Ever felt overwhelmed with the seemingly insurmountable tasks required for running a service business? There are customers to attend to, staff to manage, appointments to schedule, forms to prepare, payments to process, and so much more. It’s almost like a circus act, managing all these elements smoothly.
That’s where powerful software steps in, taking the reins to provide your business with the balance and order it needs.
Here’s a checklist to find the right small business management software with the perfect blend of functionalities that will not only organize your business but really grow it.
Before you dive in, think about what your business needs to succeed. There are tons of features out there to help you maintain customer relationships and run your business behind-the-scenes. Understanding the basics of available tools will help you decide what kind of management software is best for your small business.
But don’t get overwhelmed! This checklist is available to make the decision process easier.
1. Easy Online Booking
Online booking is a given, we know. What isn’t a given is the quality of customer experience when they book an appointment with your business.
Here are some aspects to consider when looking for this essential tool in small business management software:
- Reduced errors: A smarter interface reduces the chances of double-booking or missed appointments. Your calendar should know what’s available when and for whom. (Especially important for medspas, where customers shouldn’t ever have to worry about missing appointments!)
- Efficient scheduling: A clear view of available slots streamlines the booking process.
- Customizable options: You should be able to change up anything about your appointment availability and discounted days, create buffers around appointments for clean-up, and more. This feature is particularly beneficial for businesses like event planners, tattoo shops, and personal trainers, where appointment types and durations can vary greatly.
- Online management: Easy rescheduling and cancellation options save time for both clients and businesses.
Be careful!
You want to find an app that keeps your customers with you.
Some companies (like Vagaro) force customers onto their websites to book appointments at your business, even if the customer has gone directly to your website.
This means that the customer has the potential to find their way to other businesses that may be closer to them, in a different price range, open on days you aren’t, and more.
2. The Magic of Automation
Automation, without a doubt, is akin to having multiple hands at work simultaneously.
It doesn’t just help you manage your business effectively but also lets you focus on improving service quality and driving growth. But how does it do that?
With robust management software, small businesses can set up automatic texts to send things like:
- Appointment Reminders
- Rebook Reminders
- Form Entries
- Payment and Deposit Reminders
- Customer Experience Surveys
This can significantly reduce the instances of missed appointments, saving your business from potential losses in money and time.
Automatic text and e-mail alerts could range from a simple heads-up a day before the appointment to a series of timely reminders notifying the customer to fill out forms and prepare for the appointment. At Chilled Butter, we call these Smart Tasks because they make admin tasks so much smarter.
The Impact of Automatic Notifications on Your Business
Your customers are busy juggling various aspects of their lives, and appointments with your business can get lost in the mix. An automated system that sends notifications about upcoming appointments helps them stay organized.
For your business, these reminders reduce no-show rates and last-minute cancellations. No-shows can significantly impact your revenue and disrupt the flow of your operations. They can also cause logistical challenges as resources allocated for the missed appointment go to waste. Thus, these automatic reminders are a vital element of resource management and enhancing efficiency within your business.
Automatic reminder notifications are a win for both parties.
3. Smart Calendars: Beyond Basic Scheduling
Imagine an assistant that combines your multiple calendars, remembers everything for you (even those minute details), and helps you stay impeccably organized.
Smart calendars bring a bunch of powerful capabilities to the table. They operate beyond the cramped bounds of basic scheduling.
The calendar in your small business management software should be capable of doing that and more.
With a smart calendar, you get an intuitive and automated work system that allows you to track your schedule in one glimpse. But it’s not just about tracking appointments. It’s about having more control over your time and consequently, more control over your business’ success.
4. Staff Management Software Made for Small Businesses
Ask any manager, and they’ll tell you, that staff management can feel like a Herculean task. But your management software should feel like an extra set of hands.
Efficient Staff Schedule Coordination
Managing staff schedules should be an easy process with the help of your small business management software.
Your staff should be able to:
- Handle their own availability
- Sync their personal calendar to block personal times (pssst: keep reading to learn more about integrations!)
- Sync a single account on the software with multiple locations if necessary
Stay in Control
Retaining control over customer details and appointment history is essential for growing your business. Your small business management software should empower you to own and maintain strong relationships with your customers.
Whether you’re managing appointments for multiple professionals or working independently, your software should ensure that customer relationships remain intact, regardless of changes in circumstances.
Personalized Staff Management Solutions
In today’s service-oriented industry, personalization is key. Your small business’s software should offer flexible solutions to accommodate the unique needs of each staff member.
It should provide customizable settings to align with your business goals like:
- Setting appointment buffers
- Adjusting availability
- Adjusting service durations
Ensure that every aspect of staff management is tailored to meet the specific requirements of your team, making scheduling efficient and straightforward.
5. At-a-Glance Reporting
When it comes to monitoring the performance of your small business in real-time, visual reporting is an invaluable feature you shouldn’t have to pay for another service to get.
The Importance of Visuals
Consider this scenario: It’s a typical Wednesday morning, and you’re scanning your business dashboard over a hot cup of coffee.
With a quick look at the clear graphs and charts, you can see exactly how many bookings you’ve had, any cancellations, expected earnings for the week, and the ratio of new to returning customers. Now, you have a clear idea of what your business needs so you can keep half a mind on new marketing ideas and more throughout the day.
Patterns and trends should be clearly highlighted, giving you insights to anticipate needs and act accordingly. All before you’ve finished your coffee. That is the power of at-a-glance reporting.
Financial Reporting for Easier Management
A small business management software should empower you to efficiently manage your finances, providing tools to track current balances and revenue streams. Offering a user-friendly interface simplifies the process of navigating and comprehending your financial landscape, ensuring you remain in control of your small business’s fiscal health and success trajectory.
Staff Utilization and More
You need an oversight of key business elements, including staff utilization metrics. By providing valuable insights into your operations, your small business management software should empower you to make informed decisions that optimize efficiency and drive performance.
In essence, at-a-glance reporting isn’t just a feature; it’s a cornerstone of effective business management and expansion.
6. Customizable Payments
Ensure your small business management software offers a seamless payment experience for your customers with user-friendly payment solutions.
Flexible Payment Methods
Whatever management software you choose for your small business should provide a variety of payment methods to accommodate your customers’ preferences, including but not limited to:
- Credit/debit cards
- Gift cards
- Venmo
- PayPal
- Apple Pay
- Zelle
- Cash
Integrating with multiple payment options ensures a hassle-free transaction experience for both you and your customers.
Deposits and Payments: Easy and Secure
Prioritize simplicity and security by selecting software that allows for effortless collection of deposits before services and payments afterward, regardless of the preferred payment method.
Enhance transparency and simplicity in your transactions to provide peace of mind for both you and your customers.
Convenient Phone Payments
Empower your customers to make payments conveniently from their phones with just a click of a button.
You need to be able to send payment request links via text or email, allowing customers to settle pre-service payments, post-appointment payments, and tips effortlessly through your small business management software.
7. Small Business Management Software Can Grow Your Reputation
The internet is a salon-eat-salon world, and all service-based businesses like tattoo shops, medspas, and more need customers to leave positive reviews to survive.
A robust management software should actively contribute to the growth and reputation of your small business by seeking input from customers. Then, you can begin leveraging their feedback to enhance services continually and automatically.
This feature is especially important for service businesses where customer satisfaction creates more business.
Easily Seek Feedback
Showcase your dedication to customer input by prompting them to give valuable feedback but do it hands-free.
Remember how we talked about the magic of automations? Feedback requests can be done automatically through your small business management software. You don’t need to ask every customer at the desk or remember to text them throughout the day.
With features like those offered by Chilled Butter, you can proactively engage with customers, addressing concerns promptly and leveraging positive feedback to showcase your business’s strengths. Get in contact with us to learn more.
Amplify Positive Reviews
Customer feedback is invaluable for shaping your business’s reputation online, and a positive reputation is how you get customers in the door.
The management software you choose for your small business should facilitate the collection of reviews and testimonials from satisfied customers, allowing you to showcase the strengths of your services. By encouraging customers to share their experiences and automatically sending post-appointment emails you can amplify positive reviews, extend your reach, and enhance your online standing.
Handle Negative Reviews with Ease
It happens. Every business gets a bad review now and then. But how you handle it is crucial, not only for the image of your small business but for the impact of that review on your online reputation.
Choose software that allows you to handle the bad ones before they go rogue! This looks like replying through your email before they’ve had a chance to post their opinion so you have time to save the day.
With a built-in plan for handling these situations, you mitigate the disheartening reaction of unhappy customers to your rating.
8. Simplified Forms and Waivers
Ensure your small business management software offers form capabilities to simplify the whole document process.
Build Forms Tailored to Your Needs
Easily generate fillable documents that cover all your bases. Customize each form to your liking by incorporating your logo and brand colors. Choose from various options like multiple-choice questions, written answers, and digital signatures to personalize the form-building experience.
With intuitive tools built into the software, producing attractive and effective intake forms, permission requests, and more becomes a breeze.
Consolidate Paperwork
Centralize your document management by building and hosting your forms within your small business management software.
Keep everything under one roof to enhance efficiency, reduce costs, and simplify your document management.
9. Stay Integrated with Everything
Integrating your software with other platforms makes everything smoother.
Start with understanding your business’s needs and the tools you already use, such as Quickbooks or Mailchimp.
You’ll be shocked how much easier everything is when you have all your pieces working together.
Examples:
- When a new customer books an appointment online, their information can be automatically entered into your marketing system.
- Customer just checked in? Send a slack message to the right staff member to let them know.
- When an appointment is closed, have it automatically logged into your accounting tool.
The options are endless!
10. Inventory
Whatever you sell, keep it organized.
Look for a tool that makes entering new inventory as simple as a couple of clicks. Plus, when a customer buys something at checkout, you should be able to add it right to their appointment.
Prevent mix-ups, inventory loss, and more with an intuitive process for checking out customers.
11. Get Software that Can Grow With You (Without Up-Charging!)
Scalability is important. If you’ve reached a point in your business where growth is not something you’re striving for anymore, then congratulations! In this case, we encourage you to find small business management software that won’t try to nickel-and-dime you to squeeze every last drop.
You’ll need a tool that has a clear pricing model and no extra fees for things like:
- Text messages
- Onboarding
- Those magical automations
- Forms
- And more
If you’re aiming to grow your business, look for software that remains accessible as you expand. Check the pricing structure and features to ensure they align with your goals. For instance, some tools may charge additional fees whenever you add a new team member.
Can it Handle Multiple Locations? Multiple Organizations?
Keep in mind that growth has many forms, you may want to expand your business to new parts of town (maybe even the world!)
Here are some things to consider:
- Can the tool you’ve chosen keep up with multiple locations?
- Is it simple to switch between your locations on the calendar or do you need separate accounts?
- Do you need a separate account if you own two different types of businesses?
Management software for your small business should make handling all of your business locations simple. Ensure it has an intuitive user experience and won’t charge extra!
Whether your small business has one person or ten, it’s important to assess your needs. Many software options increase in cost or limit features until you reach a specific size or usage level.
Consider Chilled Butter
If you’re looking for small business management software that does everything listed and more, with zero hidden fees, no upcharges for anything, and a what-you-see-is-what-you-get policy, you’ve found us.
Chilled Butter is a powerful app that has every feature you need to run your business effectively and smoothly. It’s easy to use, everything you see can be read and understood at a glance, and it comes with a personalized 1-on-1 concierge setup service (yes, with a real person). Plus, easy-to-reach customer support!
Everything from online booking to staff management and beyond is made simple with Chilled Butter. Let our extended features simplify your days and actually grow your business, not just organize it.
Schedule a demo to see how your business can run better with Chilled Butter. If you’re ready, check out our accessible pricing.
