Start with the work you can see
Every business has automations it should build and automations it should ignore. The five below are the ones we end up building first, because they remove the most hours for the least complexity.
1. Missed call text back
The fastest payback of anything we build. Every unanswered call gets an instant text, and the conversation continues without you. Most clients see it earn its keep inside the first month.
2. Quote and estimate follow-up
Most quotes are not rejected, they are forgotten. A sequence that checks in politely on day two, day five and day twelve recovers work you had already written off.
3. Appointment reminders
Reminders cut no-shows and cost almost nothing to run. This one is boring and it works.
4. Data moving between your tools
If someone copies information from one app into another, that is an automation waiting to happen. Invoicing, job cards, CRM updates and reporting are the usual suspects.
5. The Monday report
If a person spends half a day assembling numbers that never change format, a scheduled report should be doing it. It arrives before you do.
What to leave alone
Do not automate the thing you do twice a year, however annoying it is. Do not automate a process you have not decided how to run yet. Automation locks in a decision, so make the decision first.
The order matters less than starting
Pick one, build it well, and let the saved hours fund the next one. That is how a business ends up with a system instead of a pile of disconnected tools.