Below is a list of essential apps and concepts that are required to ensure your business can survive and thrive:

• Business Name: make sure it is relevant and sends the right message about your values and brand.
   
  
• Business Plan/Model: This may also seem obvious, but I have conversed with many prospects that have registered a business name but are still unsure about their plan and model for generating sales.
   
  
• Scheduling- Calendly App: whether you offer a service or products to your consumers, this app Calendly allows you to easily organise meetings with them.
   
  If you hold virtual sales calls, you can include your zoom/teams meeting link in the Calendly confirmation messages to your customers.
   
  On the other hand, if you hold in person meetings, you can simply use Calendly alone to schedule a meeting and have the invite sent you their inbox.
   
  Calendly also offers a free plan, which is perfect for the beginning of your journey.
   
  
• Video - Loom App: for creating videos of follow up/how to’s/walk throughs/presentations.
   
  Video messages is a powerful differentiator to set yourself apart from your competitors when taking your prospect through your sales journey.
   
  Looms free plan gives you a maximum of 25 videos to use at a time.
   
  For new clients, you can use video messages at any stage of your prospecting, from cold message reach out, to follow ups.
   
  For developing existing customers, you could use video messaging to record an executive summary of your customer report, a head of your monthly meeting with them.
   
  You are also able to track when your videos are watched and by whom. Which gives you a great insight into the level of engagement with them.
   
  
• Zoom App: needs no introduction. It’s awesome.

• Online presence aka Website: (why not partner with us?)
  it assumed in this day and age that if you have a business, you should have an online presence also. It gives you control of your branding, online revenue generation and allows you to showcase your business globally. It also adds an additional layer of credibility. Adding success stories/testimonials and case studies, can also help your customers along their buying journey with you.
   
  Buyer’s expectations are changing, such that buyers have made 75% of their purchase decision before engaging with a salesperson. A website does the heavy lifting with this.
  If your website has enough information about your business, a buyer can self-qualify themselves through researching your website. This means when they come to a discussion with your sales team, they are better informed to make a purchase decision.
   
  A website is not a substitute for a social media presence. Neither is social media a substitute for a website. A website gives you control of your values, branding and allows you to maximise your sales journey. Social media presence should be used in conjunction with your website. Social content can be used to feed in traffic to your online presence. You can also use social media as an extension of customer testimonials and success stories. Finally, you can use social media to establish your subject matter expertise in your industry by posting relevant and useful subject matter knowledge.
   
  
• Ecommerce store: (if selling products)
   
  If you sell products, regardless of B2B or B2C, you should offer an online purchase option for your website.
   
  B2B buyers now expect there buying journey to mimic that of amazon. They want to buy from their suppliers in the same way they order their groceries online or their personal products from amazon.
   
  Why not contact us to see how you can get your products sold online?
   
  
• Social Media presence:
  
  Social Media Platforms have different nuances. Knowing these can help you in choosing which ones to leverage the most.
   
  LinkedIn: B2B Sales, Professionals
  Facebook: B2C, building communities (Facebook Groups)
  Instagram: Customer stories, B2C, positive experiences
  Whatsapp: customer service messages
  TikTok: B2C, younger demographic
  Youtube: advertising videos, long form videos, B2B and B2C, brand awareness
  Rumble: (youtube alternative)
  SnapChat: experiences, brand awareness
  Discord: building communities, groups
  Reddit: building communities, brand awareness, advice
  
  Is there a platform I missed? Let me know in the comments.
   
  
• Accounting software: there are plenty of accounting options for new businesses.
  
  The first is contracting a professional accountant.
   
  The other options are software such as quickbooks, sage, SAP and xero are just a few that can assist with the heavy lifting of account reconciliation, tax lodgements and generating invoices.

• Prospecting tools: for those who are in the United Kingdom, one of the best prospecting resources is Companies House and google maps.
   
  Companies House (for those in the UK) allows users to search companies by postcode and by date of incorporation. You can also drill down into single companies, view their reports, directors, and persons with significant control. You can also search by directors and view all the companies they are involved in. This a powerful tool.
   
  Also, there are other software apps that offer subscriptions for further contact details: LinkedIn Sales Navigator, ZoomInfo, SimilarWeb, Lusha, Crunchbase and D&B Hoovers to name a few.
   
  Also never forget the Phone. Cold Calling is not dead and still very effective for outbound sales generation.
   
  
• E-Contract/Agreement generation: businesses are essentially a group of contracts and agreements between the business and their customers and suppliers. These agreements can be executed electronically using software such as DocuSign, Onespan, and PandaDoc. You will need to check your country and state to gauge if they are legally enforceable. But they are a powerful tool to reduce friction for your buyers along their purchasing journey.

Why not get in touch with us to discuss your business’s needs?