April O'Leary is the owner of O'Leary Publishing, an independent book publishing company based in Naples, Florida.
Her organization helps entrepreneurs, public speakers and high-performing businesspeople carve a path to getting their thoughts, ideas, and stories written and published.
O'Leary began to use Capsule to manage key business activities in her publishing business. Her team uses it to capture leads using the Capsule integration with G-Suite, create opportunities in the sales pipeline and close her deals with prospective authors.
From that point forward, her team uses it to project-manage her end-to-end publishing process, coordinate with contract workers and printers, and centralize communication with her team.
In this case study, we'll demonstrate how Capsule has become an indispensable part of O'Leary Publishing's ambitions for growth, business operations and general working practices.
Writing her own story
When April set up her business in 2019, she needed a tool to help her track new leads, save and manage client communication and create a tracking system so each detail of any book publishing project was managed with ease.
April says that when you're running a publishing company, you've got to wear many hats. From marketing and sales manager to project manager to client service representative there are a lot of details no matter which way you slice it.
Using Capsule as a central tool for the team has made these roles distributable to different team members.
She says: "My day-to-day work is always varied. Sometimes, I'll be speaking to prospective authors and advising them on the various publishing options available today, other times I may be providing a manuscript review or working with our project manager to move each book forward through the track system.
"Then, I'll be checking in with editors, and designers, or dealing with queries from the authors themselves."
Gaining control of contact management was a key priority for April. Before Capsule it felt overwhelming to organize and consolidate information across different digital platforms that didn't ‘speak' to one another.
She says: "I had some tasks on my notes app, others on my email app and some in my head!
"It was like my brain was always in high gear trying to remember what I thought I forgot or double-checking that I did something that was already finished.
“The way I was working was inefficient and confusing for the small team we had at O'Leary Publishing when we launched in 2019. It didn't take long to realize we needed a central place for all of our daily work activities, tasks, clients, vendors, and more.
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It was clear that she needed a CRM and project management tool to help her organize these fundamental processes. April didn't have to spend too much time deciding which CRM to choose, as it turns out, Capsule is a family affair for the O'Leary's!
"My husband runs his own private law practice and has been using Capsule for the last ten years, so, when I decided to start O'Leary Publishing, he recommended I start using it to manage day-to-day operations."
Closing the book on productivity purgatory
Capsule has become an indispensable part of O'Leary Publishing. Its Contact Management feature is used extensively by April and her team.
She uses it to save communications with her clients to their project activity log for future reference. Since it integrates with G-Suite so seamlessly it's easy to do. They've been able to get away from long strings of ‘reply to all' email communications.
O'Leary and her team can log into Capsule, look up a client account and instantly understand what viable leads are in the sales pipeline or what tasks are the priority for an author whose book is in production.
This functionality has also been useful when April attends meetings. She says:
“Being able to take Capsule to any meeting, any place is extremely powerful. I have the app on my iPhone! It means I can take my business anywhere I need it to be and access my contacts and projects with ease.
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"I never feel caught off guard and my team can work more autonomously because we can all check Capsule and see what tasks are assigned to what person, what has been completed, and where any project is at any point in time without texting, calling or emailing each other.
"Since we're remote workers and we work at various hours of the day in different time zones it's great to be able to have a system that keeps us all on the same page at the same time."
Publishing a book is a complex, multistep process, with many different people who work on the project at different stages.
For instance, initially, April may only be dealing with the author themselves as she is onboarding them. Then, the project manager takes over and assigns an editor.
They can easily add each person to the project as a contact so the team knows who is working on each book. As they move through the project track they add book designers, illustrators, proofreaders and even website designers to help complete the project.
This information is always available so at any point in the future they can revisit the project and see who worked on it.
This level of complexity requires extensive project management skills and a tool to manage the underlying process. This is why Projects and Tracks have been so useful for O'Leary. She says:
"Projects help us organize each book title and Tracks are the set of tasks that are repeatable and predictable to be done on each book production.
"We've built out seven tracks that we use on each project and we've created some automations to make the system run smoothly.
"Projects and Tracks do the heavy lifting on the administrative side for my business.
"After a new lead comes through the door they are added to the sales pipeline. If we accept them as an aspiring author, my project manager sends them a contract and then converts the sales Opportunity into a Project and then adds our customized project tracks to organize our workflow for the client."
"I can put in key milestones, and set deadlines and reminders to keep myself and other team members on track."
Personable support when it's needed
When asked what made Capsule stand out, April's answer was emphatic, "It is the human touch that the people who built Capsule have provided each step of the way. I usually dread speaking on a support ticket to a tech company, but not with Capsule."
“Every person I've spoken with has been really friendly, personable, and most importantly, very helpful! They've even given me ideas on how I can use Capsule to run my business in more efficient and effective ways. I don't know what I'd do without it at this point.
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The End: Capsule provides stability and scalability
By adopting Capsule, O'Leary Publishing not only streamlined its publishing process but also laid the groundwork for its future scalability and adaptability.
Key insights:
Centralized operations: Capsule provides a unified, single solution for O'Leary Publishing, enabling efficient management of tasks ranging from client communications to team process and production timelines.
Enhanced productivity: The Projects and Tracks features ensure that every part of April's projects are meticulously planned and executed, guaranteeing timely deliveries and satisfied authors.
Scalability and evolution: As O'Leary Publishing grows, using Capsule's Sales Pipeline promises to further improve business operations, and help the team chart growth.
Unparalleled support: The human touch in customer support distinguished Capsule from other tech solutions, offering not just a product but a genuine partnership.
Are you ready to take control of your business the way April did? Start your 14-day free trial today.