5 Small Business Tools Every Team Should Use

Running a small business often means operating with limited time, a tight budget, and a small team. You’re responsible for managing sales, responding to customers, promoting your brand, and handling daily operations.

That’s why choosing the best small business tools helps you stay organized and efficient without overextending your resources.

Smart tools allow you to simplify your workflow and improve how you connect with customers. From marketing to client follow-ups, the right tools help you communicate better while staying efficient.

In this guide, you’ll find top tools for task management, customer support, team collaboration, and more. We’ll also take a closer look at the best tools for small business owners who need scalable, customizable solutions built for long-term growth.

What Are Small Business Tools?

Small business tools are software and platforms that help you run your business with more structure and less stress. 

These tools are made to support the daily tasks that often take too much of your time, like sending invoices, managing contacts, tracking sales, or staying on top of employee schedules.

Each tool serves a different purpose. Here are a few common categories:

• Project management tools help you stay organized by assigning tasks, setting deadlines, and tracking what’s done and what still needs attention.
• Accounting software helps you keep your income and expenses in order and makes tax season easier.
• Marketing platforms let you reach your audience through email, SMS, or social media, and they help you stay consistent with your message.
• Customer service tools make it easier to respond to questions, solve issues, and build stronger relationships with your clients.

As your business grows, these tools grow with you. Many offer a free version to start, then allow you to upgrade when you need more advanced features. This gives you room to scale without switching systems.

In short, small business tools help you get more done in less time. They give you a comprehensive solution to manage the moving parts of your business and create space to focus on growth.

5 Types of Tools for Small Businesses

These are the tools every small business should know:

1. Marketing Tools

Marketing plays a big role in how people discover and stay connected with your business. Here are a few essential tools to help manage your small business marketing from one place.

SMS Marketing

Text messaging is one of the fastest and most effective ways to reach your customers. It gives you a direct line of communication for sending updates, reminders, and special offers. With high open rates and quick response times, it’s a channel that delivers real results.

If you’re looking to add SMS campaigns to your digital marketing strategy, Textellent is a top-rated option tailored for small business marketers.

It offers features like message scheduling, autoresponders, contact segmentation, and integration with CRMs. It automates repetitive tasks and makes it easier to deliver timely, personalized messages that drive results.

Rather than managing follow-ups manually or worrying about missed connections, Textellent helps you stay consistent and responsive. It’s a smart way to turn everyday messaging into a meaningful part of your marketing strategy.

Sign up for a free trial or request a demo consultation today!

Email Marketing

If you’re sharing news, offering discounts, or sending follow-ups, marketing emails let you reach your audience with ease.

• Mailchimp is known for its simple setup, templates, and ability to handle both small and large email lists. It also includes tools for audience insights.
• ConvertKit works well if you’re focused on personal messages and want more control over how and when emails are sent. It’s a solid option for building automated email sequences.

These platforms help you stay consistent, track open rates, and adjust your strategy using basic web analytics tools.

SMS can complement your email efforts to make your communication even more effective. While emails are great for detailed content, texts are ideal for time-sensitive updates like flash sales, appointment reminders, or quick check-ins.

With tools like Textellent, you can build integrated campaigns that combine email and SMS to reach your audience on the channels they check most often.

Social Media Automation

Posting on social media helps keep your brand visible, but doing it manually takes time. Social media automation tools let you schedule posts and keep your profiles active without needing to check in every day.

• Buffer offers a clean dashboard where you can write, schedule, and track posts across multiple platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
• Later adds a visual content calendar, which is helpful if you want to see how your feed looks before posting. It also supports link-in-bio tools and hashtag suggestions.

These tools keep your content organized and free up your schedule so you can focus on other areas of your business.

Visual Creation

Strong visuals can set your business apart. If you need graphics for your website, flyers, social media posts, or email headers, Canva makes it simple.

Canva comes with free and premium themes, drag-and-drop tools, and access to thousands of images and icons. You don’t need design experience or a graphic designer to create clean, professional visuals that upgrade your brand.

With so many features built in, Canva is ideal if you want to move fast and maintain a strong visual identity.

2. Productivity & Collaboration Tools

These tools help you manage tasks, track progress, and keep communication clear if your team works in different locations or on different schedules.

Below are three categories of tools that can make a real difference in your day-to-day operations.

Task and Project Management

If you often lose track of tasks or have trouble knowing what your team is working on, these tools can help. They offer a user-friendly interface to assign responsibilities and follow progress step by step.

• Trello uses boards and cards to map out tasks. It’s a visual tool that makes it easy to see what’s in progress and what’s done.
• Asana offers project templates, task lists, and built-in workflows for teams that need more structure.
• ClickUp combines task tracking, goal setting, and time estimates in one place. It works well for teams that need detailed views.

These platforms reduce repetitive tasks, avoid missed deadlines, and give you visibility into productivity with built-in reporting tools.

To complement these tools, Textellent helps ensure that people take action at the right time. 

You can tag team members in a text, assign follow-up actions, and automatically send reminders. It keeps your communication moving, especially when your team is juggling multiple tasks and timelines.

Real-Time Team Chat

Email can be slow and messy for daily communication. Chat platforms give you a fast way to share updates and keep conversations organized by topic or department.

• Slack lets you create channels for different projects or teams. It also connects with apps you already use, like Google Drive or Zoom.
• Microsoft Teams combines chat, video calls, and document sharing. It works well if your business already uses Google Calendar or Microsoft tools.

Compared to juggling conversations across other platforms, centralized chat tools provide clarity and faster results.

File Sharing and Storage

Keeping files in one central place means your team spends less time searching and more time working. Cloud storage tools let you save documents, presentations, spreadsheets, and more, while giving team members access from anywhere.

• Google Drive is part of Google Workspace, which allows editing and commenting on shared documents.
• Dropbox focuses on file storage and backup and makes it easy to share folders with clients or partners.

With the right tools in place, you can avoid version mix-ups and ensure your assets are secure and organized. This supports better data analysis and operations.

3. Financial and Accounting Tools

These tools help you build a strong foundation for your business by keeping money matters clear and organized. Here are three types of financial tools that every small business should consider.

Bookkeeping and Invoicing

Bookkeeping software gives you a central place to track income and expenses, send invoices, and manage your cash flow. It replaces the need for separate systems or manual tracking.

• QuickBooks is a popular choice for small businesses. It allows you to create invoices, track payments, monitor expenses, and prepare for tax season for better financial management.
• FreshBooks is built for service-based businesses. It includes time tracking, invoicing, and basic project management features, all from one dashboard.

These tools help you stay in control of your finances and reduce the chance of missed payments or late fees, even if you have little accounting knowledge.

Payment Processing

Accepting payments from customers in person or online should be fast and simple. Payment processing tools make this possible by offering easy ways to collect and manage payments.

• Stripe supports online payments through your website or app. It works well for subscriptions, e-commerce, and online store transactions.
• Square offers both hardware and software for point-of-sale setups, which makes it a great option if you also sell in person.

If you’re starting small or scaling up, these payment solutions are some of the best software choices for flexibility and ease of use.

While financial tools handle the internal side of accounting, Textellent helps close the loop with your customers. It makes financial communication easier by sending automated text reminders for upcoming payments and friendly follow-ups to encourage on-time completion.

After a payment goes through, Textellent can instantly confirm receipt with a personalized message, which helps you keep customers informed.

Payroll

Running a payroll can be one of the more complex parts of managing a business. Payroll tools take care of tax calculations, employee pay schedules, and benefits, so you don’t need to do the math on your own.

• Gusto handles payroll, benefits, and hiring tools in one work management platform.
• Patriot is a lower-cost option that focuses on core payroll functions. It’s easy to set up and includes features for tax filing and direct deposit.

Using these tools ensures your team gets paid correctly and on time while protecting sensitive data with features like data encryption.

4. Customer Service and Support Tools

Great customer service is key to keeping clients happy and turning one-time buyers into repeat customers. Customer service tools help you respond faster and offer a better experience without needing a full support team.

Here are three types of tools that make customer support easier and more reliable.

Live Chat and Helpdesk Software

When customers visit your website, they often have questions before making a purchase. Live chat tools let you answer those questions on the spot. This can lead to more sales and better customer interactions.

• Tidio combines live chat with AI-powered responses that allow you to handle more conversations with less effort. It’s built for small businesses that want to improve support without a steep learning curve.
• Zendesk offers a full helpdesk system where you can track, manage, and respond to support tickets. It’s ideal if you get a high volume of support requests or work with a team.

These tools make follow-ups stress-free and allow teams to communicate through instant messaging or respond during online meetings. It also helps you save money by reducing the need for a large support staff.

CRM Systems

Customer relationship management (CRM) tools help you keep track of every interaction with a client or lead. From first contact to final sale, a CRM shows you who’s interested, what they need, and how you can help them next.

• Zoho CRM is flexible and works well for tracking leads, deals, and follow-ups across different sales stages, offering powerful lead management options.
• HubSpot CRM gives you a simple way to log phone calls, emails, and notes in one place. It’s free to start and easy to use, which provides self-service options to users.

CRMs show you where each customer is in their journey and offer key features that help boost loyalty and sales.

Textellent integrates with platforms like HubSpot, Zoho, and Salesforce. This allows you to send text messages straight from your CRM dashboard. It helps you reach customers faster and more personally. 

You can also segment your contact list based on buying habits, preferences, or sales funnel stages. Therefore, you have more targeted messages, stronger follow-ups, and a smoother path to conversion.

Feedback Forms and Surveys

Knowing what your customers think helps you make smarter decisions. Feedback tools let you gather insights about what’s working, what needs to improve, and what your customers really want.

• Typeform lets you build simple, clean forms and surveys that feel more personal than standard checkboxes. It’s great for getting opinions, reviews, and post-purchase feedback while helping you analyze data and improve your website’s performance.

Collecting feedback shows customers that their voice matters and helps you shape your products and services around their needs.

SMS can make this process even more effective by prompting real-time responses. With Textellent, you can send survey links via text or ask for quick feedback through short replies.

5. Hiring, HR, and Employee Management Tools

HR tools can take a lot of that weight off your shoulders by making your team operations clear and consistent. Here are three categories of tools that support the people’s side of your business.

Applicant Tracking and Hiring

Hiring the right person takes time, and sorting through resumes by hand can slow you down. Applicant tracking tools help you post jobs, manage candidates, and move people through the hiring process.

• Breezy HR lets you post to job boards, schedule interviews, and rate applicants with your team. It also includes email templates to make follow-ups faster.
• Workable gives you access to a wide network of job boards and helps with screening, interview tracking, and team feedback to keep everyone on the same page during the hiring process.

Time Tracking and Scheduling

Keeping track of hours and availability is tough when your team grows. Scheduling tools give you a clear view of who’s working, when they’re available, and how to manage changes without sending dozens of messages.

• When I Work is built for small teams that need a clean, easy way to create schedules, track time, and fill open shifts. It also includes clock-in and clock-out features for better time records and improved team communication and efficiency.

HR and Employee Management

Once your team is in place, you need a system to manage their information, track time off, and keep everything organized. HR tools help you manage employee data without needing a dedicated HR team.

• BambooHR brings together hiring, onboarding, time-off requests, and employee records in one dashboard. It’s a good fit for small businesses that want to stay organized as they grow.

While HR platforms cover the administrative side of team management, Textellent strengthens day-to-day communication.

You can assign tasks to team members, and Textellent sends automatic reminders to ensure follow-ups happen on time. It’s a simple way to keep everyone accountable without relying on constant check-ins.

Textellent also helps with shift reminders, onboarding messages, and payroll updates. Team members can get quick texts about their schedules, training requirements, or when their paychecks are processed.

How Texting Helps Your Small Business Grow Faster

Texting is more than a convenient way to communicate. If you want to respond faster, reduce missed sales, and improve customer satisfaction, it gives you the advantage.

It’s also one of the most effective productivity tools for boosting output without adding extra steps to your workflow.

High Open Rates Drive Results

Text messages get read, and most are opened within minutes of being received.

Visibility helps you reach customers when you’re confirming appointments, sharing updates, or sending promotions.

Unlike emails that may be lost in an overloaded inbox, SMS lands directly on a user’s screen. This creates a direct connection that even the best email marketing platform can’t always match.

Stronger Connections With Less Effort

Texting feels more personal than an email or ad. It opens the door to real conversations, not just one-way announcements.

Following up after a purchase, checking in after a service visit, or even just thanking a customer builds trust. With the intuitive interface of SMS platforms like Textellent, sending thoughtful follow-ups becomes effortless.

Time Back Through Automation

Running a small business is already a full-time job. Texting tools with automation features allow you to create reminders, set up drip campaigns, and schedule messages in advance.

You stay in touch without having to manually follow up every time. The built-in real-time reporting gives you insights on open rates, click-throughs, and responses from a centralized dashboard.

Fewer Missed Sales and Appointments

Missed opportunities can cost your business revenue and customer trust. With texting, you can prevent those gaps by reaching people when they’re most likely to respond.

If it’s a new lead or a returning customer, timing is everything, and text messaging gives you the speed to follow up. These automated messages provide instant acknowledgment, which increases the likelihood of a response and keeps your brand at the top of your mind.

It’s also a smarter alternative to juggling messages across technology platforms since everything is organized in one place and ready to scale as you grow.

Faster Communication Keeps You Competitive

In business, speed is a competitive advantage. When you’re launching a flash sale, waiting hours (or even minutes) can mean the difference between a conversion and a missed opportunity.

Texting allows you to bypass inboxes and approval queues. With SMS platforms, you can type a message, hit send, and have it reach your customer’s phone within seconds. That makes a huge difference when your competitors are still stuck drafting emails.

Why Textellent Is Built for Small Business Success

When it comes to growing a small business, time, budget, and customer attention are all limited resources. That’s why you need a platform that helps you build real relationships and drive long-term results without stretching your team too thin.

Textellent is designed with those goals in mind. More than a business texting tool, it’s also a customer engagement platform that gives your small business the power to scale internal communications.

Automate Key Customer Touchpoints

Manually following up with every customer or lead takes time.

With Textellent, you can schedule and automate follow-ups, appointment reminders, and even re-engagement messages based on customer behavior. Customers stay connected to your business even when you’re focused on other tasks.

You can also automate seasonal greetings or time-based offers that integrate well with your content marketing plan and improve relevance.

Personalize Without the Manual Work

Customers want to feel recognized, and personalization is key to building that trust. Textellent allows you to send messages that look and feel one-on-one, even when they’re automated.

Each message can be tailored using customer names, past activity, or service preferences. With tags and segments, you’re able to send the message to the target group without starting from scratch.

Convert More Leads With Timely Follow-Ups

Textellent gives you the tools to respond to new leads right away. Instead of waiting for someone to check an email or return a call, your response is sent the moment a form is filled out or a question is submitted.

These “Speed-to-Lead” features help you stay ahead of competitors and make sure you’re using the right tools to act fast.

Strengthen Loyalty and Drive Referrals

Textellent supports your long-term growth by helping you stay connected with your most valuable customers. You can set up rewards for repeat visits, send special offers to loyal customers, and even automate messages that encourage reviews and referrals.

These capabilities are part of an all-in-one system that increases revenue without added marketing spend.

Make Communication Feel Human Again

Rather than generic bulk texting platforms, Textellent supports two-way communication. Your customers can reply directly, and you can respond in real-time or automate a message when you’re away.

It’s a customer-friendly solution that strengthens trust and ensures fast service. Combined with tools like video conferencing and CRM integrations, it becomes part of a broader communication tools strategy that empowers your team.

Flexible Enough to Grow With You

Textellent integrates with many platforms you may already use, including CRMs, schedulers, and analytics software. It also includes secure features like multi-factor authentication.

As your team expands and your campaigns become more complex, the system adapts to support everything from simple appointment reminders to robust SMS campaigns and document management features.

You can even organize recurring sequences or trigger replies from customer actions without building out complicated to-do lists or needing IT support.

Texting Solution Built for Small Business—Try Textellent Today!

You don’t need more hours in the day. You need smarter tools to help your business grow.

The right small business tools help you work smarter, and Textellent is one of those tools. Built specifically for small businesses, it transforms everyday texting into a high-impact strategy for engagement and revenue growth.

With Textellent, you can automate appointment reminders, follow-ups, promotions, and personalized campaigns without sacrificing the personal touch your customers value. Its features include two-way texting, CRM integration, contact segmentation, and real-time tracking.

You have less manual work, more meaningful conversations, and a smarter way to manage customer communication. 

If your goal is to work smarter, Textellent is the upgrade your business deserves. You can add it to your essential stack of tools and see how effective texting can be.

Sign up for a free trial or request a demo consultation and turn every message into a measurable result!

FAQs About Small Business Tools

What are the four types of small businesses?

Small businesses generally fall into four main types based on how they’re structured:

• Sole proprietorship: A single individual owns and operates the business. This is the simplest structure and is common among freelancers and independent service providers.
• Partnership: Two or more people share ownership and responsibility. Partnerships are often used in professional services or family-run businesses.
• Limited Liability Company (LLC): This structure offers personal liability protection and flexibility in how the business is taxed. Many small businesses choose LLCs for both legal protection and ease of management.
• Corporation: A more formal structure that separates the business from the owner. Corporations are more complex but may offer advantages for raising capital or scaling.

The type you choose affects how you manage taxes, tools, and team members. So, it’s important to select the one that fits your business goals and aligns with your long-term small business productivity strategy.

What software do most small businesses use?

Most small businesses rely on a combination of software to manage different parts of their operation. The most common categories include:

• Accounting and invoicing: Tools like QuickBooks and FreshBooks
• Marketing and email: Platforms like Mailchimp, ConvertKit, and SMS solutions like Textellent
• CRM tools: Options like Zoho or HubSpot
• Project management: Software like Trello, Asana, or ClickUp
• Scheduling and team collaboration: Google Workspace, Microsoft Teams, and tools for booking and shift planning

Security is also essential when using these platforms. Tools that offer features like multi-factor authentication and a master password option help protect sensitive business data.

For marketing and content creation, platforms that blend automation with personalized messaging can save time while improving results.

What is the most successful marketing tool for small businesses?

The most successful marketing tool depends on your business type and your audience, but text message marketing is becoming one of the top-performing channels. With a 98% open rate and fast response times, SMS outperforms email and many social media campaigns.

Platforms like Textellent give small businesses the ability to send personalized messages, run loyalty campaigns, and follow up with leads. It’s simple to use and helps turn communication into real growth.