Do you love being a part of the graphic design world? Are you currently making money from the effort that’s going into these artistic creations? If your answer to both of these questions is yes, then in that case, we’ve got a CRM for you.
Dubsado is so easy to use and so easy to manage in the long term. We can’t recommend it enough for graphic design agencies! This customer relationship management (CRM) system can be used to organize everything–and yes, we do mean everything–that your graphic design projects entail.
Dubsado does a lot more than simply organize, too.
Check out how you can take your graphic design agency to the next level with Dubsado.
Wait…why exactly does my agency need a CRM?
If you’re still scratching your head at the title of the article, that’s okay, we get that a lot. The Systems Queens are here to help you realize the potential a CRM has to offer.
With a CRM on your side, you can:
- Streamline your client journey
- Get everything you need for a successful graphic design project organized and in its proper place
- Free up your day for more important things, like creating the graphic design, deciding on colours/fonts/shapes/all of that for your projects, and delivering the final products to your clients
- Leave the busywork (i.e. admin tasks such as invoicing and appointment booking) to your technology, rather than leaving it to you or your already hard working team
Now, on to the fun part: making Dubsado work for you, and not vice versa!
1: First thing first: connect your payment preference to Dubsado
A great thing Dubsado does is that it can connect your bank account directly to its software securely and safely. That way, you never have to wonder whether your payments are being received or not. In order to accomplish this, you’ll need to tell Dubsado how you want to get paid.
- Log in to your Dubsado account
- Click on Settings, then Brand Settings, then Receive Money
- Enter your Base Country and Currency to Receive (more on that below)
- Click on Save
- Select your payment preference from the options presented, then click Save again
- Keep letting Dubsado do its thing
Dubsado plays nicely with supportive operations systems such as Paypal, Stripe, and Square*. If any one of those are your preferred methods of payment, then you’re set.
*Please note that you can either use Stripe or Square, not both at the same time. For Paypal you can add it on its own, or in addition to Stripe or Square.
2: Play with templates, forms, and emails
Naturally in order to get paid for your hard work and effort in the graphic design industry, you’re going to have to send your clients specific forms and emails. Dubsado offers several templates for lead capture forms, questionnaires, contracts, and proposals that you can customize with ease once you have set up your account.
One of the best features of Dubsado is its ability to not only send out canned emails, but also create them so that you can tweak their contents as you see fit. This way, even the typical responses will read as if they were written by another human being, not so much like a robot (even though that’s exactly what’s going on).
It gets better. Every template, form, email, and proposal you send out via Dubsado will be branded accordingly. That way you can ensure your agency’s unique brand voice is clearly communicated and accounted for.
We highly recommend that you play around with these canned email templates and their contents before you apply them to workflows and automations. Find that sweet balance in tone, then apply your branded materials (logo, slogan, etc.), and then next time you need to get a workflow in place, you can use what you create as part of it.
3: Have automations in place
Automations in Dubsado are truly the key to keeping all of the busywork where it belongs: off your plate and on Dubsado’s. Using automations ensures you stay tuned in to any updates from your clients, and takes follow-ups on payments or contracts off your already full work plate.
Setting these up will help you send those newly played with forms, templates, and emails without having to lift a finger. Some of the best automations we highly recommend setting up for your graphic design agency are:
- Client reminders – for when payments are due, or if they have yet to read and respond to forms you send, or sent already
- Task reminders – for the rest of your team, that way everyone knows when a task is due, or if action is needing to be taken
- Custom tags and statuses – for everyone to know the current status of a project
- Custom triggers – for workflows
- Autopay – for invoices
- Smart Fields – for auto-filling client details on forms and templates
4: Get a workflow going
Workflows are genuinely the crown atop of Dubsado’s head. These are templates for pretty much all of the processes your graphic design agency does daily, such as sending emails and files, invoicing, and task management as well as all the details listed in this article!
A workflow can be set up as one massive to-do list. This list may consist of every single email you send out to clients, and includes any pre-set reminders for when you need to send invoices, get payment plans and contracts signed and approved, and follow-up emails.
You can add workflows to your projects in Dubsado, so that any and all canned emails (or at least the ones you tweak, if needed) are pulled up, and tasks can be added to your list with to-do dates and pre-set reminders, based on the date your project is created. Once that’s set up, it’s super easy to check on a client’s status since all it takes is one look!
Workflows aren’t limited to emails in sales, either. You can create one for any marketing campaign or administrative process your business needs to set up.
5: Start integrating your favourite apps
Zapier, accounting software, email, video conferencing. What do all these have in common? Simple. You can add them all to Dubsado for an even easier workload!
Quickbooks, Zapier, Gmail/Outlook, and Zoom are all outsourcing software and services that happen to play nicely with Dubsado. For the sake of simplicity, we’ll focus primarily on email and Zapier integration in this article.
To integrate your email, go to the Settings in Dubsado (click on the gear icon), then click on Emails. Two options will appear: Sign in to Google, and Sign in to Microsoft. Click on either of these buttons to use the email address you want to connect your Dubsado to. Your email address will be connected, and any replies from your clients will be automatically added into Dubsado.
For Zapier, first you need to be sure you have an account set up with both Dubsado and Zapier. Otherwise, the next few steps won’t work.
- Once you have both accounts set up, log in to Dubsado, and then go to Settings (click on the gear icon), then Integrations. You can then click Generate Tokens under Zapier, then in the upper right corner, click Generate new token.
- What this does is create an API key that you will need. This code will help integrate both the softwares. Copy the code that appears in front of you now.
- Next, open your Zapier account. At the navigation bar, you can click My Apps, then click on the Connect a New Account dropdown option from that tab, and select Dubsado. You can also type to search for this.
- A pop up window will appear asking for an API Key, and here’s where you can paste in the API key that was generated in Dubsado. Then click Yes, Continue. You’re done!
Once Dubsado and Zapier are connected, you’ll see Dubsado appear under My Connections on the My Apps tab in Zapier. At this point we recommend that you click the Test button to confirm the connection.
Speaking of testing things… the semi-final suggestion of ours.
6: Test, test, test
It’s common sense and it helps you realize what’s working…and what’s not. Tests are a great way to tell if an automation or a workflow is good to go before their official launch, or if there’s something missing from them altogether.
For example, if you’re working to send multiple emails all at once, you’re going to need to make sure those don’t land in someone’s Junk or Spam folders in their inbox by accident.
The best way to test is to use your team members’ emails and see where the first one lands. If it’s in the inbox, great! If not, find out where the mistake was made and then test again.
7: Keep doing the dang thing!
Was the test a success? Great! You’re now ready to rinse, repeat, and make profit from your automated processes on Dubsado.
Don’t forget to check on reports afterward, which Dubsado also offers, in case you need to pause or retest any new automations.
For now, give yourself and your computer a big hug. You’re both doing what needs to be done and we’re proud of you!
Not Sure About Dubsado? Take Your Time, Or Give Us a Call
It’s normal to feel as if you’ve had an info dump added to your plate. It takes way more than just one day to learn how to use a CRM. That’s why The Systems Queens are always offering to help!
Knowing how a CRM works and how to make it work for us instead of vice versa really is our specialty. So in the event you feel like you need the extra support, you can count on us.
Are you interested in learning more about how Dubsado works versus another CRM like Honeybook? Feel free to refer to our previous blog post on the subject!
Maybe you’ve already read that post and Honeybook’s not really looking like the best choice either. In that case, you can download our comparison guide to see how Dubsado fares with other CRMs in the market.
And if you’re really, truly stumped about Dubsado or you’re currently struggling with the initial setup, you can talk to The Systems Queens about our services! They include:
- Implementation and initial setup, which sometimes can be what’s really stopping you from starting
- Building out brochures/proposals, scheduling set-up, lead capturing, and templates. This will help you book more clients and remove the drag of contract write-ups and manual payment systems
- Customization for your account; that way you’re using all of Dubsado’s features the way they’re meant to work
Book your discovery call with The Systems Queens!
