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At Proof , a 15-person seed-stage startup where I work on the marketing team, we all wear a lot of hats. We spend time on everything from customer support to interviewing candidates to assembling desks—in addition to our time-intensive primary roles. We're a busy batch, so we're always on the lookout for ways to streamline our processes. At the beginning of the year, we diagnosed a major issue that was slowing us down: we were having too many ineffective—and often unnecessary—meetings . Over the past few months, we implemented several rules and best practices to have fewer meetings and make the meetings we do have more productive. The result? We've saved hundreds of person-hours. Here are four of the strategies we implemented. They might not all work for your company, but even if you pick and choose a few that make sense, I hope it helps free up the amount of time you spend in your own conference room. 1. Require an agenda for every meeting Slack and Google Calendar ha...

With the end of the year nearing, it’s time to start thinking about the things you want to accomplish in the next. New Year’s resolutions aren’t only for personal development; they should also be for your professional development. That makes this the perfect time to start getting your game plan together. The problem with resolutions is that sticking to them is the hardest part. The great thing about Zapier is that it can help you stay on track with your professional resolutions! Processes and tasks happen on your behalf behind the scenes, so there's nothing for you to keep up with or have to remember. All you need to do is set up Zaps—Zapier's automated workflows—that support your plans. Automation is a smart thing to incorporate into your business processes because it minimizes the potential for user errors, frees up time in your day to work on tasks that truly need a human touch, and overall increases your productivity. To get you started with a few ideas, here are five res...

Seven in ten (70 percent) of knowledge workers say they plan to spend time online shopping for the holidays while at work this year. With the holidays just around the corner, Zapier commissioned The Harris Poll to see just how much time U.S. knowledge workers (those who primarily work in a professional setting and use a computer as part of their job) plan to spend holiday shopping while at work. The survey found: * On average, knowledge workers plan to spend a total of 8.5 work hours shopping * Three in 10 knowledge workers who will shop online for the holidays during work hours (30 percent) plan to spend 10 or more hours shopping during work hours this year. * More than 1 in 10 (15 percent) plan to spend 15+ hours holiday shopping during work. * Who's the most likely culprit to be shopping during work hours? Younger adults - the survey finds 79 percent of knowledge workers aged 18-44 planned to shop while at work compared to just 59 percent of those aged 45+, with men ages 18-34 ...

When I was hired at Zapier back in June, I immediately panic-Googled "how to succeed in a new job." The results were soul-crushing. While "network constantly" and "come in early every day" might sound like good advice at first blush, there's something a bit reductive about it. After all, you're not looking for tips on how to maximize your output, suck up to the C-suite, or seem like a hard worker; you want advice on how to actually settle in to your new environment and create habits that will serve you well in the future. I'm lucky. Zapier puts a lot of effort into creating an enjoyable—and easy—onboarding experience. But the truth is that starting a new job will always be hard. There's just so much going on: not only do you need to learn your new responsibilities, but you also probably have plenty of onboarding tasks to complete, such as setting up all your tools. You have to meet a lot of new people. And if you're working in an indu...

When I was hired at Zapier back in June, I immediately panic-Googled "how to succeed in a new job." The results were soul-crushing. While "network constantly" and "come in early every day" might sound like good advice at first blush, there's something a bit reductive about it. After all, you're not looking for tips on how to maximize your output, suck up to the C-suite, or seem like a hard worker; you want advice on how to actually settle in to your new environment and create habits that will serve you well in the future. I'm lucky. Zapier puts a lot of effort into creating an enjoyable—and easy—onboarding experience. But the truth is that starting a new job will always be hard. There's just so much going on: not only do you need to learn your new responsibilities, but you also probably have plenty of onboarding tasks to complete, such as setting up all your tools. You have to meet a lot of new people. And if you're working in an indu...

Like athletes before the big match, retailers everywhere are finishing their last-minute preparations for Thanksgiving weekend. And why not—those five days after Thanksgiving Thursday host some of the biggest shopping days of the entire year, not the least of which are Black Friday and Cyber Monday. We won’t pry into how much you’ve already prepared (or why you haven’t yet). What we will do is list seven ways you can still get ready, right up until the last minute. To maximize your sales during this crucial shopping holiday, here’s a checklist of the best preparations for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, all of which you can finish in an afternoon! 1. Encourage gift cards If there’s one single product that can transcend all industries, brand styles, and price segments, it’s the gift card. That’s not just our opinion either: according to a National Retail Federation study , 60 percent of all people like receiving gift cards as presents, the highest-rated option. Gift cards are gifts f...

Like athletes before the big match, retailers everywhere are finishing their last-minute preparations for Thanksgiving weekend. And why not—those five days after Thanksgiving Thursday host some of the biggest shopping days of the entire year, not the least of which are Black Friday and Cyber Monday. We won’t pry into how much you’ve already prepared (or why you haven’t yet). What we will do is list seven ways you can still get ready, right up until the last minute. To maximize your sales during this crucial shopping holiday, here’s a checklist of the best preparations for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, all of which you can finish in an afternoon! 1. Encourage gift cards If there’s one single product that can transcend all industries, brand styles, and price segments, it’s the gift card. That’s not just our opinion either: according to a National Retail Federation study , 60 percent of all people like receiving gift cards as presents, the highest-rated option. Gift cards are gifts f...

With over 150,000 customers worldwide, Salesforce is one of the most popular customer relationship management (CRM) apps available. Businesses large and small use it to track their leads, manage the sales cycle, execute drip marketing campaigns, and more. Lots of teams—especially sales teams—spend the majority of their working day in Salesforce. It houses an enormous amount of data, including all of your customers' contact information, the products they've purchased in the past, and the status of sales opportunities that are currently in progress. While Salesforce is an incredibly useful and customizable tool, no one wants to spend more time than necessary moving data around. Here are five automations that can help you get the most out of Salesforce—while reclaiming precious time to spend on higher-value activities. Never manually create a new lead or contact again When someone clicks on an online ad, fills out a form, or responds to other marketing campaigns, what happens ...

As the smoke clears from the end of the Black Friday-Cyber Monday shopping frenzy, you’re hopefully looking at less products and more profits. The questions is… what now? Maybe you’ve spent the last couple of months getting ready for the busiest shopping days of the year, or maybe you’ve gone into overdrive these last couple of weeks with last-minute Thanksgiving Weekend preparations . Either way, most retailers have been so focused on Black Friday and Cyber Monday that they haven’t had time to consider what to do after. And that’s precisely what this guide is for. Here are five great ways to capitalize on your Thanksgiving Weekend business and press home your advantage all the way until next Thanksgiving! 1. Analyze sales data The value of a sale isn’t just the price. It’s also what you can learn from the interaction—the data—which you can apply to improve your business going forward. Considering the influx of new customers and sales, the holiday shopping season is a gift for you...

With over 150,000 customers worldwide, Salesforce is one of the most popular customer relationship management (CRM) apps available. Businesses large and small use it to track their leads, manage the sales cycle, execute drip marketing campaigns, and more. Lots of teams—especially sales teams—spend the majority of their working day in Salesforce. It houses an enormous amount of data, including all of your customers' contact information, the products they've purchased in the past, and the status of sales opportunities that are currently in progress. While Salesforce is an incredibly useful and customizable tool, no one wants to spend more time than necessary moving data around. Here are five automations that can help you get the most out of Salesforce—while reclaiming precious time to spend on higher-value activities. Never manually create a new lead or contact again When someone clicks on an online ad, fills out a form, or responds to other marketing campaigns, what happens ...

As the smoke clears from the end of the Black Friday-Cyber Monday shopping frenzy, you’re hopefully looking at less products and more profits. The questions is… what now? Maybe you’ve spent the last couple of months getting ready for the busiest shopping days of the year, or maybe you’ve gone into overdrive these last couple of weeks with last-minute Thanksgiving Weekend preparations . Either way, most retailers have been so focused on Black Friday and Cyber Monday that they haven’t had time to consider what to do after. And that’s precisely what this guide is for. Here are five great ways to capitalize on your Thanksgiving Weekend business and press home your advantage all the way until next Thanksgiving! 1. Analyze sales data The value of a sale isn’t just the price. It’s also what you can learn from the interaction—the data—which you can apply to improve your business going forward. Considering the influx of new customers and sales, the holiday shopping season is a gift for you...