Event planners, how much would you like to grow your events business in 2017? Are you constantly comparing yourself to the competition and wishing you knew the tools that could save you time and help you boost your productivity?

Here’s the truth…you’ve got to focus on higher yielding tasks.

(Psst, that means sales and client relations.)

BUT…if you’re an event planner AND a business owner, you’re responsible for sales, marketing, operations, admin, client relations and about a million other things. That’s a lot of tasks on your never ending to-do list.

THE PROBLEM: You don’t have any time. You’re already stretched super thin, trying to accomplish everything that needs to be done. Let’s face it, you’re drowning in to-do’s.

THE SOLUTION: Automate your admin and any/all lower yielding tasks.

These tools have all been tried, tested and recommended by The Simplifiers’ CEO and business coach to event planners, Mary Baird-Wilcock, CSEP. Check them out!

5 Time-Saving Tools That Boost Productivity

Scheduleonce

You would not believe how much time this has saved us! Organizing a meeting or a call shouldn’t be difficult! However, due to busy schedules, it can result in days of back and forth emails trying to just schedule one call. Huge time waster!

Scheduleonce integrates with your Google Calendar and creates a private booking page. It allows you to simply send people a link to see which slots you have available and book a time that suits you both. No one else gets to see what you’ve got booked in your calendar – just the time slots you have decided to make available.

Camcard

Did you read and follow the advice in our post on 3 ways to go from basic networking to super connecting? If you did, you should be building up an impressive pile of business cards.

But lets be honest, how many of us collect cards and leave them lying on our desks or in a drawer? Sure, we know we should be putting them into a database or spreadsheet but who actually has time for that?!

Camcard lets you scan business cards with your phone. It quickly captures and saves the contact information making it accessible to you wherever you are. PLUS, you can add notes and set reminders to specific cards making your networking and relationship building more productive.

Yesware

Want to see if your emails are actually having an impact? Yesware can show you who is opening your emails and clicking on links. You can even set up drip campaigns so you can automate your sales process. Write a series of follow up emails and Yesware will send them out in the correct order until your contacts reply, opt out or successfully connect with you.

Mailchimp

Forget writing boring “please find attached…” emails to prospective clients each time you want to send your portfolio or online brochure. Spend a little bit of time creating an attractive template in Mailchimp. Use it each time you want to impress a potential client making it a more efficient and effective process.

Pipeline Deals*

If you don’t already have a CRM system (Customer Relationship Management system) to keep track of prospective leads and where they are in your sales cycle, give Pipeline Deals a try.

You create a cloud-based database for all of your prospective leads and then, you can track emails, followups and see if they’re actually being opened or if you need to change your approach.

It’s an easy system that helps you keep track of where someone is in your sales cycle and making your sales efforts more effective and efficient, not to mention, super simple for you.

You can have the best branding in the world or the most imaginative ideas for events.

BUT if you don’t focus on sales and client relations, your business won’t grow. These tools are all about finding ways to grow your business by working smarter, not harder.

*woohoo, that’s one of our affiliates there…we love them and think they’re great!

Want more advice and tailored coaching to build your events business?

Join our CEO – Mary Baird Wilcock, CSEP on January 8th in her FREE online challenge.

Designed specially for event professionals with live coaching and masterclasses, the #DoTheThing challenge will set you and your business up for a successful 2018!

Take your business to the next level in 2018. Sign up to #DoTheThing!