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Two recent changes to established funding companies have caught my eye and here's what it means for funders and the business lending industry at large. In April of this year, BFS Capital essentially transformed into Nuula, which was a new venture started from within BFS Capital as a software application project and now is the new company. Less than two months ago they announced they had raised $120 million to build out their new software application. Yes Lender just announced they have rebranded to Fintegra. The reason for the rebranding according to the company’s CEO is “serves as a daily reminder to our customers and colleagues of our mission and values”(Yes Lender Rebrands, 2021). While these major changes may seem similar on the surface, they really are not, although they may be commonplace in business in general. Rebranding to Fintegra is a smart move although some might argue overdue given their main product offering of an MCA not being a loan, thus not being a ‘Lender’. We’ve seen similar changes in the past like when Rapid Advance went to Rapid Finance partly due to the product offerings they had and were planning on in the future. This rebranding to Fintegra is simply that, not a major structural change or pivot or expansion in product offerings as far as could be gleaned from the press release. They do mention their investment in technology as being key to their business model as it should with any credit provider. Still, it should serve the company well in the marketplace as being a business finance company that leads with its technology and professes its integrity. If most funders offering MCA products put more integrity into their core values this industry would be much better off. I would also expect more rebranding in the future with this type of product shift taking place. I can think of several that should do so especially if they offer more than just merchant cash advances already. With regards to Nuula, which could be a case study in “Intrapreneurship”, their changes are a pivot and structural from top to bottom. Nuula aims to be a super app offering many services to businesses that will not only help them gain financing at the more exact time needed but also help in decision making and analysis. They will offer third-party banking and white label products through their app, customer sentiment tracking like ratings and reviews for their business from various sites, cashflow forecasting, and on the roadmap are payments and e-commerce data(Linden, 2021). Think of this as being like the consumer finance application Mint, which offers a broad range of services besides linking your bank accounts and tracking transactions like credit scores, insurance products, budgeting, etc. The business owners' payments and e-commerce transaction data are the key for any underwriting model and gaining real-time access to it are at the top of the priority list for all. Funders, really of any credit product, would like that access but it isn’t always easy to gain when using third-party services on the market like Decision Logic. It's much better to create something that you have direct access to the data, but that takes a large capital investment that not all can or will make. Companies like Stripe for example, make it so simple when a merchant is using their payments platform to offer that merchant working capital when they are eligible. The merchant gets a notification via their dashboard or email when they are eligible initially or for renewal. The user experience is so frictionless that a business owner can get a renewal application completed within 10 minutes without credit being pulled, supporting documents added, or other stipulations, and then get funds within the same day. Then their progress on the ‘loan’ is displayed and updated in real-time after every transaction on their dashboard. Nuula’s CEO Mark Ruddock sees an opportunity for innovation in the services being offered to small and medium-sized businesses throughout the US as well as most parts of the world(Lunden, 2021). They will release the app to the US first then Canada, the UK, and other parts of Europe. They moved their digital headquarters to Canada from south Florida(full disclosure I worked at BFS years ago), stopped funding new loans, and shut down their ISO partner channel. The shutting down of their ISO channel be very notable and a warning sign to brokers out there. The amount of capital raised for the development and growth of this app should put them at the forefront of the small business lending industry and be very successful if everything goes as planned. Much of the rest of the industry will be playing catchup if they aren’t already innovating or adding other verticals to their product offerings. The bigger players are likely already on this path. The rest may have the business and credit model that works for them now for a certain volume of clients, but where are the clients going in the future if these funders don’t enhance their ability to differentiate themselves by offering new related services that create value for the business owner? Technology is moving so fast companies must keep up or get left behind. Time will tell, but Nuula and Fintegra are moving in the right direction. Lunden, I. (2021). Nuula raises $120M to build out a financial services ‘super app’ aimed at SMBs. Retrieved from https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/09/nuula-raises- 120m-to-build-out-a-financial-services-superapp-aimed-at-smbs/ Yes Lender Rebrands as Fintegra and Signs Roger W. Ferguson, Jr. as an Investor and Advisor. (2021). Retrieved from https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/yes-lender-rebrands-as-fintegra-and-signs-roger-w-ferguson-jr-as-an-investor-and-advisor-301423160.html

1. Regulation is at top of everyone’s minds with the recent VA bill passed and proceeding to the Governor being just the most recent. If passed, the law creates a registration system for all brokers operating based in VA. More states to follow soon but approaching laws in two different ways; like CA and NY or the way VA did. 2. Mayor of Miami Francis Suarez continues his push to get businesses to Miami but says it’s a cooperative effort with the surrounding counties. Stresses the importance of this moment in time with the advance in technology, competitive threats, crypto, and the opportunities that South Florida has, using technology but also its position geographically. 3. Funders and brokers are being creative in building their relationships. Most important to the funder-broker relationship are communication, speed, and product knowledge. 4. Idea of Funders requiring new SBFA broker certification spreading. This certification was something the FTC recommended for the industry. 5. Kevin O’Leary is high on the business finance space, thinks inflation will level off, and the mid-term election results will cause deadlock in congress so nothing will get done, which he says is a good thing. 6. Data security in the age of remote workers and global geopolitical issues is continuously needing to improve as dishonest employees continue to leak data and hackers from around the world attempt to interrupt commerce. 7. New bill HR 6054 up for consideration in the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee this week at odds with the overall direction many industry veterans would like to go. 8. Brokers not going away any time soon because of technology, but the importance of high-performing ISOs/brokers is as critical as ever. Metrics tracking ISO performance has grown amongst Funders but of most importance is ISO portfolio Loss Ratio. 9. Congressman Andy Barr and others addressed CFPB proposed rule on Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act(Section 1071 amended the ECOA to require financial institutions to collect and report certain data in connection with credit applications made by small businesses, including women- or minority-owned small businesses). Many feel it's too restrictive to financial institutions which will cause a slowdown in the funding process. 10. 'Owner' of the merchant relationship continues to be an issue for some brokers which can snowball into other problems for both funder and broker. One CEO recommends thinking of it as ‘our’ relationship. Bonus: The event went off without a hitch, was very well attended by influential individuals, and will be back next year. Location TBD. See you then!

Did you know that 90% of all text messages are read within three minutes? That's because text messages are a direct line of communication with customers. They provide a fast, easy way to reach out and engage leads, and you can use them to convert prospects into customers or build more stickiness with existing customers. The importance of text messages in marketing should not be overlooked. They are the ideal way to engage, convert, and retain customers. Today we will review a popular business text messaging software: Text Request. Business text messaging software makes it easy to send and receive commercial text messages on a high quantity level. You can use text messages to schedule appointments, follow up on leads, and more. What Is Text Request? Text Request is text-messaging software that enables you to send and receive texts(SMS also) from your computer. It's like texting but through a web application in a browser. Here are some of its most popular features: • Send unlimited messages - There is no limit on how many messages you can send or receive. You also don't have to worry about running out of texts. • Schedule messages - You can easily schedule your messages to be sent at a later date and time. It works perfectly for appointment reminders, follow-ups, and more. • Auto-responders - Automatically respond to customers with preset messages. It is effective for customer service or when you're unavailable to answer. • Integrate with other software - You can easily integrate Text Request with your CRM, email marketing software, or website. This feature makes it easy to send and receive texts from your customers. How to Use Text Request If you want to use Text Request for SMS marketing, you'll be happy to know that there's an easy way to do that within the app. Just click on the "Marketing" tab and select "Create New Campaign." You can then enter the phone number of your target audience, create a custom message, and choose when you want it to be sent. This business text messaging software has a user interface that is clean and easy to use. You can create a new text message by clicking on the "New Message" tab at the top of the screen. You can then type in the phone number of the person you are texting or select it from your contacts list. To send a text, just click on the "Send" button. To view your sent messages, click on the "Sent" tab at the top of the screen. You can even schedule a text message to be sent in the future by clicking on the "Schedule" tab and selecting from a dropdown menu how long you want it to take before being delivered (e.g., one hour or two days). Other shortcuts for using this tool include: · Open the "Contacts" tab at any time by double-clicking their name in a new message window. · After typing out your message, you can send it with one click (or tap) of the mouse button instead of having to press enter or return on your keyboard. · Autoresponders are a great way to provide customer service. You can set up an autoresponder by clicking on the "Auto-Responders" tab. Text Request Customer Service How you pick one service among many providers depends often on how well it treats its customers. Clients will steer clear if the brand isn't sensitive to customers' concerns, no matter how good a product is. Text Request offers excellent customer support, which is why it is among the leading texting platforms in the market today. The friendly and professional team ensures you get assistance whenever you need it. Getting in touch with Text Request customer service is easy. You can email them, contact the company through social media, or call. You will likely get a response within 24 hours, sometimes even earlier, depending on the time of day. Text Message Marketing Laws Several regulatory authorities have enacted laws governing telemarketing communications. These laws are revised on a regular basis to keep up with technological advances and changing business practices. The following are some of the laws to be aware of: Telephone Consumer Protection Act In the United States, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) is the major telemarketing statute. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) was passed by Congress in 1991 and is administered by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). It has been updated several times to target unsolicited text messages and phone calls. Restrictions on autodialers. The TCPA prohibits robocalls, in which an automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS) selects phone numbers from a digitally stored list to call or message consumers without human participation. Prior written consent is required. Companies must get prior express written agreement from clients before contacting them with commercial or marketing offers. No prior interaction, verbal confirmations, or purchasing history can take the place of that explicit consent. CAN-SPAM Act To prevent unsolicited email messages containing explicit or objectionable content, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) produced the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (CAN-SPAM Act). It extends the legislation governing autodialers to all commercial companies, supplementing the TCPA. Informational messages that do not solicit new business, such as those about the status of a previously completed purchase, are an exemption; they can be delivered to consumers without their express written authorization. Because the CAN-SPAM Act was enacted in 2003, before text messaging became widely used, it does not fully govern SMS communication. Within these limits, the FTC is allowed to establish new text message marketing restrictions, but the FCC remains the primary arbitrator of SMS communication laws, according to the TCPA. Be Aware of Fines: Businesses are still accountable for the content of their texts even if they use a different texting provider. Each offense is punishable by a fine of $500 per occurrence. In other words, this is the penalty for each message that violates the TCPA, not the total fine for the entire campaign. These are not a complete list of laws so please review with a legal advisor prior to using any text messaging service. Conclusion Text Request is a reliable, modern text-messaging platform for small-medium businesses. It has a user-friendly interface, multiple functions for efficiency, and you can easily send unlimited texts from your computer or mobile device. Be sure to follow all of the previously mentioned best practices and review all laws before sending any campaigns. Once you do, if you're looking for the ideal way to engage with leads and customers that you have been neglecting, this service is well worth the try. You can also try Text Request's free trial to see if it's right for your business.

Have you ever had an MCA contract signed for an amount only to have that reduced near the finish line by the funder? If you are a broker having any decent length of time in this business then most likely you have experienced this type of reprice. You certainly must have been given reasons for the reprice but have you considered whether this was just circumstances on an individual deal or an overall plan by the funder as a consistent business practice to ‘bait and switch’ on contracted amounts? This isn't going to apply to most repricing situations to be clear. But there are several funders that have in the past been accused of a bait and switch both publicly and privately and have changed their business practices. They get down to the last steps in the funding process then spring reasons for a reprice to where it’s very difficult for the merchant or broker to find other options to get funding in a timely manner. That’s when the merchant may feel desperate enough to take the terms even if they are not favorable for the business. Some Direct Funders will use this as a way to get higher returns on their capital whether or not its crossing ethical and legal boundaries. To my knowledge nothing has ever come to a legal conclusion in court which demonstrates how difficult it is to prove these things once a sufficient reason for reducing the offer amount has been given. Yet it continues. To this day I still see where a broker puts on social media they have an offer or contract for $150,000, for example, but by the time they post their Instagram or LinkedIn ‘Funded Deal’ post, that dollar amount has been reduced to $100,000. People don't ask much beyond that once they've seen the final dollar amount was a high amount, however, there are many things going on behind the scenes that most are not privy to. Most funders will give valid reasons for a reprice by saying the bank logins show a lower amount of sales for the month to date, the merchant interview didn't go well, other stips didn’t match expectations, or several other reasons for them too legitimately reduce their exposure because of the increased risk. An underwriter will tell you that with new information the deal can change depending on many risk factors. For the funder to protect themselves sometimes they will even increase the factor rate and/or reduce the term. Any broker should make sure the repriced factor rate and term still make sense for the merchant given the change from the original offer. Brokers should question whether the increased risk is properly attributed to the reality of the merchant’s situation. Where the bait and switch is successful is when the merchant or broker has essentially no other option but to go with the offer or not get funded. Now it’s no secret that many if not most brokers in these instances just want their commission so they will push the deal more often than not. What will separate the brokers that have long-term success is looking after their merchant’s best interest before just getting the quick buck on that one deal. So if you let the merchant take a bad deal and they have difficulties paying back, then you may lose that client forever which means no renewals. So to all the brokers new or experienced, just look out for reprices whenever working with new funders or even ones that you have worked with for a long period of time. If reprices are constantly happening or on a specific deal that reprice doesn't make sense, be sure to question it until you get a satisfactory explanation. No one should be falling victim to bait and switch tactics in any situation.

A common issue that I see with Direct Funders that are promoting their business, especially newer ones, is that they don't have enough of a presence online which includes social media sites like LinkedIn. LinkedIn has grown immensely over the last 5 years since the Microsoft acquisition. Revenue has nearly tripled, and growth has accelerated to the tune of $10 Billion in Revenue in Q4 FY21, the first time reaching that mark for a quarter. Merchants and all types of referral partners look you up and review your company to decide if they want to work with you. Part of our process for adding companies to our Funder List is to research the companies before we add them. With many new Funders entering the market, if we are not familiar with the funding company then we go through more steps like requesting a copy of an ISO agreement and contract. Of course, having a website, not even necessarily of high quality, is where everything begins. Funders that are so small or working only behind the scenes that do not have a website are not a company that should be trusted, with very few exceptions. One of the main reasons LinkedIn is so valuable for validating your business is that it links your business to at least one employee, as opposed to most Funder websites. When viewing the LinkedIn company page you can see who is connected to the company. This adds instant credibility, heightens the sense of professionalism as well as provides an incentive for all to keep the company name in good standing. Even with newer funding companies, there is no excuse to not have a LinkedIn page because it takes very little time to create one. What we will do while researching any Funder is look for links to their social media on their website. Most of the time Funders do have them but many of their websites aren't correctly set up to connect to their company profiles or pages, which is another indicator of quality and professionalism. This applies to ISOs/brokers as well, after reviewing thousands of websites. If we can’t find the LinkedIn page from the website, we would search the company directly on LinkedIn. Once we find them, we then review all their information including who works for them, how often the company page posts, and any other relevant information that would give credibility to that funder. The more information and engagement the better. This type of research is used in a similar fashion by funders and other financial providers in underwriting. When a business has a highly engaged online presence, it adds to the credibility of the business. This will only grow from here as DeFi, Web3 and the metaverse become more prevalent and mainstream. Your company's digital assets are the future whether you are active with procuring them or not. Increase them, protect them, bring value to them, and give your business the staying power it needs to compete. One way to do that is by making your presence known on LinkedIn.

A business funding practice known as Double Funding, not the same as stacking, isn't disappearing anytime too soon from the alternative finance space. In fact, it has only grown given the number of new entrants into the alternative finance space in the last few years. Merchants are often well aware of the game that is being played between some stakeholders in a typical sales cycle when seeking working capital. Still, it shouldn't be accepted as normal for a funder or broker to promote their ability to fund merchants Within ANY time frame after the merchant's most recent advance. That timing is the main difference between Double Funding and Stacking, which is described as when a merchant gets multiple advances. The amount of time elapsed between MCAs to classify it as double funding is debatable. I use 14 days as the time from the most recent funding to the next as that window but many would say 7 days or even 30 days until the next funding. This won't hold back many in this industry from continuing this practice including a direct funder that recently emailed me offering to double fund without a second thought. The email I received from a direct funder was asking us for submissions not understanding that Funder Intel does not do any brokering of deals. Though we did recently asked for guidelines from many funders to post it as a resource for brokers. In his email he wrote, "If you already have an offer on a deal but are in need of more funding, let me know as I can get you an offer to go behind your offer", as shown in the following image: My reply was: Then same person replies: With that reply, he confirms that his company will waste no time to fund after any MCA, even the same day without the other funder knowing about it. A deceitful practice that could have severe consequences for the business owner. Again, no shock that some funders do this. It happens All. The. Time. However, it's usually not written in an email, shared, or so casually mentioned even with justification, as if the remit % changes everything if it were to be within their parameters. When I replied one last time to further clarify what he meant, there was no response. He must have realized what he was offering was wrong, maybe not legally, yet, but certainly in the view of many in this space. Most of the time if a funding occurs within a few days after a previous merchant cash advance the existing funding company is not aware of the new advance being deposited. Therefore they don't know their money is being put at risk, or that the merchant and/or the ISO lied to them, or the merchant likely violated their contract and can be considered in default, or whether it was somewhat innocent on the merchant's end but the all too willing funder and a different broker set this up after the recent advance. There are many reasons that a funder will use to justify funding within a few days. Many more reasons and even accepted by most that stacking after 30 days is ok although the merchant could be put at high risk of being over-leveraged. The distinction between the two terms isn't made often enough with many viewing them essentially the same. The practice of stacking will certainly continue because there is no legal preceden to remedy this in any way. Lawsuits brought years ago by Rapid Advance against other Funders were settled or never went reached a verdict in court. Rapid reached a settlement with Pearl Capital in June of 2018 but terms were never disclosed. In the time since those lawsuits, it seems that funders have made adjustments on their own, not relying on the courts or government intervention. Some new policies to uncover possible double fundings include doing further background on ISOs/Brokers, increasing the remit % on their offerings, no stacking addendums, and more. One funding company does a bank login 5 days after the funding deposit to verify the merchant didn't take another funding, also to ensure the ISO didn't charge an excessive PSF fee, and to make sure the merchant's account is in overall good shape. Others make it clear on funding calls that if the merchant takes another advance that they will be in default and responsible for a large fee. The issue is how often is this enforced? If the merchant cannot pay anyway it's a moot point. And if a funder asks them to pay a lump sum or a hefty default fee they will likely end up in court since the majority of merchants won't do either. So I leave you with this. Will there be for the foreseeable future players in this space that double fund merchants? Yes. Will many stack after 30 days as often as needed? Absolutely. Can there be more ways to prevent this with policies, technology, and group effort? Certainly. One example of what we are doing is when visiting a profile for an ISO we ask specifically if you are aware of that ISO double funding. Of course, this has to be an honest, first-hand experience but it is there to help others be informed of this past behavior. We should all take steps to avoid the double funding and proud crowd.

Business owners strive for a website that gains visitors that when enough value is provided, conversions and leads follow. Part of doing so is making your website interesting and engaging. One way to do that is to add interactive marketing software that will provide tools that create this experience. A software platform that provides you survey building, custom calculators, chatbots, and other interactive features to gain engagement and conversions is what Outgrow can be for your business. What is Outgrow? Outgrow is a Saas marketing content platform that enables businesses to create different types of interactive content online regardless of their size. Users can create customizable lead forms and calls to action for business websites that can include quizzes with custom questions and widgets that let users calculate return on investment, savings, percentages, and discounts. Outgrow enables businesses organizations to grow their lead generation in an automated process by enticing more customers to stick around on the site and submit the information that can be used to convert more customers. Their features are reliable and customizable without new coding. The tools can be set up to answer the most relevant questions for the customer and your business. Outgrow widgets can be embedded on users’ websites, blogs, or in popups. Why Outgrow As mentioned earlier, Outgrow will boost your marketing by providing interactive content tools for better surveys and other attention-grabbing solutions. Here are some of those ways: Qualify Leads and Add Value Give personalized answers to your customer’s most pressing questions, while qualifying your leads. It helps to increase conversion rates Conversion rates will increase when using their well-designed templates. Reduces page bounce rates Although bounce rates on your page can indicate that your page lacks quality SEO content, Outgrow interactive content can reduce bounce rates with targeted audiences, engaging readers, and getting them interested in taking an action. Intelligent Analytics and Data Integration Gain insights on your customers while providing value, segment your audience and integrate your data with hundreds of tools. Other Features Categorization and Grouping Lead Segmentation Distribution Management Data Importing & Exporting Lead Capture Data Analysis Tools Lead database integration Conversion Tracking Lead Qualification Lead Nurturing Content Hub Skip logic Mobile survey Question branching Pros and cons of Outgrow Pros Outgrow features beautiful templates that users can conveniently customize The platform has simple user interfaces and you don't need coding to create tools The platform allows for a complex branch of logic chains based on how users respond to the quizzes. Outgrow offers several integrations that speed up the distribution of data The platform has suggestions on how customers can update their content Cons Although the platform has very responsive customer support, they are not always strong in solving users’ problems. While this platform is easy to use, if you wish to create elaborate calculators and questions it will take some effort. Who is Outgrow best for Outgrow is perfect for digital marketers that want to generate, engage, and increase their leads. The platform is great for business loan brokers, funding companies, lenders, e-commerce, marketing agency, real estate, healthcare, and fitness organizations to mention a few. Pricing Outgrow’s pricing is very fair and competitive. It has a seven-day free trial before paying the below listed amounts. The platform also offers premium integration/consultation services. Here are the pricing options: Freelancer: $14/month (billed annually) Freelancers: $25/month (billed annually) Essential plan: $95/month (billed annually) Business plan: $600/month (billed annually) Agency and enterprise: custom pricing per a customer Outgrow customer support options Outgrow has very responsive and willing support to solve user problems. It has the following options for support both in paid and free versions: Live chat Community forum Tutorials Additionally, there is the use of the phone as a support option but only available for paid version users. Conclusion Interactive content is almost a must on any website that is seeking to gain new customers. Outgrow specializes in the solutions that, with the proper use and messaging, will grow your sales by converting more visitors.

Salesflare was founded after numerous frustrations with different CRM tools the two co-founders sourced and used for their business intelligence software company. The two co-founders set out to automate all the customer data by building an easy-to-use CRM. The data the two partners were tracking in their CRM was already in existence in many other places. They could detect and read email signatures, pull in meetings, sync emails, track opens and clicks, integrate social data, see new sales contacts automatically, enrich contacts and companies with publicly available information, and much more. What is Salesflare Salesflare is a lead nurturing and intelligent CRM platform preferred by the B2B businesses of small and medium sizes to sell more with less work. The email drip sequences are automated and sent to nurture leads in a more personalized manner at scale. Additionally, it automatically fills out the address book and keeps track of the contacts available, giving the user an idea of who to follow up with. Salesflare is a fascinating option for merchants who are tired of the old customer support and CRM software. Through a unique CRM solution approach, Salesflare empowers small B2B businesses. Salesflare boasts of its artificial intelligence compared to other CRM platforms. The system dives into social media accounts, email applications, phone logs, social profiles, company calendars, servers, and databases to auto-fill already set categories, making the sales process more straightforward. Hence through Salesflare, the prospects’ social profiles are accurately maintained. Additionally, the CRM solution notifies businesses concerning their customer interactions through alerts. Provisions that give Salesflare an upper hand against other platforms include team insights, interaction tracking, sales funnel analysis, leader board, revenue insights, automated to-do lists, website tracking, sales intelligence, sales pipeline management, goals and quota management, custom fields, communication history, opportunity assignment, lead management, contact management, predictive lead sourcing, automated reminders, and email tracking. Salesflare is a Customer Management Software that leverages automation to help in data management, capture relevant leads, and progressively nurture them to track their activities. But that is not all, it also facilitates collaboration across departments and team members. All Salesflare features are cloud-based which increases accessibility. The application integrates with other productivity tools like Google Apps, Trello, Slack, MailChimp, and Microsoft Outlook, providing a holistic customer relationship management system. Key Features of Salesflare Self-Service Portal: Requires little if any technical skills to go through the whole process of signing up, using the mobile app, and integrating relevant applications. Campaign Management: Salesflare has Gmail and outlook plugins that blend with the user inbox through a mailbox sidebar display. Campaigns can be launched directly from the emails, create opportunities and set up profiles of your pipeline through the inbox. Database Management: The CRM platform connects you with the company database, phonebook, social media emails, calendars, and emails for in-depth data mining that saves you the trouble of manual data entry. Customer data management: Salesflare categorizes Leads accordingly and sets up the company accounts they represent. The contact management is automated and flexible. Contacts are established from newly introduced contacts through emails or meetings. Pipeline management: Opportunities and contacts are organized by Salesflare based on the flow of the sales pipeline. Information is centrally placed where one can view and coordinate the sales processes. Lead scoring: The CRM system establishes leads through analyzing the contact data. It generates alerts for potential hot leads through alerts for quick actions on follow-up of promising opportunities. To get the best outcomes, Salesflare also supports the personalization of engagement emails. Email tracking: The CRM system offers email tracking, campaign analytics, link tracking capabilities. The emails are tracked to provide insights into their delivery status and the response patterns of the contacts. Collaboration tools: Salesflare was initially built for startups and small businesses, however, the platform can support large teams through its collaboration tools. Pricing All features are provided simply under a single-priced package. The number of team members a business determines the price. Growth package - $35 per user per month, $29 per user billed annually, and comes with all CRM features. Pro package - $49 per user per month for an annual billing option, $55 billed monthly. Enterprise Package - $99 per user, billed annually Pros of Salesflare Accessibility: It is cloud-based Smooth integrations: Salesflare integrations are easily done through a sidebar Fully automated contact data management system: The fully automated data management system gathers information from relevant platforms and generates new leads. Inbuilt intelligent pipeline: this feature helps the user to identify and follow up on sales opportunities. Lead scoring feature: this feature identifies a list of priorities to give to specific sales deals. Free trial for new users: New users enjoys a 14-day free trial period Salesflare Cons Doesn't have an email builder to customize email designs. Lack of an omnichannel sales pipeline campaigns as follow-ups is only restricted to emails. Conclusion Salesflare is a great option for an ambitious sales team. This CRM system is easy to use, generates and nurtures leads that are categorized for optimal efficiency. The system's overall capabilities including its way of linking contacts from many company networks and social media accounts is an advantage not found with many CRMs currently.

Email outreach is crucial for all digital marketing strategies- from prospecting, guest blogging, influencer marketing, link building to soliciting reviews and ratings. However, how do you get hold of the customers’ email addresses? For most brands, getting genuine verified email addresses has always been a challenge as it might involve lots of research and time to find the right information. Luckily, there is a solution- Snov.io, a reliable email hunter and validator tool. In this review, we’ll dig deeper into what Snov.io is, how it works, the key features, pricing plans, as well as the pros and cons. What is Snov.io? Launched in 2017, Snov.io is a Google Chrome extension that can help you find useful and verified email addresses. Snov.io(also SNOVio) allows you to find email addresses on Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, or any website you visit. The fully automated software comes with a large business database and decision-makers that enable different email searches, including Bulk, Single, Domain, and Social URL searches. Furthermore, Snovio helps you set up email drip campaign strategies to get your message out to your new customers. How does Snov.io Work? Signing up and using Snov.io is straightforward. Simply visit Snov.io and click the Sign-Up button, fill out your details, and the software will send a verification link by email. Verify your email, and the easy-to-navigate dashboard will direct you to the different plans and features available. To search the email addresses, key in the website or social information you wish to find on the icon on the toolbar. The email finder will present you with the available addresses found, which you can add to your Snovio email finder list. You can then validate the prospects’ addresses and dismiss the invalids. Furthermore, you can use the Launch Drip Campaign to start your outreach process from the list of contacts. Snov.io Key Features Snov.io boasts several impeccable features, including: Domain email search: Snovio allows you to finds email addresses from a specific domain. You can also use the bulk domain search option. The results will entail the email ID, social URL, associated job title, or even the phone number. Email verifier: The feature enables thousands of email verification within minutes. You can filter out invalid, catch-all, and dormant addresses. Email tracker: You can keep an eye on the emails you’ve sent out or assess the campaign by setting up real-time browser push notifications. LinkedIn and Prospect email search: The software allows you to find email addresses by visiting people’s profiles on LinkedIn. You can search on LinkedIn or use the software’s Prospect Search Tool to explore Snovio’s database and find prospects. Company address search: If you know the firm, city, and country, this feature enables you to find a company’s profile. Hence, you’ll contact the right person in the exact department you want. Technology checker: With this feature, you can check the web frameworks, CMS, analytics, marketing, and e-commerce tools that prospective clients are using. Email drip campaigns tool: The feature enables you to create and send email campaigns to new customers. You can also design goals, triggers, and follow-ups, or sequences to make the campaign more effective. Linker: Recruiters can use the Linker feature to find prospective job candidates. Key in the job title, skills, locations, and find links to your candidate’s profile. How Much Does Snovio Cost? Snovio offers various monthly pricing plans, including: S- $33 for 1,000 credits and 5,000 unique recipients M- $66 for 5,000 credits and 10,000 unique recipients L- $141 for 20,000 credits and 30,000 unique recipients XL- $241 for 50,000 credits and 50, 000 unique recipients XXL- $482 for 100,00 credits and 100,000 unique recipients Please note: Snovio’s annual pricing gets a 10% discount and 30% off if you decide to subscribe through SNOV tokens. MONTHLY Pricing Snov.io Pros and Cons The Pros Reliable: It takes few seconds to find and instantly validate emails from the website you need. This can increase sales automation significantly through email marketing outreach. Easy to sign-up and navigate: the software is one of the most straightforward tools to use. You don’t need any tutorials to use it, and the email templates come in handy. Customer support: If you encounter an issue with Snovio, the software has excellent customer service through the knowledgeable online tool as well as live chat, phone, and email. The Cons Some websites are able to effectively block or hide their email addresses form the Snovio extension tool. The Verdict Whether you’re a startup or an established firm, Snov.io is an incredibly useful sales nd marketing tool for email outreach and leads automation. The excellent, user-friendly software will significantly reduce the time it takes you to search for relevant leads and streamline an email outreach campaign.

Marketing is an essential aspect of keeping any business sustainable, competitive, and profitable. To grow awareness for your products or services, you need a means of marketing to reach the customers directly and offer them concise information about your business. With the right marketing approach, you can easily grow your business, reach more customers and promote your brand. Your relationship with your customers will also be improved when you can better target your marketing messages. There are several channels to reach your customers, such as emails, social media, and one of the most popular currently are text messages. Text message marketing, or SMS messaging, is one of the more effective marketing methods known to have high success rates. It works because it's direct, it's personal, and people always have their phones which means that it provides higher open rates that lead to a competitive edge. It is a form of communication that your customers use on a more frequent basis thus can provide you greater engagement and a higher conversion rate for your marketing campaigns. SimpleTexting is a texting/SMS marketing application with all the tools and features that can be used by a business of any size to create and deploy successful text messaging marketing campaigns. You can integrate the application with all the necessary programs such as your CRM software. It can also be used by multiple users simultaneously giving you the ability to distribute marketing tasks to several members of your marketing team. You no longer require a PC to use the software as they have an app to give you mobile access. Whenever you need a scalable SMS marketing service, SimpleTexting will be an ideal solution for you. It features analytics that provides for easier reporting of your text campaigns in addition to unlimited contacts. You can receive incoming messages for free and rollover credits that you have not used in a month to the next month. Ease of Use As you set up your account, SimpleTexting will provide you with instructions on maneuvering the dashboard and using the different features available. The dashboard provides a seamless design. You should never miss a message thanks to an account inbox right on the dashboard. Importing contacts is easily done from the dashboard as well as adding new contacts. When you are dealing with different customer segments, the marketing tool enables you to create custom fields. SimpleTexting customer service is also readily available to provide you with assistance whenever you need help using any of the features of their application. Several other simple tools are at your disposal. You don't have to move from one screen to another to access many of the useful functionalities and features in the application. Mobile App The SimpleTexting mobile app adds to the platform's usability, giving you access to all the platform's features from anywhere in the world. With the mobile app, all the incoming messages are accessible directly allowing you stay in closer contact with your customers. The mobile app also ensures that you have freedom of movement and can work on responses even when working remotely. This helps with staying productive even when away from the office. SimpleTexting Features These features are designed to make your text marketing campaigns more interactive and give you useful insights to improve as you progress: 1. Two-way messaging and teammates The ability to have two-way conversations between your business and your customers is essential for their satisfaction. Sending and receiving messages with this feature means you no longer have a one-sided conversation. Additionally, you can organize your users with the Teammates feature, designed to assign messages to different employees. 2. Scheduled Texts and Autoresponders You can schedule your messages in advance enabling you to better manage your time. The autoresponders feature provides you coverage when you are not able to respond during normal business hours and drip campaigns. Automatic replies to standard queries make it possible for the customers to find the information they are looking for without your involvement. 3. Integrations SimpleTexting offers integration with various apps such as MailChimp, Salesforce, Hubspot, Zapier, Shopify, Slack, and Zoho CRM. You can import contact lists from other CRMs and email marketing services. 4. Webforms In the same way customers on your website sign up for emails using the newsletter form, you can have them opt-in for text messages from your website. A simple embedded form on your website is essential for building your contact list. Make sure to have the proper legal disclaimers added to reduce the number of people that unsubscribe from your messages. 5. Keywords, Segments, and Custom Fields With SimpleTexting, you can reserve keywords that you would like to use in your marketing campaigns. Customers that subscribe to the keyword are added to your contact list to produce specific content for those subscribers. Audience targeting is simplified with the use of segments. Your subscribers can be grouped into different traits categories. 6. Link Tracking and Data Collection You can track shortened links in your SMS messages to determine how many and which customers click on them. They give you the analytics to measure the results of marketing campaigns in several reporting options. 7. Contests and Surveys Grow your audience with the Text-to-Win feature, which enables your business to run SMS-based sweepstakes. Texting polls can also be efficiently run on the platform by using multiple choices answers clearer feedback and data collection. Summary Overall SimpleTexting brings almost all of what any small or large business needs in a texting platform in an easy-to-use way that is hard to find anywhere else. It would be good for the novice to the expert in marketing. Sure there is always room for improvement, and without improving, businesses usually fall behind. In terms of a scalable SMS marketing service, SimpleTexting is a great choice for you. It is recommended for businesses that need to improve engagement with their customers and provide value. With this app, SMS messaging will be easier to manage and more beneficial for your business. You have the ability to deliver better results for your business. Text message marketing is here to stay for the foreseeable future so if you haven’t already been utilizing this channel yet then SimpleTexting offers you a great system with which to begin. You will be more effective at growing your brand.

Whether you’re in the online lending space as a funding company or a loan broker, or other small business owner, choosing the right accounting software is crucial if you want to operate your business effectively. Cloud-based software is the goto preference nowadays, and FreshBooks is one of the most successful ones on the market today. FreshBooks works with both Windows and Mac computers, and the plans are reasonable. As a business owner you cannot be dismissive about tracking your finances, and programs such as FreshBooks allows you to stay on top of them every minute of the day. The Basics The company was founded in 2003 and is based in Toronto, Canada. Freshbooks got its latest upgrade in 2017. The company now boasts more than 10 million customers. With FreshBooks, not only do you get excellent accounting, billing, and invoicing features but also legal billing services, including calendar and accounting management, time tracking, case management, expense tracking, automatic billing for convenience, and even a client portal to help you stay more organized and efficient. FreshBooks works regardless of the type of business you own, whether it’s a loan brokerage, construction company, legal firm, or retail business. It doesn’t matter if you have five clients or five thousand, because it can be customized to meet your needs. It is designed for entrepreneurs to medium businesses that are thriving. The time-tracking tools include ways to track by client or project, manage all reimbursements efficiently, and track specific projects or activities. Tracking time can be done offline and on a mobile app and includes functions such as calculating overtime, automatically capturing of time, tracking vacation and leave time, and even tracking of both billable and non-billable hours. An Update for More Efficiency FreshBooks recently provided an update to make it even more efficient than it was before, with the main difference being more structured recordkeeping and better insight into your overall finances. This update has resulted in a Chart of Accounts, Cost of Goods Sold (COGS), bank reconciliation features, and two additional standard financial reports: trial balance and balance sheet, as well as many other features. With a new solid framework, FreshBooks is more able than ever before to meet your accounting needs. More Features and Benefits Overall, FreshBooks is a simple and user-friendly product that even people who are not techies can use with ease. It provides a great estimate and retainer function, great team collaboration tools, a new double-entry accounting feature, the ability to develop all types of projects and proposals, and best of all, the program works great on all of your mobile devices. It also keeps excellent client records and the user experience is second to none. In fact, FreshBooks is so easy to use you may even look forward to using it to keep track of your finances each day. Although its main function in the beginning was to create and manage invoices, FreshBooks has exploded into much more than that and now offers features and tools that businesses of all sizes and types will appreciate. Here are the main Pros and Cons according to real-life customers: Pros Super easy to use Excellent customer service department Great value for the money Even the free version offers a lot Cons It is sometimes difficult to organize a lot of individual transactions You have to manually estimate your taxes in some functions May not accommodate fancier, more complex proposals In addition to all of this, FreshBooks offers a well-designed user interface (UI), numerous integrations, and tons of attractive invoice templates that give all of your invoices a more personalized look and design. You can track who is behind on paying you and it even allows you to start accepting credit cards if you haven’t already done so. The icons are easy to work with and self-explanatory, making your job a lot easier in the end. Pricing FreshBooks offers several different payment plans, and the costs depend on the maximum billable clients each month aligned with other features and benefits. Their pricing options are as follows: $13.50/month (Lite) $22.50/month (Plus) $45/month (Premium) The above prices are the costs applicable when you choose a yearly plan. Costs are a little higher if you choose to go month-to-month. There is also a 'Select' option that provides you with a personalized design in case your company is especially large or you have any special needs. Conclusion Our Rating= 4 Stars The bottom line is that this is a popular accounting program that will suit the needs of freelancers, partnerships and overall most businesses. FreshBooks is a user-friendly accounting software that is reliable, fast, and can positively impact your business. It beats out most of its competitors. FreshBooks is worth giving a try as its versatile, flexible, and it even comes with a 30-day trial, so you have nothing to lose by trying it. Visit Now