How Service Based Business Owners Can Use Dubsado

Are you using more than one CRM? As a new business owner, there is a lot you need to deal with. Some activities around your business are fun, some not so much. Paperwork or in other words administrative tasks is one thing that you as an entrepreneur might struggle with or try to avoid for as long as you can. To start off your business, you most likely don’t want to spend too much money and rather use free platforms that will do the trick. It’s not bad to think about it this way, but what about efficiency? Is it efficient to send out all the email proposals manually, use pdfs for onboarding, use another software for bookkeeping or scheduling calls? The answer is NO. 

This is where the Dubsado comes into play. Paperwork that you would normally spend a pretty big chunk of time on can now be reduced to a minimum, and you can put more time and effort into your creative side of the business and do what you love the most. Sounds like a dream? Trust me, it is, and it’s so worth it. Let’s talk more about what Dubsado is and how it can help service-based business owners like you to make your workflow more efficient.

What is Dubsado?

If you’ve never heard about Dubsado, it’s a Customer Relationship Management software aka CRM that, as they say, ‘’helps you build relationships, schedule appointments, and create workflows to streamline your projects from start to finish’’. I would add that it helps you grow your business, improve your client’s experience, and save your time (you can’t even imagine unless you try it!). 

It was founded by a couple Becca & Jake who recognized the need of having just one place to go instead of using multiple platforms and solved this never-ending entrepreneurial problem. They started their business as a team of two, but they grew their team within the past 3 years to 30 devoted people who became part of their journey and continue to improve your experience. 

Why do you NEED Dubsado in your business life?

Where do I even start?! Dubsado has a lot of features, so I would be here all day going through all of them. You might not even be using all of them, but today, I will mention a few that are the most relevant ones and they will simplify your operations.

Dubsado provides a lot of helpful forms (templates) that you can simply customize and make it ‘on brand’. This is one of the reasons why business owners love it. You can add your color palette, logo, and your business details. You can make it your own and it speaks for you. Some of the most popular features are:

Proposals

A great way to kick off your collaboration. You can customize your proposals and add your packages on there, to showcase what you offer and your pricing. If the client decides to go ahead, a contract and invoice can be sent right after they agree to your proposal. You don’t need to move a finger, it’s all done for you!

Contracts

When creating your contracts, you can either choose from some of the Dubsado’s templates that you can customize, or you can upload your own one. What I love about it is that when creating a contract, you can use some auto-generated smart fields that will make your contract signing easy and smooth. Once it’s all signed, both parties can download it and you will have it saved in your client’s folder, so no need to look for it in your emails or worry that it will get lost.

Invoicing

There are three options on how you can get paid once your client has your invoice. Dubsado can be integrated with your Stripe, Square, or Paypal account or you can also record payment manually if the client pays you through cheque or any other way. You can create recurring payments and even automatic payments depending on which platform from the above three you use. Lastly, you can set up reminders that clients will receive in case their payment is overdue or adjust invoices if needed. Overall bookkeeping options on Dubsado will make your accounting life easier and you’ll have everything in one place. You can also integrate it with Wave or QuickBooks.

Scheduling Appointments & Questionnaires

Both are included in your Dubsado subscription! Instead of using Calendly or Acquity, your people can schedule a call with you through Dubsado, and you can also send them reminders before the call.

It’s also very easy to design your questionnaires that can be used for client onboarding, general feedback, or anything else that needs to be discussed, but you don’t want to be sending all the questions in the email and go back and forth. You can customize these and there are forms to choose from, so no need to start from scratch. 

Automated Workflows

This is one of the best features! Having the workflows in place will save you so much time and make your processes much smoother. For example, once someone will contact you through the contact form on your website, they will get an automatic response from you. Another example would be a client accepting your proposal. Once they do that, they will receive the contract. When they sign it, they will receive the invoice. So easy and you don’t need to do anything. Workflows are amazing if you have similar processes/packages for your clients. 

Canned Emails

Another useful tool is the ability to send canned emails! No more worrying about re-writing the same email like reminders or thank you emails. You can also see whether your email was opened, so that might be your next favorite thing to track on Dubsado.

 

How much does it cost?

What I love about Dubsado is that you don’t need to pay straight away. What do you mean Tara, you ask? Well, Dubsado has a free trial for you! The free trial doesn’t end after a week or a month. It’s an unlimited trial that is only restricted by the number of projects/clients instead of a time limit. Having three clients on your free version will allow you to play around with this software and get to know it before you commit and add your credit card details.

Once you decide that you love it and you don’t want to use anything else, it’s $35/month or $350/year. This will give you access to unlimited clients/projects and you can use all the features to its full potential. 

If you think you should pay separately for a scheduling tool, accounting software, and a platform for signing contracts, it’s so worth it to rather get Dubsado and have it all in one place. Saves you a lot of time and it keeps you organized.

Conclusion

Is it worth the money? Absolutely YES! Dubsado will make your processes smoother and you won’t have to worry about sending emails, invoices, and contracts manually. Try the free (time-unlimited) version, play around with it, and see whether you like it and if it works for you. If you are still on the edge and not sure whether you need it, think long-term and how much time it will save you when all the tasks are automated. You can focus on your main business and be more efficient with all the other tasks. Try it and see for yourself. I can’t recommend it enough.