Dear reader,
When you are in business, or want to start your business, it is very important to choose your tools wisely. When you are selling products and possibly also supporting these products, you need proper tools to do the best business with. These tools would be inventory and sales tools.
Typically, people go out and buy this software from a store. They get their advice from a teenager working in that same store. I can assure you, this is a mistake. Why? Does the store sell crap? In short, yes. It is unfortunate but true. That store is specialized in selling you a computer, possibly with extras, but these stores don’t hire software specialists - because that isn’t their target.
So how do you choose what tools you need and where do you get them?
This is where I can give you some advice. We are in the era of being online. So what do we look for? Well, remember that using the internet to be free of where you conduct your business, it would be very handy to have online software, enabling you to do and track your business from anywhere on the planet with only an internet connection?
The answer to this question should not be a surprise. I have discovered a set of online tools that can take away a lot of work from you. Zoho is a webcompany that offers a whole range of tools, from a wordprocessor and a spreadsheet program to a full blown crm application and a business suite. All the different programs will work together, and all programs are either completely free, or free to a certain level of usage.
About 6 months ago I started using their invoicing application, and I was convinced quickly. Not only can anything be added or adjusted on the fly and from any screen you find yourself in, it allows payments over paypal (tracks them and administrates them for you), the fabulous program is able to make use of recurring profiles for customers that pay fixed price per month for you services, sending out your invoices electronically and fully automated if you want to.
Name your invoicing requirements and you’ll find them in the application. Very recently I started using Zoho’s CRM application, and boy is this program powerful. Zoho CRM is free from one to three accounts, integrates with Zoho Invoice and other business tools using the API key. That way, you can create invoices using the invoicing application, based on items from Zoho CRM. The CRM suite is complete, meaning that all professional options you’d expect from a serious CRM application are there and work.
Even if your business is selling cellphones, or you are working as a freelance consultant, this tool will help you in many ways. I can recommend it to anyone who owns a business.
The programs can be found here: Zoho.com.
*Disclaimer: I am authorized reseller of Zoho products. I can help you with all your questions regarding Zoho products. If you decide to start using Zoho CRM or Zoho Invoice, please let me know!
To your success,
(c)2008 by Servaas Schrama
Subscribe to my Free newsletter and start your own business.
Click here to get your FREE copy of “Dotcomology - The Science of Making Money Online” TODAY!
October 20th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
small business invoicing software…
I found your post comments while searching Google. Very relevant especially as this is not an issue which a lot of peaople are conversant with….