Thank you for checking out Golf Professional Growth!
At GPG, we love finding new tools, apps, and books that can help make us better at what we do. There are so many out there today and we’re busy testing new ones all the time. Many of these are mentioned in previous posts and podcasts.
GPG may receive compensation from these products, but we think they’re great and hope you do too!
Slack- www.slack.com
What they say: “It simplifies communication. Slack brings all your team’s communication together, giving everyone a shared workspace where conversations are organized and accessible.”
What we like: Provides an organized and dedicated place to communicate with fellow staff. Create different “channels” for events and specific threads. Keeps everyone on the same page and allows attaching documents and pdfs. Allows your work communication to stay out of your text messages and eliminates constant email back and forths, to save time and increase productivity.
Boomerang- www.boomerangapp.com
What they say: “Boomerang is the leader in email productivity software. Since 2010, Boomerang has helped millions of email users focus on what matters, when it matters. From making sure messages receive responses to revolutionizing how we schedule meetings, thanks to Boomerang, effective digital communication has never been easier.”
What we like: Works with Outlook and Gmail and allows you to easily schedule emails to go out later and remind you if you don’t get a response. You can also set a date and time for an email to return to your inbox if you need a reminder or don’t want to handle it now.
The best feature? Inbox Pause. Quickly and easily pause incoming messages for a set period of time without the sender knowing. This is great when you need to get some important work done and don’t want to be tempted to check your messages. GPG has written about eliminating inbox distractions….check it out HERE.
Zapier- www.zapier.com
What they say: “Easy automation for busy people. Zapier moves info between your web apps automatically, so you can focus on your most important work.”
What we like: Pair Gmail and Google Docs with Zappier and you have a way to send automated emails to members and customers without lifting a finger. Great for email notifications like sign up confirmations, order arrivals and player development program information. There are literally hundreds of ways to use Zapier.
Sane Box- www.sanebox.com
What they say: “SaneBox’s powerful algorithms filter unimportant email out of your inbox, so you can focus on what matters.”
What we like: SaneBox is ‘trained’ over time to know what emails to send to your inbox and what emails to filter to it’s folders such as “Sane Later”. It reduces the amount of distraction from unnecessary and non-urgent email and lets you focus on what’s most important. It doesn’t change your email or affect how and where you check it.
Plus, there’s a 14-day free trial you can access here (yes, GPG is an affiliate…but only because we love SaneBox!)
Todoist – www.todoist.com
What they say: “Start getting more done in less time. Manage tasks and projects anywhere with Todoist. At home. At school. At work. Online. Offline. And across 10+ platforms. Todoist offers more useful features than any other to do service. So you can do more to customize the experience, organize your tasks and projects, and optimize your productivity.
Google Drive- www.google.com/drive
What they say: “Drive starts you with 15 GB of free Google online storage, so you can keep photos, stories, designs, drawings, recordings, videos – anything.”
What we like: 15 GB of free storage goes a long way and beats out its cloud storage competitors. Allows for easy integration with Google Docs and makes sharing files within the staff and with others, simple.
Trello – www.trello.com
What we like: Trello allows the entire staff to share critical details about upcoming events and tournaments without having to find a time when everyone is available or to stop what you’re doing to have a meeting. It reduces the chance of event information (i.e. format, handicapping, eligibility, etc.) slipping through the cracks and negatively affecting your tournament operation. Accessible on all devices and platforms, you can add or check info from anywhere, plus you can archive the “boards” to use or modify the next time your run that event.
Calendly – www.calendly.com
What they say: Calendly helps you schedule meetings without the back-and-forth emails. Setup is easy. Let Calendly know your availability preferences and it’ll do the work for you. Share your Calendly links via email or embed it on your website. They pick a time and the event is added to your calendar.”
What we like: This is a favorite! Not only does Calendly reduce emails when you ‘re asked “have time for a lesson?” or “when can we meet?”, it allows you to manage your availability without having to say that you’re not available.(That’s the best part!) And on the other end, the person gets the convenience of viewing all of your availability and selecting a time that works for them.
This is a terrific alternative to paid schedulers, as the free version allows you to create one type of meeting (e.g. 60-minute lesson or whatever works for you) along with all the functionality of the paid version. It then shows the person on the other end when you’re available and sends both of you a confirmation when the meeting/lesson is selected. You can also control how many days out they can view your availability. The other person will not have access to your calendar or the ability to view the actual items on it.
Busy teachers and instructors will likely have to go with a paid scheduling/calendar program, but for everyone else, this is a great app to integrate into everyday use.
Check back often as we’re always looking for new tools to make life and work a little easier.