Problem:

SME owners often face difficulties in managing lead capture, follow-ups, and task organization, leading to missed opportunities and inefficiencies. Without the right tools, tasks such as sending welcome emails, organizing leads, and keeping track of follow-up reminders can become time-consuming and manual, reducing productivity and slowing down business growth. Most third-party tools come with a learning curve and additional costs, making it difficult for small business owners to adopt them.

Solution and Scope:

The solution is to use a simple and cost-effective automation workflow using Gmail and Google products (Google Sheets, Google Forms, Google Tasks) with Zapier. This setup enables SME owners to:

1. Capture Leads: Automatically collect lead information through a Google Form.
2. Store Lead Information: Capture form responses directly into a Google Sheet, which acts as a simple CRM to track leads.
3. Send Automated Welcome Emails: Use Gmail to automatically send personalized welcome emails to new leads.
4. Create Follow-Up Tasks: Automatically create follow-up reminders in Google Tasks, ensuring timely engagement with each lead.

By automating these processes, SME owners save time, reduce errors, and ensure that every lead gets the attention it deserves—without needing to rely on complex third-party tools or platforms. This workflow is straightforward and efficient, and leverages tools that SME owners are already familiar with.

1. Lead Capture via Google Forms

• Trigger: A new response is submitted in Google Forms (for capturing leads or inquiries).
• Action: The form data is automatically recorded in Google Sheets. This sheet will act as your CRM, tracking lead details like name, email, interest, etc.

2. Send a Welcome Email via Gmail

• Trigger: A new row (lead) is added in Google Sheets.
• Action: Send an automated Gmail welcome email to the lead with details about your business, products, or services.

3. Create a Task in Google Tasks for Follow-Up

• Trigger: A new lead is added to Google Sheets.
• Action: Automatically create a follow-up task in Google Tasks, so you can set reminders to personally follow up with the lead.