Episode 12: Systems Check! All About Software
What Is the Right Software for Your Business? Get ACROSS Your Tech Choices
While we love tech, not every software is going to be the right fit for your business, which is why you have to use discernment!
That’s where the ACROSS framework comes in. It’s designed specifically to help business owners assess software capabilities, align with priorities, and select the right tools for growth.
So, let’s get ACROSS the software boundaries and explore the depths of opportunity:
Automate —> to establish capacity
Customize —> to build loyalty
Revitalize —> to re-energize
Optimize —> to measure effectiveness
Strategize —> to build momentum
Supervise —> to create harmony and growth
These are the essential ingredients for choosing software that helps your business run creatively, successfully, and sustainably, all while building repeat business.
How Do We Get ACROSS?
Automate: Establish Capacity and Efficiency
Automation can transform your operations by improving efficiency, reducing errors, and creating strong first impressions for potential clients.
The key is finding the right combination of business management software and automation tools for your unique services.
Ask yourself:
Are you looking to streamline communication while providing the best client experience?
Do you want to automate scheduling and accept partial payments during booking?
What’s your unique promotional style?
How do new clients discover you?
These questions help you decide what to automate and what to keep human-centred, boosting efficiency for your team and clients, without losing the personality your clients love.
Customize: Build Loyalty Through Personalization
Time is your most valuable currency, so spend it intentionally. Customer relationship management (CRM) software is one of the best ways to nurture and grow your business relationships.
Ask yourself:
Are your software tools client-friendly (especially for booking and payment)?
How does the software help personalize each client’s experience?
Personalized service builds trust, and that’s what keeps clients coming back.
Revitalize: Re-Energize Your Systems
Think about your daily life and how technology simplifies it. Whether it’s using an air fryer instead of a stove or an Instant Pot instead of a crock pot, these tools save time and energy.
The same goes for your business software. Strategic tech choices can revitalize your workflow and give you back hours of your week.
Just like you upgrade appliances at home for efficiency, updating and optimizing your software helps you and your clients gain more valuable time and flexibility.
Optimize: Measure and Improve Effectiveness
Is a digital platform just as good as a hands-on approach? The answer often depends on your audience. Some clients prefer fully digital communication; others value personal, hands-on interactions.
By understanding your audience and optimizing your systems, you can balance automation with authentic connection.
Remember: the best first impressions often happen through real conversations, in person or over the phone. That personal touch helps you:
Build brand loyalty
Create a positive client experience
Establish trust and genuine relationships
Strategize: Build Momentum with Purpose
When evaluating your software, start by mapping your business flow. Identify your client touchpoints, service processes, and data needs.
Creating a flow chart of your client journey helps you:
Understand which steps to automate
Spot opportunities for innovation
Track key metrics that align with client satisfaction
Once you understand your flow, you can integrate systems, from payment processing software to accounting tools, that create a seamless experience for both clients and your team.
Supervise: Maintain Harmony and Growth
With your flow chart and systems in place, you can begin making informed decisions about the software you use and the subscriptions you maintain.
Ask yourself:
Are our subscriptions delivering value for money?
Are they increasing client volume or efficiency?
Are our systems compatible with one another?
Remember: time is your most valuable resource. Regularly reassess your software to make sure it’s supporting, not draining, your business growth.
Tech fatigue is real, but thoughtful supervision keeps your tools working for you, not against you.
Need Support Choosing the Right Software?
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by your tech stack or unsure where to start, we can help.
Book a 1-hour coaching call to get tailored advice on implementing the right tech in your business.
Or, book a 15-minute intro call to discover which Business Flow Formula package is the best fit for your needs.
Episode Transcript
00:00-2:18
Erika: Welcome to the Business Flow Formulative podcast. I'm your host, Erika Dowell, and today we're going to be talking about the systems that can grow with you in your business.
Today, we're going to be focusing a little bit more on the software side of things rather than just the process side of things. But the right software and systems in place can help you grow your business exponentially.
Erika: Many of you likely started your business because of a passion for helping others. I know I did, and I know so many of our guests have done this as well, but as your business has grown, I'm sure so have the administrative tasks, client management and scheduling complexities, and likely just team complexities.
This is where the right software becomes not just a convenience, not just some other subscription you have to pay, but a necessity. It's about building a sustainable and scalable business model without burning yourself out. If you think about it, without efficient systems, you're constantly putting out fires and reacting, instead of focusing on what you do best, which is likely working with your clients.
Erika: Good software should free up your time, reduce errors and enhance the client or team experience, and it will allow you to expand your reach without increasing your workload exponentially, at least. Let's break down some of the core areas that I see where software can make a significant impact.
Of course, to start with, is client management. At the heart of any business is a client base. Whether that's transactional customers or repeating clients or patients. Something that is robust that can help you manage those relationships is a non-negotiable. I know for me, I've tried so many different systems in my own business until I landed on the one that works perfect for me.
Erika: Many of my clients have tried different things as well. And then of course, you just have the tried and true software that's best for your industry. So client management is gonna store your client's contact information, track communication, history, or appointment history and of course manages your different service packages or appointment types that you offer, and it will also help you personalize those interactions over time.
02:19-04:53
Erika: Of course, the benefits of doing a software like this is improve client retention, vendor understanding of client needs, and streamlined communication. If we think back to talking about marketing or those kinds of things. You'll start to notice through your CRM or customer relationship management software that you might have a certain type of clientele that frequents you, so then you can start to improve your marketing and target that specific demographic.
Some examples of this that you could use in your business is Jane, Owl, Mindbody. Some businesses can use Acuity Scheduling. Of course, that depends on the type of notes or charting that is required. You would want something that is really secure. I definitely work with many clients that use Jane or Owl for their practice.
Erika: And then of course, on my beauty side of the industry, Mindbody or Acuity Scheduling is typically the software of choice. I know for me, I use Acuity Scheduling in my business, consulting, bookkeeping, marketing, and people ops business. From there, you might want to start looking into scheduling and booking.
Now, those softwares that I just mentioned, such as Jane or Owl, they have scheduling built into it. So allowing your clients to book their own appointments significantly is going to reduce that workload on yourself or on your team. Automating that just saves so much time.
Erika: Imagine a client calls you and says, are you available Monday at two? No. Tuesday at four, no. Wednesday at three. No, I guess you're just always busy. And then they don't book.
Let them book by themselves. I know as well, Millennials, Gen Z, we don't necessarily want to be calling and booking appointments.
The other benefit of having a scheduling software, it's going to reduce no-shows or setting up reminders to your clients or patients. And it's 24/7 booking. It's convenient for you, your team, and your clients. From there, we want to make sure that you're getting paid, of course. So automating that when they're booking or having a card on file is also important. Many different payment systems integrate into those booking softwares or CRMs, so just check and see what they're working with. Stripe Square, PayPal are often great options as well as Moneris or Helcim, which is a Canadian company.
4:54-07:14
Erika: When it comes to marketing and communication, I find that keeping it simple is best. We don't need to have every different scheduling software out there for scheduling our content. You can likely just use what is already built into the system.
So if you're using Meta to post on Instagram or Facebook, just use their software. It's free, it's included. When we're talking more about email lists or newsletters or those kinds of things, using something like MailChimp or ConvertKit will be the better option here. I also use Brevo, which is a B Corp and based in Canada.
Erika: Once you've actually had a look at the different softwares that you want to implement in your business, you're going to have a lot of options to choose from. I even just mentioned MailChimp, ConvertKit, Brevo. How do you decide which one is best for you? So the questions that I ask myself or my clients when they're implementing software is: scalability.
Will this software grow with your business? Can it handle more and more and more? Or is it somewhat limited, and you're just gonna have to upgrade in a year anyways.
Erika: What about integration? Does it play well with the other tools you use? What about with your accounting software? I know I didn't mention that, but that kind of goes without saying that a business should have accounting software.
If the tools that you use are able to integrate into that accounting software, it's going to help you, your accountant, or your bookkeeper get the finances into things. We also want to make sure that it's not duplicating efforts. So if you have someone who books an appointment with you and is allowing email marketing, they should be added onto some email marketing list automatically.
You shouldn't have to download something and import it into something else. That's a lot of work. You don't need to be doing that.
Erika: What about ease of use? I always ask myself, could I teach someone who has never used a computer to use this software? That's a little extreme. I'm pretty sure anyone that would be running a business has used a computer before, but we want ease of use. You didn't start your business to have the most complicated software in order to run it. It should be easy to use, easy to teach your team, and easy to teach your clients.
07:15-11:09
Erika: From there, it's also important to look at the cost of this. So yes, there's fitting it into your budget, but also think about the features and ways that it's going to save you time. If something's going to cost a hundred dollars a month, it needs to be bringing that value into your business and making it easier, not more complicated.
Finally, we have to touch on security and compliance, especially in the health and wellness business, as well as the beauty businesses. Making sure that the software that we use adheres to the privacy regulations in our province or countries is super important.
Erika: Now, most CRMs have great security, but we just want to double-check where are things stored. Is there two-factor authentication, so if someone does hack into it, they can't get much farther than just the password?
Once you've kind of looked at all of those things and you've chosen the software that you're gonna go with, let's say you're implementing Jane into your health and wellness business, you want to start small and not implement everything all at once.
Erika: You've likely chose Jane for your booking and CRM, but maybe you've chosen Brevo for your email marketing. We don't need to set up everything all at once. Let's set up your Jane. Maybe we'll start with two or three practitioners to start with and then onboard others from there.
Depending on how big your clinic or health and wellness business is, prioritize what needs done first. You are going to train your team on making sure everyone understands how to use the new system, making sure that everyone knows that booking is now going to go straight through Jane. And yes, they're able to book their client in, but everything should be going through that system to make sure there's no double bookings.
Erika: Make sure you check in with your team and your clients for their experience on the new software. This is especially easy to check in with your clients if you are also a practicing practitioner yourself. Ask them, How did you find the booking experience? Was it easy to find this time? And then act on any feedback that you get from there.
You also have to review and optimize from time to time. It's not just a set-it-and-forget-it solution; regularly review it, review its effectiveness, make adjustments based on feedback from your team and your clients.
Erika: So in conclusion, I think it's important to mention that software can be expensive and there are many, many options on the market right now, and it can completely burn through your budget.
That's why I say find a software that first and foremost, will do almost everything that you need it to. Using Jane, which also has a payment system in it, allows your clients to book and acts as a CRM. That's three things right then and there out of the way. So then, you likely just need to implement Brevo or MailChimp for email marketing if that's something that you're going to do.
Erika: Investing in the right software is an investment in your business's future as well as yourself. It allows you to automate, organize, and optimize so you can spend more time doing what you love, helping people live healthier, happier lives, as well as helping yourself live a healthier, happier life.
Don't let administrative burdens hold you back. Put the paper down and start automating. With software, embrace technology and watch as your business grows.
Erika: If you need any help implementing this kind of software into your business, reach out to us. Go to www.signalember.com and book a one-on-one coaching session with us, and we'll help you find the right software for your business.
11:09-11:16
Erika [Outro]: Are you ready to turn your chaos into calm? Subscribe and follow the Business Flow Formula. Let's create more profit, efficiency and flow together.