look at some websites you like and then, pull inspiration for your project. Here’s a round-up of our favorite projects by Lucent Creative. Pay attention to how the design supports the message:
A dog training and pet care services company:
A pizza franchise brand:
An online event:
Search Engine Optimization is a specialty as it should be! It’s a multi-faceted beast and we’re going to go ahead and suggest you hire an SEO expert.
Did you know over 53% of overall website traffic comes from organic search?
The difference between a DIY approach and hiring an SEO guru is that your website will see the light of day! Optimizing your site with SEO means:
As with any strategic marketing move, you’ll want to work with someone who also understands the data. What are your analytics teaching you about your current setup? Where are there areas for improvement?
Our partners at Lucent Creative have an SEO team and we’ve worked closely with them to optimize our site.
We’ve already established your business needs a great website to compete in the online space. It’s not only a great first impression for potential clients, but can also act as an ongoing resource for existing clients.
Whether you need a website refresh or need one from scratch, we’re in the business of helping!
Learn more about our partners at Lucent Creative here.
Contact our team to book a free consultation call.
Don’t forget to catch part one of this series.
You may sit blankly staring out a window most days pondering, ‘If only there was a way to streamline my business operations and experience joy again.’ The reality is, your business doesn’t have to merely survive day-to-day. You can put systems in place that allow you to run your company more efficiently and finally feel like the boss you are (both literally and in the 80s lingo).
Enter Zoho, the one-stop shop for business automation goodness.
As official Zoho Partners, we are obviously huge fans of the platform and we see how its integrations improve business operations big and small.
We’ll also show no shame in admitting that Zoho is (beautifully) complex. It’s a platform that takes time to learn and ultimately, conquer.
Enter The Workflow Academy–where Zoho One begins to make a little more sense to the everyday user!
Afterall, every time a bell rings, a Zoho user becomes a Zoho Master (or something like that).
In a nutshell, The Workflow Academy is the superior spot for Zoho training. Whether you’re the team’s Zoho Admin or are all-in hanging out in the deep end of the platform, The Workflow Academy has a course with your name on it.
Have you been on the fence about getting Zoho for your business?
Here’s your sign to go for it!
Oh, and a helpful statistic to drive the benefits home–92% of employees say having technology that helps them do their job efficiently affects their work satisfaction, according to a study by Ultimate Software.
Now that you know you can have an amazing platform to help run your business and learn how to master, what is there to lose?
Go ahead and make your free Zoho One account here.
We’ll wait for you!
[cheesy elevator music]
Congrats! You’re officially in the game with Zoho One now.
Let’s continue to walk through the perks of TWA and get you enrolled in their free course.
At Woggle, we see clients that don’t realize the areas they’re losing valuable leads, revenue, or customer satisfaction until they start using Zoho and see the data roll in.
Spoiler alert: sometimes it’s areas they least expect or think they’re excelling in.
Not only does your business thrive when problem areas are identified and remedied; employees are able to focus on what they do best with a little help from their friend (automation).
So, what does The Workflow Academy help Zoho users perfect?
Here’s what we love about the courses over at The Workflow Academy:
✅Their online courses are free to Zoho users (yes, please!).
✅Learning is made easy to access across all devices.
✅There are so many courses to choose from! (Zoho One, Zoho Books, Zoho Projects, oh my!)
✅Empowering your staff to understand Zoho on a deeper advanced level
✅Get a better understanding of how Zoho works on the backend
✅Learn how to properly architect a solution that will work for your company
✅Diagnose needs and find a partner that will work well with you to create a customized solution
Pro Tip: Read our blog post on why hiring a Zoho consultant is the right move (objectively, of course).
As we mentioned, The Workflow Academy allows your business to pinpoint issues in your workflow that may be damaging customer satisfaction results. All businesses aren’t created equally and learning how to use Zoho will guide you to championing the unique nuances of each aspect of your business.
For example, your ideal client or customer may not need an extensive onboarding process, but setting it on autopilot can still save your company time (and time is money).
Still eager to learn more about how Zoho is an all-inclusive super machine for automation?
Read more about how Zoho SalesIQ’s Customer-First Approach Can Boost Your Business here.
We’ve mentioned (obsessively) how Zoho integrations can skyrocket revenue, customer satisfaction, and daily operations. The real beauty of Zoho is the compatibility it has with both B2B and B2C models.
The Workflow Academy equips your Zoho agency to know every small nuance of the platform as well as how to troubleshoot and personalize it for your unique business needs.
This means you become an expert on all things Zoho including:
The list goes on!
Zoho can feel like a complex beast, but really, it can be tamed! Investing in your knowledge of how your chosen CRM platform works is the best thing you can do for your business!
Read more about Zoho’s magical features like Zoho Surveys and Zoho Social in our other blog post.
The main gist?
Your business can run as efficiently as you’re willing to invest in automation.
The Workflow Academy takes you from out of the loop to expert. Don’t be the person who invests in a phenomenal tool, but doesn’t learn how to use it.
Eager to learn more about The Workflow Academy? Check them out here!
Jump in head-first by opening a free Zoho account.
We have officially entered the era of data-backed decisions and online solutions! Yes, gone are the days of endless file cabinets and office trinkets most millennials wouldn’t be able to identify (we’ll let you use your imagination on that one).
It’s 2022– you probably wouldn’t be where you are without a solid website or some kind of SaAS running behind your operations. What tactics and strategies have you added to your business that has helped with sustainable growth and continued success?
If your answer doesn’t include a CRM, but you have seriously contemplated utilizing a CRM, you’re in the right place! We definitely encourage business owners to give CRMs a try, and we imagine managing your customer relationships (along with just about everything else), all from one place is pretty tempting!
The right CRM solution is going to be different for every business. So, for the indecisive entrepreneurs or the biz owners that just can’t commit, we have done a quick comparison between 2 top CRMs: Zoho and Hubspot!
One main similarity between Zoho and Hubspot? Both CRMs are popular and help people effectively run their businesses every day! Now for some more technical similarities:
User-friendly- When considering customer feedback, both seem to be very user-friendly. New to the CRM world? No problem! Both are known to have interfaces that are decently simplified and easy to figure out. According to our research, Hubspot seems to be slightly easier to use overall, but Zoho has tons of accessible resources if you can’t figure something out.
Preferred by certain industries- If you ask other professionals within your business niche, they may very well have the CRM that’s worked best for them. Keep in mind that business owners have probably not tried multiple CRMs to give a fully fair comparison! With that said, Zoho CRM is a pretty clear front runner in the real estate industry, while Hubspot seems to be favored by the insurance industry. With a quick Google search, you may find some useful insight about the best CRM for your industry!
Plenty of options- Both Hubspot and Zoho have multiple plan options, giving you the ability to choose what best suits your business. They also both offer free trials so you can see if it’s even worth your time in the first place!
One thing we often talk about on our blog is customization. We love a good customization situation! The one-size-fits-all mentality is just not for us; we’d rather be able to pick a good fit versus overpaying for features we’ll never use or items we can’t tailor to our needs.
With that said, Zoho CRM seems to be immensely better on the customization front. Sure, you can customize things on Hubspot, but Zoho allows you to customize buttons, user experiences, record designs, and even sales stages. An added benefit? Sandbox- a testing environment that allows you to test out changes without immediately causing all kinds of disruption (hey, you may change your mind).
And remember when we mentioned data-backed decisions? This kind of data gets to you and your team through reports, and Zoho allows you to access customized reports no matter the plan! With Hubspot you can only do this with the Professional and Enterprise plans.
Zoho has an entire product devoted to social media: Zoho Social. This product comes integrated with Zoho CRM and easily connects all social accounts, including your Google profile. Unfortunately, Hubspot lacks most social media analysis and integrations.
Both Zoho and Hubspot come with a whirlwind of third-party integration options. However, you have to seriously consider what applications and software you already use (or plan to use) before making a CRM choice. This is because each CRM has a lengthy list of integrations, but that list might not include what you need. For instance, Hubspot does not integrate with Google Analytics or PayPal (and that could be problematic).
Fact: Automating processes saves you time and money. Therefore, you’d expect your CRM to be decently helpful in this area, right? Good news: both Zoho and Hubspot allow you to automate many things, from lead scoring to de-duplicating contact data. However, a lot of these features are only accessible with Hubspot’s top plans, whereas you can access with Zoho for far less money.
Zoho also uses AI to do all sorts of things, including identifying patterns, analyzing data, and making workflow suggestions. Although Hubspot gives the ability to automate items like email alerts and triggers, it lacks AI and its tremendous contribution to automating tasks.
If you take a look at pricing for Zoho vs Hubspot, you’ll initially be shocked at the difference, However, you have to take into consideration that Zoho CRM is priced per user and Hubspot is not.
Zoho’s free CRM plan allows up to 3 users, while Hubspot is seemingly unlimited. But even with unlimited users, you will be much more limited on Hubspot's free and starter plans. Zoho gives access to a lot more features at a much lower price point, making it great for smaller businesses on a limited budget.
Zoho’s pricing plan also allows better scalability, given that growing businesses could quickly be priced out of Hubspot. Not to mention, a lack of automation options can make smooth scalability even more difficult.
It’s no mystery that both CRMs are solid options. Whether you go with Zoho or Hubspot, just make sure it suits your business needs and gets the most out of your hard-earned money!
And as always, let us know what you think of your experience with either CRM– we’re always curious!
Want to find out how we can help you?
Let’s chat.
The ‘customer is always right’ ideology has been a staple in businesses for quite some time. And in case you are wondering: yes, this even includes the more…difficult customers (we figured we’d have to clear that up sooner than later).
When it comes to the success of any business (no matter the size), listening to customer opinions and feedback will never lose importance. That’s where the rising emphasis on the Voice of the Customer (VoC) comes in– businesses have to constantly consider customer feedback and figure out how it should/can be incorporated in future actions and changes.
While not exactly a brand new concept, there are new and fresh ways to tackle the VoC challenge, especially within CRMs like Zoho. Let’s dive a little more into this concept of VoC and why it’s important to your business!
When we use the phrase Voice of the Customer (VoC), we don’t just mean customer feedback! VoC refers to methods of collecting feedback, analyzing this feedback, and figuring out ways to improve your business with what you decipher.
In reality, will our businesses truly succeed without considering customer opinions? The answer is a definite no; no matter how hard you try, you cannot properly operate without taking feedback into strong consideration.
And let’s face it, you are there to serve your customer base, right? The success of your business heavily depends on customer satisfaction! There’s no sustainable way to ignore feedback.
Placing a bigger emphasis on the VoC will:
Now that you are convinced to more seriously consider the VoC, let’s take a look at some tactics!
What is the best way to approach the VoC? There’s no surefire method that will work for every business! You have to figure out the right message and how to effectively communicate with your customer base, so not all methods are necessarily equal.
A great place to start (and one we often recommend) is Zoho’s CRM. CRM = Customer Relationship Management– you can’t go wrong with something that has the words customer and relationship right in the title!
No matter your situation, it’s best to first take a look at all the products Zoho CRM has to offer and decide what would best suit your business. Then, you can choose your own set of applications and create a model that will best cater to the voice of your customer.
Zoho Social- Social media is a scary challenge to tackle– so many platforms and so many things you might miss! Does social media tend to leave you overwhelmed? (It definitely overwhelms us about 98% of the time!)
With Zoho Social, you can manage DMs (direct messages) from all your platforms all in one place. Zoho will even gather contact details from these conversations and create a work ticket if necessary.
Zoho Social keeps track of Google reviews and questions, social mentions, and wherever your biz is the hot topic of conversation! Pretty appealing to have an app track this kind of thing rather than scroll and search for hours on end!
Zoho Surveys- You know where we are going with this! What better way to understand the VoC than asking customers directly? Zoho Surveys allows you to create customized surveys, even offering over 250 templates to make the process that much easier for you.
Want to ask some questions on Facebook? Okay! Want to send an email survey? Zoho has you covered! Reach customers in whatever way you need to and get the valuable feedback you seek!
Zoho Desk- If you let it, this product can contribute a large piece to that customer service puzzle! Just because you have a small business, you shouldn’t be limited to low-tech options. Zoho Desk helps you simplify customer service operations and build a lasting relationship with your customers!
Zoho Desk utilizes AI to tag tickets and send them to the correct employee. It can also identify customer sentiment and set aside issues that caused a negative reaction for further research down the road. Track agent activity, automate follow-ups, and integrate with applications you already use.
Zoho Desk will analyze data and patterns to well-equip you for future decisions. Plus, even though it’s high-tech, your customer will still have a super personalized experience!
Zoho Sales- Sure, the name seems simple– but we all know the strategies behind ‘sales’ are much more complex! A key part of sales is catering to your audience and cultivating a relationship with your customers. With Zoho Sales, you can analyze content performance, where site visitors spend their time, and figure out the best way to start conversations with prospective customers. Sync data with Zoho CRM and create a fine-tuned message for your audience!
The Voice of the Customer may seem like an overwhelming and complicated adventure, but it doesn’t have to be. You already consider the voice of your own customers on a daily business whether you realize it or not!
The key takeaway here is figuring out how to use the data behind the VoC and tailor your operations for ultimate customer satisfaction! There’s always room for improvement, and Zoho’s CRM is ready to help, and so are we!
Perfected marketing. Glowing reviews. Huge profits.
We’re not asking for much, right?
Just kidding– we know there’s no perfect algorithm or approach to business. We also know not every customer will be happy and not every transaction will go smoothly. Mistakes will be made and learned from…and probably made and learned from again.
But whether you’re selling to other businesses or directly to consumers, a CRM like Zoho CRM is going to get you closer to your goals than you even realize!
We talk a lot about B2B approaches, so today let’s focus on why Zoho CRM could be just the thing your B2C biz needs!
There are a whole lot of acronyms out there in the business world (and the world in general), and we don’t expect you to know them all. However, B2C and B2B are two commonly used phrases and it’s good to know the difference between them.
Both refer to selling something (whether a product or service) to someone else. They differ in who the intended buyer is and what category that buyer would fall into.
B2B stands for Business to Business, and refers to companies that sell to other companies. Zoho and all its offerings, for instance, would be considered B2B.
B2C stands for Business to Consumer and refers to companies that focus on selling to individual people.
The difference seems pretty obvious, but what really makes them different is the approach companies take and the buyer process. Sure, whether B2B or B2C, companies are going to market what they offer and try to entice their ideal audience. When you market to another business, however, it’s an entirely separate ball game: that buyer has to run their options through coworkers and managers. They might even have to run purchase decisions through multiple departments and be obligated to stick within a budget.
A B2C model can target impulse buyers and trendy markets; it can think more short-term. Individual consumers will consider both low-price items and high-price items, whereas B2B buyers will often be spending quite a bit to achieve a long-term purpose. B2C companies are all around you– they sell dog food, sneakers, cell phones, and whatever else you may need on a daily basis.
Not the best use of acronyms, but you get the point. So back to what we mentioned earlier: How can a CRM be helpful to a B2C model?
First, let’s review what a CRM is:
CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management and the meaning is pretty straightforward– CRMS focus on obtaining customers, convincing customers to make a purchase, and building and maintaining these customer relationships.
Keeping a close eye on the sales funnel and what works (and what doesn’t work) creates valuable insight for companies. How did they find a customer? What information did they initially obtain? At what point did the customer transition from a shopper to a buyer?
CRMs help collect information, develop leads, and create conversions. They also help you follow-up with customers.
Without a CRM like Zoho CRM, lots of information can get lost in the chaos. Many opportunities can be missed and companies may struggle to grow. Effectively using a CRM can help create loyal customers and make your business completely scalable.
Expanding further on what we discussed above, Zoho CRM can help your business in so many ways:
Collect valuable metrics - Easily create sales reports and view analytics with one click. Share these reports with the team and use them for process improvement. Analyze your sales funnel and its effectiveness while keeping tons of valuable information organized and attainable. Make smarter, data-backed decisions!
Organize leads and contacts- Zoho allows you to merge other CRMS with their system so you can have all your data in one place. It will also help you collect contact info and determine what leads are worth pursuing. They have products like SalesIQ to make this piece even more seamless.
Analyze your process- Zoho CRM will help you take a look at your sales processes and figure out where some holes could be. Define a process for your sales team with Zoho’s Blueprint function and optimize each step through the sales pipeline.
Communicate with customers- After all, customers are the focus with CRMs! Keep in touch with both actual customers and potential customers through email, social media and your website. Keep involved in the conversation people are having about your business!
Manage inventory- Zoho CRM is not just limited to contact information! Let it help manage your inventory and keep your ecommerce side operating better than ever.
Familiar integrations- We love to see some awesome integrations, and Zoho has a lonnngggg list of them! Many of these integrations are applications and companies you are beyond familiar with, which is a huge plus.
One of the best ones? Google Ads! Your business won’t get far without the help of Google, so why not have your CRM work alongside it? Other great integrations that you’ll recognize are Shopify, Quickbooks, SurveyMonkey and the entire G-suite!
Great Zoho integrations- Easily add on Zoho’s 40 other products and create the ultimate combo for your business needs. You even have the option to upgrade to Zoho CRM Plus or Zoho One and immediately get more benefits from their additional features!
If it isn’t already clear, we are huge fans of Zoho CRM here at Woggle! We also happen to be huge fans of a smooth process and a successful business– good thing they all go hand in hand!
Invest in your customer relationship and mitigate some of those unnecessary headaches– give Zoho CRM a try!
Sales orders may be something you never thought you would voluntarily read a blog post about, but boy are we ready to rock your world!
Okay, let’s be honest here: There’s no surefire way to make the topic of sales orders exciting, but there are definitely some undeniable reasons for why you should be using them in your product-based business!
Is it hard to imagine incorporating more forms and steps? Does it seem overwhelming to alter/add to your current process? These concerns are all understandable! We totally get it, and we’re here to show why a little extra virtual paperwork might not be such a bad thing for your biz!
All the terms within a sales process can get repetitive and confusing. So what is the difference between these terms you hear all the time? Well, let’s start with the first part of most sales processes: the quote.
A quote is the estimate a potential buyer/customer would request from a seller. In return, the seller creates a quote consisting of prices and other pertinent details about a potential purchase.
Next, you would have a purchase order (if the customer decides to make the purchase based on the quote). A purchase order is an official document and details what the customer plans to buy from the vendor.
Following the customer’s intent to buy, a sales order comes into play. A sales order will accept conditions laid out in the purchase order and reflect other details about the transaction. A sales order will contain items like delivery information, timelines, and payment method. It also includes prices and quantities.
To sum up the whole process, an invoice is sent. Invoices reflect information confirmed in the sales order, but focus more on collecting payment from the buyer.
For starters, sales orders are the only piece mentioned above that reflect the interests of both parties involved. A quote is controlled by the seller. A purchase order is controlled by the buyer. The invoice is for the seller’s benefit (gotta get that cash!).
A sales order, however, represents what both the buyer and seller need from a purchase; it reflects both sides of a sale.
Does the sales order accurately line up with the purchase order? Does the seller have the inventory needed to ship immediately? A sales order keeps both parties in the loop and ensures a successful transaction.
Sales orders can give you some extra beneficial data for reference down the road. No one wants to be audited– but it’s just a part of being a business owner. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a few extra bits of information for peace of mind and an easier process? Wouldn’t it be convenient to have a better trail with less likelihood of getting lost combing through years of sales? Sales orders give you more precise documentation that can really help with compliance and save you major hassles.
Back to the less scary stuff: this extra data can even help your business grow and succeed! Yes, you read that right, a simple sales order is better for your business!
Sales orders can help you better track inventory and make helpful projections about future needs.
For instance, if you have a frequent customer that keeps making multiple purchases within a short time frame, you can use sales order data to optimize and properly manage your inventory process. Know when to order items and know when to hold them for customers. Not to mention, you can create multiple sales orders for this customer and only send out one invoice! Save yourself some time and effort, while continuing to collect useful information.
Aw, did that sentiment give you the warm fuzzies? Well, we aren’t lying: you have the support you need to run a successful business! So if you are overwhelmed about dealing with this sales order stuff alone, have no fear- Zoho Books is here!
No, but seriously, Zoho Books can truly guide you through a potentially confusing process. Not sure how to even create a sales order? Zoho has templates. Have multiple brands that are getting hard to juggle? Zoho Books can juggle them for you! You can personalize your sales order and create a separate style for each of your brands.
Zoho Books also makes it super simple to convert a quote into sales order all in one place. Then once it’s time to collect payment, easily convert it to an invoice! All it takes is one click from a drop down menu.
Only have the inventory for part of the order? Zoho Books can help you send a partial invoice so you can go ahead and send the stock you have! Make the customer feel appreciated and build a trusting relationship by not making them wait forever for their order!
Zoho Books even lets you switch sales orders to purchase orders so you can buy that inventory you’re missing! And like with all things Zoho, you get valuable insights and information as you go. Plus, you can easily communicate anything you want to your sales teams and coworkers.
Now that you understand why sales orders are important, we hope you feel better about incorporating them into your business! Make that sale and keep those customers coming back by continually improving your sales processes!
Zoho Books is a great way to manage this crucial aspect of your business, and we can’t wait to hear how some simple changes will benefit your biz!
Want to find out how we can help you? Book a FREE consultation!
Annnd we are back with yet another great episode of Zoho Books: Accounting Software Extraordinaire! Boy is this a series we could easily binge-watch… Ok, maybe Zoho Books and chill doesn’t seem all that appealing- we get that. Something that does seem appealing? Another great Zoho Books integration that makes the tax side of your small business seem like less of an obstacle: Avalara!
With this handy integration, Zoho Books not only has your accounting under control, but you’ll be able to rest easy knowing you are sales tax-compliant!
Growing your business takes a lot of time and energy; why not focus on what’s important while Zoho Books and Avalara take care of the nitty gritty money details? Makes perfect “cents” to us! (Don’t worry, that’s it for the puns for today.)
If the accounting world had high school superlatives, Zoho Books and Avalara would 100% win the cutest couple title. Now you may think that’s a bit extreme, but hear us out!
First of all, Zoho books allows you to automate all your business’ accounting needs for a very fair rate. Invoices, reports, inventory-tracking– Zoho Books has a feature that covers just about anything you can think of.
However, one thing we are missing from this accounting equation: the expansive and mysterious world of sales and use taxes. (Does reading the word ‘taxes’ make you cringe? Because it sure did make us cringe as we wrote that.)
That’s where Avalara fits in perfectly: they offer cloud-based software that can help just about any size business remain tax-compliant. Whether small, midsize, or enterprise– your business doesn’t have to continually battle the confusion and overwhelm that taxes can cause. Struggling with keeping track of all the new regulations? Confused about the categories your business falls under? Avalara is built for businesses with questions just like these!
Sick of manually entering everything and doing the math yourself? Does it make you nervous to count on free applications and websites to take care of such an important task? Avalara is a great way to automate your sales tax situation while you focus on everything else that’s important!
Plus, Avalara can truly be a ‘set it and forget it’ scenario, because they will add updates and automatically keep everything compliant no matter the random changes.
Do resources on taxes often create more questions, rather than answering the ones you came there for? Don’t worry, it happens to us all the time. (It may have even happened to us as we wrote this very blog post…)
So, we’ve accumulated a list of things that we wanted more clarity on, and that Avalara just so happens to take care of for you:
Did you know you have to register your business before collecting sales tax? Any state where you make sales, you have to register your business with that state. If it sounds like a hassle (and too much paperwork), that’s where Avalara steps in and not only simplifies the process, but makes sure you have registered in all the right states.
Does your state offer tax exemption holidays? Do you know who qualifies as exempt? Does your product/service qualify for exemption? If you’re like us and don’t have time to worry about details like this, Avalara knows all the answers to these questions and more.
Like we mentioned before, you won’t have to worry about any new laws or changes with Avalara around. They do all the research for you!
Location is important when it comes to sales and use taxes. Do you understand your jurisdiction? Are you charging the right amount of taxes for your jurisdiction? Turns out your jurisdiction is way more than a zip code! Avalara can determine all of this for you (or confirm you have been doing it correctly).
If you conduct a certain type or amount of business in a given state, you have possibly created a nexus in that state. This means you must collect sales taxes and pay them what you collect. Even better, every state has different rules (yes, we’re serious). Sounds like we’ll let Avalara handle that potential nexus chaos!
Does your business involve more than just straightforward retail? Are you unsure of how to proceed with sales taxes? Are you unsure if you even need to collect sales taxes? With things like short-term rentals, you may be missing some tax items, whereas you don’t have to worry about it under a marketplace facilitator like Etsy. Avalara will look at all these factors and determine what you need to consider!
If you run sales through your site and use an ecommerce solution like Shopify or Squarespace, you have to collect your own sales tax. Thankfully Avalara can seamlessly integrate with your ecommerce platform and make that way easier!
Avalara is just one giant confidence boost for business owners, and that’s something we can get behind! Put your mind at ease and walk away feeling:
Honestly, we keep thinking of more and more great things about the Zoho Books and Avalara duo, but we want to keep this short and sweet. Head on over and check out what options are a great fit for you and your business!
Emails are so fun! They are the highlight of my day! (Said no one ever).
How do I start this email? How do I sign this off? Is this too formal? Did I use too many exclamation points? Did I put in the correct address? HOW DO I LEAVE THIS EMAIL CHAIN?
Emails get a bad reputation because they are associated with work and that’s just no fun! However, they have become a communication staple and most organizations can’t conduct business without them.
What’s our point? Maybe it’s time to stop hating email! Since it’s pretty much inevitable, maybe it’s time to embrace the things that make email a little easier (and possibly more enjoyable)!
That’s where our lovely friends at Zoho come in with another awesome product: Zoho Mail!
Let’s talk about a few ways Zoho Mail can make emails a little less nightmare-ish for you and your business!
If it’s not customizable, it’s more than likely not going to be Woggle-approved. Lucky for you, Zoho Mail has passed our rigorous tests and is more than capable of becoming an all-star email solution for your business!
Zoho Mail allows you to easily manipulate basic items like password policies and spam filters. Set conditions and create guidelines that are optimal for your business; You can even create groups with specific group moderators and assign roles all from one convenient control panel.
One of our favorite Zoho Mail features? Custom domains! Ever get tired of the same old domain options? Have no fear– you can create your own domain using your company name! For example, we could claim wizards@woggleconsulting.com as our very own! (Maybe we should seriously consider this…)
But in all seriousness, you can use a custom domain and create an email for different departments or individuals. You can also create multiple email aliases. As an added bonus, there’s no limit to the number of custom domain email addresses if you choose a paid plan!
Streams is another great aspect of Zoho Mail that keeps things running smoothly. Communicate with the team on a shared wall, start a group chat, or even collaborate within an email. Yes, you read that right– Streams allows you to consult people about a draft before you even hit send!
Instead of a lengthy, confusing, and time-consuming email thread, Streams allows everyone to easily tag each other and collaborate in a more “social media-esque” way.
Data privacy and security– that’s what we like to see! With the topic of email, data is an especially important topic that no business should ignore!
Are they selling my data? Who can access my data? Where is data security on their priority list?
Thankfully Zoho takes this very seriously and offers an abundance of features that make your email super safe. Zoho is GDPR compliant, ensures emails are encrypted, and even includes unusual activity reports among their lengthy list of features.
You can also enjoy an ad-free mailbox (yes, ad-FREE) and rest assured that they aren’t using your data to tailor ad campaigns.
Zoho makes sure none of their own employees can access your data/emails unless there’s a very specific reason or help request! You can even set your own password policy and have all users reset passwords as consistently and often as you please.
Like other “suites” out there, Zoho Mail offers a handy Calendar feature along with Tasks and Notes.
Take a peek at their website for more details, but there are five incredibly convenient ways to create tasks, including directly pulling info from within an email. You also have the option to create subtasks, along with notifications and email reminders.
Worried about transitioning to an entirely new email service? Zoho Mail has you covered with their migration tools: move over your emails from any provider with Zoho’s migration wizard! (We’ve talked a lot about wizards in this blog post…)
Use the mobile apps or access everything on your desktop– whatever is most convenient. Zoho Cliq is another great option that will sync all your Zoho information on all your devices!
Have multiple tasks created within Zoho Mail along with tasks from other products? You can easily see all your Zoho tasks all on one convenient screen! Access your control panel wherever, whenever and with offline mode, you can work in Zoho Mail even when Wi-Fi’s not the most dependable.
We could talk about the wonders of emails for days..
Okay, that’s actually not true– but we could easily talk about the wonders of Zoho Mail for days! Like any other great Zoho product, Zoho Mail has tons of great features at a great price point. (And if your business has 5 or less employees, you can actually use Zoho Mail for free!)
Reasonably priced, accessible, and tons of awesome integration options– Zoho Mail may just be the perfect email solution for your business!
Want to find out how we can help you? Let’s chat.
You didn’t quit your 9-5 to start a business that is “just fine”. Let’s face it, you started up a business to serve a mission. To follow your passions, to make an impact, to set impressive goals and attain those goals.
There’s a bit of fantasy behind every entrepreneurial venture, and the last thing we want to think about are the challenges and hard work between us and that dream.
But what if we took a different look at the process? The pathway to success? What if instead of getting discouraged because we aren't seeing instant success or profit, we reanalyze the factors that got us here?
The Aggregation of Marginal Gains concept is not only a great concept to apply to our business mindsets, but also a great addition to our personal mindsets. It emphasizes the journey more than the end result.
Time to take a deeper dive into this inspiring notion!
This may come as a surprise, but the Aggregation of Marginal Gains concept did not come from an entrepreneur, inventor, or economist. It did not come from an author or a professor. Nope– it came from a man named Dave Brailsford, the Performance Director/Cycling Coach for British cycling!
After years of discouraging losses, David Brailsford stepped up for the British cycling team and started to dissect all the elements that may affect performance. Diets, bed pillows, van cleanliness– you name it, he analyzed it!
Brailsford then improved every one of these elements by 1%. His theory was that every small change can compound into long-term improvements and that incremental change would slowly lead to significant outcomes.
Even though this may seem a bit meticulous, his theory proved valid: The team went on to win 7 Tours de France within 8 years and won 16 Olympic gold medals. (Pretty noteworthy results if you ask us!)
Basically, the Aggregation of Marginal Gains means it pays to focus on the smaller picture versus the big picture/end goal. Sometimes we can get distracted by the big picture and multiple ideas. Not only can this mentality be overwhelming, but it can be a huge time-waster.
It makes sense to implement small, gradual changes instead of huge, quick changes. Continuous process improvement will pay off in the long run! This mindset is a lot more likely to keep you on track and headed toward an important achievement.
We have now seen this concept in a cycling example, but what about an example that pertains to more people? Don’t worry– there are a lot of ways marginal gains can be incorporated in your life, both personally and professionally!
Physical exercise is a great application of this concept, since a few minutes a day over a long period of time can bring great results. Another application is journaling daily to improve mindfulness or listening to an educational podcast a few times a week. In terms of your business, you could try to automate an additional process each month or slowly change the structure of sales conversations or marketing approaches. The options are endless!
In our research on this topic, there seemed to be a few additional points that deserve mentioning. After all, no concept can be blindly applied to absolutely every situation!
Be practical- The idea behind the Aggregation of Marginal Gains is the buildup of change over time. But guess what? If you run into obstacles or lose motivation, it can destroy any progress and delay the ultimate goal.
It’s important to be able to stick with elements that you change or adapt. If you commit to running 5 miles a day when you don’t currently run, you are likely to lose momentum early on. If you set a more realistic goal, like running/walking for 30 minutes every other day, you are much more likely to see success.
Consider marginal losses- Although this may sound negative, it really doesn’t have to be. Incorporating marginal losses means gradually cutting out habits that detract from your goals. For instance, eat out less or eliminate one unnecessary business expense each week. By losing one habit, you can gain momentum in a positive direction!
Define your focus- The Brailsford story makes it seem like you have to slowly improve everything, but that’s not exactly the case. If you try to focus on everything, it may end up being counterproductive! It’s totally okay to define factors that have a heavier impact and concentrate your focus on those things.
Sure, the initial focus may have been on those gold medals, but what else can the Aggregation of Marginal Gains concept bring us (and our businesses)?
You may see a better team dynamic. Sometimes troubleshooting and working together on continuous improvements can be motivating for a team!
You may see less of a focus on an end goal and more of a focus on the process. Attention may shift towards the impact of individual changes and valuable lessons learned along the way.
You may discover a new definition of success. Rather than instant gratification or quick results, you achieved something that took long-term motivation and refining details/skill sets.
Small changes, major impacts! The Aggregation of Marginal Gains concept may initially serve a direct purpose, but it can also indirectly affect a myriad of other things. Where do you see this concept fitting into your life and business?
Contact us for a consultation!
