Marketing

As an entrepreneur, we oftentimes find ourselves wearing a lot of hats in our businesses. We are the ones sending invoices and contracts, answering emails, scheduling appointments – you name it, we do it. Without the right systems in place, this can lead to feelings of overwhelm. I know I was once in this position, and I needed to find a solution so that I can effectively run my business, while still setting boundaries that allowed me to have the work-life balance I went into business for in the first place. I’m happy to say this overwhelm was short-lived, because I found my solution – HoneyBook. HoneyBook is a business management tool designed for small businesses. HoneyBook allows you to organize all of your projects in one place and see them through from start to finish. You’re able to utilize templates to keep yourself from writing those emails and creating proposals in bed at midnight, and it gives your clients one place to access everything they need to work with you. I wanted to share how I got started with HoneyBook so you can get organized, get some time back and ultimately grow your business without working those crazy hours!

1. Organize your leads all in one place with HoneyBook

HoneyBook allows you to manage all of you new inquiries in one place, so you never lose track of any. I get inquiries from so many different places, and I was spending way too much time asking the same questions over and over, and looking back to find their info later. HoneyBook has three easy ways to automatically add new inquiries into the platform. First, I recommend adding the HoneyBook contact form to your website. You can customize the questions so you get all the information you need upfront, and new submissions are automatically added to HoneyBook for you. You can also add your direct link to your bio on social media! This allows you to share your form without any embedding necessary and is a great way to get the info you need from folks who slide into your DM’s. HoneyBook also has a Chrome Extension that allows you to easily add extensions that come in via your email. With this installed, you can automatically add new inquiries to HoneyBook without leaving your Gmail inbox. Once new inquiries have been added, the project pipeline within HoneyBook is your best friend! This dashboard gives you a snapshot of where all your projects currently stand – from first inquiry to project completion. I check in on this dashboard regularly so that I always know that status of each one of my projects.

2. Follow-up with your leads quickly

How do you like to follow up with your new inquiries today? Do you like to send an email to introduce yourself, or do you prefer to schedule a call? Do you like to send them a pricing document to review your services or do you prefer to ask them some questions and get more details? It’s super important to me that new inquiries get followed up with quickly, but I always want my replies to feel personal. That’s why having templates set up in HoneyBook comes in handy!  

• Send an email: The faster you respond, the more likely you are to book that client. What’s great is it’s super easy to add your personalized email templates into HoneyBook, so you don’t have to write the same intro over and over. This is a great way to make sure all new inquiries get the info they need quickly. You can learn more about creating email templates in HoneyBook here.
• Schedule a call: Having a discovery call with a new potential client is a great opportunity to build a relationship and establish if there’s a mutual fit. HoneyBook’s scheduling tool makes scheduling these calls so easy, and saves so much back and forth. All you have to do is pre-set your availability and pop in my custom meeting link to your email template. Potential clients can then select a time that works for them and get confirmation and reminders automatically.

• Send a questionnaire: Need to get some more details before moving forward? You can use questionnaire templates to make sure your clients answer all the important questions that you have for them, even before having a conversation with them. That way you can make sure they’re a good fit quickly.

• Send a brochure: Brochures are a wonderful way to present yourself and your services to potential clients. When a potential client receives a brochure, they’ll be able to select a package or list of services that they’re interested in. This allows you to showcase you services and makes it so easy for your potential clients to work with you!

Bonus (that will save you hours!): With all the things you have on your to-do list for every client and project, every bit of automation can help. HoneyBook automations have allowed me to automate the steps I want while still giving me complete control where I need it. Automations allow me to automate my first replies to inquiries, automatically send next steps when a client makes a payment, and send a questionnaire asking for feedback when a project is complete. Automating these steps in my process gives me so much peace of mind and has freed up an incredible amount of mental space so I can focus my time where it means the most.

3. Book your clients

So you’ve added your client into HoneyBook and you’ve followed up with them appropriately. You’ll probably find (as I did), that this speedy yet personalized and professional communication sets you apart from others, and it doesn’t stop there! When it’s time to book a client, this process is simplified for your using the HoneyBook proposal file. The proposal merges the two steps of sending a contract and sending an invoice by combining the contract and invoice into one file! I just insert my template, review the payment schedule and contract, make adjustments where needed, and send. When a client receives my proposal, they can review the services, sign their contract and submit their payment – all in one place! This has saved me so much time and makes booking so easy for my clients. It used to take me hours to put together a contract and invoice, but it only takes me a few minutes now that I use HoneyBook!