Maintaining productivity can be one of the more trying aspects of running a business and an efficient sales team, but it’s also one of the most important. Productivity is integral to your quotas and your bottom line, meaning that anything that can help you boost productivity as you grow your business should be seriously considered. Here are seven tools that can help you maintain productivity.
If you’re not using Google apps yet to help grow your business, it’s time to get on board. Google has numerous different tools that can increase productivity, but if you’re looking for a good place to start, try Google Drive. It allows you to create, upload, store, and share documents easily among employees, with folders that people can contribute to and share their work.
IFTTT, an acronym for If This Then That, is a tool that helps you synthesize your social media. Keeping track of where you’ve posted content and making sure that posts are properly updated on the necessary platforms is a time-consuming process. IFTTT allows you to sync various media platforms so that content and information is easily and effectively shared on various outlets!
Getting distracted while you work is one of the biggest impediments to productivity when you’re trying to grow your business. StayFocused is a tool that addresses the problem and makes sure you stay on track by allowing you to block certain sites through Google Chrome. Using the browser extension, you can set certain work hours in which sites of your choosing will be blocked. For those highly prone to distraction, there’s also an option to block access to the internet entirely.
Dropbox is another great tool for storing and sharing documents among members of your team. You can upload files and select who you’d like to share them with, and you can allow access for others to contribute to a work file that requires multiple people. Dropbox is also one of the safest ways to store files. It has an automatic feature that saves all your documents as they are drawn up, so that in the case of a computer crash or lost device, you can still access all of your important files through the app.
Rescue Time is a tool aimed at helping you monitor and track your productivity as you continue to grow your business. It keeps track of all the sites you’re visiting, how long you visit them for, and it will give you a breakdown of which days and what times of day your team is most productive. These analytics are massively helpful in pointing out patterns you might not have been aware of, and in helping you improve productivity in areas where it’s needed.
Trello is a project management tool that gives you a macro level view of the work being carried out by people in your organization. You can create and assign projects, check progress, and add notes, checklists, and other necessary information for project completion. It’s one of the best tools for keeping everyone on the same page, which is necessary to grow your business.
Doodle is the most efficient means of scheduling meetings with other people. When a doodle is created, everyone included in the group receives a link to the doodle that allows them to check off when they are available to meet. It allows everyone to get an overview of multiple schedules, making it easier to see when people are free and which times are most convenient. For scheduling, doodle is an incredibly productive tool.
About the Canadian Professional Sales Association
The Canadian Professional Sales Association is Canada’s largest national sales organization. Established in 1874, the CPSA helps build knowledge and skills to improve sales performance through professional development programs, networking opportunities and exclusive member resources and benefits. The CPSA Sales Institute has also administered the Certified Sales Professional (CSP) designation for over 20 years. The CPSA’s 20,000+ members are found in almost every sector of the Canadian economy and cover a wide range of job functions, predominantly within commercial sales.