We hope you are doing well and staying safe! We recently updated AirSend, and we are excited to tell you about it. Please read about our previous AirSend updates or visit our release notes page. All of these improvements are made to enhance the user experience and make AirSend even more easy-to-use.  

Edit Actions

Are you continually making spelling mistakes when you create actions? Instead of deleting and making a new task, you can now edit the preexisting action.

Editing actions is perfect for those who are always on-the-go. Never worry about assigning a misspelled task ever again.

AirBot Message Support: Quick-View Actions

With our handy-dandy AirBot messages, you can now instantly view tasks. 

If you are a person that juggles a million different tasks at once, and you don’t have time to scroll through an entire list of actions, AirBot can help.

Every time you update or create an action in AirSend, AirBot will post a message in the middle of the channel. All you have to do is click on the AirBot message with the desired action name, and voila! The task you want to see will instantly appear.

Rename Files and Folders

AirSend users can now rename their files and folders. 

Similar to our actions, users can edit their folders and files by renaming them. Customize all your folders and files to fit your client’s needs best. In addition to renaming folders/files, users can also move, delete, download, and see files’ previous versions. 

What’s Next?

We’re ecstatic about the progress we’ve made, but our journey is far from over. Stay tuned for our next AirSend update, where we will reveal more improvements. We hope you enjoy these updates as much as we had fun developing them. 

Have feedback you would like to share? Let us know what you think through our public channel.

Grow your business with the top 10 reasons people buy.

No matter what kind of business you own, it’s important to know why your clients come to you. Knowing what makes clients want to buy your product or service has several benefits. First, it can help you make your offering more attractive. Second, it can help you when you’re trying to communicate value to clients, whether that be in an email, meeting, or advertisement.

While the specific reason that a client chooses your product or service over everyone else’s varies for each business, there are the top 10 reasons people buy which are outlined in Copywriting Secrets by Jim Edwards.

The rest of this blog post is going to summarize each one so that you can use this knowledge to grow your business.

#1 Reason People Buy: To make money

The need to make money is a pain we all have in common. Business coaching is a $15 billion industry because people want to make money and are willing to pay to make it happen. If your product or service can help with this, great! Help people understand how you can help by providing real numbers and testimonials.

#2 Reason People Buy: To save money

After all of the effort it took to make the money, people want to spend it on things they want to spend it on and skimp on whatever they can skimp on. Hence the success of Walmart. Offering discounts is one of the oldest marketing tricks in the books, and there’s a reason for its success. Another way to incorporate this one into your business is to show how you are more cost effective than your competitors. You don’t necessarily have to be cheaper, though that helps; you just need to offer more bang for their buck.

#3 Reason People Buy: To save time

As cliché as it sounds, time is our greatest asset and something that cannot be replaced once it’s lost. Most people recognize this and try their best to maximize use of their time. How can your product or service help them do this better?

#4 Reason People Buy: To avoid effort

We’re all lazy at heart. That’s why Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, is the richest man in the world. People buy when you make it easy for them to buy, like with Amazon Prime and 1-click. The way to incorporate this knowledge into your business is to make sure that clients have a smooth, simple time buying your products or working with you. (AirSend can help with that. Check us out here.)

#5 Reason People Buy: To escape mental or physical pain

Obviously, we don’t like being uncomfortable. The majority of modern technology was invented to reduce mental and physical pain. (Think AC, television, ibuprofen, massage chairs, etc.) What pain does your product or service solve for your client? If you can answer that question, you’re already halfway to success.

#6 Reason People Buy: To get more comfort

$30 candles smell good. $100 spa days feel good. $500 sushi tastes amazing (I hope). People pay for things and experiences that bring them pleasure and comfort. The difference between this one and #5 is that one is the stick and the other is the carrot. When you’re communicating with clients, you can incorporate both to maximize the effect. Always ask yourself, “What pain am I moving my client further from and what pleasure am I moving them closer to?”

#7 Reason People Buy: To achieve greater cleanliness or hygiene

The saying “cleanliness is next to godliness” exists for a reason. Cleanliness ties into many of the reasons we’ve already discussed. Saving time, avoiding effort, seeking comfort. There is something fundamental about craving cleanliness and organization.

#8 Reason People Buy: To gain praise

Many spend their entire lives pursuing praise and avoiding criticism. If your product or service can help clients gain praise, let them know since this can be a great motivator.

#9 Reason People Buy: To feel more loved

It should be no surprise that one of our most basic drives as human beings is on this list. If your business sells a service, this one is all about the quality of your customer service. How are you making your clients feel special and cared for? If you sell a product, this is about both your customer service and how you’re marketing your product. Think about how your product could increase the love in your clients’ lives and how you might be able to communicate that increase.

#10  Reason People Buy: To increase social status

Have you ever seen an ugly fashion item made by some luxury brand that costs ten times more than it should and wonder why anyone would ever buy it? The answer is to increase their social status. Unfortunately (or fortunately for you), the popularity contest that started in high school hasn’t ended for some people. So if you’re able to associate your product or service with high social standing, people could become your client for no reason other than to show off to their peers.

Now that you know the top 10 reasons people buy, you can use these drivers in your communicate with clients to grow your business.

AirSend is a versatile digital workspace to share files, send messages, and complete tasks. Click here to see how AirSend can help you.

We hope you are doing well and staying safe! We recently launched the biggest AirSend update. Read about our previous AirSend updates or visit our support page. All of these improvements are made to enhance the user experience and make AirSend even more easy-to-use.  

Dark Mode Support

You asked, and we delivered. One of the biggest AirSend updates is full dark mode support. We also made our dark mode system based. This means that if your Windows or Mac is set to dark mode, AirSend will automatically appear in dark mode.

AutoComplete Searches

AirSend now features autocomplete searches. Rather than typing out a complete email address of the person you want to add, you can now just type the beginning of their name, and AirSend will take care of the rest. 

An autocomplete search will only work with AirSend members who have been in a previous channel with you. To use an autocomplete search with new users, all you have to do is add their email address one time. Then AirSend will remember that name next time you create a channel with that user. 

Full Search View Support

Collaboration just got easier with AirSend’s full search view. Located on the homepage of AirSend in the top right corner is a search bar. In this search bar, you can quickly find anything and everything. With our incredibly simple-to-use search bar, users can find: 

  • Channels
  • Messages
  • Actions
  • Files
  • Users

What’s Next?

We’re ecstatic about the progress we’ve made, but our journey is far from over. Stay tuned for our next AirSend update, where we will reveal more improvements. We hope you enjoy these updates as much as we had fun developing them. 

Have feedback you would like to share? Tell us what you think through our public channel.

We all love working from home. We also love working from any device, particularly our cellphones. Additionally, we love being able to track and manage our tasks.

With remote work increasing in today’s community, it is vital to work from any device and location. It is also essential to have a reliable task management app, especially since these apps keep our day-to-day work schedule organized. In this blog post, we list four all-time favorite task management apps for Androids.

Asana

Asana is a project/task management app built for team collaboration. From small projects to significant picture collaboration, Asana can manage it all. Some features that Android users love are: 

  • Aesthetic design
  • Assigning multiple members to a card
  • Ability to create various fields within a card
  • Ability to develop detailed tasks with descriptions
  • Switch between multiple projects through kanban boards, calendars, and lists
  • Leave comments with “@” mentions
  • Classify tasks as low or high priority

According to Android users, Asana is a fabulous task management tool for keeping everyone in the loop. Team members can always see what task everyone is doing.

The way Asana works is that users create cards. Within those cards, subtasks can be created. Subtasks help lead and organize the primary task (i.e., the card). 

Though this task management app is excellent, it is not perfect. According to several Android users, the Asana Android app is challenging to use and incredibly hard to sign-in. Some users have reported issues in creating a new password and the app not recognizing the password.

Finally, Asana users reported that the app could get expensive over time, especially for small teams. Here are the pricing plans for Asana.

Pricing

  • Basic: Free 
  • Premium: $10.99 per user/ per month
  • Business: $24.99 per user/ per month
  • Enterprise: contact sales

Asana is excellent for extensive team collaborations. And even though there is a free plan for small teams, it is extremely limited in functionality. The next task management app on our list is AirSend. 

AirSend

Unlike Asana’s difficult usability, AirSend is incredibly easy-to-use. No more switching between apps. Send messages, have voice/video calls, share and organize files, and complete actions all in one place so that you can focus on what you do best — making clients happy. Our platform features: 

  • Built-in audio/video calling
  • Note management 
  • Task tracking 
  • File storage/organization 
  • Email-to-channel 
  • Role management
  • Creating communities

Since this blog post is about task management, we will focus on task management with AirSend. Android users love how easy it is to create reminders, assignments, and other tasks with a click-of-a-button. 

When creating a task in AirSend, users have the ability to: 

  1. Name the task
  2. Insert an action description 
  3. Assign members 
  4. Set up a reminder with date and time

Once an action is created, the assigned members will get an email notification notifying them they have a new task. All members can stay in the loop, keep up-to-date with assignments, and get work done efficiently and quickly. Best of all, AirSend has excellent price plans. 

Pricing

Here is the pricing for AirSend

  • Personal: Free 
  • Pro: $4/ monthly
  • Business: $99/ monthly

Trello

Trello is a kanban-based organizer that helps you get back in control of your work and daily life. Users love the design and the aesthetic wallpapers. With Trello, Android users have the capability to: 

  • Tackle to-do lists with ease
  • Stay in the know, even on the go
  • Assign members to tasks
  • Input descriptions 
  • Implement labels
  • Integrate with other apps
  • Insert a checklist and attachments 

A downside to Trello is the design of Trello cards. When adding extensive information on a task, the card gets longer. When a Trello card gets super long, there is a whole lot of scrolling involved. Also, many users have commented that there are more paywalls, particularly the calendar link.

However, the bright side to Trello is that the platform continually syncs with all devices that have Trello. So, whether you are working on your laptop or working from your phone, you can always expect real-time updates to your Trello board. 

Pricing

  • Free
  • Business Class: $9.99 per user/per month
  • Enterprise: Dependent on how many employees work at the company

Google Keep

Google Keep, as the name implies, is a task management app for Google. The fantastic thing about Google Keep is that it connects with Google Workspace. Keep is simple-to-use and syncs with all users who are on the card. 

Ideally, Google Keep is used to capturing quick thoughts. Android users like the fact that the app can record voice memos, add notes and lists,  and upload attachments. Users can also Color and add labels to code notes to quickly organize and get on with your life. 

Users also love the security features that Keep offers, such as password protection. However, some common complaints from Android users are that over time the app slows down, making it difficult to work the app. In terms of pricing, the app is free to install.

Conclusion

We list our four all-time favorite task management apps for Android:

  • Asana
  • AirSend
  • Trello
  • Google Keep

Each app solves a specific solution. Which solution is best for you?

Digital collaboration is becoming a prominent factor in how we conduct business. The way we work with clients is rapidly changing. Clients and realtors want a collaboration tool that is design-friendly and easy-to-use.

A collaboration tool used to effectively communicate, send and receive large files, and track important reminders. The question remains, what are the top collaboration tools for realtors and clients?

We interviewed several realtors and clients who work with realtors. We compiled a list of six favorite collaboration tools made for both realtors and clients. Let’s start with the number one collaboration tool. 

Base Camp

Base Camp is an all-in-one project management tool for working remotely with teams and clients. Realtors like using Base Camp because they can:

  • Decide what the client sees. Projects start private to your team. When you’re ready to share a message, a to-do, or a file with the client, flip the switch.
  • Clear labels. Never have to worry about sharing the wrong file or sending the wrong message. Base Camp features crystal clear labels. 
  • Keep client records. With Base Camp, realtors and agencies can see client feedback. Realtors can follow up with the client with revised designs, plans, and budgets, and the entire conversation is captured on a single page, so disputes disappear. 
  • Send tasks and reminders to clients.
  • Share any folders or files with the clients. Clients can grab what they need when they need it. 

The point of fact is that realtors love Basecamp for its organizing and communicating ability. Clients love Base Camp’s automated features. One automated feature, in particular, is follow up questions. Instead of having weekly meetings, realtors can easily set up an automated follow-up feature right on the same page. 

Best of all, Base Camp works with email. Clients do not need to have an account; instead, they can reply to all email inquiries. Oddly enough, aside from the automated and email feature, both realtors and clients feel that the design of Base Camp is overwhelming. 

Pricing

Base Camp offers two pricing plans: Free and Business. The Business plan runs a flat rate of $99 per month.

If Base Camp is too pricy, don’t worry. AirSend is your next best and cheaper alternative. 

AirSend

AirSend is an excellent collaboration tool for realtors and clients. From nurturing leads to staying in the loop with clients, AirSend is a versatile collaboration tool. AirSend features:

  • Channel management
  • Note tracking
  • 100 GB file storage/organization
  • Task management
  • Audio/video conferencing
  • Office 365 integration
  • Gmail extension
  • Works with email

Like Base Camp, AirSend works with email. Clients who do not prefer learning a new system can email their realtors who have an AirSend account.

Additionally, realtors can get all their work done inside of AirSend. From tracking memos with our built-in notebook to having meetings with clients, AirSend is a great tool to get all your business done. 

Based on our interview with realtors and clients, both users like to see information in a clean and open layout. For instance, having a digital memo board would be a great place to store important information.

AirSend is a perfect solution. Our built-in notebook readily shares vital information like home listing prices, outstanding offers, and open house dates for easy reference.

Finally, we like to keep things simple. Nothing is more simple than communicating through a shared channel. In an AirSend channel, the user can “@” mention, react, and quote messages. Also, we have read receipts. Best of all, we have great plans! 

Pricing

Here is the pricing for AirSend

  • Personal: Free 
  • Pro: $4/ monthly
  • Business: $99/ monthly

Google Workspace

Google Workspace (formerly known as Gsuite) is another collaboration tool for realtors and clients. As most people know, Google Workspace is a SaaS tool that connects with Gmail.

Realtors and clients can easily communicate via email, store memos and important documents within a shared Google drive, and work together on a google doc or spreadsheet. The issue is that Google Workspace can be expensive. 

Pricing

  • Business Starter: $6 user/monthly
  • Standard: $12 user/monthly
  • Business Plus: $18 user/monthly
  • Enterprise: contact sales

Trello

Trello is a kanban board designed for task management. Realtors and clients love the aesthetic UI design and moving cards from one column to the next. Both realtors and clients can see and plan on tasks that need to be done. They can also leave descriptions, labels, and due dates on the task. Best of all, Trello works with third-party integration apps, such as:

  • Dropbox
  • Outlook
  • Gmail
  • Microsoft Teams
  • And more 

According to several real estate agents and clients, a downside to Trello is the design of Trello cards. When adding extensive information on a task, the card gets longer. When a Trello card gets super long, there is a whole lot of scrolling involved. Agents and clients say that it takes time to find information within a Trello card. 

However, the bright side to Trello is that the platform continually syncs with all devices that have Trello. So, whether you are working on your laptop or working from your phone, you can always expect real-time updates to your Trello board. Additionally, for realtors, it is easy to switch between Trello boards when working with multiple clients. 

Here are the pricing plans for Trello.

Pricing

  • Free
  • Business Class: $9.99 per user/per month
  • Enterprise: Dependent on how many employees work at the company

Streak

Streak is an email tracking platform. Streak helps manage leads and customer relationship management through “pipelines.”

According to PropertyMe, Streak allows you to “view a snapshot of your real estate pipeline at the top of your inbox with deals organized under colorful headings. If you click into a deal, you can see contact details such as their lead score and any previous interactions so you can quickly evaluate where you’re at and make informed decisions. You can also perform simple mail merges, track email views, create email filters, and set reminders without breaking your workflow,” (2017).

All-in-all, Streak is a reliable CRM (customer relationship management) tool that allows you to track open rates on emails, check out lead scores on previous interactions, perform mail merges, and create email filters. 

Pricing

The platform is on the Google Extension page. 

DocuSign

DocuSign is an electronic signature service. The great thing about DocuSign is that contracts can be signed from anywhere and anytime. Afterward, the documents are stored in the cloud for future reference.

DocuSign makes it easy for clients to sign and send contracts. And best of all, clients can easily download the contract, no account required. However, one downside, according to realtors, is that DocuSign can get pricey. 

Pricing

Here are the real estate plans with Docusign

  • Real Estate Starter: $10 per month
  • DocuSign for Realtors: $20 per user/ per month
  • Broker Edition: Contact sales

Conclusion

After interviewing many real estate agents and clients, we compiled a list of the top six collaboration tools for realtors and clients. These tools are: 

  • Base Camp
  • AirSend
  • Google Workspace
  • Trello
  • Streak
  • DocuSign

Each collaboration tool has its pros and cons. And each tool solves a specific solution. Though we like to think we take all these solutions and seamlessly design it into one platform, we have to pay homage to our competitors. Which tool is your favorite? Drop us a comment below. 

Know somebody who is an accountant or a lawyer? Check out our blog post on the top collaboration tools for accountants and lawyers.

Remote work is increasing in today’s world. Companies are developing incredible collaboration platforms that enable seamless productivity. In this blog post, we are going to focus on collaboration tools for accountants.

The most imperative element to a collaboration tool is that it can seamlessly work with external clients. A collaboration tool needs a stable medium in which communication can happen across multiple platforms. Based on surveys and reviews, we have found the top four favorite accounting collaboration tools. 

 Microsoft Teams

Many accountants love using Microsoft Teams for their privacy, security, and compliance. Now more than ever, people need to know their virtual conversations are private and secure- especially when dealing with finance. With Microsoft, accountants and clients can: 

  • Safeguard their privacy
  • Get access to advanced security capabilities
  • Support for more than 90 regulations and standards
  • Management capabilities

Some essential features to Microsoft Teams include: 

  • eDiscovery, legal hold, audit log, and content search
  • External access: this provides an authenticated connection to another organization, enabling collaboration between organizations- a massive plus for accountants. 
  • Data loss prevention: prevents sensitive information from accidentally being shared with others. 
  • Data residency 
  • Secure guest access: allows users to collaborate with individuals outside the organization while controlling their access to organizational data
  • Encryption
  • Data management reports

Pricing

Here is the pricing for Office 365 for Business

  • Basic Plan: $5.00 user/monthly
    • Best for businesses that need easy remote solutions
  • Standard: $12.50 user/monthly
    • Perfect for businesses that need full remote and collaboration tools
  • Premium: $20.00 user/monthly
    • Excellent for businesses that require secure remote work solutions 

EY Client Canvas Portal

EY Client Canvas Portal is one of the more popular accounting collaboration tools. The platform is a global audit platform. This platform enhances the way accountants look at risk, reduces the burden on clients, and delivers operational benefits and higher quality audits. Some features that accountants love with EY Canvas are:

  • Global audits
  • Centralized planning
  • Customizations
  • Real-time monitoring
  • Streamlined client communication
  • Project management

However, some accountants have stated that clients prefer using email instead of EY Canvas. According to several accountants we interviewed, they said that their clients had difficulty using the platform. Clients prefer using email to receive and send requests. Additionally, several accountants have also stated that clients are not always aware that they have requests pending through EY Canvas. Finally, EY Canvas lacks fluid functionality.

The services EY Canvas provide are:

  • Consulting
  • Assurance
  • Tax
  • Strategy and Transactions

Pricing
For pricing information, contact them on their contact page

AirSend

Unlike EY Canvas, AirSend is the perfect collaboration tool for accountants. Why? Well, with AirSend, accountants and clients can communicate through different mediums. Most clients like to work with email. AirSend works amazingly well with email. How does this work? It is simple.

From the accountant’s perspective, all you need to do is sign up for AirSend, and add your client via their email address. After adding the client’s email address, the client will receive a notification message from their email. From that notification email, clients can reply to your message by simply clicking “reply.”

After sending their response from their email, the message will magically appear in your AirSend channel. Which means, no sign-up is required from the client. AirSend’s email-to-channel feature is our way of making a difference in how accountants work with clients. 

Additionally, Accountants can create tax and audit notebooks through our built-in wiki. AirSend features:

  • Task management
  • 100 GB free file storage/organization 
  • Notebook management
  • Office 365 integration
  • Audio/video calling 
  • @ mentions/ reactions to messages
  • Gmail Extension

Pricing

Here is the pricing for AirSend

  • Personal: Free 
  • Pro: $4/ monthly
  • Business: $99/ monthly

AirSend’s Incredible File Storage and Organization

We wanted to make another section focusing on AirSend’s excellent file storage and organization. We also wrote a blog post on setting up the perfect file structure for accountants and clients. With AirSend, accountants do not need to connect with their personal file drives. Instead, accountants/clients can create and upload folders/ files, and they will be stored on our AirSend servers.  Here are two videos that showcase AirSend’s central file system and in-channel file view.

Speaking of file storage, let’s talk about the file storage apps that accountants use the most. 

Google Drive/ Dropbox

Google Drive and Dropbox are the preferred file storage apps for accountants. However, as previously mentioned, accountants do not like connecting their drive with their collaboration tool that they use. It is a security risk. Google Drive also has an immense amount of file storage, making it easier to store large file sizes. Google Drive connects with Gsuite and Gmail, which makes collaboration easier. Dropbox is the other preferred file storage app. 

Dropbox

With Dropbox, accountants can centralize their file-sharing/ storage experience. Dropbox helps: 

  • Consolidate and protect data
  • Instantly backup important information
  • Team collaboration
  • Integration of team collaboration tools

Several accountants have mentioned that using Dropbox is challenging to use. There are too many features that leave the user slightly overwhelmed. Though the design is clean, clear, and appears organized, the product’s actual usability makes it hard to manage files. 

Pricing

Here are the pricing plans for Dropbox Business: 

  • Professional: $19.99/monthly
  • Standard: $15/ user/monthly
  • Advanced: $25/ user/ monthly

Conclusion

After interviewing many accountants, we compiled a list of the top four accounting collaboration tools. These tools are: 

  • Microsoft Teams
  • EY Canvas Client Portal
  • AirSend
  • Google Drive/Dropbox 

Each collaboration tool has its pros and cons. And each tool solves a specific solution. Though we like to think we take all these solutions and seamlessly design it into one platform, we have to pay homage to our competitors. Which tool is your favorite? Drop us a comment below.