r/smallbusinessesowners

Alright so this came up after a networking event I went to last week. I got handed like 10 paper business cards and half of them are already crumpled or sitting at the bottom of my bag. Not to mention, some of the info on them was outdated (why do people still put fax numbers?). Anyway, it got me thinking, is there even a point to paper cards anymore? Digital ones seem way easier, plus they don't get lost. But would people actually use them, or do most people still prefer the old-school route? Kinda stuck on what makes sense.

I run a small advisory(travel) business, and I get emails asking for prices before we have talked through the trip.

Part of me wants to reply with the pricing straight away but I am worried they will judge it without knowing what’s included. Asking for a call sometimes feels like I am dodging the question.

How do you usually handle this?

I run a small business and spent too much of this year testing ai answering tools, partly because I kept missing calls and partly because I got curious. There is no single best one. What works for a restaurant is wrong for a law firm, and what a solo owner needs is different from a busy clinic. So instead of ranking them 1 to 10, here is what actually fit each type of business. Sharing in case it saves someone else same trial and error.

Restaurants

slang ai is built specifically for restaurants. It handles reservations, answers the everyday questions like are you open on the 4th, and plugs into opentable and sevenrooms so bookings just land where they should. One honest catch: for actual takeout orders it tends to send people a link to your website instead of taking the order on the phone, and older regulars who called precisely because they dont want to use a website will sometimes just hang up. Its also on the pricier side, so it makes more sense for a place with real call volume.

Home services and contractors (plumbers, hvac, electricians)

rosie is the one I keep coming back to here. You point it at your website and google business profile during setup and it basically teaches itself what to say, and the handoff to a real person doesnt feel jarring. If youre out on a job all day and get long chatty calls, goodcall is worth a look because it gives you unlimited minutes, so a customer describing their whole plumbing history doesnt cost you extra. The tradeoff is goodcalls voice feels a bit more like a logistics robot, less warm. So its rosie for warmth vs goodcall for not watching the meter.

Medical and dental offices

this is the one where you cannot just grab any tool. If patient info is involved you need something built for healthcare that will sign a proper agreement and sync with your records system. assort health is made for this, trained on real medical calls and connected to the big health record systems. Its aimed more at bigger practices and groups though, so for a solo dentist it can feel like a lot. The point is, do not run patient calls through a generic consumer tool.

Law firms

for legal intake you usually dont want full AI on a potential client who could be worth a lot. smith ai is a hybrid where the AI picks up and does the busywork but an actual person (based in north america) takes over the real conversation, which fits the trust-heavy first call a firm gets. The catch is its expensive and only really pencils out when a single new client is worth serious money, which for most firms it is.

Salons, spas, and clinics

these live and die by the appointment book, so you want something that answers and books in the same breath. goodcall handles the booking logistics well and syncs to your calendar, and the flat unlimited-minutes pricing suits places that get a lot of short calls like can i get in friday. The voice is functional rather than warm, but for straight scheduling that is usually fine.

Online stores and e-commerce

here the questions come through your website chat box and your instagram or whatsapp dms more than the phone. tidio with its lyro assistant learns your faqs fast and answers the repetitive stuff like where is my order, handing the weird ones to you. It can get stuck the moment a question falls outside what it was taught. For higher volume stores, intercom fin is the heavier option people tend to move up to.

General small business

if your small business doesnt really fit one of the buckets above and you just want the phone and the inbox both handled, marblism is the one that does both on a single subscription. Two of its AI workers cover the answering: rachel picks up your calls and books appointments, and eva sorts your email and drafts replies in your tone, so instead of paying for a separate phone service and a separate email tool its one setup and one bill. The one caveat is that eva takes a week or so of thumbs up and down before the drafts really sound like you, so give the early ones a quick read before they go out. After that it quietly handles a big chunk of the day, and for a small team not juggling five logins that is the whole appeal. lindy is another such tool if you want to build custom workflow.

What are you all using? Especially curious if anyone in a niche industry found something better than the mentioned ones here.

We're a small MSP and want to get some custom apparel for the team, mostly polos and hoodies. We don't have a huge staff, so we'd rather avoid high minimum orders or buying a bunch of extras that may never get used. I'm looking for something that's good quality, reasonably priced, and easy to reorder as the team grows. What companies have you had a good experience with?

So weekends are great. I usually have a waitlist, the staff is pretty busy and sales are exactly where I want them to be. The monday hits and it's like someone flipped a switch.

The dining room is half empty, online orders also slow downs and I am basically watching fixed costs pile up while hoping people walk thorugh the door. It makes cash flow feel way more unpredictable than it should be.

I have tried weekday specials and posting more on insta, but neither has made a noticeable difference. I don't really want to start discounting everything just to fill tables because that feels like a race to the bottom.

Looking for ideas that worked in the real world, not just marketing advice that sounds good on paper.

I posted here yesterday about my restaurant being packed on weekends but slow during the week, and a lot of you suggested focusing more on events and experiences instead of just running discounts.

With July 4th here, I'm thinking this might be a good chance to try something different. I am considering running it for a week to bring people during the weekdays.

Would you go with a discount (like a meal deal or drink special), or would you put that budget into something like live music, trivia, or a themed night?

I want to know from those who have tried holiday promotions before, what actually brought people through the door?

I run a small plant business(it's part-time), and my inbox gets messy fast with customer inquiries, supplier emails, order confirmations, and newsletters.

I'd love to automatically sort things like orders, invoices, and customer emails without having to set up complicated automations.

How should I go about doing this?

Hello everyone

I have a small bookkeeping firm, where we offer monthly bookkeeping services for a very less price.

Dm me for more info

I am really concerned about my business niche its hard to get my home gym supplies I cant buy it

I make websites but its highly saturated and people often dont pay or just ignore after completing the project

Any way to get some customers?

I am using business email with my custom domain for a while and I want to know what others are using.

If you have been with the same provider for a long time, has it held up well? Like, were there any issues that only became obvious after months or years of using it?

I am especially interested in hearing about reliability, support, uptime, and whether you would still choose the same provider today.

Hi guys, I have my own small business. It's not a shop, but its a home thing. I sell goats milk soap, (mostly) T-shirts, (mostly), diaper cakes, flower pens, gift packings. Just wanna know how to promote it more. If you know anyone, please help. Instagram Facebook

Hi there everyone,

I'm new to this sub-reddit and have a business idea (which I wont go into or promote as per the rules of the SR, but I wanted to ask some questions and start a dialogue that may help myself and others understand how to best position themselves when working with prospects (particularly in B2B).

I also would love to hear your guys thoughts and learn from your experience so I can best prepare myself for this big risk I'm about to take.

Disclaimer: this question is purely for those who already run a business, and are trying to actively grow their business or improve their business in any way.

My question:

What is the main frustrations you face as a business owner? What keeps you awake at night?

For context:

I want to understand (as someone who's never owned a business) what other business owners face so that I may both prepare myself and also help understand the pains of the businesses I want to work with.

Would love any insight! Sorry if this is quite vague but hope my question makes sense!

Managing 35 people across two locations and our urgent updates are a mess. I either send a group text and everyone gets pinged about something that doesn't apply to them, or I send to a smaller list and miss someone who needed to know. Channels are obviously the answer in theory but I want to know what people are actually using day to day before I commit to anything.

What apps do you use that handle urgent updates without turning into a notification firehose?

I am getting a steady flow of discovery calls, and I am closing a decent number of them, so getting clients isn't really the issue.

The problem starts after I finish the project. Whether it's helping someone with their marketing strategy, sales funnel, or business plan, they leave happy, but most never come back for another service.

They don't book follow up sessions or ongoing consulting l. I feel like I am constantly replacing old clients with new ones instead of building a base of repeat clients.

If you're running a small business, what changed for you? Did you start offering retainers, monthly check ins or anything else that got clients to come back?

I'm trying to get B2B leads through LinkedIn, but I'm stuck.
I run a small corporate travel business, and the people I need to reach are founders, office managers, HR teams, and finance folks. Every message I write sounds like a pitch I would ignore myself.

Posting feels too slow, cold messages feel annoying, and commenting feels like I am hoping if someone notices.

Not sure what the right approach is anymore. What would you do to get B2B leads without sounding desperate or salesy?

I run a fitness coaching business, mostly 1-on-1 clients and when someone signs up for a paid 12-week program or a company asks for a proposal then sending it from my personal gmail feels very unprofessional. So, I have decided to buy a domain and set up a branded email.

The problem is that some places sell only domains, some just email, some bundle both and reviews are all over the place. I have glanced at many options but cannot tell what is worth it for a one-person business. I am happy to pay around $3-4/month per inbox if that means everything works and I am not troubleshooting DNS stuff at 11 pm before a client call.

Where did you buy yours and would you do it the same way again?

A few weeks ago I got burned pretty badly. I spent hours planning a trip for a couple. They loved it… then ghosted me and booked the same itinerary somewhere else. So I finally added a $75 planning fee, applied toward the booking if they move forward. Now I’ve got a new problem.

Before the fee, I was getting at least 8-10 inquiries a month. Since adding it, I’ve had 6 people reach out and 4 vanished the second I mentioned the fee.

One person literally said, “ Wait, I thought travel agents were free lol.” I get that nobody loves upfront fees, but I also can’t keep building custom trips for free just so people can price shop me.

For other service business owners: how do you charge for the planning/ strategy part without killing the conversation right away?

I recently launched my brand and my inbox is strating to fill up with samequestions on order, updates, etc..

I'd love to set up auto replies so customers get an instant response while I handle evrything else.

What are you all using? Any tool you'd recommend that's easy to set up and doesn't cost a fortune?

Meta rolls out another paid feature for Insta and WhatsApp and most people just shrug and move on.
But if I tell a customer there’s a small fee for a custom request or charge extra for a last minute itinerary suddenly I have to justify each dollar.

It feels like big companies can raise prices, add subscriptions and lick features behind paywalls without much pushback. Small businesses do the same thing and we’re expected to apologize for it.

I get that nobody like paying more. I don’t either. I just find it interesting how differently customers react depending on who’s asking for the money.

Does anyone else feel this way or am I looking at it wrong way?