Thursday, March 15, 2018 | 2 a.m.
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Owning a small business can be a fraught enterprise. From managing day-to-day operations, optimizing profit margins and executing big-picture projects, many business owners find themselves stretched thin. As such, finding effective solutions to improve and streamline productivity is an essential concern.
Fortunately, there are many mobile apps that can help-all from the convenience of a smartphone. Here are a few important ones for small-business owners to know.
brainer
Online reviews present a complicated problem for business owners. Positive reviews can be instrumental in driving new business, while negative reviews can quickly sink growing companies-regardless of the authenticity of the reviewer. According to the Pew Research Center, 82 percent of U.S. adults read customer reviews online before buying something for the first time, but only 51 percent of those respondents generally agree that reviews offer an accurate picture.
As consumer awareness of fake and/or unverified reviews continues to grow, the brainer app can guarantee honest responses from real customers-while offering business owners a crucial tool to reclaim their power against damaging reviews.
The brainer app accomplishes this by communicating with customers in an honest and transparent way.
Following a purchase, brainer sends an automated text to customers asking if they were satisfied with the business. If so, it redirects the customers to their chosen review platform, where they can leave feedback. If not, the review is diverted back to the business, allowing owners to correct and improve the service.
Built for ease, efficiency and customer satisfaction, brainer does not spam customers and never solicits for reviews if the request was ignored. On the back end, it's highly customizable and allows business owners to promote and manage reviews across many different platforms including Yelp, Google, Facebook, Angie's List and more.
Available for: iOS and Android
Cost: Business packages start at $99/month, with a 7-day free trial.
Square
Square Point of Sale allows small businesses to process credit and debit card payments from any iPhone, iPad or Android device. Using a small card-reader that is plugged into the smartphone or tablet, it syncs to the app's payment platform and processes payments directly into the business account.
Square Point of Sale is a commonly used, budget-friendly solution for small businesses-and it's especially handy for businesses that don't have brick-and-mortar locations. However, Square also has many other offerings including Square Register-popular among brick-and-mortars-as a fully integrated, point-of-sale solution.
Beyond point-of-sale services, businesses can use Square to manage payroll, send invoices, facilitate online sales and book appointments. Some Square sellers may even be eligible for small-business loans from Square Capital.
Available for: iOS and Android
Cost: Scalable depending on the business and the services rendered. Square Point of Sale collects 2.75% from each in-person transaction.
Evernote
On any given day, small-business owners are pulled in many different directions and must take detailed notes to stay organized. While compiling those important notes, to-do lists, meetings, reminders and business ideas all in one place can be daunting, the Evernote app makes it much easier.
Evernote allows users to organize their notes, sync their data across multiple devices and search according to tag/keyword. You can also store additional clips from the web-including photos, audio, video and articles-and embed them into existing notes.
The basic version of the app is great for single users, but Evernote Business ups the ante by allowing team access and administrative features. This paves the way for productive communication, project collaboration among employees and ongoing, real-time updates to shared pages.
Available for: iOS and Android
Cost: Business package begins at $12 per month, per user.
TripIt
If you or your employees routinely travel for business, this app is a game-changer. It consolidates all your travel information-including hotels, flights, car rentals and even restaurant reservations-in one place and creates a "master itinerary" with the relevant information. You can sync your itinerary across devices and access it anytime, even when you're offline.
TripIt Pro and TripIt Teams, both popular among businesses, offer users an upgraded experience, including real-time travel updates, reward-point tracking and travel benefits.
TripIt Teams is especially handy when planning group travel, as it streamlines and shares itineraries between travelers and creates a central-travel dashboard for administrative control.
Available for: iOS and Android
Cost: Pro version costs $49/year. Team version begins at $29/month.
Other important apps to know:
• Quickbooks
• Dropbox
• Slack
• MailChimp
