If you are an entrepreneur, there is no escaping the fact that you would always have something or the other to keep you busy. There’s always so much to do and so much to manage that you would never have enough time to accomplish everything—unless you are smart about managing your work.

How will you achieve that? Is there an app in the market to help you?

In fact, not just one, the internet is flooded with apps for each of your problems.

Here are the top 7 apps that every entrepreneur should consider using to streamline their work and make the most of their time.

1. ScanBizCards – The Professional Business Card Reader App

“Your Key to a More Productive Sales Force”

ScanBizCards

Gone are the days when you had to manually enter the data into your devices. These days, entrepreneurs are relying on card scanning apps such as the ScanBizCards app. This business card scanning app comes in handy when you are attending an important business conference and want to add tons of contact information on your mobile phone. Once the card reader app scans the business card, it uploads contact information into your Salesforce CRM within seconds.

If you are a Salesforce user and want to use the ScanBizCards app to its potential best, then consider using the enterprise package. The ScanBizCards enterprise package not only enables you to scan as many cards as you want but also offers attractive features including a dedicated admin panel offering custom control over all associated apps, lead & campaign assignment and more.

2. Drop Box

“A modern workspace designed to reduce busywork—so you can focus on the things that matter”

Dropbox is one of the most popular apps in the business world. If you want to keep your documents organized without going through any hassle, then Dropbox is the business app for you. It delivers instant connectivity and enables you to share important documents with any device through the cloud-based storage system.

This app is especially useful for entrepreneurs who are finding it hard to share information through email. And we don’t blame you – we know how tough it can be to go back-and-forth with the emails. Juxtaposed to emailing, Dropbox allows you to put your files in one common place which can then be shared with your colleagues.

3. Buffer

“Saves time by managing social media for your business”

This list wouldn’t be complete without Buffer, a powerful social media tool. Every entrepreneur today knows the importance of social media – your brand presence is questionable without a social media base. Buffer helps you schedule your posts across all the social media platforms and manage all your social media campaigns. It makes sure that you get the most out of your social media efforts.

With Buffer, you can allay the worries for your social media strategy while focusing on other departments. While you work on other things, you can always stay assured since Buffer will be taking care of your social media branding.

4. Slack

“Your hub for teamwork”

Slack is one of the most sophisticated instant messaging platforms for businesses. It helps you to connect with your whole team throughout the day. You can send in the messages directly to your team and colleagues, and can even group each department separately. One of the best things about slack is that the conversations are searchable by everyone, so you don’t have to worry about losing any important information.

This cloud-based professional messaging platform is currently used by over 4 million professionals around the world owing to its easy collaborative layout.

5. FreshBooks

“Business invoicing and accounting solutions under one single virtual platform”

I love accounting – said no one ever. And this is where FreshBooks comes in to save the day. FreshBooks is an accounting software that helps you streamline your business invoices and accounting solutions by automating everything.

With FreshBooks, effectively manage:

  • Invoicing
  • Expense tracking
  • Tracking Timelines
  • Storing conversations, files, and feedback\
  • Faster payments, automatic deposits
  • Comprehensible reports
  • Connectivity with clients.

Moreover, FreshBooks is a cloud-based app, therefore, you can securely access it anytime, and from any device including your computer system, phone, and tablet.

6. Evernote

“Focus on what matters the most with this note-taking app”

Evernote is one of the best, if not the best note-taking app. Each and every entrepreneur must have the Evernote app installed in their device. After all, you might come across an idea worth noting anytime and anywhere.

What makes Evernote stand out from the legions of many other note-taking apps available is its ability to clip-on content directly from the web. With the Evernote web clipper, you can save web pages, add tags and access them later on. Moreover, Evernote supports various file formats like PDF. This means that you can even save ebooks, and visual content to access them later in the day.

7. Google Analytics

“Helps you monitor your business on the go”

Google Analytics is unarguably one of the most robust web analytics app available today. I doubt there’s an enterprise that hasn’t used Google Analytics to monitor the traction their business is getting. From your social media success to your website traffic, Google Analytics provides an insight of all your business efforts.

Here are the attributes that Google Analytics keep track of:

  • Mode of traffic – desktop, mobile or a tablet?
  • Bounce rate
  • Conversion rate
  • Visitor demographics including their language and location
  • Social engagement statistics

And the best part is that Google Analytics does all this for free.

Summing It All Up

From ScanBizCards app to Buffer and from Slack to Google Analytics, all the apps come in handy for an Entrepreneur. However, make sure that you use these apps or any other apps cautiously and sensibly lest you end up falling prey to an unanticipated yet devastating data breach.

People get their business cards made even before the business is underway. From the thickness to the coloring and from the typography to the content, everything is carefully designed and scrutinized.

If you don’t have a business card, then your business doesn’t seem to have an identity.

But let’s face it – is it not as helpful to customers as it is touted to be?

I’ll be honest. While I often collect business cards for contact information, I don’t seem to find them when I really need to reach out to them. And I’m sure you aren’t any different.

But fret not! We have some good news.

This is where ScanBizCards app comes into play. Apart from adding them to Rolodex, I’m sure you have also tried storing the information digitally in your computer systems and mobile phones.

But this also has two downsides:

  • For one, when you add the contact information manually, there are high chances that you might end up transcribing the information incorrectly.
  • Secondly, it is impossible to store hundreds and thousands of contacts at once.

These two problems cause a serious dilemma.

Have you ever wondered how marvelous it would be if you could capture the contact information on the business card by simply using your phone’s camera?

ScanBizCards app turns this dream into a reality.

scanbizcards

ScanBizCards app is one of the most effective productivity tools for businesses. Now professionals don’t have to go through the hassle of manually entering logging contact information. This ScanBizCards improves your sales productivity by allowing you to simply use your phone’s camera to get the business card contact information and helps you export contacts directly into Salesforce.

This business card scanning app is like a holy-grail for every frustrated sales professional who is tired of managing prospects’ contact information.

There’s an Enterprise version of the app that stands out the most. This version offers packages for varied business needs.

enterprise

ScanBizCards Enterprise

Let’s have a look at some of the most prominent attributes of the Enterprise package of this business card scanning app.

  • Quickly & Accurately Exports Contact Information – Uploads contact information into your Salesforce CRM within seconds.
  • Connect with Accounts – Attach contacts to new or existing customer accounts.
  • Assign Lead Owners – Allows you to assign lead owners and campaigns to new contacts or leads before exporting them to Salesforce.
  • Admin Panel – The panel allows each sales rep in the team to oversee all the associated apps.
  • Export Cards in Bulk – ScanBizCards allows users to seamlessly export multiple cards to Salesforce.
  • Duplicate Prevention – ScanBizCards dedupes your records, making sure that pre-existing contacts do not get exported to Salesforce.
  • Customizable – The users can customize all the captured fields to suit their individual needs.
  • Keep track of Analytics – Admins can keep track of user activity reports, business card scans, and email signature capture.

While this business card scanning app offers a multitude of attributes, the fact that it is very easy to use and navigate is also impressive.

With a few quick and simple steps you can export all of your contacts to your CRM. Check out our Help Center to understand how you can export your scanned cards into a CRM.

Since you’re already grappling with a lot of clutter and have no time to organize it, using ScanBizCards to manage your prospects’ data is a no brainer.

That said, ScanBizCards is much more than just a card reader. The app is particularly helpful when it comes to lead generation as well as lead nurturing.

How can ScanBizCards Improve Lead Generation?

For one, ScanBizCards improves the management of your business. If you are hunting for leads the right way, then ScanBizCards can help you. For example, when you go to networking events, ScanBizCards app makes it easier than ever before to quickly enter the prospects’ contact information into your device or send it directly to your CRM.

Then once you have all the relevant contact information in your database, you can use this contact list further for email marketing, cold-calling and more.

You won’t even have to worry about duplicate records as ScanBizCards dedupes all of your records before adding them to your CRM!

While ScanBizCards app is lauded more for its card-scanning capabilities, it can also solve the daunting task of contacts organization for once and all. As a result, your sales team will be more adept at tracking the incoming and outgoing leads along with their follow-up plan.

Summing it all up…

The best things about the ScanBizCards app is that it offers a 14-day free trial for which you don’t have to pay even a single dime.

So, even if you are a bit skeptical of the app, you don’t have to purchase it right away. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t try it out for once and see whether it bolsters your sales productivity or not.

Pro tip: While you are at it, don’t forget to take advantage ScanBizCard’s easy to track activity reports and email signature capture feature.

The festive season is in full swing, and holiday shopping is on everyone’s mind. This encourages people to begin their online search early on in anticipation of lucrative offers and discounts. So while people are already on a spending spree, perhaps this is a great time to capitalize on your prospects’ cheerful mood.

Plan strategically and creatively, and you can bolster your sales and marketing outcomes during this holiday season.

A Creative Mind and Clean, Updated, Robust Data is all You Need

While there’s no limit to how creative you can get with your marketing campaign or sales pitch, inadequate contact data can quite certainly be a limiting factor.

Coming back to the data– whether the contact data is manually saved on your phone’s address book, added from a business card scanning app, or captured through email signature capture; the data must be clean, accurate and up-to-date.

Once you are sure about your data quality, you can use the following tips to generate more leads this holiday season.

8 Useful Tips to Generate More Leads This Holiday Season

Offer useful downloadable content with the holiday season theme: Bundling an ebook, a tutorial video, or a white paper around the season’s holiday theme creates a great subliminal impact. Every download you get is a qualified prospect.

Offer a special unboxing experience: Delight your buyers during the holiday season. Surprise them with holiday colors, themes, images, customized messages, and content. Give them additional goodies for every new referral they make.

Use creative push notifications: Push notifications are a great way reach out to your prospects and customers directly using web/browser push or mobile push notifications. Couple it with a push SMS campaign to gain more attention.

Use intent signal monitoring to uncover moments of relevance: Tap into your customers’ intent, and offer compelling limited offer deals to those closest to a buying decision. The holiday season can be especially a great time to bring additional prospective leads.

Co-brand your campaign: Co-branding with a partner can help improve your website’s ranking and increase the traffic flow to your website speedily as brand mentions can have a significant positive impact on your brand perception. This can also help increase your search engine visibility in a short span of time.

Use social media to offer season’s discounts: Use social media campaigns and creative emails around the holiday season theme to make your potential customers aware of upcoming discounts a few days in advance, and make the deals easy to claim. Showcasing interactive videos or infographics reflecting the festive mood can boost engagement.

Use persuasive Call to Action: Correlate your call to action with a visual component to create a sense of urgency — for example, ‘Get your free eBook now’ is more effective than ‘Download your eBook’ to induce action.

Offer limited period discounts: Reach out to your prospects directly over email or push. Communicate assertively that the slashed prices are available only for a limited time to bring more prospects to your landing page.

Hence, incorporating holiday themes into your marketing endeavors at this time may be a good idea, and while it’s always beneficial to plan in advance, it’s still not too late. So, jump on the bandwagon, weave instant offers around Christmas carols, and ramp up some holiday cheer as a business.

In our constant endeavor to empower sales teams, improve sales performance, and boost company sales, we’re excited to inform our ScanBizCards enterprise users about the New Salesforce Managed Package we have released on October 3rd, 2018. This new managed package will make things easier for enterprise users by offering them a quantum leap in functionality, usability, and speed.

Get Started with Lightning Experience

Lightning experience is certainly the future of Salesforce user experience, so we decided to make ScanBizCards enterprise app lightning ready. Gear up to take advantage of the modern, productivity-boosting user experience designed to help sales and service reps focus on the right deals, the right customers and the right activities. Our new interface is definitely a step forward to bolster your business growth attempts.

Check Out Our New Look

Unlike our old UI, our new UI lets you access all the major app functionality from a single window fully addressing the app usability and presentation aspects. The admin users can now manage user licenses and assign roles and permissions more easily and efficiently.

Moreover, our enterprise users will soon be able to export their scanned cards to Salesforce as attachments or files and will be able to even delete these cards after exporting them to Salesforce, keeping their device clean and organized.

And that’s not all! The managed package is now also equipped with a dedicated reporting functionality for the Admin users.

Get to Know the Statistics

Admin users can now access three types of reports:

  • Business Cards
  • Email Signature Capture (if your organization has subscribed for the Signature Capture Package)
  • User Activity

These reports can help admins analyze the app usage and keep a tab on the user activity.

So, let’s get started! Explore the new managed package with the help of this guide – Installing ScanBizCards through AppExchange. With our new managed package, you’re on your way to boost the flow of great contact data into your funnel quickly and efficiently. However, to take advantage of the enhanced features, make sure to simultaneously update both your mobile app and the managed package.

To know more about our new managed package, feel free to contact our support team at enterprise@circleback.zendesk.com at any time. In case you have any suggestions for us to further improve our offerings, we would love to hear back from you.

Business cards are still the easiest and fastest way to hand someone your contact info. Considered as the face of your company, business cards represent a highly personalized form of marketing. They lend credibility and legitimacy to your business and symbolize professionalism.

However, business cards are also easy to lose- stick them in your wallet or put them in your drawer, and chances are you’ll find them whenever you clear all your junk. Moreover, in this competitive business environment, there isn’t time to manually add each business card to your phone’s address book. So, what’s the solution?

Through your Smartphone camera and a card reader app, you can digitize your paper contacts within no time saving them from landing up in an allegorical paper graveyard.

Here’re a few tips to help you choose the best business card reader app from the array of apps available on the market:

1. Define the purpose of the app: Choose an app that serves your purpose best along with cutting the workflow down to a few simple steps. So, if you are looking for speed, accuracy, and reliability; look for an app that can accurately convert your business card into a contact in no time. ScanBizCards (iOS, Android) is a good fit with best-in-class OCR technology converting your card to a contact in less than 30 seconds. In addition, you may edit the auto-populated fields, if required, and can instantly send an intro email and share your VCard with the new contact.

2. Look for the Human Transcription Feature: Well, it’s difficult for even for the best scanning device to be always 100% accurate, so make sure your app permits you to submit cards for human transcription when the automatic recognition of details isn’t accurate. It’s a must feature especially for those glossy, differently textured, hard to read cards. After all, a trivial error in the contact name may prove risky or a single incorrect character in an email address can result in an undelivered mail.

3. Check the Languages Supported: In an era of globalization, you’re likely to meet people from different nationalities in the conferences you attend. Make sure your app lets you scan and store contact information in a bunch of languages. ScanBizCards is good choice offering support for 22 languages including popular languages like English, German, French, Russian, Dutch, Italian and Swedish.

4. Look for the Bulk Scan Feature: If you’re routinely dealing with hundreds of business cards, it’s difficult to sort, scan and digitize each and every card. Moreover, the cards keep piling up with each trade fair or conference you attend. A good approach is to look for an app that can scan multiple cards in one shot automatically syncing contact information on the card with your address book or contact manager, saving you both time and effort.

5. Check out App Integrations: Nowadays, a majority of businesses rely on CRM systems to keep track of interactions with their customers and to impel sales growth. This makes it crucial to choose an app that allows you to scan and export cards directly to your CRM. ScanBizCards offers integration with Salesforce and other CRMs along with offering an option to export contacts as a CSV file.

Consider the above factors when choosing a business card reader app and you’ll realize that it’ll be much easier to deal with and track all the business cards you receive each day, completely transforming the way you network.

Conferences are a planned, fast-paced set-up allowing people to interact and exchange information in a brief period of time. This face to face interaction is instrumental in closing deals and cementing business relationships. So, go out, try some hors d’oeuvres, grab a glass of drink, and make the best use of the opportunities you get to build your network.

Let’s see some of the networking opportunities we have in store this season:

1.  Forbes CMO Summit (Nov 1-3, Dana Point, CA)

With 120 top CMO’s and over 35 industries being represented, Forbes CMO Summit is a great place to explore the role of CMO’s in this universe highlighting the expertise they should bring, the levers they need to pull and the metrics that will lead to future success. The event is by invitation only and you can place a request to attend. The speakers include CMOs, VPs, senior leaders and CEOs of companies like Forbes, Lenovo, Accenture Interactive, Deloitte Digital, Taco Bell, Twitter, McKinsey & Company, and Vertebrae.

2.  ITSMA Marketing Vision Conference (Nov 5-7, Cambridge, MA)

This conference is a great place to learn about the latest and greatest in account-based marketing. The conference focuses exclusively on marketing excellence and leadership for B2B services and solutions in the connected economy. The speakers include ABM leaders, Senior VPs, CEOs, and CMOs from companies like Cognizant Consulting, ITMSA, Nutanix, and HP.

3. SiriusDecisions TechX (Nov 7-9, 2018, New Orleans, LA)

With over 500 attendees, the conference is a place to understand what’s new from leading b-to-b technology and services providers. It offers a chance to dive deeper into emerging trends in sales, marketing, and product performance. The speakers include VPs, Senior Research Directors, and other senior marketing leaders from companies such as SiriusDecisions, Verint Systems Inc., ACTIVE Network, and Booz Allen Hamilton.

4.  B2B Marketing Forum 2018 (Nov 13-16, San Francisco, CA)

MarketingProfs’ B2B marketing forum is a place where leaders and innovators gather to learn about the latest B2B marketing strategies and tactics along with content strategy and SEO techniques for B2B marketing. The speakers include authors, thought leaders, CMOs and other senior leaders from companies like Google, Duarte Inc., Dell, and IBM cybersecurity.

5.  Growth Marketing Conference (Dec 11-12, San Francisco, CA)

With industry-leading Fortune 500 executives, high-growth founders, and growth marketing pioneers and innovators, the conference offers over 50 sessions covering actionable, real-world growth strategies and tactics driving rapid, cost-effective and sustainable revenue and user growth. The speakers include VPs, Global Marketing Heads, CMOs, Directors, CEOs, and founders of companies like Spotify, Dropbox, Google, Adobe, Engagio, Slack and GameOn Technology.

6.  AI and Big Data for Marketing Summit (Dec 12-13, New York, NY)

The main themes of the summit include fueling personalized experiences using data and analytics, effective social and mobile marketing through advanced analytics, creating conversational UI experiences, and data-driven content marketing strategies. The speakers include Directors, VPs head of analytics, and other senior marketing leaders from companies FanDuel, PepsiCo, Industry Expert, The Lego Group, and Boxed.

So, choose an event that fits your needs, gear up and achieve your goals! Networking, if done right, can expand your contact database, mine new opportunities, challenge your old beliefs and thoughts, and lets you find people you need to realize your goals. And to make networking easier—and keep track of all your great contacts, download ScanBizCards. Happy Networking!!

Networking is at the heart of any successful sales endeavor. Real networking entails focusing on interactivity, building connections, and adding a splash of fun rather than simply meeting up new people and sharing your contact information.

Here’re some of the best practices to follow as we head into the event season:

1. Be specific about your role in the event – You sure are the marketing guy who’ll be there to get more leads under your belt but will you be there full-time? Will you also be clicking pictures for your website’s media section? Will you be required to take out time for networking local prospects besides the potential leads you intend to meet at the event? If so, has it all been planned in advance? Have your logistics been sorted?

A strategic SMART plan should be in place whenever you are going to attend an event. Pre-decide the role of each and every team member whether its handling social media, updating news section, posting pics round the clock and so on, and what precisely you intend to achieve in quantitative terms. Also, plan and create material you wish to distribute during the event. Finally, sort out the sessions you’ll be attending and decide how exactly you’ll use your spare time. Besides, stay updated with the latest in the industry.

2. Stay on top of things – Constantly monitor relevant breaking news related to your industry via tools like TweetDeck and remain prepared to weave your conversation around it during the event. It offers you a good jumping-off point. Use it to position yourself as an information resource. Authentic information on trending topics and breaking news may establish you as a thought leader in the long run.

Strategize how your team will use these trending topics and events for trend jacking purposes to make your brand visible and enhance your internet presence. Being well-versed with the current topics certainly helps, but for meaningful conversations, it’s equally important that you understand your prospect’s goals.

3. Understand what the prospects are looking for – You should clearly understand what success looks like to your client. Don’t show up in the event as a typical salesperson who attempts to scan badges, seek prospect’s attention by futile talk, throw business cards at them and concern them with things they appear least interested in.

A better approach is to figure out the event guest list beforehand, do some research on your prospects criterion for success and what they are hoping to get from this event. In addition to social media search and other sources, a good way is to connect with the prospects before the event, where possible, and create a plan of action. Once this is done, ask yourself what all you’ll need at the conference and pack your bags accordingly.

4. Decide what you need to pack for the event – To avoid last-minute hassles, it’s important to plan your luggage beforehand. Thinking beyond the professional attire, comfy shoes, reusable water bottle, notepad, and protein bars; you need to focus on other significant things that can make events less stressful and fun at the same time.

Yes, I am talking about gadgets, tools, and accessories! Of course, you’ll have your Smartphone with you to snap pictures of the speakers, attendees and the event hall to keep your online community updated and involved. What is far more important is to have tools that can help save your time and effort so you can spend most of the time meeting new people and networking. For this, you can equip your phone with these apps:

  • ScanBizCards: A card reader that scans and exports your business cards to your CRM
  • GroupMe: A group messaging service that even works over SMS.
  • Bizzabo: A great tool to network with new people at the conferences
  • CityHour: For spontaneous meetings with other professionals

Once you’re all set, it’s time to head for the event. Make sure you’re not late for the event and dress professionally.

5. Learn how to conduct yourself at the event – It’s difficult to predict everything that’s going to take place at the event but there are a few things you can certainly take care of. Begin by being your own self – be genuine and authentic. You may not like to drink but hold a drink anyway- you’re likely to meet more people near the bar during the breaks than anywhere else. Take notes where required, treat people as friends and offer genuine help. Ask sensible questions and be specific for what you’re looking for rather than simply acting as a card spammer and working the room.

Alongside, make sure you keep your off-site team aware of the recent activities, delays, last-minute changes in the schedule or venue, and other things happening at the event in real-time. Also, make sure you remain well-informed about any influencers actively involved in posting about the event and what your competition is posting online. Keep things moving at the right pace and when the event gets over; brace yourself for the all-important post-event activities.

6. Do not forget about the crucial post-event activities – Once the event is over, you should make notes of what happened during the event, what promises you made, sort out the business cards you scanned/collected, Google all your relevant contacts, figure out some jumping-off points and follow up with the relevant prospects accordingly. All this must happen within 48 hours of the event so that prospects are able to recognize you.

Nurture these connections slowly and gradually and finally meet up to take things further but before you ask for any favor, be ready to offer something useful to your prospects to make it a win-win deal. Additionally, as the event is over, scrutinize your team efforts, check the social media statistics, see how many new contacts/leads got added to your sales funnel, and calculate your networking ROI from the event. This will offer you an insight into ways you and your team can improve your performance in future and will assist you in choosing conferences that will get the most bang for your buck.

These tips can certainly help drive higher sales growth for your business. So, make sure you’ve planned well and are prepared to make the most from your next major networking event. Happy networking!!

Networking is at the heart of any successful sales endeavor but its repetitiveness often becomes overwhelming. However, leveraging the right tools at the right time can simplify the process and quickly complete most of the customary tasks, freeing up much-needed time and resources. This assists reps in refocusing their energies on the key tasks they are meant to execute.

Let’s check out some of the powerful networking apps for helping salespeople stay on top of their game.

ScanBizCards (iOS, Android)

Any networking professional can appreciate the efficacy of a robust card scanner app integrated with a superior character-recognition technology. ScanBizCards, equipped with state-of-the-art OCR technology, is a business card scanning and CRM export app that lets you create personal notes for each card, organize them in folders and send a quick intro email along with your picture and contact info to your network. ScanBizCards also scans all your connected email accounts to quickly add these contacts to your address book or export them to Salesforce CRM, making it a must-have app for salespeople.

MightyMeeting (iOS/Android)

MightyMeeting, as the name suggests, improves your sales meetings game by letting you share content, applications, annotations, and drawings via your device. The app runs on Smartphones, Tablets, Chromebooks, and PCs, storing everything safely in the cloud for immediate access anytime, anywhere. It’s a great app to share your latest company videos or your sales presentations with your potential prospects while networking. Quickly switch between presentations, jump to any slide in a presentation, and zoom into the slide’s tiny details. Using MightyMeeting, sales reps can engage in unlimited meetings with slide and whiteboard sharing for the Web, Android, and iOS.

The Salesforce App (iOS/Android)

The Salesforce app is highly customizable, cross-platform and plug-and-play without the need for any setup. Its included with every Salesforce license and is one of the top CRM apps for salespeople. It grants sales reps access to a real-time view of all their CRM data, existing customizations, and productivity tools from anywhere, anytime, as all customer data, software and services are secured in an online cloud environment. The prospect information can easily be accessed, edited or added onto Salesforce soon after a meeting or an event. Salesforce CRM helps businesses increase productivity and scalability at a reduced cost.

Shapr (iOS/Android)

For sales reps, meeting potential clients is a golden opportunity to showcase their company and hit a deal at the right moment, and Shapr can expedite this entire process. Shapr is a mobile networking app that offers a daily dose of inspiring, like-minded people to meet nearby in your area. Shapr uses tagged interests, location and professional experience to suggest 10 to 15 inspiring profiles each day. Reps can even swipe anonymously and only receive notification when the interest is mutual – no unsolicited requests to chat. Using the app, reps can get in touch with the right people in seconds and easily go from online to offline by setting up an in-person meeting. Reps, when paired, can also see the other party’s social media profiles, allowing interaction across multiple platforms. Hence, reps can streamline their networking efforts and grow their contacts using Shapr.

Calendly (Web)

It is an easy to use robust scheduling solution for the reps networking requirements that can help them save time and speed up sales. Sales reps can simply set their own availability preference, share the link with their prospects, clients etc. and allow them to pick a suitable time, which is then automatically added to the reps calendar. Calendly can be integrated with Outlook, Office 365, iCloud and Google calendars. The app checks all calendars for conflicts to avoid dual-booking, and automate tasks with apps like Salesforce, GoToMeeting, Zapier and more. So, with Calendly, sales reps can make scheduling a simple, quick task.

Route4Me  (iOS/Android)

Route4Me is a route planning and optimization app that works for businesses of almost all sizes. Reps can simply type, copy/paste, or upload their list of customers or addresses that they need to visit. Tap Plan Route, see the optimized route on their computer and get it on their mobile right away, and travel the route. Optimized routes can be created for hundreds or thousands of personnel using the app, and they can be tracked real-time from a single dashboard. Sales reps can thus save time, see more customers a day and make more money using Route4Me.

Sales reps can use the above apps to gain a competitive edge and stay on top of the things.

Lead Gen is a tricky process, and it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the number of online tactics claiming to get you qualified leads at your doorstep. Slogging into the market with a hope to make our account-based marketing strategy a success, and implementing every newfangled B2b tactic for years now, we know how valid these claims are!

So, rather than getting swayed by every new tactic that’s finding its way into the mainstream, begin by investigating the fundamentals and understanding the proven tactics that work wonderfully. Once that’s sorted, you may infuse the new experimental tactics that align well with these older ones to create a winning tactic.

Begin the process by being crystal clear on who exactly are your customers, and dive deeper to segment them on basis of gender, age, income, attitudes, and interests. And understand what’s been working for them till now.

Know What’s Working and Eliminate What’s Not

Dig deeper to unearth the point of origin of your customers. Is it referrals, is it e-mails, or is it networking? Once you know the ‘power areas’ and ‘no result zones’- focus on what’s working and, immediately revoke resources from the drenched areas.

Once this is done, you can get the leverage- with your recently released resources- to experiment with something new and innovative that’s in sync with the customer base you have targeted.

But let’s first focus on the power areas- The Proven Methods.

This includes few of the techniques that have passed the time-test, and have come out as a winner working hand-in-hand with the latest innovative strategies.

Email-Marketing: An Age-Old Successful Technique

It’s inexpensive, it’s quick, and you can easily execute an email campaign to create an interest in your products and services to the targeted audience. What’s important is that it should not be lengthy, and you should have a clear CTA (Call-to-Action).

Now there are clever ways to mine leads from email responses- even if it is an ‘out of office’ auto-response. Most of us view emails on our mobile devices– adding an email capture app to your smartphone can help you capture leads and contact data you probably let slip.

Be cautious not to approach people who have unsubscribed your posts, or have opted out.

Social Media Advertising

There are a few good ways to capture your target audience through social media. You can match your email lists with social media accounts and advertise to a custom audience using the demographic data info from the advert platforms.

You may also invite newsletter signups directly through the social media channel to get emails of the interested visitors. CTA is again relevant.

And don’t be shy- promote your company and add direct links to your landing pages. So, make the best possible use of social media by being active and present, especially when it comes to Linkedin!

Linkedin is a Hub For Leads

Create a robust company profile, join relevant groups, connect to a valuable target audience, and join conversations. You may directly ask the connections to book an appointment or offer a demo. Read our blog- Making the World Your Web: LinkedIn.

Additionally, you may also go for paid lead collection tools providing you good genuine leads. The results are great if you have done your homework well, and are vigilant enough to miss any opportunity that arises through this media.

Did I Mention Google Adwords?

Costly yet very effective tool to attract relevant traffic to your website pretty fast- only if you are a pro. Yes, you heard it right!

Google Ad Strategy has to be detailed and well planned to improve your lead gen efforts, and only a seasoned marketer who had his share of trials and errors can be the best bet. So, hire an expert and get the leads!

Take a Plunge into Content Marketing

It’s a high-scorer. On average, conversion rates are six times higher for companies and brands using content marketing in comparison to those who do not.

Besides, content marketing costs 62% less in comparison to the traditional marketing programs and generates approx three times the volume of leads.

Great! So, how do you go about it?

Content that contributes to qualified lead gen typically lives in three spaces: your website’s landing pages, blogs, and social media channels. Optimize these channels to hold your audience, and include long-tailed keywords in your content for a better likelihood of conversion.

Additionally, host webinars, publish research reports, and post videos!

And Finally- Network, Network, and Network!

Networking is a powerful tool. Tradeshows and Events offer some high-quality leads. Speaking at events, offering demos, attending local association meetups, and sponsoring programs, all lead to in-person connections and exchange of valuable contact info. Read our Tips from Top Influencers on Absolutely Crushing it at Networking.

But to get the most from your networking endeavors, it is vital to feed the contact info right into your device the moment you get it- for timely follow-up.

And ScanBizCards app helps you with that. You can instantly feed business card info from a physical card straight into your address book through its OCR feature.

In a nutshell, whatever method you choose, keep your strategist hat on. Begin with the basics, strategize and apply proven tactics that work for your customers, and free-up resources from the dysfunctional methods. Infuse emerging trends with the proven methods to get the best-qualified leads.

So, get yourselves armed with the above weapons, and invade the lead-gen space!

Since long, ScanBizCards Enterprise app has been serving as an outstanding supplementary tool for Salesforce CRM users who can effortlessly scan business cards from their mobile device during an event or a conference, and export these cards to Salesforce CRM in an easy, flawless manner.

However, ScanBizCards realized that a lot of significant and untapped contact information is obscured within the emails exchanged by our users with their prospects, partners or colleagues. To tap this contact information, ScanBizCards introduced ‘Email Signature Capture’ feature a few months ago for its ScanBizCards Enterprise app.

Save Email Signatures into Your Email Contact List

Email Signature Capture feature scanned your connected email accounts for email signatures and then converted the captured email addresses into email contacts. This assisted you to easily access the contacts you haven’t yet added to your address book.

This was definitely a valuable addition, but ScanBizCards wanted you to have ‘A Wow Experience’, so we took what was good and made it great!!

Save Email Signatures into Your Mobile App and Salesforce CRM

We’re excited to announce our all-powerful and improved ‘Email Signature Capture Feature’ that will make your mobile app smarter than ever. The app can now capture email signatures from your connected email accounts and save them into your mobile device and email account contact list along with exporting them to your Salesforce CRM in a few simple steps.

email signature capture scanbizcards

We are sure you will like this update for its productivity benefits and simplifying your sales process. So, use this feature to boost the flow of great contact data into your funnel quickly and efficiently, and suggest us more ways to further improve our app.

To know more about this feature, you can contact our support team at enterprise@scanbizcards.zendesk.com at any time.