Small Business Automation Playbook
The full automation playbook for Australian small businesses
Pulled from a bank of 50 real automations — not written for this page.
Runs on the tools you already use — Xero, Calendly, Fathom, Podium.
The full 50, sorted by the pain they kill. Quick wins lead every group.
Never lose another lead
15 of 50Every enquiry gets an instant reply and a nurturing sequence until they book.
A missed call gets an instant text reply instead of the enquiry ringing the next business.
Quotes that go quiet get an automatic nudge until the client replies, instead of sitting forgotten.
Enquiries outside business hours get answered and pushed toward booking instead of going cold.
A completed job triggers a text asking for a Google review while the experience is still fresh.
Happy customers get a simple ask-a-friend message with a trackable link a week after they buy.
A monthly update goes out on autopilot, built from a template you only have to fill in once.
Expiring contracts and subscriptions flag themselves 60 days out so renewals never slip through.
Review replies and profile posts go out on a schedule, so the listing looks active without daily upkeep.
A prospect books straight into your calendar and answers a few qualifying questions first.
A web form scores the enquiry and routes it to the right person the second it’s submitted.
Clients get a progress update at each project milestone instead of chasing you for one.
New customers get a welcome email, the paperwork they need and a booking link, automatically.
Customers who’ve gone quiet for 90 days get a "we miss you" offer, automatically, no manual tracking.
A small thank-you offer goes out automatically on the date a customer first signed up or bought.
Quote faster, get paid faster
6 of 50Invoices fire automatically and unpaid ones chase themselves.
Clients sign on their phone in a tap instead of printing, scanning and emailing something back.
Recurring invoices get paid by direct debit automatically instead of you chasing them every month.
An accepted quote creates the job, books it in and notifies the team — no one re-types the details.
A short brief becomes a first-draft proposal in minutes, ready to review, not written from scratch.
Logged hours turn into a draft invoice automatically, so nothing billable gets forgotten.
A calendar that runs itself
7 of 50People pick a free slot themselves from a link — no email back-and-forth to find a time.
SMS and email reminders go out before every booking, so fewer people simply forget to show up.
Overflow calls get answered, FAQs handled and appointments booked instead of going to voicemail.
Staff see their roster and request swaps in an app, and shortfalls get flagged before they’re a crisis.
Customers confirm, reschedule or cancel by replying to a text — no phone call needed either way.
A cancelled slot gets offered to the next person on the waitlist instead of sitting empty.
New jobs get matched to whoever’s free and qualified, and land straight on their schedule.
Kill the admin & data entry
16 of 50AI summary and action items auto-sent after every call.
Pulls data off documents and into your systems without manual keying.
Overdue invoices get a friendly nudge at 7 days, a firmer one at 14, and flag you to call at 30.
Routine emails get sorted by priority with a reply drafted — you just review and hit send.
Staff photograph a receipt on their phone and the claim gets coded and routed for approval itself.
Timesheets flow straight into the pay run and STP reporting to the ATO happens each cycle.
New hires get contracts, policies and induction tasks sent on a fixed day-one-to-thirty schedule.
Recording yourself doing a task once turns it into a step-by-step guide any new starter can follow.
A month of posts gets queued and published automatically instead of posting one at a time daily.
Duplicate contacts merge and stale leads get flagged automatically so the pipeline reflects reality.
Repeating jobs — month-end, compliance checks, restocking — spin up on schedule, nothing to remember.
Enquiries get tagged and sent to the right person instead of sitting in one crowded shared inbox.
Files land in the right folder with the right name the moment they’re uploaded or emailed in.
The right reports get pulled and sent to your bookkeeper automatically before every BAS deadline.
Supplies trigger their own reorder at a set threshold instead of relying on someone noticing.
Licences, insurances and certifications flag themselves before they lapse, not after.
Stop answering the same questions
4 of 50Answers your most common questions 24/7 and escalates the rest.
A short survey fires after every job so an unhappy customer gets caught before a bad review.
Every call gets a written summary and follow-up action logged automatically — no notetaking mid-call.
Common questions get answered instantly around the clock, and anything tricky reaches a person.
Know your numbers without the paperwork
2 of 50A one-page read of revenue, profit and cashflow lands in your inbox on the same day every month.
The numbers that actually matter — leads, jobs, cash — sit on one live screen, not six spreadsheets.