5 jobs a small business can automate (and roughly what it saves)
Most small businesses lose a few hours every week to jobs that follow the same steps every time. If a task is repetitive and rule-based, a small piece of software can usually do it for you, quietly, every day. Here are five common ones.
1. Order and enquiry emails
Copying new orders or form enquiries into a spreadsheet, then emailing a confirmation, is a classic. An automation can do both the moment the order arrives, and ping you on your phone.
2. Invoice reminders
Chasing late payments is awkward and easy to forget. A simple tool can send a polite reminder the day after an invoice is due and a firmer one a week later, then tell you who still hasn’t paid.
3. The weekly report
If you build the same sales, stock or bookings summary every Monday, it can be generated and emailed to you automatically from the data you already have.
4. Booking confirmations and reminders
Automatic confirmations and a reminder the day before cut no-shows and save a lot of back-and-forth, especially in the busy season.
5. Asking for reviews
Happy customers rarely leave reviews unless they’re asked. A message a day or two after the job, with a direct link, makes it effortless for them, and reviews help you show up on Google.
How to spot more
- You do it at least weekly.
- It follows the same steps each time.
- It involves copying information from one place to another.
- Getting it wrong, or forgetting it, costs you money or customers.
If something ticks most of those boxes, it’s probably worth automating. My automation tools start from £40, and a tool that saves even an hour a week usually pays for itself quickly. Tell me what’s eating your time and I’ll tell you honestly whether it’s worth building.