PRESENTED BY:

THE BIG LIST OF

40+BUSINESS TOOLSTHAT WILL MAKE YOUPRODUCTIVE, ORGANIZED,

AND EFFICIENT.

Intro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Time Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Communication/Collaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Productivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Online Storage/Backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Financial Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Payments/eCommerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Customer Loyalty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Customer Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Hiring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Legal & Taxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Amazon & eBay Sellers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11-12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

Before the Age of the Internet, all of the tools that you needed to run your business were slower, more cumbersome, and more expensive. Today, there are tons of great online tools (most of them available for free) that make it much easier to grow your business and stay productive, organized, and efficient. So long fax machines, Rolodexes, tape recorders and even – gasp – spreadsheets!

But just because there are tons of great tools at your overworked fingertips, this hasn’t necessarily made things problem-free. With so many different tools to choose from, it can take hours to figure out the one that’s right for your business.

That’s why we decided it was high time someone offered you a guide to small business tools - and who better to do it than Kabbage? We’re committed to using technology to make outdated, slow processes (*cough* getting a loan from a bank, *cough*) easier and quicker, so we thought we’d build you a comprehensive guide to the tools that can make your business processes easier and quicker. We scoured the internet and spent hours on features and pricing research, so you wouldn’t have to.

You can start using these tools today to manage your money, boost your productivity, make more sales, and grow your business. Did we miss one of your favorite tools? Let us know at ideas@kabbage.com or on Twitter @KabbageInc.

TogglWhat it does: Toggl is an online time tracker/timesheet app that keeps track of how much time you spend working on each particular project. The app enables you to sort and create reports by client, by project, by day, and by week. It can help you make better use of your time, identify sources of wasted time and unprofitable projects, and also improve your team’s overall accuracy and productivity for billable hours.

Cost: Free! There is also a premium version with extra features that costs $5 per month per user.

Remember the MilkWhat it does: Remember the Milk is an online to-do list and task manager. It lets you manage tasks from a computer or mobile device, get reminders via e-mail, SMS or IM, share tasks with other people on your team (assign “to-dos,” etc.), and it syncs with Google Calendar and Evernote.

Cost: Free! Or you can upgrade to the “Pro” version for $25 per year, which enables extra features and priority support.

FreedomWhat it does: Freedom is an app that helps you avoid online distractions by temporarily disconnecting your computer from the Internet. You simply turn on the Freedom app, tell it how long you need to be able to work offline without distractions, and then go to work.

Cost: One-time payment of $10 (with a 60 day money-back guarantee).

SelfControlWhat it does: Like Freedom, SelfControl is also a distraction-avoidance app. However, instead of blocking you from the entire Internet, SelfControl only blocks you from your own customized “Blacklist” of certain websites of your choice. For example, you can block access to Facebook so you won’t get sidetracked every time someone uploads a crazy cat video or likes your latest post. You can set the SelfControl timer for as little as 15 minutes or as long as 24 hours.

Cost: Free!

TIME MANAGEMENT

4

SkypeWhat it does: You’ve heard of Skype before; it’s an online service that lets you call people, all over the world, from your computer for free or cheap per-minute prices. But did you know that Skype offers some special features for small businesses? With Skype for Business, you can get special collaboration functions like group video chats, Skype Account Managers, and money-saving deals on Skype credits to make those low-priced international calls even cheaper.

Cost: Many Skype calls are free, but the total cost depends on which countries you call.

Google Hangouts on AirWhat it does: Google Hangouts on Air is a special collaboration and broadcasting feature that is part of Google Hangouts. In addition to hosting group video chats, Google Hangouts On Air enables you to broadcast your conversation live online. This can be a great tool for sharing public announcements, employee meetings, virtual customer meetups, seminars, or any other live video communication that you want to share with the world.

Cost: Google Hangouts are free!

BasecampWhat it does: Basecamp is a web-based project management platform that more than 285,000 companies use to get things done quickly and efficiently. The Basecamp software includes tools and features for file sharing, communication, collaboration, and task management. Basecamp gives your team a secure online “home base” to use for tackling any project of any size.

Cost: Basecamp offers a free 60-day trial. After the trial, price packages start at $20 per month depending on how many projects you want to manage and how much storage space you need.

TrelloWhat it does: Trello is a project management and organization tool that businesses can use to organize, manage, and complete projects. Trello gives you an overall view of the project and has flexible features that simplify organizing work assignments and setting deadlines. The types of projects that Trello is good for include: web development, design, programming, recruiting, SEO, client management, and online content creation (this eBook was created using Trello).

Cost: Trello is free.

COMMUNICATION/COLLABORATION

5

Evernote What it does: Evernote is a note-taking app for conducting research, saving information that you find online, sharing sources, and collaborating. If you’re a freelance writer, editor, marketing team leader, or involved in writing, content creation, generating ideas, or research, Evernote will change the way you work. With Evernote, you can “clip” sections of articles or entire website pages and save them to a designated Evernote folder. The Evernote system easily syncs between your computer hard drive, your mobile devices, and the cloud, so you can quickly access any document or piece of information when you’re on the go. Evernote acts like an extension of your brain – but more organized.

Cost: Basic Membership is Free! But you can buy the Premium edition for $4.99 per month or $44.99 per year to unlock additional storage and special features. Or get Evernote for Business for $10 per user per month.

Google Apps for Work What it does: Google offers business-grade email and productivity tools in a suite of services called Google Apps for Work. The productivity software (Google Docs) is cloud-based and stored on Google Drive. That means you can access your files from any computer, tablet, or smartphone. Google Docs have a similar functionality to Microsoft Office. So if you have clients or collaborators who prefer to use Word documents or Excel spreadsheets, you can easily convert the Google Docs versions to Microsoft format. Google Docs makes it easy to share your work with your teammates, whether they’re in the same office or on the other side of the world. Multiple users can review the same document in real-time.

Cost: Google Apps for Work starts at $5 per user per month, or $50 per user per year plus tax.

PRODUCTIVITY

6

CarboniteWhat it does: Carbonite is a cloud-based backup solution designed for small businesses. They securely store copies of your digital files in the cloud, so you can access or restore your files anytime and anywhere. Carbonite can support all of your business’s computers, external drives, and employee locations.

Cost: Carbonite offers a 30-day free trial. Specific pricing depends on the amount of storage space, with plans starting at $269 per year.

Google DriveWhat it does: As we mentioned above, Google Drive is an online storage system that is part of Google Apps. Google Drive integrates with both Google Apps and files stored on your hard drive, so you can keep everything in the cloud and share them via email with anyone on your team.

Cost: As part of your Google Apps for Work subscription, for $5 per user per month (or $50 per user per year, plus tax) you get 30 GB of online Google Drive storage per user. You can get more storage by signing up for unlimited storage, which an additional $10 per user per month (or $120 per user per year, plus tax).

ONLINE STORAGE/BACKUP

7

ExpensifyWhat it does: Expensify makes it easy to track business expenses and create expense reports. You can connect your business credit card or debit card to Expensify for automatic tracking of relevant expenses, or you can take photos of your business expense receipts and the app will automatically identify and sort the necessary information. Expensify gets your business prepared for tax time and makes it easier to maximize your business expense tax deductions.

Cost: Free for individuals; team and corporate users pay $5 to $10 per account.

FreshBooks What it does: FreshBooks is a cloud-based accounting software that allows you to send invoices via email and “snail mail.” All invoices are tracked, so you can easily monitor late payments and avoid unpaid bills. According to a FreshBooks survey, FreshBooks’ customers get paid five days faster than before they started using this tool, and on average, FreshBooks’ customers double their revenue in the first 24 months.

Cost: FreshBooks offers a free trial. Once the free trial expires, you can continue using FreshBooks for free to bill 1 client or upgrade to a paid package. Packages start at $19.95 per month.

XeroWhat it does: Xero describes its product as “beautiful accounting software” that makes it easier for small businesses to send invoices, issue purchase orders, project cash flow, manage payroll, track expenses, view transactions, and share your business’s financial data with your accountant or financial advisor.

Cost: Xero has a few different plans starting at $9 per month

ZenPayrollWhat it does: One of the most stressful aspects of running a small business is “making payroll.” But actually processing the payroll checks and managing withholding taxes is yet another level of complexity. With ZenPayroll, small businesses now have an easy, elegantly designed tool that takes the stress out of payroll processing. This app serves as a full-service cloud-based payroll provider, with features such as automatic tax calculation, payment and filing, new employee reporting, contractor payments, direct deposit setup, and easy integrations with accounting software. ZenPayroll currently is available in 21 states, with plans to cover all 50 states by the end of 2014.

Cost: ZenPayroll offers a 2-month free trial. The price is $25 per month plus $4 per person for the first ten employees, and $2 per person for every employee beyond the first ten.

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

8

ShopifyWhat it does: Shopify lets you set up an online store, secure an online shopping cart for your business, and receive payments via your website. You can choose from more than 100 templates or design your own. It also has an in-store option that can serve as your new in-store cash register/Point of Sale system.

Cost: Shopify pricing starts at $29 per month with a variety of higher-priced plans with added features and lower credit card payment processing fees.

Square What it does: Square is a credit card payment processing app that enables business owners to take credit card payments via smartphone. Once you install the Square app on your smartphone or tablet (iPhone, iPad, or Android), Square sends a small credit card reader that you can plug into your headphone jack. This allows you to swipe credit cards through the reader. Or you can enter credit card numbers manually. Square is a powerful tool because it’s much cheaper for businesses than a typical bank merchant account. Also, Square is flexible, portable, and easy to use – you can take it with you and accept credit card payments wherever you go.

Cost: Free to install; Square takes a small fee from each credit card payment, but this is comparable to a typical bank’s credit card transaction fee.

PAYMENTS/ECOMMERCE

9

SALES

InsightlyWhat it does: Insightly is a customer relationship management (CRM) system designed for small businesses. Insightly is meant to be a simpler, more focused CRM tool that you can use to keep track of prospective clients, manage your contacts, communicate better with your customers, and complete sales-related tasks faster. Insightly gives you better visibility into your sales pipeline so you don’t miss out on opportunities. It also fully integrates with Google Apps/Gmail and Outlook 2013/Office 365 and offers mobile access via iOS and Android devices.

Cost: Insightly has a free version, but its scope is very limited; the full version is only $9 per user per month, or $84 per user per year.

Salesforce – Small Business SolutionsWhat it does: Salesforce is one of the world’s most prominent customer relationship management (CRM) solutions. Salesforce provides specialized cloud-based tools that help companies sell. This includes everything from identifying and managing sales leads to working through the sales process, following up with prospective customers, keeping notes on customer conversations, researching the right decision makers at each company, and everything else that helps contribute to closing a deal. But Salesforce is not just for big companies! Their Small Business CRM & Contact Manager Software provides you with the tools you need to find new sales leads, automate repetitive marketing tasks (such as auto-response emails or template sales messages), and deliver personalized customer service with detailed information and accurate visibility into every customer account.

Cost: Salesforce Small Business Solutions start at $25 per user per month with a required annual contract.

10

MARKETING

BufferWhat it does: Buffer for Business is a social sharing app that helps your company manage multiple social media accounts and get detailed analytics on what’s working and what needs to improve. For example, if your company has a Twitter account, a Facebook page, and a LinkedIn account, you can use Buffer to post updates to all of these accounts simultaneously, or schedule social media posts at optimal times throughout the day or month.

Cost: Buffer’s fees start at $50 per month for small businesses with up to 25 connected accounts.

Content LaunchWhat it does: Content Launch gives your business a comprehensive platform for content marketing. It makes it easier to handle every aspect of content marketing, from content strategy to content creation to promoting your content to bigger audiences and measuring the results.

Cost: Content Launch offers several plans starting at $300 per month.

Google AdWordsWhat it does: Google AdWords is the biggest and most simplistic online platform for search engine advertising. You can start by using Google’s free keyword research tools and analytics to target specific search keywords related to your business. Then, once you know what your customers are searching for, you can buy ads. Google AdWords is so powerful because it puts your message in front of prospective customers right at the moment that they researching your product and getting ready to buy.

Cost: It’s up to you! You can start with a Google Ads budget of as little as $10 to $50 per day, and you can set limits on how much you get charged. For example, you only have to pay for an ad when someone clicks the link to your site or calls your business.

MantaWhat it does: Manta is a free online directory of small businesses. Use this site to list your business’ name, location, and contact details to make it easier for customers and prospects to find your business online. Manta also helps you collect statistics on who is visiting your profile and make connections with other businesses for possible partnerships, cross-promotions, or vendor relationships.

Cost: Free!

11

MARKETING

ScriptedWhat it does: Content marketing is one of the fastest-growing methods for small businesses to attract new customers to their sites. Luckily, you don’t have to create all of that content by yourself! Scripted is a content creation service where you can quickly hire professional writers to create website pages, blog articles, white papers, and many other deliverables for reasonable prices with 5-day turnaround times.

Cost: Price varies on the size and scope of the project. For example, a basic blog post (350-450 words) starts at $99.

Sprout SocialWhat it does: Sprout Social is powerful social media software that gives you the ability to schedule, publish, and monitor social media posts while also managing customer feedback and customer relationships. You can use Sprout Social to engage with customer comments and messages more efficiently, and get analytics and reports on your social media presence and social media marketing results.

Cost: Sprout Social fees start at $59 per user per month.

SumAllWhat it does: SumAll is a one-stop social media analytics dashboard that shows your business how your social media presence and eCommerce sales are performing. SumAll includes comprehensive monitoring tools and in-depth reports to help your business perform better and grow faster.

Cost: A basic account is free account and a premium account is $9 per month. The premium account includes bonus features and your very own SumAll expert.

12

CUSTOMER LOYALTY

LevelUp What it does: LevelUp is a mobile payments solution that also has a customer loyalty program component. LevelUp makes it easier for customers to seamlessly pay with their phones while giving businesses better insights into customer behavior so they can make customized customer incentive campaigns that generate additional sales.

Cost: Payment processing costs 1.95% (flat fee) per transaction, and campaigns are pay-for-performance, with LevelUp charging a fee of 25% of the incentive offered by the business.

Perka What it does: Perka is a mobile customer loyalty program based on customer check-ins from mobile phones. The program enables small businesses to create sophisticated loyalty efforts that reward customers for repeat visits and multiple purchases.

Cost: Price details are available by contacting Perka.

SpendgoWhat it does: Spendgo is a customer rewards program that integrates with a variety of Point of Sale systems, targets customers based on their prior behavior and preferences, and gives businesses the flexibility to reward customers for buying specific items rather than just rewarding them for total dollars purchased.

Cost: Get more information about how it works and pricing by requesting a free Spendgo demo.

13

CUSTOMER SERVICE

Help ScoutWhat it does: Help Scout is help desk software that enhances customer experience by improving visibility into every stage of the customer service process – from responding to inquiries to resolving issues to viewing customer relationship histories. Help Scout makes it easy to assign tasks and create workflows among different members of the help desk team, leading to faster resolution of customer issues and building stronger customer relationships.

Cost: Help Scout costs $15 per user per month.

14

OPERATIONS

Back OpsWhat it does: Back Ops is an automated back office platform that combines and integrates multiple back office tools for accounting and HR so that you can manage all of these functions in one place. It will integrate all of your office tools like Expensify, QuickBooks, ZenPayroll and more into one dashboard view. If you don’t have the budget to build an HR team, BackOps has individuals that will be your HR team for everything from payroll and benefits to talent management and HR compliance.

Cost: To get a detailed price quote, contact Back Ops.

Stitch LabsWhat it does: Stitch Labs is an inventory management tool that saves time, money, and boosts your business’s profitability. It helps you keep track of inventory quantities, process orders correctly, track orders and automate your ordering and fulfillment process, and make sales across multiple sales channels.

Cost: The Stitch “Starter” package costs $29 per month, but the “Business” package (with additional features that many small businesses might need) costs $199 per month.

When I Work What it does: When I Work is an employee scheduling tool with an intuitive interface to schedule hourly employees shifts and reduce absenteeism.

Cost: When I Work’s monthly fee starts at $19 per month for a 10-employee company.

15

HIRING

Bullhorn ReachWhat it does: Bullhorn Reach is a recruiting platform that allows you to leverage the power of your social media communities to find and recruit top talent for your business. You can broadcast your open jobs to your social media communities and create engaging job listings.

Cost: Starts out with free plans, and moves to $59 a month and higher for more complex recruiting packages.

PlumWhat it does: Plum is a cloud-based hiring solution that describes itself as “Moneyball for Hiring” because it helps small businesses find, sort, and hire the right people while saving money and reducing time spent on reading resumes, interviewing, and training. Plum helps improve the efficiency of your hiring process by conducting rigorous tests on each job applicant’s problem solving skills and personality traits. The test results reveal which candidates have the most potential to succeed and prospective hires are placed in positions accordingly.

Cost: Sign up for a free demo and get more information about pricing by talking with a Plum Success Manager.

16

LEGAL & TAXES

DocuSignWhat it does: DocuSign collects electronic signatures (for example, for contracts or purchase agreements) and helps your business manage electronic transactions. With DocuSign, your business can prepare documents, create templates for repetitive tasks, obtain online signatures, and get business done faster. DocuSign also integrates easily with CRM systems such as Salesforce and can pull key data such as job titles, names, and Purchase Order numbers from your systems, thus saving time and reducing the risk of errors.

Cost: DocuSign costs $20 per user per month for up to 10 users, or $30 per user per month for up to 1,000 users.

LegalZoomWhat it does: LegalZoom offers affordable, easy-to-use online legal services to help business owners file important legal documents, such as business formation, business compliance, tax filings, patents and copyright, and other legal forms necessary to keep your business in good standing, protect your intellectual property and ensure that your company is on the right side of the law.

Cost: Pricing depends on which legal forms you need – get more details by signing up for an account. LegalZoom also offers a Business Legal Plan where you can talk to an attorney about legal matters starting at $23.99 per month.

TrustFileWhat it does: TrustFile is a sales tax filing program that makes it easy to track your sales tax receipts, sync your sales tax data, and file your sales tax return. The app also provides analysis and reports of your sales tax, broken down across more than 12,000 U.S. tax jurisdictions so you can quickly figure out where you need to pay sales tax (down to the city or county level). TrustFile can accept sales data from all sellers (online or offline) and it integrates with any eCommerce platform.

Cost: Free!

17

AMAZON & EBAY SELLERS

TeikametricsWhat it does: Teikametrics is a data platform that optimizes your inventory and pricing when selling on eBay and Amazon. Teikametrics will help you reprice your products automatically against what your competition. It also helps you with inventory, allowing you to understand what is most profitable, and what inventory to scrap. When you restock your inventory, you can see expected profit margins and the competitive scenario for each product. In addition, Teikametrics offers consulting services.

Cost: Prices start at $499 a month and go up from there. Details are available by requesting a demo.

AppEagleWhat it does: AppEagle lets you automate your pricing and eliminate hours of pricing research for products you sell on eBay and Amazon. You can set minimum and maximum prices, and uses their proprietary Continuous Repricing™ feature to automatically adjust prices so you stay ahead of your competition and win more Buy Boxes. AppEagle’s dashboard will also help you track your sales and profits at a glance, tracks your history, and allows you to monitor your competition.

Cost: Free 14-day trial, pricing starting at $25 a month after that.

18

We’ve come a long way since the pre-Internet era. (Thank goodness, right?) Of course, a lot of things about doing business hasn’t changed: you still need to build solid relationships, establish trust, and get people to want to keep coming back for repeat purchases.

But, while the core of business stays the same, we’re pretty pumped to see updated tools and technology that are changing the way everyone does business. We know you appreciate saving money and time, and the tools we gathered here make it so much faster, easier, and cheaper to manage and conduct business in a way that previous generations never could’ve imagined. If feels good to be a business owner in this modern era, doesn’t it?

Instead of spending boring, drawn-out time and money on dealing with payroll, mailing invoices, or handling other frustrating details, use these online tools to help grow your business in an efficient way. We feel like this BIG list of tools will allow you to spend more time serving customers, creating new products, and investing in the growth of your company. And that makes us smile.

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn