Why Your Business Apps Shouldn't Be Islands
I’ve sat down with hundreds of Brisbane business owners—from electricians in Coorparoo to boutique law firms in the CBD— and they all share one massive frustration. They are drowning in 'copy and paste' work.
Think about your typical day. A lead comes in through your website. You get an email. Then you manually type that person's name into your CRM. Then you send them a text manually. Then, if they book a job, you manually create an invoice in Xero.
Before you’ve even swung a hammer or sat down for a consultation, you’ve spent 20 minutes doing digital paperwork. If you do that five times a day, you’ve wasted over an hour. That’s an hour you could have spent on-site, billing a client, or actually getting home to see your family.
Most of what you read online about 'digital transformation' is rubbish. You don't need a million-dollar custom system. You just need your existing tools to talk to each other. This is where tools like Zapier and Make come in. They act like a digital glue, connecting your apps so that when something happens in one place, it automatically triggers an action in another.
What Exactly Are Zapier and Make?
Look, I promised no jargon. Think of Zapier or Make as a digital translator.
Imagine you have a French-speaking salesman (your website) and an English-speaking accountant (your invoicing software). They both do great work, but they can't understand each other. Zapier sits in the middle. When the salesman says 'I sold a widget,' Zapier tells the accountant 'Hey, send an invoice for a widget.'
In the business world, we call these 'Automations.'
Zapier: The Easy Route
Zapier is the most popular tool for a reason: it’s built for people who aren't tech-savvy. It connects to over 5,000 different apps. If you use Gmail, Outlook, Xero, ServiceM8, or Facebook, Zapier can probably connect them. It’s a bit more expensive, but it’s very hard to break. It’s perfect for the business owner who wants to set it and forget it.Make: The Powerhouse
Make (formerly called Integromat) is Zapier’s more affordable, slightly more complex cousin. It allows you to do more complicated things—like 'if this happens, do that, but only if it’s a Tuesday.' It’s a bit more 'visual' (it looks like a map of bubbles), but it has a steeper learning curve.Which one should you choose? For 90% of the local businesses we work with in Brisbane, Zapier is the winner because your time is worth more than the $30 a month you might save by struggling with a more complex tool. You want to simplify and sell more rather than becoming a part-time software engineer.
How This Actually Makes You Money
I’m not interested in 'cool tech.' I’m interested in your bank balance. Here is how connecting your tools directly impacts your profit:
1. Speed to Lead
If a customer enquiries on your website at 8:00 PM on a Tuesday, and you don't call them until Wednesday morning, you might have already lost the job. They’ve already called the next bloke on Google.With an automation, the second they hit 'submit' on your website, Zapier can send them an automated text message: "Hi, it’s John from ABC Plumbing. Got your enquiry! I’m on a job right now but I’ll call you in 15 minutes to book a quote."
That customer stops looking. You’ve 'won' the lead before you’ve even picked up your phone.
2. No More Lost Quotes
I see this constantly: a tradie sends a quote, the customer doesn't reply, and the quote just sits there forever. The business owner is too busy to follow up.By connecting your quoting software to an email tool, you can have a 'polite nudge' email go out automatically 3 days after the quote was sent. We’ve seen this single move increase sales by 20% for a landscaping business in Ascot just by picking software that wins jobs and automating the follow-up.
3. Accuracy and Professionalism
Nothing looks worse than misspelling a customer’s name on an invoice because you were tired when you typed it in. When the data moves automatically from the contact form to the invoice, it’s always 100% accurate. You look like a big, professional operation, even if you’re working out of the spare room in North Lakes.Real-World Examples for Brisbane Businesses
Let’s look at how this works in practice for different industries.
The Service-Based Business (Electricians, Plumbers, Cleaners)
The Trigger: A customer fills out a booking form on your site. The Action 1: Zapier adds them to your CRM (Customer Relationship Manager). The Action 2: Zapier sends a notification to your team's group chat (Slack or WhatsApp). The Action 3: Zapier adds the customer's email to a 'New Lead' list in your email marketing tool.The Professional Service (Accountants, Lawyers, Mortgage Brokers)
The Trigger: A client signs a contract via DocuSign or Adobe Sign. The Action 1: Zapier creates a new folder in your Google Drive or Dropbox with the client's name. The Action 2: Zapier sends an 'Onboarding' email to the client with a link to book their first meeting. The Action 3: Zapier creates a task in your project management tool for your assistant to start the file.What It Costs (The Honest Truth)
Many 'gurus' will tell you this is free. It’s not.
Zapier Costs: They have a free version, but you’ll outgrow it in a week. Expect to pay about $30 to $70 AUD per month for a decent plan that handles a good volume of tasks.
Make Costs: Their paid plans start around $15 AUD per month. It’s cheaper, but as I said, it takes longer to set up.
Setup Costs: If you do it yourself, it costs your time. If you hire a pro, you might pay anywhere from $500 to $5,000 for a one-off setup depending on how messy your current systems are.
Is it worth it? If you save 5 hours of admin a week, and you value your time at $100/hour, you’re saving $500 a week. The software pays for itself in the first two days of the month.
How Long Until You See Results?
You will see results the instant the first automation runs.
The first time you see a lead pop into your CRM without you touching a keyboard, you’ll have a 'lightbulb' moment. You'll realise you don't need to hire another admin person; you just need better connections between your apps.
You can usually get a basic 'Lead to CRM' automation running in about 30 minutes. More complex workflows might take a few days to test and refine.
What Most People Get Wrong
Don't try to automate a mess. If your current process for handling customers is 'I just write it on a post-it note,' then Zapier can't help you yet. You need to manage your customers using a proper digital system first.
Automation is like a megaphone. If you have a clear process, it makes it louder and more effective. If you have a confusing process, it just makes the confusion happen faster.
Waste of Money Alert: Don't automate things you only do once a month. If it takes you 2 minutes once a month to move a file, just do it manually. Only automate the things that happen every single day. Focus on the 'high-frequency' tasks.
What Should You Do First?
If you’re ready to stop being a slave to your laptop, here is your 3-step plan:
1. Audit Your Day: For the next two days, keep a notepad. Every time you copy information from one app to another, write it down. 2. Pick One Win: Don't try to automate everything at once. Pick the one that annoys you the most. Usually, it’s getting website leads into your phone or CRM. 3. Start with Zapier: Create a free account. Search for your website builder (like WordPress or Wix) and your CRM. Follow the prompts to connect them. It’s much more intuitive than you think.
The Bottom Line
In Brisbane’s competitive market, the businesses that grow are the ones that respond the fastest and have the most time to spend with customers. You can’t do that if you’re stuck typing data into spreadsheets.
Connecting your tools isn't about being 'high-tech.' It’s about being high-profit. It’s about making sure your business works for you, rather than you working for your business.
If this sounds like something you need but you simply don't have the time to figure out which 'Zap' goes where, we can help. At Local Marketing Group, we specialise in making the tech disappear so you can focus on the work that actually pays the bills.
Ready to stop the manual data entry? Contact Local Marketing Group today and let’s get your systems talking to each other.