Becoming a tech nerd may not have been at the top of your list of priorities when you started on your OBM journey. But you will have quickly discovered that knowing how to use the right tools at the right time is our thing.
From productivity platforms to communication apps and everything in between, mastering technology is integral to getting a competitive edge in the online world.
So how big of a tech nerd are you?
From working with our clan of more than 50+ clients over the years, we’ve discovered that these are the 10 most popular tech platforms that every OBM must know.
1. G Suite – Everything You Need In One Room
I’m pretty sure you’re G Suite friendly because, duh…who can resist Google’s free (or low cost) cloud-based storage and wide range of services?
From email to text documents, spreadsheets, presentations, calendars, forms, storage, chat and more – it’s an ideal way to work with clients.
Here at Sarah Noked, we’re diehard G Suite fans. The ability to create documents and storage folders and share them with our team/clients without downloading and uploading is hot stuff. We also love the ability to work in the same file simultaneously, which is perfect for virtual collaboration. And Google Calendars is our go-to tool for mapping out client promotions and launches.
And speaking of launches…you’ll need to know about these two beauties:
2. Infusionsoft or Ontraport – Email Marketing
If you’re aiming to work with high-level clients on big product launches, it’s likely they’ll be working with InfusionSoft or Ontraport. So if you have an info-gap here, it’s worth the investment to study up and add at least one of them to your portfolio.
These two platforms are email marketing/CRM hybrids that allow you to store and segment contacts, set up automated sales funnels, and track nuanced metrics.
Both these monsters can be equally intimidating when you first get started, but it’s worth the effort to get to grips with them. I got my start in Infusionsoft, and that helped me pick up Ontraport quickly when I was ready to make the move to a CRM for my own biz!
And while we’re on client launches, let’s check out:
3. PilotPress, OptimizePress, and Wishlist – Membership Plugins
If you are working with clients selling online programs, you’ll need to get to grips with membership sites, and understand how membership plugins integrate with WordPress & email marketing platforms.
You’ll want a Plugin like PilotPress, OptimizePress or WishList, which allow you to slowly release new content to a member and at the same time ensure that non-members can’t see it. Membership plugins should also support your client’s preferred payment gateways, either built-in or through an add-on.
This is our fave platform for managing virtual teams:
4. Teamwork – Project Management
If you manage a virtual team in any capacity, employing a project management tool is the only way to keep track of everything – and stay sane!
We love TeamWork and use it to map out our entire month’s work for every client. Each task is clearly laid out, assigned to the appropriate team member with start and end dates and all relevant files attached, so it’s super-easy to see what’s going down at any given moment.
You can read more about how TeamWork has helped take my entire business to a much more professional level here and try it out here.
For when you need a more immediate channel of communication there’s:
5. Slack or Teamwork Chat – Instant Team Communication
Slack and TeamWork chat are instant messaging platforms for keeping in touch with your team and your clients’ teams from anywhere. That way, it’s easy to collaborate and make decisions quickly. 
Both allow you to create conversation threads on a specific project, so all the communication about that project will be in one place and easily accessible.
My team especially loves TeamWork Chat because you can turn snippets of chat into Teamwork tasks by integrating chat channels with Teamwork projects.
Next, we have a platform that has helped me to market and scale my biz:
6. WordPress – The Website Building Magnifico
I built my first Sarah Noked biz website all by myself with WordPress, which is testament to this web design tool’s simplicity and flexibility.
You don’t have to go that far, but as an OBM you should be able to install a FB pixel, edit basic HTML, add and edit a page, upload a plugin, and know your way around the backend in order to collaborate with your client’s web developer.
Here’s what we love about WordPress: since it’s one of the most popular web design tools on the market, there are tons of pre-designed themes, useful plugins, and resources to help you build, modify, and update sites easily. And since the WordPress software is free, it’s a budget-friendly option that can scale with your business as you grow and need more features.
Here’s something that will help your clients fill out their content calendars:
7. Recurpost – Content Management System
Recurpost helps our clients get more value out of their most popular content by automatically recycling blogs and posts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. You can set the intervals, so if you need to build out a content management system for clients, this takes the stress out of daily posting. As an OBM, you’ll need to be familiar with the way this software works in order to successfully delegate the implementation to a VA.
8. Calendly or Acuity – Client Onboarding Systems
Properly onboarded customers are often the most successful ones, so if you’re setting up a client onboarding system, we like Calendly or Acuity for scheduling appointments.
These platforms save the back and forth of setting up meetings by allowing your clients to find a time that works for them, taking into consideration time-zone conversions and appointment types.
I find Calendly is more user friendly, but once you’re a pro in one, you’ll be able to pick up the other easily.
Now this next one is the matchmaker of tech platforms:
9. Zapier – The MatchMaker
Ah, Zapier. The bandaid of the internet. Zapier helps you integrate software that don’t automatically communicate with each other.
For instance, there isn’t a native integration between Ontraport and Calendly. In order for a behavior from Calendly to be tracked in Ontraport, such as “contract signed” or “discovery call booked” you need to set up a Zap that funnels info automatically from one tech platform to another.
Last, but NOT least, there’s this one from the cutting-edge:
10. ManyChat – Chatbots
Chatbots are the hottest thing around at the moment. They’re part of the move towards “conversational sales” facilitating one-on-one automated chats with potential buyers to give them more personalised information. Some entrepreneurs are using them in place of opt-in forms, lead magnet pages and email sequences for shorter, bite-sized chats, reminders, or answers to FAQs. It’s cutting-edge stuff – so recommending ManyChat to your clients will score you massive brownie points when their conversion rates soar. In light of that, this is one platform that I recommend you start to pay attention to. You can read more about it here.
So that’s it! Those are our top 10 tech tools we think you should know like a pro.
Now over to you: which other tools would you add to this list? Let us know in the comments section below!
Disclosure: This blog contains affiliate links. I only partner with websites and platforms that I use on a daily basis and provide real value to my business. No clicks for a quick buck at Sarah Noked OBM!
