While most small business owners know that automation can make their lives easier, far fewer have implemented it. According to a survey by Constant Contact, 74% of small businesses are interested in automation or AI, but only 26% are actually using it.
As a small business owner myself, I’ve seen the power of automation. I learned firsthand what automation can do in scaling business operations for a real estate company from two locations to 17 locations in a year and a half. I had to maximize my resources, and automating work exponentially increased what I could get done.
Currently, I own and operate Now Pools, the world’s first (and only!) on-demand pool company. My consulting company, Third Degree Leverage, helps other small businesses streamline and automate their business. Taking my own medicine and automating as much of the Third Degree Leverage work as possible allows me to simultaneously run two businesses.
Here are some ways we rely on automation at Now Pools. And while the specifics might be unique to our business, the tactics can be applied to many workflows within customer service, sales, and operations teams.
Our tech stack at Now Pools
For our pool business, we have an industry-specific app to help us manage our service routes. We rely heavily on tools that help us respond to inbound inquiries and manage service requests.
OpenPhone
We use OpenPhone to handle customer service calls. Previously, we had to make calls from our own phones (like a technician on a service call), and then the customer would have our personal cell phone numbers. Rather than have our technicians have a second phone number to separate work from personal calls, they can use OpenPhone’s mobile app to make calls and receive texts. We also send automated text messages to our customers through OpenPhone.
Airtable
We use Airtable to keep track of our customer service issues. We tie issues to a client and store the client’s name and phone number in Airtable. Then, we can use automated processes to push out text messages through OpenPhone.
Zapier
Zapier is a no-code tool that makes automation happen. We have Zapier connecting OpenPhone to Airtable, among other things. Our signup automation, for example, has about 95 different steps in Zapier.
Want some automation inspiration? Check out these OpenPhone and Zapier workflows.
Customer service automations
When customers contact us, it’s important for us to acknowledge there’s a problem and we’re on it.
In Airtable, the service issue is logged and assigned to a team member based on the urgency. But we also use automation so the customer receives a response immediately.
Based on the new issue in Airtable, Zapier sends an auto-responder SMS from OpenPhone to confirm receipt with the customers. It reads something like this:
Hi, [Customer Name]. We want to acknowledge that we’ve received your customer service issue. Our team will correspond with you to address the issue as soon as possible.
By automating this, it puts the customer at ease. They’re not waiting for us to respond in the order the issue was received.
Check out some more auto-reply text examples.
Sales workflow automations
Our customers can sign up for our on-demand pool service directly on our website. We have a few different Zapier workflows, depending on what the visitor does on the site.
Discount code
Our website has a pop-up that offers visitors a $50 off coupon. We use this lead magnet to collect the customer’s contact information. We then automatically email and text them the discount code.
Signup
We’ve automated a lot of steps for signups that happen through our website.
- We notify the team about the new signup.
- We email the client a signup confirmation and tell them to be on the lookout for a contract.
- We automate sending the contract via email.
- We get text alerts when a contract has been signed and when payment has been made.
- We create a task for a team member to create a customized video introduction using Warm Welcome.
- We automatically send clients a customized referral code they can share with others. They also get a custom graphic with their referral code, which they can use for Facebook or Instagram.
- We automatically send a reminder about the referral code and incentives a week later.
By streamlining these processes, we’ve significantly reduced manual work, allowing our team to focus on delivering exceptional service and building stronger customer relationships.
Operations workflow automations
We also use automation to help our technicians when they’re working with customers in the field.
In Airtable, there’s a schedule for all technicians. Every morning, the technicians get a text from OpenPhone that says something like, “Billy, today you have seven pools to service and one repair job,” plus any special instructions or notes. It’s been really beneficial for our team, as they can make sure they have the right equipment based on their work that day.
Additionally, our pool management app has a call-ahead or text-ahead feature to let customers know we’re on our way. But the app doesn’t have a way for our technicians to receive responses if a customer replies (like, “Sounds good, the dogs will be locked up when you arrive”).
We have an automation in Zapier that distributes responses to the technicians. Zapier grabs the response, looks up the customer’s phone number in Airtable, and then sends the text response via OpenPhone (“John Smith replied and said, ‘Sounds good, the dogs…”). That way, the technicians know there was some acknowledgement from the customer.
3 top tips for getting started with automation
Based on my experience using automation for many years, there are a few things to keep in mind if you’re just starting.
1. Balance automation with a personal touch
You can lose the human experience if you over-automate. You won’t have as much impact on your customers if they never interact with a human. It’s important to find a balance between automation and human interaction in your process. That’s why we include personalized welcome videos for new clients.
Always consider the right use cases for manual process versus automation.
2. Hire someone to oversee automations
Inevitably, things break in automation. You may have set up a business process, and something changes so you need to tweak it. Or your connected apps may need to be reconnected.
Someone has to troubleshoot if things go awry — especially if you rely on automation for critical parts of your business. But this only needs to be someone with some basic training in Zapier workflows or a different automation software, and it can be one of many responsibilities the person has.
3. A good process gives you some breathing room
When people approach your business for the first time and have a good customer experience, they will immediately believe they’re in the hands of experts. Immediate touch points like an automated email response or text message signal that you’re a well-run company.
It also relieves the burden on your team. Not every business hits on all cylinders every day. Down the road, a product delivery may not go perfectly or a service person may arrive late. If you blew your customers away with the initial steps in your sales process, you’ve bought yourself a little grace. But if the first interaction is poor, you’ve set yourself up with an unfavorable first impression.
For Now Pools, we like to be very prompt with our responses, whether automated or personal. Because of this, customers are more forgiving if things don’t go as planned. That’s why I try to build in automation as much as possible.
Let automation supplement — and grow — your business
Some people are worried that automation will replace human jobs. That’s not my goal as a business owner. My goal is to automate repetitive tasks that humans don’t like doing anyway. That way, we can focus on what we do well and the high-level work that moves the company forward. Even with all of our systems and technology, I never want to remove the human element.
Instead, automation has allowed us to scale our operations while maintaining excellent customer service. We recognize the important role automation plays in communicating with our customers, yet we still need to make time for human interactions. It’s the best of both worlds.
