Why I Chose HoneyBook for My Studio’s CRM
Leslie Cason
Helping creatives turn their talent into profit through digital products and courses | Kajabi Expert | Education for DIYers
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Being techie, I’m drawn to new platforms with all the bells and whistles. I love to dive into a new tool and see what it can do. Usually, after a cursory walk-through, my head is swimming with possibilities for what I can do with it. Or I know immediately that it’s not gonna work for my purposes.
That’s what happened when I first signed up for Dubsado. It was my first real CRM (after using free versions of random things), so I was excited to create streamlined processes for everything.
Turns out you can have too much of a good thing. Dubsado works – it does what it’s supposed to do. It just does too much of it, in my opinion. There are too many options, too many possibilities, too much to do to get one thing to work. Even for a techie like me, I was overwhelmed.
After a year, I realized that I didn’t actually need or use half of what Dubsado does. I was swimming in complicated automation and unnecessary hassle.
So I turned my attention to HoneyBook, which I had been considering for a while. I had tried it out a year before and wasn’t thrilled. But I realized that I hadn’t given it a fair shot and that maybe I was unfairly comparing it to Dubsado. So I signed up and it turns out I never looked back.
Now, that doesn’t mean I’m anti-Dubsado. I have put some clients on it in the last few months and I manage it along with Kajabi for a few select clients. It just wasn’t right for this Studio.
This is what ultimately made me switch.
ELEGANCE OVER FUNCTION
I wanted something that delivered an elegant experience for my clients. Something that flowed well and that looked professional without feeling corporate. Dubsado was fine, but it was clunky. Having to sign into the portal was a pain in the ass, so I never used it. The proposals and onboarding process felt heavy.
HoneyBook felt light and easy. It doesn’t have as much in the way of smart fields, but it has enough. By that point in my business, I had realized I didn’t need absolutely everything anyway.
HoneyBook has released a lot of updates and new features that extend its capabilities. It still doesn’t do as much as Dubsado, but I’m fine with that. I find that when I have fewer options to choose from, I make quicker decisions and reduce the steps my clients have to take to work with me.?
Important: HoneyBook uses its own payment processor and doesn’t integrate with Stripe or PayPal. Dubsado does. HoneyBook is also only available to the US and Canada. So given those factors, the decision about which one to go with may be made for you.
LESS AUTOMATION
I love automation. I get excited to figure out how to put things together to create a whole system. It’s what I do every day in this Studio. But not when it came to my CRM.
Since Dubsado does so much, I found myself spending hours trying to figure out how to use everything. I wanted to maximize the whole platform and make it run like a machine. That quickly became overwhelming and unnecessary. I never even used half of it. All those hours spent creating something that didn’t even matter in the long run.
HoneyBook doesn’t do nearly as much as Dubsado. And that’s fine with me. Having fewer options means I have to reduce what I do. It means I am forced to simplify and that turns out to be a blessing. Now, I send clients a three-step booking packet – summary, contract, invoice – and they can onboard in less than 5 minutes. No sign-ins or any of that. It’s so much easier.
I only use a few of HoneyBook’s workflows. Just a few things that I need to run in the background. It’s much less for me to manage and edit as my business changes.
领英推荐
I WANTED AN APP
It was frustrating not to be able to do anything with Dubsado on my phone. I know they are a newer company and app development is a long and arduous process. But apps are how people live now. Everything needs to be accessible on your phone. I kept waiting for them to put out something about an app and they never did. And I really didn’t want to wait.
Editor’s Note: As of May 2024, Dubsado has an app in beta.
HoneyBook has an app, which they are continuously improving. I now know when clients view proposals or forms. And I LOVE hearing the cha-ching of a new payment coming through. That little boost of dopamine is amazing. There have been countless times where I’m away from my laptop but I can quickly check on the status of a project or send a payment reminder. To me, that is more valuable than any automation.
CALENDLY INTEGRATION
HoneyBook natively integrates with Calendly. That means that when clients schedule sessions, they are automatically put into their HoneyBook workspace. HoneyBook does have its own scheduler, but it’s not quite there yet.
While I have since moved to Cal.com, the Calendly integration was really useful.
Overall, I’m happy with the switch. HoneyBook is always making improvements so I expect the platform to only get better. If you want to test out HoneyBook and get at least 30% off your first year’s subscription, use my link to sign up.
And if HoneyBook doesn’t work for you, then Dubsado is a good option. Just don’t get bogged down with trying to use everything.?
RESOURCES
WORK WITH THE STUDIO
In this Studio, you’ll find a combination of strategic know-how, techie expertise and elegant design that elevates your online presence and makes selling your knowledge a breeze
1?? The Strategy Intensive: If you have a product or course idea, but not much else, this is the place to start. Intensives are your time to work with founder Leslie Cason on things like developing a plan for building or selling your product, finding your best idea or creating a content strategy.
2?? The Product Ecosystem: If you’re in the process of creating your product and are ready to explore the mechanics of running it, this is for you. Work with Leslie to build out the learning environment you’ll need on one of our preferred platforms.
3?? The Marketing Runway: If your product is done and ready to launch (or very close), this option will help you develop your marketing strategy and assets. Work with Leslie on your content strategy and create the pathways to your product.