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How to Use Survey Monkey Vs Google Forms for Business Proposals- Small Business Tips - YouTube
Channel: Build Your Business with Lisa
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As a bootstrapping entrepreneur, when should
you level up and pay for your tools when
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creating automation in your business?
The other day, I received a question
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from an engineering firm that is
pretty new to the business space.
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They want to standardize the
intake process to gather as much
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info as possible at the project start.
The team wonders which survey tool they
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should use (like SurveyMonkey or
Google Forms) for this process.
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If you're wondering the same thing, stick around
because I'm going to answer that right now.
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Hi. I’m Lisa Stewart, founder of
Build-Your-Own Small Business.
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I’m a brand strategist, maker, and business
coach and I help STEAM entrepreneurs
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—like you —build products that sell and
change the world from their workbench.
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This engineering firm does many
fixes/builds for companies in their area
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and is getting many more RFQs as a result.
While they've responded with some solid proposals,
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they've noticed there is an information
gap. The info gap happens between what the
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client company gives them and what they
find out along the project's course.
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This frequently causes rework
to happen during project cases.
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So naturally, they want to eliminate this issue.
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They also want to standardize the intake
process to gather as much info as possible
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at project start. What's happening is that
they're the missing needed information
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that wasn't included in the
schematics within the bid.
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Their real challenge is their reluctance to
hand out forms for clients to fill out and they
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don't want to come off as less-than-capable when
asking for tons of extra information. It's the
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lack of constructive and useful questions in the
beginning which is causing the rework to happen."
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The second challenge is that they're getting
project requests that they haven't done
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in the past. This leaves them with a lot
of uncertainty because they're newer to the space.
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Have you ever been there?
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Now they have 2 matters they want to address:
They want to close this information gap as much
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as possible to bid with more
efficiency and more certainty.
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So, how do you do that?
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Before we get into which tool
to use, let me address mindset.
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MINDSET
I get it. You don't want to burden your client
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with questions. We feel like an imposition.
Don't. That's your job.
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Have you ever visited the ER, Gods forbid. Before
the doctors can pull the nail out of your foot or
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reset your wrist, they want to know your blood
type, allergies, and your other medical history.
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You have to fill out a few
forms before you get seen.
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Your business is no different.
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Don't let the fear of time
prevent you from getting the
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information you need to adequately quote the job.
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When I begin working with STEAM clients
on their branding projects and websites,
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the initial intake includes a form we complete
together that usually takes an hour. This is
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to help me understand their business needs. My
clients appreciate my thoroughness because I'm
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also thinking long-term strategy
for their site and their services.
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Ultimately, you want repeat
business with these clients.
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And when you explain why these questions
are essential for short term projects
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and Potential future projects, they'll
appreciate that you're thinking about them.
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Let's say you're asked to lay a new driveway.
You go out to review the landscape. You notice
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a bare backyard and you ask what future plans
they have. Will they have kids or remain DINKS?
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That will dictate whether they plan to have a
fire pit or a sandpit added in a year or so.
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When you're the person to suggest this to them,
you get them thinking about it. Dreaming about it.
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And soon enough, they call you back
to measure for their new firepit.
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That's time well spent.
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Let me address responding to RFP and uncertainty.
As far as any gaps are concerned, consider
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gathering the projects that you've done.
Group like with like.
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Review the project materials, time,
and labor. If you do foundation work,
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you'll know how much cement you'll need
for a 100sqft pad vs a retainer wall.
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With common projects like this, you'll
know if their budget meets your price.
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If you're working on a new project, I'd consider
overestimating (and check competitor pricing)
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because you won't know what snafus
you'll run into during the course.
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And then refund the difference if you realized
the margin was grossly over calculated.
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Let them know that they might have to be
strict with their budget (no scope creep)
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and to consider having a little extra
$$ set aside for unactualized costs.
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Customers may not be too happy about it
but it will help set customer expectations.
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I've seen budgets explode because they
didn't anticipate unhappy surprises.
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Regardless of the outcome, the more you can
prepare the client, the happier they'll be.
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Once in a while, you might have to consider eating
costs or splitting the difference with them,
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but you'll have saved your
partnership from the start.
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I've got 3 suggestions:
Gather all the questions you
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need to quote the job. Every little one.
Put them in chronological order of need.
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Decide whether you can cut or divide the
questions into phases. Will they provide
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you with enough information to include materials,
labor, and equipment? If not, add more questions.
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Sit down and role-play with your
team members to determine how
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long the interview process will take.
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Will the interview be an online
form, a phone call, or in-person?
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How many of these questions can the
customer complete before you meet?
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How long will it take them?
Does the form take them 20 minutes?
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If so, can you break it up into 5-minute segments
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or high-level questions with
a comprehensive follow-up?
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Think about the last time you visited a new
doctor? How did you enjoy the onboarding
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process? Did one aspect take too long or was it
too short? What part of the process felt sketchy?
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What left you feeling heard and hopeful?
Onboarding
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In this case, onboarding is essentially
converting a lead into a client. Onboading
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happens thru a sequence of events
through RFQs/RFPs, Proposals, and Intake
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What's the difference between an RFQ & RFP
RFPs is a term for Request for proposal
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or RFQ Request for Quote
If you want a website built, you’d ask
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me for a proposal-an RFP. You know you need one
but you're not sure how to design and develop it.
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If you’re a cement contractor, potential
customers (leads) ask how much paving
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their driveway might cost. Typically, they'll be
asking for a quote -an RFQ. Not just from you,
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but from many vendors in your space. The
key here is to not act like every vendor.
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The key is to elevate yourself from
being a commodity to a soght after brand.
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If you want more information
on that, check out this video.
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Both are examples of service based
businesses that do custom work.
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These requests might come thru your website
or through a platform like Angie’s List.
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Once you receive an RFP, the next step is to
get requisite information about that project.
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It might include sending a form to your
lead or talking with them directly.
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This is where you want to be diligent about
acquiring the absolute minimum information
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about the cost, time, and labor a project requires
to craft an informed and comprehensive proposal.
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Once you have that info, you’ll send a proposal
to the prospect. Depending on your market,
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your proposals will look different and they’ll
include terms, and other assorted details.
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Once your client agrees to the project
scope and terms, you get the deposit
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and onboarding begins. I'm not going
to get too deep into onboarding
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but want to quickly highlight it before we
get into the actual project questionnaire.
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Onboarding processes don't
have to be dull and dry.
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Onboarding includes the intake process that you
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create to build a remarkable
experience for your customer.
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Think about the last time you purchased tickets
to an event. Was the enrollment experience fun?
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See if you can incorporate any of these
experiences in your onboarding process.
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This will give your customers something to
talk about -and more likely to refer you.
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TOOLS
Now you're here because
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you want to understand the difference between
a paid tool like Survey Monkey or Type form
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and free tools like Google Forms.
The basic understanding is that Google Forms is
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free and Survey Monkey and other paid tools have
free versions until you require more complexity.
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I see this all the time.
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Makers go straight for the pretty tools because
they're easier on the eyes than a spreadsheet.
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I get it.
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I want to go straight for the Model Y too.
That is sexy.
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But here's the rub: Until you figure out your
process, you won't know what tool you need
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that will do the job. Why use a nail gun when
a simple claw hammer will do? Because maybe -in
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the end- a nail gun isn't what you needed in the
first place, but you won't know that because you
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skipped over the basic exploration process.
If you’re benefiting from at least one tip
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I’m sharing today, please give me a
thumbs up and watch thru to the end.
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It helps to feed the YouTube algorithm
gods and I would be utterly grateful.
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FORM TYPES
So before you run out and buy a fancy tool, let's
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weigh the differences between a paid tool like
Survey Monkey and a free tool like Google Forms.
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They both come with ready made templates
with question sets. That's helpful.
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Features
Survey Monkey says that you can
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choose from 15 different question types, you can
choose 9 different question types. Let's face it,
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for our purposes, we need maybe 5 types -tops.
Getting Responses
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For both Survey Monkey & Google
Forms, you can send your survey
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many different ways. Get a link and paste
into emails and you can track who responds.
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Survey Monkey have more advanced versions in their
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paid tool that allows you
to white label your survey,
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host your survey on other aggregator platforms,
and even find you an audience for your survey.
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But this isn't our focus. Our focus is collecting
information from leads to prepare a quote.
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So we don't need the advanced, paid features.
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Analysis & reporting
You can get responses for both Survey Monkey
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& Google Forms in real time. You can also slice
and dice your data to find insights and share
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your results with your team members. While custom
charts can be auto-generated from SM, Google Forms
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spreadsheets can also create charts and graphs.
Again, that's a bit of an over kill while
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you're just closing the gap on obtaining
required info for a project quote. Right?
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Lastly, Google Forms is integrated
with your gmail account.
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You don't have to worry about
remembering links or passwords.
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If you want to learn how to set
up that google root directory,
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you can find the link for that here.
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As I tell my STEAM entrepreneurs, you want to
understand your process before you automate.
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This goes for anything in your business. In
today’s business ecosphere, you can pretty much
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try a free version of any tool. If there’s
a SAAS product that you think might work,
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see if they have a freemium model.
Freemium models might include:
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a 14 day trial
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1 account for free with SAAS product logo or
a limited number of questions you can ask
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It could be any number of things.
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Upgrading to a paid program usually
removes the restrictions. Beyond that,
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you want to get efficient with your process
so that you can create your own protocols and
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systems. As I mention to my clients, if ever they
want to sell their business, buyers buy process.
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With that in mind, design your business to
sell. Even if you don't, you'll be eager to
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put systems into place that will make your staff
more productive and efficient, clients happy, and
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turn a profit. Systems are sanity savers.
I content that you should consider
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the spreadsheet. Whether its excel,
numbers, or google, it doesn't matter.
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I've worked with engineering and
construction firms and recommend they
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initially use forms for intake. Typically,
it's a Google Form that allows two things:
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* It's a place for the client to take their
time to outline the project scope and they
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can always return to finish later.
* You can automagically convert
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forms into a spreadsheet
* It's accessible to every
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team member at any time.
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Google Forms are safe and allow you to
create checkboxes, short fields, long fields,
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and an option to upload photos.
This is great
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if you're giving estimates from home.
If you’re starting a new business or have
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been established for a while, Grab your copy of
the Small Business Brand Tool Kit to Get Started.
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The Free Small Business Brand Tool Kit
is a System that I start my clients with
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that contains all the essentials for creating,
launching, and growing a successful business.
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What made me happy about Google Forms is that is
also has conditional logic. If/then capabilities.
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Previously, conditional logic capabilities
were only available thru paid tools.
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I think it was more than a year ago that
Google included GL as part of its query set.
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This is huge -because you can also create
dynamic quizzes with this feature. But I digress.
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If you want to experiment with the power
of conditional logic, you can do this on
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your own time without the fear of having to pay
before you’ve had a chance to figure it out.
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Believe me, I understand the constraints
of exploring how a tool works
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and trying to get other tasks done during the day.
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Nobody wants to waste time and realize they're
running up against a paid tier clock. Again,
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this is why I implore you to use a spreadsheet
or Google Forms to spreadsheet to start.
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Later, when you've massaged and
improved your project intake forms,
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you can consider purchasing a fancy tool.
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Before you head off, I wanted to let you
know that if you're just starting your
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business or you've been in it for a while
but looking to ramp up your processes,
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check out this playlist to get started.
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Remember Great things take time. I can't wait
to see you in the next video. #keepbuilding
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