While 2020 and 2021 were a chaos of emotions for most small businesses, 2022 hopefully brings a positive outlook on the possibilities for the year. Here at 17hats, our goal for you is that 2022 is the most successful year yet. To kick off the year, we have put together five ways you can prepare your account for success.

Apply Project and Contact Tags Automatically

Project and Contact Tags are the ideal way to filter your Contact, Project, and Recent Client Activity pages in 17hats. I recommend making sure you add the year, “2022”, as a tag for Contacts and Projects. By allowing 17hats Lead Capture Forms and Online Scheduling to automatically add the Tags, you ensure each new lead is properly tagged. Watch the video below to see how to add the year tag to your Lead Capture Forms.

Utilizing Online Payments in 2022

If you haven’t already it is time to make the switch from checks and cash to online payments through 17hats Payments powered by Stripe. For some, this is a hard decision that can be scary. So let me try to convince you. 🙂

By allowing your clients to pay through online payments:

  • your clients will be willing to pay you more.
  • you can set up a payment plan in 17hats and have your clients automatically reminded about the next payment due.
  • when a payment plan is set up, your clients can save their credit card data and have each payment automatically charged to the card on file.
  • you are creating an easy-to-use process which means more clients will pay you (and faster).

Is your conversion rate low? The reality is that the harder you make it to pay invoices, the more clients won’t pay you. Think about it. If you say please send a check to this address. Will they send it? … Not likely. However, with online payments, it’s just a click of a button and done! Paid! Booked! It’s that easy.

Also, you’ll create a better sense of professionalism and trust with your client by allowing your clients to pay through a payment processor. And, both professionalism and trust, go a long way when it comes to sending referrals to you.

But Amanda, THE FEES, THE FEES I SAY!

Yes, those pesky fees.

Credit card payment processing fees are a cost of doing business. When setting up your pricing, add those fees into the price just like you would any other overhead costs. The fees are a business expense that you will be able to write off at the end of the year.

If you are still apprehensive, you can set up a free 17hats Payments account in account settings, and only turn on Online Payments in the invoice for a few clients. See how you like it.

Life Calendar – Stop Booking Over Your Life in Online Scheduling

“Yes, I realize you JUST booked, but I am actually already booked for that day. Oops”

One of the many advantages of using 17hats Online Booking is the ability to cross-check a variety of calendars to ensure you are not double booking yourself.

By having your “Life Calendar” inside 17hats, you can ensure that when dates and times are displayed through Online Scheduling you are avoiding the awkward conversation of, “Yes, I realize you JUST booked, but I am actually already booked for that day. Oops!”

Watch the video below for instructions on how to set up your Life Calendar and cross-check it in Online Scheduling.

Automate Past Due Invoice Reminders

Chasing money is THE WORST! Who owes you? How much money do they owe you? Resending the invoice. Asking nicely for payments to be made on time when you really want to say … I see what you buy on social media … Now pay me my money!

This should not be an added stress in your day, which is why you should (if you haven’t already) set up Past Due Invoice Reminders. This 17hats feature will send out an email, based on your settings, for all your past due Invoices. Inside the email will be a link to access the Invoice. And, if you have Online Payments set up, they will quickly be able to pay you.

Watch the video below is see how to set up Past Due Invoice Reminders and jazz up your email template.

Bulk Archive Projects for a Cleaner 17hats Account

Start the new year off by cleaning up your Projects page. Take a few minutes and Bulk Archive completed projects or leads that never converted. Archiving Projects does not delete the Project, it only seals it. You can still access all the information and documents within it. And, if you want to unarchive the Project, you can do so in just a few clicks.

Watch the video below to learn how to Bulk Archive Projects.