Skip Navigation
software for consultants

Software For Consultants: Must-Have Apps To Run Your Consulting Business

Leave a Comment

The right software for consultants can help you streamline and scale your consulting business.

But do you ever feel overwhelmed by the amount of software for consultants that are on the market today?

In this article, we’ll simplify all of it for you, and show you some of the must-have software for consultants.

We’ll only showcase software we’ve tested and used ourselves: software that we are comfortable recommending to the consultants in our Clarity Coaching program.

By the end of this post, you’ll have a list of all the software you need to start, run, and scale a successful consulting business.

But before we do that, a quick note.

Be careful not to spend too much time thinking about software.

That’s because new tools and software are popping up every day. You’ll end up spinning in circles trying to keep up or waiting to decide what you should use in your business.

Don’t get me wrong, I love discovering new software and tools.

However, as I’m sure you experienced, it takes time to get software up and running. And if you switch software, you’ll spend a lot of time figuring out how to use it. That’s time that you can spend on more valuable tasks like marketing and sales.

If you are going to change software, make sure it’s going to add significant value for your business and help you run your business more effectively.

With that said, let’s dive in.

Software For Consultants: Quick Links

Productivity Software For Consultants

Want to show a VA or team member how to do something, or make sure you don’t forget to follow up with a prospective client? These tools will help you run a more efficient and effective consulting business.

Loom

loom software for consultants

Loom is a screen recording software that allows you to quickly share screen recordings.

If you want to explain something to a client or team member through video instead of text or Zoom, Loom is the perfect solution.

Instead of booking costly meetings, you record a Loom video to share information with them. It will save your entire team a ton of time.

Example: You want to share your feedback on a team member’s work. Instead of booking a meeting, you record and send a quick 5-minute video with your feedback. That way, they can follow along with your feedback at their own pace and save it for reference.

Boomerang

Boomerang for Gmail™ extension - Opera add-ons

Do you follow up with every one of your prospective clients? If you’re like most of us, you’ll need some reminders to follow up.

Boomerang makes it easy to follow up with your clients, making sure you don’t let any opportunities slip through the cracks. It integrates seamlessly with Gmail so you can start using it immediately without having to learn a new interface.

Example: You’ve had a consulting sales call with a potential client and they expressed interest in working with you, but they aren’t ready to get started just yet. You “boomerang” their email to come back to you in 4 weeks, where you’re reminded to follow up with them.

Trainual

Trainual's Remote Team Management Solution (Review) - 2022 | SelectSoftware Reviews

Are you building systems and processes to run your consulting business? If so, you need a proper place to host them.

We use and recommend Trainual. It enables you to store your systems, train your contractors/employees, and ultimately, allow you to build a consulting business that can run without you.

Example: You want to outsource your administrative and financial tasks so you can focus more on higher-value tasks. You use Trainual to store your SOPs for these tasks. Your new employee or contractor uses Trainual to find and follow these processes, ensuring the delegation goes smoothly.

Dragon

Dragon Professional v15 review - leading speech-to-text software | TechRadar

Do you find it easier to speak than to write? If so, check out Dragon Speech Recognition: an AI-powered tool that enables quick, high-quality transcription.

For many, Dragon provides a much easier way to “write” whatever it is you need: emails, copy, or content.

Example: You want to start publishing content for your blog, but you never have the time to write. You find it much more natural to speak instead. So, you use Dragon to “speak” your piece. It transcribes your speech into writing for you to edit and publish.

CRM Software For Consultants

CRM stands for “customer relationship management.” Consulting is a relationship business. The better you’re able to manage your relationships, the more you’ll be able to leverage them for referrals, introductions, and new clients.

Hubspot

HubSpot | Software, Tools, and Resources to Help Your Business Grow Better

Hubspot is a CRM software that helps you manage your pipeline of consulting clients.

It makes it easy to manage and track your consulting leads and clients.

Whether you want to take notes on your consulting sales calls or need reminders to follow up with past clients, Hubspot centralizes all of this information.

Example: Managing your pipeline is one of the keys to consulting sales success. Use Hubspot (or one of the CRMs listed below) to set up and manage your 5-step consulting pipeline.

Zoho

Integrate Cliq with Zoho CRM | Zoho Cliq

Zoho is a powerful CRM with many features, including contact management, automation, marketing, and analytics.

It’s designed so that you can focus less on the software itself and more on building relationships with your current and potential clients.

You might use Zoho over HubSpot or Capsule if you manage a small team and you’ll make use of its marketing features.

Capsule

What is a CRM? | Capsule CRM

Capsule is a minimalist, simple, and affordable CRM fit for independent consultants and newer firms.

Like the above examples, Capsules will help you manage your contacts & pipeline, build email templates, track your tasks, and organize your calendar.

Capsule is a good fit if you’re looking for a simple CRM, and you’re using other tools for marketing (see our list below).

Marketing/Sales Software For Consultants

ClickFunnels

Setting Your Company Name and Image in ClickFunnels – ClickFunnels

Do you build marketing campaigns for your services? Or, do you require the ability to create landing pages, gather email addresses, send emails, and take payments?

ClickFunnels is a funnel-building tool that combines everything you need to market and sell consulting services to your clients.

Example: You’re launching a new productized consulting service. Using ClickFunnels, you build a landing page and email sequence to generate leads, nurture them, follow up, and take payment from buyers. Instead of having to tie a bunch of different pieces of software together, ClickFunnels links everything together seamlessly.

Keap

So what does Keap do? - Keap

Are you frustrated with linking dozens of tools together to run your consulting business? Or, are you wasting time on manual tasks when you know you could automate them?

We use and recommend Keap: a true “all in one” solution for marketing, sales, and more.

It might be too much for independent consultants, but for more established firms, it’s an incredibly powerful tool.

Example: You have a series of onboarding emails to send to new clients. Instead of sending them manually, you design an automation in Keap. This automation takes them through your entire onboarding process, sending the correct emails at the correct times. Now, you don’t have to do it manually.

Sumo

9 Real-Life Lead Magnet Examples To Grow Your Email List And Sales

Email marketing is one of the most powerful marketing methods for consultants. It allows you to nurture and follow up with your prospective clients at scale.

But getting prospects onto your list is challenging. Sumo solves this problem by providing you with a no-code method to create beautiful opt-in forms for your consulting website.

Example: You’ve written a whitepaper to demonstrate your expertise and get new prospects onto your list. You use Sumo to offer the whitepaper through your website. Sumo collects the names and email addresses of leads who want your whitepaper.

MailChimp

A Look at the New Mailchimp Dashboard

MailChimp is email marketing software used to store your email list information, send emails to your list, build email automations, and more.

With MailChimp, you can build your list, send emails, and manage your leads — helping you turn more of them into paying clients.

Example: You’ve got spots left for 2 more clients this quarter. You send an email to your list using MailChimp, letting them know that you have spots available and to reach out if they are interested in working with you.

ThriveCart

ThriveCart Complete Guide & Review | OptimizePress

Looking for an easy way to set up checkout pages so clients can easily purchase your productized services or packages?

ThriveCart is an excellent solution for quickly setting up checkout pages and taking payments from your clients.

It’s especially useful if you are selling productized consulting services and you sell it with a checkout page instead of manually creating an invoice.

Example: You’re running a paid group workshop for your current and potential clients. You set up the workshop checkout page using ThriveCart. Now, you’re able to take secure payments from your clients and tag them correctly in your email marketing software.

Boast.io

Boast.io – The Best App Comparison Website

Are you systematically gathering video testimonials from your clients? Testimonials — especially in video form — are incredibly powerful ways to market your consulting business.

Boast.io is a tool dedicated to helping you capture and share video testimonials from your clients.

With various templates, examples, and automation, Boast eliminates the hassle of having to manually ask clients for testimonials.

Example: You’ve just wrapped up a successful consulting engagement. You use Boast to ask for a video testimonial from your client. You then share their testimonial in your marketing, which helps you acquire more consulting projects.

Skrapp.io

Skrapp io Review – Leads The Way On Growing Email Lists – Milosz Krasinski

Skrapp.io is a simple Chrome extension that helps you find the email address of the prospects you’re browsing on LinkedIn.

Instead of having to hunt for a prospect’s email address on their website, you can find it with the click of a button.

Example: You’ve identified the perfect ideal client on LinkedIn, but can’t find their email address. You use Skrapp.io to find it in seconds so you can reach out to them directly.

Financial Software For Consultants

QuickBooks

Accounting Software For Small Business 2022 | QuickBooks India

QuickBooks is accounting software with many additional features such as time tracking, employee management, payroll, and more.

Ideally, you’d hire an accountant to keep your books for you. But, in the meantime, QuickBooks is a great option for quick and simple bookkeeping.

Example: You want to collect payment from a client. You use Quickbooks to create a professional-looking invoice in minutes, and then send it to your client where they can pay using different options.

Xero

Small Business Accounting Software | Xero CA

Xero is another financial software for consultants that enables you to send invoices, take payments, enter bills, and see a snapshot of your firm’s financial health.

More advanced features include multiple currencies, project racking, claiming expenses, and more.

You can’t go wrong with either QuickBooks or Xero. You might choose Xero over QuickBooks if you’re self-employed, prefer Xero’s user interface, or want software that’s less expensive.

Website Hosting/Security Software For Consultants

Norton

Norton AntiVirus Reviews | GetApp Canada 2022

If you run your business from your computer or laptop, it’s imperative that you take your security seriously. One virus can compromise your entire business (and your client’s businesses).

Norton is an antivirus software with all the features you need to protect all of your devices. It has a specific “Small Business” plan for features tailored to running a consulting business.

From ID theft protection and device security to VPNs and cloud backups, we use and recommended Norton to consultants.

NordVPN

NordVPN review: A great choice for Netflix fans, but who's running the show? - PC World Australia

NordVPN is a virtual private network (VPN) software that allows you to create a secure connection to another network over the internet.

As a business owner, it’s important that you pay attention to security. The last thing you want is for hackers to gain access to sensitive information that you’re sharing with your team or clients.

NordVPN makes it easy to mask your IP address so that you can work safely both inside and outside of your office.

Example: When you’re traveling and sharing sensitive information over a public WiFi network, you use NordVPN to hide your IP address. Now, you can send and receive private information safely.

Nexcess

Nexcess Review

Did you know that the speed of your website is a big factor in how well it ranks on Google? If you’re using a slow web host, you’re losing out on potential traffic, leads, and clients.

We use and recommend Nexcess. It’s a website hosting platform that ensures your website loads quickly and provides the best user experience.

Example: You use Nexcess to host your consulting website, making it load faster. As a result, your website has a better chance of ranking higher in search engines.

Software For Consultants: Conclusion

What software do you use to run your consulting business? Join the discussion and share what you use in the comment section below.

Using the right software will save you time, money, and make your consulting business more effective and help you to grow and scale in a more efficient way.

But it’s only a small part of running a successful consulting business.

Even the right software won’t fix faulty practices.

The most important “software” in your consulting business is your thinking: the choices you make to run your business.

Do you have a proper strategy in place?

Are you part of a community where you’re getting accountability and support from people who are where you want to be?

Over 850 consultants have joined our program to get these benefits — and build successful consulting practices.

If you want help implementing the best practices of high-six and seven-figure consultants, check out our Clarity Coaching Program.

We’ll work hands-on with you to develop a strategic plan and then dive deep and work through your ideal client clarity, strategic messaging, consulting offers, fees and pricing, business model optimization, and help you to set up your marketing engine and lead generation system to consistently attract ideal clients.

Schedule a FREE growth session today to apply for our limited capacity Clarity Coaching Program by clicking here.

Leave a Comment, Join the Conversation!