6 Apps to Increase Productivity
6 Apps & Extensions You Have Probably Never Heard Of, But Will Be Glad You Did.
There are many challenges to running a successful agency.
The biggest for most of us is finding ways to save time and improve
performance. Here, in no particular order, are some of my favorites. I’m
sure these would work for plenty of other businesses, but they have become a
necessity for me. And no, I’m not getting compensated for clicks, some of these
are free:
Instapaper. One of my most used apps, Instapaper allows you to save article, webpages and pretty much anything you are viewing in your browser to a clean format to read later. This is not cut and paste. You can file the information into categories you create and even share it. I use it to read stuff I don’t have time for, later when I do. This is by far the cleanest format I have seen. It works on any screen, so if you are browsing your feed on your phone and want to save it, you are two clicks away. It will be at the top when you get around to opening it later.
Clipboard History Pro. This one is a life saver. Anything you copy and paste is saved for you to access later. You can even save to a favorite’s category for frequently used links or descriptions. This extension for Chrome lives at the top of your browser. Once installed you don’t have to do anything, it saves automatically. If you need something you copied, you click and a drop-down box appears.
Lola.com. My new favorite business travel app. Designed for SMB’s lola.com gives you a platform for booking, controlling business travel expense, enforcing travel policy and managing reporting and categorizing for accounting. But one feature is really irreplaceable and that is the customer service. I was recently stuck at DFW Airport due to ongoing weather delays and while my airline was very slow to update me, the team at lola.com kept me updated by looking at the inbound aircraft status. When the airline said it was another hour delay, I knew the plane hadn’t even departed the previous location and instead of waiting around, they booked me on a flight the next morning while everyone else was scrambling.
Calendly. Scheduling calls and appointments can be a real time waster with all the back and forth. This Chrome extension allows you to set up your appointment criteria for different lengths and types of calls or meetings. Then, when you are suggesting a meeting you simply click on the type of meeting (I use 15-minute intro call, 30-minute conference call and others). It creates a link which you paste into an email that allows the recipient to click on the link, select an available time on your calendar and confirm the appointment. It adds it to your calendar once accepted. It will also send reminders.
TinEye. TinEye is a reverse image search extension. I use this mostly when I am suspicious that I have received a connection request that looks off. You simply right click on the image, select TinEye and it scours the web to find the image. I have used it the most on LinkedIn and Fiverr when someone in a profile is suspiciously good looking. I know, sounds dumb, but when you find out that you are looking at a stock photo, you know to delete.
The Great Suspender. If you are like me, you have way too many tabs open and it eats up your computer’s memory. The extension automatically suspends unused tabs to free up system resources. The tab still appears on your browser, but when you open it is asleep. Just click on it and comes right back.
Pipedrive CRM. I can’t imagine you don’t have a CRM. But if you don’t or you don’t like the one you have, Pipedrive does everything I need it to do at a very reasonable price. It is web based and has iPhone and Android versions. It integrates with many other platforms, is customizable and easy to learn. Support is just an instant message away. I’m leery of any CRM that requires you hire a consultant to help you implement it, Pipedrive is simple and feature filled.
It would be great to hear back from you about your favorite time saving apps and extensions.