Tools for Agencies & Freelancers To Scale Their Business

It is no small feat to run an agency. It’s like managing ten things at once. There are multiple things that need to be taken care of.

For example, the marketing team generates leads and passes them on to the sales team who close them as a client and then the finance team makes sure to send out the invoices on time and get paid for services rendered

Lastly, there’s the creative team. Once leads are converted into clients, account managers talk to the client and get a project brief and the creative team starts working on the actual project.

The more workflows happening at once, the greater are the chances of making a mistake. Luckily, there are tons of different tools available at your fingertips to scale your agency.

However, there are so many different tools to choose from that it can be overwhelming for you.

There are various tools for each of these pain points of an agency:

• Legal Formalities
• Managing Deadlines
• Recurring Invoices
• Email Tracking
• Record payments
• Managing leads
• And much more...

Categories of Tools Mentioned

Clients are an agency's most valuable asset. To maintain a strong relationship, you have to make every effort to understand their needs. This way, you can anticipate potential challenges and offer them the most effective solutions right away. That is why it is essential to have a CRM tool.

A CRM tool allows you to keep track of clients and potential leads details, identify sales opportunities, track service problems, and manage marketing strategies all in one place. And the best part? That information about a client and interactions with them can be accessible to anyone who might need it at your agency.

To make it easier for you, we have mentioned a few CRM tools which can be very useful for your agency. But first, let’s look at a few benefits of using a CRM tool.

4 Benefits Of CRM Tool

Enhance engagement with high-quality leads

A powerful CRM can help with prospecting by segmenting leads based on their behaviour and location. For example, you can segment leads based on who has visited your pricing page and send them targeted messages with offers that will pique their interest.

Concentrate on the right deals

With tags like ‘Discovery’ ‘Qualified’ ‘In Conversation’ ‘Closed Won’, an AI-powered CRM gives you a visual overview of all the deals in a pipeline. Throughout the sales pipeline, keep track of how each deal is progressing; identify and eliminate pipeline bottlenecks. Concentrate on the offers that will net you the most money; determine which deals are most likely to close and where additional resources are needed.

Stay on the top of sales activities

According to Hubspot research, 82% of customers expect businesses to respond quickly and 62% of these consider ten minutes or less to be immediate. Fortunately, one of the advantages of a CRM is that it will assist you to do just the same, such as automated emails to promptly respond.

Improve conversion rate

For starters, you can find out where your prospects are falling off and joining your sales funnel by monitoring their activity on your platform. You can use this information to reduce drop-off points and increase conversions.

Here are a few Top CRM Tools for Agencies:

Clientjoy

Clientjoy is a CRM tool for agencies that have assisted over 3000 agencies. It provides a wide range of functionality across multiple verticals, including Lead Management, Preparing Proposals, Client Management, and Invoices.

Furthermore, the best part is that all of the software's features are included in all of the plans with a few add-ons available. Clientjoy can also be integrated with popular software that you might be using such as Zapier or Global payment gateways like PayPal for payment collections and more.

• Starter Plan - $15 Monthly/ $9 Annually
• Agency Plan - $25 Monthly/ $15 Annually
• Enterprise Plan - $49 Monthly/ $30 Annually

BenchmarkONE

BenchmarkONE is a specially developed CRM and marketing automation platform for SMBs and agencies. BenchmarkONE makes it simple to manage opportunities and grow sales, thanks to personalized lead scoring capabilities and a suite of email marketing and tracking tools.

• Core - $79 Monthly
• Pro - $139 Monthly
• Enterprise - $199 Monthly

Pipedrive

Pipedrive is a CRM tool that is designed to encourage salespeople to work with customers and managers. It is ideal for long or difficult sales companies as it is mainly a tool for pre-sales.

• Essential - $21.88 Monthly
• Advanced - $40.12 Monthly
• Professional - $71.73 Monthly

Bonus: 5 Best CRM Tools For Agencies

The last thing agencies and freelancers need when working on a huge project or account is to concentrate on certain legal issues rather than on the job. Even though it might not be interesting to think about legalities, it’d be helpful to have a few legal tools which protect their professional interests.

Here are a few legal tools you can use:

Zen Business

Zen Business is a reliable partner for business owners who want to start, run, and grow their company. Zen Business leverages technology and automation to deliver quick and low-cost services, expert support, and a personalized dashboard that puts everything you need at your fingertips.

• Starter - $49 Yearly
• Pro - $199 Yearly
• Premium - $299 Yearly

Gust

This company helps startups launch and supports founders with legal tools and business advice. Their focus is on incorporation because they were created by venture capitalists who expect you to fund your startup with equity investors.

• Start - $300 Yearly (Ideal for startup)
• Accelerate - $1000 Yearly (Ideal for fundraising)
• Raise - $3000 Yearly (Ideal for company operations)

Legal Shield

LegalShield focuses on prepaid legal policies for both individuals and businesses. However, if you pay a monthly fee, you can get legal advice on a variety of small business issues, including contract analysis, debt collection assistance, and also you can call a legal attorney for any queries.

• SMB Legal Essentials - $49 Monthly
• SMB Legal Plus - $99 Monthly
• SMB Legal Pro - $169 Monthly

Swyft Filings

Swyft Filings will begin the process of creating your new agency right away. This tool has some of the quickest processing times in the industry. Swiftly enables you to get your agency up and running. Swyft Filings Business Specialists will properly shape your new agency, saving you time and money by avoiding costly mistakes.

• Starter Pack - $49 Monthly

Bonus: 5 Essential Legal Tools To Manage Your Agency

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While running an agency, you and your team are working on multiple aspects such as generating leads, managing clients, and so on. These tasks can occupy a lot of your and your team’s time which can result in less productivity.

The simple reason behind less productivity is that most employees might not feel fully engaged in the workflow and hence procrastinate. Fortunately, in this digital age of technology, dealing with such issues is not that difficult.

There are tons of tools that you can use for end-to-end employee and task management; these tools can help you monitor productivity and manage various tasks and responsibilities with optimal working conditions.

Let's take a look at some of the best productivity tools that we've found to be effective in our work processes.

Slack

Slack is a workplace communication tool that works as a single location for messaging, tools, and files. Slack is an instant messaging system with a wide range of add-ons tools.

• Free Plan
• Pro - $7.60 Monthly
• Business+ - $14.29 Monthly
• Enterprise Grid - Quote

Livestorm

Livestorm is a video engagement platform that lets you create everything there is related to videos and host private workshops. You can create online events like webinars,interviews, etc., or create product demos, and a lot more.

• Starter - Free
• Premium - $109/host, Billed Monthly

Calendly

This service is intended for scheduling meetings and events. It is embedded with the Zoom application. This service will alleviate the need to coordinate meetings using email addresses and phone numbers.

• Basic - Free
• Premium - $10 Monthly
• Pro - $15 Monthly

Pocket

The Pocket app service helps you save fascinating content from the Internet in one click and open it later when you have more time. The Highlights tool helps you find high-quality and interesting web tools that fit your most popular search queries, in addition to the key features. The highlight tool constantly observes and adapts to the user, so the process of action improves over time.

• Free Account
• Premium Membership - $4.99 Monthly

Productfolio

Productfolio creates one of the best product management software so that your team can focus on building products. The software gives end-to-end workflow tools to empower your team and to align the workflow. Using this, you can define 'what' and ‘why’ so that the teams can work in the same direction. Productfolio also lets you prioritize opportunities to help you create a roadmap for your business. The simple drag and drop of the visual roadmap will help others know what teams should work and when. Team collaborations, workflow roadmaps, creative ideas are some impressive features.

Bonus: 5 Must-Try Productivity Tools For Agencies

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As an agency owner, you know there are not enough hours a day. There are so many tasks that need to be done, from coordinating on calls to creating new campaigns and so on. The list goes on & on and above all, you need to keep your business going and bring in new clients.

However, creating business proposals from scratch can be a difficult process that takes too many valuable hours. Fortunately, the market is full of tools that make the process of making proposals much simpler, so that you can concentrate on your spot to win new customers – and don't have to worry about formatting and tracking your suggestions.

Here, we’re going to list down the best tools to make proposals:

Clientjoy

Looking for proposal templates but can't find any good variety to it? Then you don't have to worry, Clientjoy is your one-stop solution. Clientjoy is an all-in-one customer management tool for freelancers and agencies. We aim to help you manage leads, clients and revenue all under one roof.

With Clientjoy, you can create high-impact proposals with predefined templates and quickly close sales in minutes.

• Free Forever Plan
• Premium - $19 Monthly/$190 Annually
• Lifetime Deal - $499

Proposable

Proposable offers tools and analytics for drag and drops design as well as a variety of custom templates. With Proposable, after you send your proposals, you can set up email and SMS notices – a good time-saving feature for agencies with multiple pending proposals.

• Team - $39 Monthly
• Enterprise - $500 Monthly
• Reseller White Label - $2000 Monthly

WordStream

WordStream offers a robust platform for PPC agencies. The platform is equipped with white-labelled performance graders for presenting detailed audits of client accounts.

Their proposal generator tool provides you with a customizable, downloadable PDF that makes it easier for you to recommend a successful, full-funnel approach to your prospects.

• Individual - $49 monthly

Nusii

Nusii is a fantastic choice when it comes to simplicity and ease of use. You can make a number of proposals using it. This can be useful if you work in a field where you send out a lot of bids on a weekly basis.

This platform also allows you to reconnect with current customers on a regular basis. You can also use analytics to figure out which plans are bringing in the most money for your business. This enables you to identify your most valuable customers.

• Freelancers - $29 Monthly
• Professionals - $49 Monthly
• Businesses - $129 Monthly

Bonus: 6 Proposal Generator Tools to Help Your Agency Grow

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Social media has become a regular part of our lives. For a long time, it has been one of the most cost-effective online marketing tactics. Without having to pay for it, social media enables you to increase your exposure and brand recognition.

But when it comes to scaling your social media campaigns, you'll need something unique. You simply cannot conquer social media if you do not offer something different and stand out from others.

With the help of various social media tools, you can find more content to share, schedule posts at the right time, monitor the success of your campaigns and more. They also have actionable insights that you can use to boost your social presence.

Let’s look at a few Social Media Tools:

Linkjoy

Linkjoy is a product for creators, digital marketing hustlers, and growth hackers who look forward to increasing Brand Awareness, accelerate lead generation and retarget one-time visitors.

It is a three –in –one package of Link In Bio, Link Retargeting and Instagram Biolink. Linkjoy allows you to add multiple links, create micro landing pages, re-target and track your audience and cross-promote content, all through just ONE URL.

Linkjoy is the perfect tool for everyone from freelancers to influencers to agencies. Its pricing starts with a basic plan that is free forever. And other plans that are a lifetime deal (LTD) i.e., pay once and use forever!

• Free Forever
• Lite- $39 LTD
• Pro- $79 LTD
• Ultimate- $99 LTD

RafflePress

RafflePress is the perfect tool for boosting your social media following and engagement. Plus, it can also help you drive more traffic to your site, grow your email list, and even increase sales.

• Plus - $39 Per Year
• Pro - $79 Per Year
• Growth - $159 Per Year
• Ultimate Lifetime Offer - $359

ZeroFox

ZeroFox is a protection tool that integrates with all major social media sites, as well as Slack, Google Play, and the App Store on iOS. It detects and defends brands from hackers attempting to gain access to social media accounts.

That isn't it, however. In addition, the platform operates to safeguard its clients' social media reputations. This is accomplished by deleting offensive and purposefully destructive content, removing impersonation accounts, and shielding followers from scammers. Consider ZeroFox to be a major public relations tool with security capabilities.

• Price - As Per Quote

FollowerMonk

FollowerMonk is a Twitter-exclusive application. It's also one of the most comprehensive and practical resources on the list. Followerwonk will assist you in analyzing and optimizing your Twitter following. It accomplishes this by recommending people to follow, thus assisting you in expanding your network. This tool is a must-have if Twitter is a part of your social media marketing strategy.

• Connect - Free
• Target - $29 Monthly
• Multitask - $79 Monthly

While you have the tools to manage your social media, coming up with new ideas for posts is the toughest part! To help you out, we’ve curated 420+ killer post ideas that are used by top influencers and you can customize and use them as per your requirements.

Bonus: 12+ Social Media Tools You Need To Run Your Agency

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Times change and so does business. As the world moves more and more towards Work From Home, agencies use various tools and platforms to gain access to the best talent for a range of services.

These platforms provide a marketplace for companies to browse independent candidates' profiles based on expertise, experience, location, and other criteria.

Similarly, agencies can also look for potential clients according to their services. An agency can list down their services on the platform so that when someone is looking for that particular service, they can contact the agency directly.

We've compiled a list of a few marketplaces that agencies can use to generate leads.

ViiBE

ViiBE is a visual assistance technology without download that is integrated into all CRMs and dedicated to remote technical support centres and pre/after-sales processes (for B2B and B2B2C use cases). It allows businesses to perform high-quality assistance remotely even when the situation becomes complex, thus reducing the number of on-site trips needed, while offering an immediate solution to customers, providers, or collaborators' issues.

It also promises the best remote diagnosis thanks to live video stream, AR, ticketing, call routing and collaborative tools. As a result, ViiBE helps businesses to reduce costs, downtime truck roll and CO2 emissions while improving customer satisfaction, NPS and industrial performances.

Skyward

Skyword makes it simple for agencies to find creative talent and potential clients. Skyword includes tools for all aspects of content operations, including strategy, planning, creation, collection, activation, personalization, and optimization.

Content operations can be executed at scale with the help of an international freelance community from over 46 countries and the ability to translate the platform into 14 languages.

• Individual - Quote Based Customized Plan

Designhill

Designhill.com is a web-based design marketplace that assists agency owners in finding high-quality custom designs at reasonable prices. Businesses with specialized design requirements, such as logo design, web design, stationery design, and packaging design (among more than 35 design categories).

Hence it is a platform where agencies can get custom designs so the prices are different for each design.

Upwork

Upwork is one of the most popular platforms for agencies to find leads. This platform aims to connect service providers with potential clients or projects. This site offers a wide range of short- and long-term contracts.

• Basic - Free of cost
• Plus - $49 Per Month

Bonus: Top 10 Marketplace Tools For Agencies

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Yeah, I know we all want to get back to basics and put pen to paper. However, incorporating new design tools into the process can sometimes help you to flow the creative juice.

Typically, the design process begins with brainstorming for samples, ideas, and cost-effectively reconnecting with current customers’ themes. As inventive as the process can be, it can also be tediously repetitive. Designers can benefit from a variety of tools when working on tasks that require them to create design mock-ups and then repeat the same design steps over and over.

Whatever problem you're trying to solve in your web design workflow, there's a tool for it, whether it's a standalone utility or a feature within a larger app. The even better news is that so many of these great tools are free.

To help you out, we've compiled a list of tools that we believe to be the best tools available right now.

Figma

For designers and developers working on their own or in a digital agency, Figma should be considered for easy cooperation and real-time feedback from customers in the inventory of web design tools.

• Starter - Free
• Professional - $12 Monthly
• Organization - $45 Monthly

Behance

Behance is the most used online website design tool for independent and agency-based creative designers. You can show off your work to the world while also discovering relevant works by other designers.

• Pro Task - $0.1 Task-based
• Pro individual - $10 Monthly
• Startup Plan - $69 Monthly

Bonus Reads:

5000+ Premium Graphics templates

5 Best Design Tools To Use As An Agency

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There are hundreds of free SEO tools out there. But with the wealth of choices available in the market, how do you know what tool is best for which SEO task?

The harsh reality is that not all SEO resources are produced equal. The vast majority of them are not worth your time or money.

Here are some of the best SEO tools:

Google Search Console

This important tool has recently been updated. Many old features were replaced in the new version, which also included more details, features, and reports. What makes this method so beneficial to businesses? Creating a monitoring system and good reporting is important for SEO agencies. It is strongly recommended that you set up Google Search Console if you haven't already.

• Price Pack - As Per The Quote

Serpstat

Serpstat allows you to perform keyword research, competitive analysis, technical site audits, backlink analysis, and other tasks. Serpstat data may not be as accurate or comprehensive but it is still a reliable SEO tool. Serpstat, which began as a simple keyword research tool in 2013, has gradually evolved into a full-fledged SEO and PPC analysis platform.

• Individual - $19 Monthly
• Premium - $69 Monthly

Mangools

Agencies can profit from Mangools' SEO toolset. The design and ease of use have made it extremely common. Keyword testing, competitor analysis, backlink analysis, rank monitoring, and SERP analysis are all important features.

• Basic - $29.90 Per Monthly
• Premium - $39.90 Per Monthly
• Agency - $79.90 Per Monthly

Bonus: 5 Essential SEO Tools For Agencies

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Time is a valuable asset. We can not "stock on" it, but we can't go back and recover it if we waste it.

Even though we all understand the importance of managing our time, both our own and that of our peers, many companies still lack a well-defined time management setup. People are likely to be aware of where their time is going, whether or not they feel efficient on a given day, and whether or not they have set the appropriate goals. But what if you need more precise and reliable data for your analysis? What if you're a group of 50 or 100 people who need to run a profitable company? That is why you need time management tools.

In addition, time management tools allow you to assess your progress as well as that of your project teams, see what's going on, and possibly make improvements to boost productivity.

Here are some of the best time management tools.

Scoro

Scoro includes all of the resources you'll need for effective time management, such as time tracking, accounting, job monitoring, and project and task management.

• Individual - $26 Monthly

Activecollab

Time billing and project management are combined in ActiveCollab, making it easier to schedule and monitor innovative projects. This tool also includes team coordination and real-time communication features.

• Individual - $25 Monthly

Clarizen

Clarizen's cloud-based project management platform has one goal to assist you in moving your company forward. Clarizen has configurable workflows, so you can tailor it to the company's needs rather than the other way around.

• Individual - $60 Monthly

Bonus: 6 Best Time Management Tools For Your Agency

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Let's face it, invoicing is a hassle. It can take a long time to generate invoices, mail them out, and follow up on unpaid bills. Furthermore, repeated invoices could be costing you money without your knowledge. An excellent alternative to traditional accounting systems is an online invoicing tool.

You can handle all the operations more efficiently with invoice tools and save a lot of time and money as a result. There are numerous options available that make sending customized invoices easy. They even ensure that you are paid on time and that you do not lose track of the payments you owe.

With so many tools available, we've compiled a list of our top suggestions to make your decision a little easier:

Clientjoy

Clientjoy helps agencies and freelancers generate invoices and keep track of payments, among other items, such as tracking leads and making proposals. You can not only generate invoices, but you can also keep track of whether the client has opened the invoice email sent to him.

Clientjoy also lets you sort invoices sent by payment status, payment modes, and selling agent, as well as set reminders, ensuring that you never miss a deadline and are paid on time.

• Free Forever Plan
• Premium - $19 Monthly/$190 Annually
• Lifetime Deal - $499

Paypal

Paypal is one of the best ways to run your business if you look for billing software that gives you every basic feature to keep your business affordable. The no-frills fracturing feature enables you to send personalized and unlimited bills.

• It’s Free

Invoice2Go

Another simple but effective online billing program is Invoice2go. If you need quick and easy-to-use invoicing software with no extra features, this is a great option. You can generate and submit invoices instantly with Invoice2go on your smartphone. All of your data is synced across all of your devices, ensuring that you always have everything you need.

• Lite - $3 Monthly
• Standard - $8.33 Monthly
• Advanced - $15 Monthly
• Unlimited - $33.34 Monthly

Oneup

OneUp is a cloud-based accounting and invoicing platform for medium-to-large enterprises as well as smaller businesses with a strong working knowledge of accounting. It helps you manage your payroll, invoicing, inventory, and customer relationship management (CRM) from your smartphone or laptop.

• Starter - $12 Monthly
• Intermediate - $20 Monthly
• Growth - $40 Monthly

Bous: 9 Best Invoicing Tools For Hassle-Free Billing

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Getting the right project management tools is a critical advantage in today's digital world. More than 40% of innovative and marketing agencies still handle their projects on Excel spreadsheets and are unhappy with the performance.

It's unfortunate, but the only reason these agencies are unhappy with their current project management is that they chose the wrong tool or failed to understand how it works. This raises an important question: which project management tool will be the best fit for your company? This is where you can find the answer to your query.

You might be living under a rock if you’re not aware of the benefits that come along with project management tools. We’ve outlined some common benefits below:

• Faster collaboration
• Easier delegation
• Accurate project tracking
• Central data storage
• Seamless communication
• Quick file-sharing
• Time tracking
• Automated invoicing
• Quick reporting

Thereby we have compiled the best project management tools to improve your game.

10,000 Plans

10,000ft is an immersive project management and planning platform with a pleasing visual GUI. A design collaboration software program with built-in design thinking tools and a way to collect data and analysis for communicating the design reasoning to clients is also available from the company.

• Basic - $150 Monthly
• Professional - $250 Monthly

Teamwork

Teamwork is a cloud-based project management solution that gives companies the tools they need to handle various project operations. Task lists, time tracking, file uploads, and notifications are a few features. Teamwork aids in the management of group goals, communication, and the establishment of business processes. (It's worth mentioning that Teamwork is a HubSpot integration partner.)

• Individual - Free Forever
• Deliver - $10 Monthly
• Grow - $18 Monthly
• Enterprise - By Quote

Zoho Projects

Zoho offers tools for various corporate functions such as finances, human resources, sales, and marketing as well as project management. The Zoho Projects tool allows agency teams easy communication management and progress tracking.

• Individual - Free
• Premium - $350 Monthly
• Enterprise - $700 Monthly

Bonus: Top 5 Project Management Tools For Agencies

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As an agency owner, you’re bound to come across running ads for your few clients. There are different forms of ads that enable companies to reach out to new customers and reconnect with current customers in a cost-effective manner.

With ads, you can target a specific group of people to influence them in a more non-intrusive and natural way. However, it only works if you know how to use all of the promotional resources in the right way.

That’s where advertising tools come in. They can streamline and automate various aspects of advertising, such as planning, collaboration, implementation, sharing, monitoring, and analysis.

Here are a few ad management tools:

RollWorks

RollWorks is an account-based platform designed to help you identify target accounts, access them via advertisements and different channels, and measure your impact and success. The tool can identify the target account, prioritize the target account, automate different sales tasks and advertise on the account.

• Starter - $975 Monthly

ADRoll

AdRoll is an eCommerce platform that focuses on advertising, email marketing, AI-based product reviews, and cross-channel measurement for eCommerce businesses. The website serves as the hub for all of your company's marketing and advertising efforts.

• Starter - Free
• Growth - $19 Month

Influ2

Influ2 is a B2B-specific person-based ad platform. Show your ads to certain persons with the tool and then measure the publicity's success among the targets.

• Starter - As Per Quote'

Celtra

Celtra is a cloud-based creative development platform that automates the process. Because of the platform's cloud-based nature, all facets of collaboration can be simplified and more effective team members can design, authorize, and exchange digital assets across industries, projects, and more.

• Starter - As Per Quote

Bonus : Ad-management-tool-for-agencies

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Wrapping Up

You are expected to be at several places simultaneously when you run an agency and manage multiple customers. You must ensure that everything works smoothly and that your customer experience is incredible. Why not test them out if you're still not sure? These days, free testing is the industry standard.

Investing in the right tools for your agency will not only help you streamline all of your processes but will also allow you to scale your business.

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