Transcription
Hey guys, and welcome to this video where we're going to discuss Airtable and Google Sheets. I help businesses scale to half a million to a million per month, but I still work with businesses making 10, 20, 30k. So I'll show you how I use Airtable because every single one of my clients is using Airtable now and loves it.
Sometimes I also implement Google Sheets, so it's not that I don't use Google Sheets, but in most cases, I do prefer Airtable. I'll show you when I use Google Sheets because it is an amazing solution still, but it works in only a few cases.
So let's have a look at Airtable and one of the solutions that I implement for all of our clients. Then I'll show you Google Sheets and why I still use it specifically for sales systems.
Now, let's get started with the first one. Airtable is a place where you can have databases. All right, a database is a structured way of tracking data. What that means is it could be a list; it could be, as you can see here, like a table.
The reason you want to track data in a structured way is because that's the only way you can then create automations. Let's say when a call is booked, you want to send reminders, or when your client is being onboarded, you want to send a gift. The only way to do that is by tracking data in a structured way.
So over here, I'm showing you a demo of the HR base. This is a database where we are tracking data for human resources in a company, and this is literally what I implement for all of our clients. Over here, as you can see, we have the different tables at the top. Within Google Sheets, you're going to see them usually at the bottom.
What we do for our clients is that we have a structured way of onboarding team members. Airtable also allows you to create forms, so you can see this is a form right here, and this is a form we are using to onboard all the team members.
You can also create automations based on this and give access, send invites, send welcome emails, or like a certain email sequence to different team members. What I really like about Airtable is the fact that the form is right here, and you don't need to go somewhere into Google Forms and then link the data and do all of that.
Also, what I like about Airtable is that you can create conditional logic. For example, here I have created conditional logic: if the payment structure is hourly, then I'm going to show the field called hourly rate. This is something you cannot do with Google Forms or like the G Suite solutions, and I really like this because it makes it more user-friendly.
Another thing I really like is the colored options right here. You can also have multiple select, which is something you can use on Google Forms, but one thing I really like about Airtable is that you can connect data. You can link data from the out-of-office table to the team members.
Let me briefly show you, for example, over here I have the active team. All right, and these are, by the way, smart views, which you can also create on Google Sheets. Right here, for example, let me show you on this sheet. You can have these views right here, which are all filtered views, but they're not as user-friendly.
The user experience is not really that great, whereas within Airtable, you can have everything right here. Now, let me show you the part about the linked data. Over here, we have the team calculator, and the team calculator is a place where we have all the roles in the company, and this is what it looks like.
Now, what I want to show here is that this job title, the data is coming from this calculator. So if I click right here, I can see that this is linked to the team calculator. The reason why I really like this is because every time that I onboard new team members, I can go back to the team calculator and see how many people I have for the appointment set role and how many people I have for the creative designer.
I have two people; one of them is active, one of them is inactive. That's why it still shows one here, and I really like this because it makes it easier for me to count how many active team members I have.
This is also something I really like about Airtable: you have different field types. Within Google Sheets, it is simple; you can have everything as a number, as a currency, like duration. But within Airtable, you can also have more. You can have URL, you can have the rating, which is also really nice.
It looks like this, right? You can put stars, you can put whatever you like. So this makes it really easy for us to create structured databases that are more interesting and a bit more user-friendly.
So this is what I really like about Airtable. Over here, for example, I can also track the out-of-office. This is another use case of Airtable for the HR systems, and the out-of-office is an easy way for you to track how many days your team is going out of office.
It also allows you to create a plan when a lot of team members want to go out of office at the same time. So this is another use case. Over here, I also have the team feedback systems where I track team feedback and make sure that there's communication with the frontline and also the upper management in the company.
Also, on the human resources side, what we're doing is we store trainings, SOPs, and so much more. Now, the best part about Airtable is not just the tracking of data and the user interface. What I really like about Airtable is that you can create an interface.
I can create pie charts that you cannot create on Google Sheets itself. I mean, you can, but it takes a bit more time, and you have a longer learning curve. Whereas on Airtable, it's really user-friendly.
Now, I must say that on Google Sheets, you can create more advanced charts and graphs, but Airtable overall is a one-in-all solution where you have the forms, the databases, the charts—everything is in one place.
You can also click here; you can check out the data like this, which is something you cannot really do on Google Sheets or if you're using Looker Studio. Over here, you can create an out-of-office dashboard where you can see who is ranking highest on the out-of-office, who is the person that is going out of office the most.
You also have a calendar where you can check, for example, here like, okay, this person is going to be out of office for diploma paper preparation or like exactly the form that they filled out. This is a really nice solution for anyone who is looking to have all the data in one place.
It's not something like crazy super-duper advanced that you would have to build like custom solutions, but it is an amazing solution for anyone scaling to multiple millions per year.
So this is how I use Airtable. I also have a team birthdays right here, which is something I really like to track because you can automate birthday wishes on Slack, or you can even send emails and so much more.
So this is what it looks like within Airtable. I use Airtable for HR, finances, client success, and sales. But there is one reason why I still use Google Sheets when it comes to our clients' clients.
Because I work from B2B, their own clients are not really familiar with Airtable. Instead of going through that learning curve of them understanding Airtable, I usually prefer to use Google Sheets for them.
So with a lot of our clients, and the ones I build systems for, their own clients, what I do is I create a template Google Sheet. For example, I would create a social outreach tracker for them, whereas for my clients, the businesses, I usually use Airtable for this stuff.
The reason for that is the learning curve, as I explained, but also because people need to start using something right away. We cannot wait for them to get trained on Airtable or start complaining about Airtable. Instead, I want them to go and start using something that they're familiar with.
There's also another reason why I still use Google Sheets, and the reason for that is because Google Sheets has Looker Studio. Looker Studio looks something like this. Here's an example of a Looker Studio dashboard that someone has created, and it is very advanced.
It is way more advanced than Airtable, and Looker Studio is something I'm looking to implement for a lot of our clients to track their sales data. Because when it comes to sales, a lot of people think it is simple, and that is the reason why they're failing.
That is the reason exactly why sales systems are not being used by sales teams. I want to start using Looker Studio moving forward and not Airtable because of the advanced solutions that you can have within Google Sheets.
So in reality, while I do love Airtable, the graphs and the dashboards are not as advanced as I would like them to be. That's why for sales systems, I'm going back to Google Sheets and Looker Studio in order to have very advanced dashboards.
Like this one, for example, this is not my own dashboard, by the way; it is one that I'm showing you as an example. So with that being said, Google Sheets is an amazing solution if you're going to work with users that have never experienced Airtable before, or all you want from them is just a structured way to track data.
The second reason why I would use Google Sheets over Airtable is to create these dashboards. I still prefer to track the data on Airtable, but from there, I will sync it back to Google Sheets and then create these amazing dashboards.
This is a project I'm currently working on, and I'll be sharing a lot more later on. So tell me, guys, what are you using? Are you using Airtable? Are you using Google Sheets? Have you tried using Airtable? What are your thoughts? Would you like me to create more videos for you so you understand better how to build these advanced systems?
Let me know in the comments below. If you're looking to implement some systems for yourself, check out in the description the one-click onboarding. Also, if you want us to build systems for you or you want to get the systems I'm showing, just like the HR base, then check the links in the description.
You can schedule a call with my team, and we can consult you on the right solution for you. You can get access to all my systems and all my tools at a very discounted price—an amazing deal for you because it's a no-brainer.
Clients pay multiple five figures to get access to this. If you decide to build everything out yourself, of course, you get a better price, but this is something that you would have to consult with me or my team for you to understand better what is the right solution for you and which systems you need to get to the next level.
So thank you for watching this video, and I'll see you on the next one. Bye!