Category Archives: Sales Process

Does Infusionsoft Make Business Impersonal?

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Junk MailA common question from non-Infusionsoft-users is the idea that powerful marketing software such as Infusionsoft makes business impersonal, even cold. It’s a legitimate concern, no one enjoys junk mail sent to “Resident” or email blasts that aren’t relevant to you! So how can so many businesses show increases in engagement and sales after switching to Infusionsoft?

Better Tracking Means Better Messaging

With Infusionsoft’s dynamic open, click, and campaign tracking you can see – at a glance – which messages aren’t connecting to your audience when they reach the inbox. This means if your message is currently inauthentic, boring or impersonal, Infusionsoft will help you identify the problem so you can make changes.  Continue reading →

How to Track Conversion Rates with Infusionsoft

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One of the biggest strengths of software like Infusionsoft is finding out how well you’re doing with your marketing. As a new user there are several points you should be looking at to find the baseline results. As your business grows you can target areas that need improvement and consistently test and adjust.

Sample Lead Nurture Sequence

 Here are a few of the key areas you should track when you get started with Infusionsoft:

You may have multiple opt-ins or forms on different pages and each should be tracked. How many people opt-in for your offer from Facebook vs Twitter? Do people sign up after watching a video or in a light box?

Knowing how you best capture the attention of your audience is great and can inform you on how best to design and style future offers. You should also be measuring which offers get the most conversions, not only by numbers but percentages. An offer that converts 50% of unique viewers is more compelling than one with twice as many opt-ins converting at 5%. Focus on driving traffic to the opt-in offer that has better conversions and your advertising investments will likely pay off.

Advertising Return on Investment (ROI)

Advertising without tracking your numbers is a little like gambling with your eyes closed. You might hit it big or bust but you will likely have no idea why. By tracking which ads are converting to leads you’ll know which graphics, offers, calls to action or designs are best for your business. Especially in pay-per-click advertising you want to know that your ad is drawing the attention of the right people and then they’re taking the action you want so you can capture those leads.

Once you have the leads then you have to nurture and sell to them.  Taking this a step further, we can use the tracking abilities in Infusionsoft to measure your cost per lead, cost per prospect, and ultimately cost per customer.  This is where things get fun.  If we can find a sweet spot where the Lifetime Customer Value (LCV) of a particular lead source is higher than the cost of acquiring that customer (Cost per Customer), we’ve just found the BEST places to spend our advertising dollars to maximize our ROI.

Email Click Rates

It’s absolutely worthless to have a list of 10,000 people if you don’t know how many of those people are actively reading your emails and messages. When you start out in Infusionsoft, begin tracking the open rate of your campaigns and newsletters and test regularly to improve the open rate with better subject lines, high quality content and regular updates (without spamming your list!).

If your emails include a call to action (which they should) then you should also be tracking who is clicking and what percent of readers click on your video, sales page, register for a webinar or request more information. This not only measures the engagement level of your list but can help you determine if your offers are appealing to the list.

Finding your numbers is not about manipulating data – it’s a powerful tool to better serve your clients and followers with content that’s valuable and compelling.

Conversions

Without sales all the work up to this point is worthless. An important factor to making the sale is knowing what works and what doesn’t. So just like every other point in this process you need to test to see what works. Should you provide a discount code? Add a bonus? Send a letter in the mail? Call them and ask for the sale?

What works will depend on your business, your offers and the clients. When you get started in Infusionsoft make sure to utilize the lead tracking system to measure who the best leads are and the opportunities section to track where your prospects are in the sales pipeline.

Your goal should be to increase percentages at each point in this funnel and massively increase your traffic and pool of qualified leads.

Infusionsoft is a great tool to measure and track these metrics but it does require some set up out of the box. If you don’t have these tracking points set up or need support finding out how you can identify and tweak your campaigns to convert better contact us to learn how we can help.

 

Using Infusionsoft to Earn Trust

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In online business it’s hard to earn the critical “know, like & trust factor” when you’re asking people who you’ve never met to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars to work with you. Using Infusionsoft you can automate this process of trust building and – best of all – this can happen immediately after you get started with Infusionsoft.

Using Nurture Sequences to Build Trust

How To Nurture Prospects with a Drip CampaignOne of the first things your Infusionsoft Certified Consultant (ICC) should teach you in the software is how to set up a campaign, and one of the best types of campaigns to start with is called a “nurture” sequence.

Nurture sequences acknowledge that not every lead is immediately ready to buy your products and services and may need more information or time before making a buying decision. These sequences are less intense than sales campaigns which often drive toward a goal date such as “buy by Friday for 50% off” or “group program closes on the 30th!”

Instead, nurture sequences are designed to drip out content over time and answer objections, educate leads on the process and share success stories. These sequences aren’t just for new clients – you can create them for clients ready for your second or third programs.

Design a Nurture Sequence

It’s all about delivering the right message, to the right person, at the right time. To do this you can use the power of Infusionsoft to segment and categorize your list into smaller groups. After all, you don’t want a long nurture sequence to sell a program that your lead has already purchased.

By using Infusionsoft’s powerful tagging feature you can separate your leads and clients by purchases, clicks, even psychographic and demographic information. Imagine being able to email just those leads in North America who have visited your sales page and have purchased from you in the past, but have not signed up for your May workshop.

With Infusionsoft this kind of nurture campaign is not only possible, it’s easy!

Nurture sequences eliminate the need for large sales teams keeping notes on every client call and interaction – Infusionsoft can track all of this information with incredible accuracy. The result to the client or lead is the that they get personalized messages that address their objections and concerns and you’re able to show that you understand their worries, which positions you as trustworthy.

Given the right timing of messages and copy, nurture sequences can dramatically improve your sales closing rate. Infusionsoft understands that many small businesses like yours may not have the brand recognition and marketing budget of Coca-Cola or Nike, so you need to build up the faith in your business with a consistent message.

While Infusionsoft gives you the tools to get started, you’ll need to design and implement your own nurture sequences. The easiest way to get started with nurture sequences that build trust is to ask yourself, “what if the leads don’t buy this program?”

Write down what you’d want to communicate and how often you should be reaching out with this content. While some programs are evergreen, also consider programs that launch annually or quarterly. By building up the program to your leads and then giving them another chance to work with you, Infusionsoft can help you stay in touch with warm leads and increase your conversions with minimal effort.

If you’re just getting started with Infusionsoft be sure to talk to your ICC about these campaigns or contact us to discuss which nurture campaigns you need for your business to increase sales and serve your clients.

Image Credit: sfxeric

Why Creating a Successful Business is like Winning in Ice Hockey

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Why creating a successful business is like winning an ice hockey gameCoaching & Strategy

In hockey, the coach can make or break a team. A great coach inspires the players, guides them to follow a rock solid strategy, and helps them keep their head up when times are tough.

A great business mentor needs to have the same qualities. Although it may take “10,000 hours” to become a master in something new, you can certainly speed up your process by borrowing hours from people who have been there and back. Great mentors can give you a solid strategy to market your business, convert more sales, keep your customers coming back for more, and give you advice when things aren’t going your way.

A great business coach (and a supporting mastermind group) can make the difference between a business flop and a tremendous success. Ideas are a dime a dozen, but the fortune is in the execution.  My business coach is offering a new challenge this week that will certainly transform some businesses for the new year!

Agility & Responsiveness

In hockey, players need agility to cut in and out of tight spots, turn on a dime, and re-act in super human scenarios, because a second late can make all the difference between a win and a loss. In running your business, you need agility to make changes on the fly when something you thought would be a huge success isn’t working.

While you’re running your big marketing campaign, you need agility to analyze and take action on results from split testing to achieve maximum profits. With the speed at which the modern world operates, failing to react quickly to signals can mean the difference between a massive success or a disappointing failure.

Coordination & Teamwork

In hockey, having the best players in the world isn’t always going to lead to a win. The use of great teamwork and coordination is just as important as the skill of the players. We’ve seen this many times when underdogs “outplay” the teams expected to win. This happens in all sports and many times it’s a matter of superior teamwork and coordination that leads to winning the game.

In business, it’s critical to have all of your systems and employees talking to each other and working together. If your email system doesn’t know which customers purchased products, you can end up with embarrassing emails going to the wrong people. If your team members aren’t aware of new promotions coming along, your customer support can falter from miscommunication.

Having alignment in your systems and team is incredibly important to having a business that runs smoothly and grows rapidly. This is one of the biggest reasons we love Infusionsoft so much – it makes this level of coordination easy and seamless in your business!

Stick-to-it-iveness & Commitment

In hockey, it takes incredible commitment to show up game after game with intensity and focus. Down the stretch when teams are tired and worn out, the best conditioned and most committed teams rise to the top and claim victory.

In business, it’s a similar story. My good friend Lynan once gave me some advice when I was starting a new project. She said, “This part is a sprint, the rest is a marathon”. Sometimes you need to be able to take a few blows while testing new ideas to see what works, and stick in there when things are getting tough. You can’t always give up after the first try.

With that said, it’s also imperative to give yourself time for recovery and rest. Otherwise you risk burnout which can be detrimental to your focus for a long time. Hockey teams regularly take breaks from practice to recuperate. This is essential for solid performance in the long haul!

Hunger & Hustle

In hockey, commentators regularly say that the best players are “hungry for the puck”. They’ll do what it takes to get the puck on their stick to make a play, score a goal, etc. A little bit of extra hustle can mean a big difference over the course of a game or season.

In business, companies have to be hungry for the sale. This isn’t to say that you should compromise your values and integrity – that’s a whole different topic. However, if you don’t ask for the sale and fail to give your customers a clear and obvious path to buy from you, they will never convert from prospects to customers.

Getting the Right Support

If your team needs support in the sprint or needs help preparing for the marathon then it may be time to invest in a strategic coach to help you reach your goals. If you want to discuss how better marketing automation can support your business and launches click here to schedule a call.

In other news, I am so glad hockey is back!

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Image credit: 5of7

How to Build Your Perfect Customer Lifecycle Brick by Brick

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“It won’t happen as fast as you want, but it won’t take as long as you think”

This is one of my favorite quotes from my friend Johnny Dzubak.  Johnny is an expert in the personal development field and teaches people how to hone their social skills.  But today I was thinking about this quote in the context of growing and marketing your business – and there’s a TON of parallels!

In our busy society, we all want immediate results – and if you look at the ads on TV, it’s obvious as to why.  In the world of “6 minute abs” and get rich quick schemes, we’ve lost our patience.  Rome wasn’t built in a day!

I have some good and bad news for you: building a business won’t happen overnight, but if you consistently take action it will grow and attract new customers impressively fast.

Infusionsoft Perfect Customer LifecycleOne of the well known statistics in marketing is that it typically takes somewhere between 5-12 “touches” with a prospect before they will be ready to buy from you.  However if you try to fit all 12 touches into one day, you’ll likely scare away your prospect and come across as overly needy.

Luckily we have client relationship marketing tools that can spread these points of contact out over time in a way that feels authentic and natural to your prospects, yet automated so that you don’t have to remember to reach out to each person those 5-12 times.

I really love the concept of the “Perfect Customer Lifecycle”.  In essence, it’s the process of breaking down your interaction with each customer in a systematic way that WOW’s them, follows up appropriately, addresses their reservations, nurtures them towards a sale in an authentic manner, and ultimately turns them into raving fans who promote your business for you!

You can download a free workbook to check out the process here.  I go through the Perfect Customer Lifecycle with my private coaching clients and it always amazes me to watch the transformation of their business as we apply these systems.

It can be daunting when you look at the whole customer lifecycle so remember “It won’t happen as fast as you want, but it won’t take as long as you think!” Begin today with the very beginning of the process and be consistent in building it out piece by piece.

If you need to implement quickly with an expert guiding the process, reach out for support and accelerate your results! One of the best parts of investing in this process is that – while you may tweak things over time – once it’s done your marketing and follow up is on auto pilot and creates so much freedom in your business!

Need help getting started? Head over to my contact page and get in touch! 

How Effective Is Your Sales Process?

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Keeping track of your prospects through your sales pipeline is one huge aspect that separates newbie small businesses from those generating serious income and impressive conversion rates.  

I recently listened to a fantastic interview on Mixergy with Justin Roff-Marsh — the Founder of Ballistix, a management and marketing consultancy, specializing in Sales Process Engineering.  I generally love everything on Mixergy, but this one really piqued my interested since my background is in engineering and systematically breaking down and optimizing a process.

Sales: Person or Process Driven?

Justin makes a fairly outlandish claim in the world of traditional sales: that the effectiveness of a sale is centered around the optimization of the sales process, not the salesperson.  He makes the comparison of modern manufacturing methods compared to the artisan era of building.  

We know that by tracking the history of manufacturing — accuracy and repeatability increase exponentially over time when using an assembly line (where each step can be broken down into its smallest pieces and optimized) as compared to a single craftsman building the entire widget from start to finish.

Justin believes that similar to manufacturing – sales can be improved by breaking each step of the process into its smallest elements, optimizing, and focusing each member of the sales force on being razor sharp at one particular piece of the process.

Automating and Optimizing Sales to Increase Conversion Rate

Whether you agree or disagree with his premise, we can learn from his company’s success and emulate his process through automating marketing and sales procedures.  

In Infusionsoft, we have an incredibly useful tool at our fingertips: The “opportunity” sales pipeline.  Using this tool effectively ensures that each prospect in the pipeline receives the same process and the sale isn’t dropped through the cracks.

Take a look at this sample opportunity pipeline in Infusionsoft:

Opportunity Sales Pipeline

Keep in mind that this process should be reflective of your business staff and operations — but it’s a great example to showcase the process. As a new lead comes into the process, he or she is marked as a “new opportunity” and the sales team is notified.  If a direct phone call connection cannot be made at first, the sales team must leave 3 voice mails trying to connect — this builds consistency and helps to make scientific observations about where the process needs improvement.

After working the prospect and attempting to make a sale, the sales rep will mark the sale as “won” (and indicate which product was sold) or “lost” with a reason that the prospect was not able to be converted into a customer.  This is fantastic from an analytical standpoint.  Given enough data, we can start to determine where the holes exist in the sales process and make corrections iteratively!

This system scales with the complexity of the sales process, but it can and should be applied to any business that is selling products (aka all of them!).

What pieces of this methodology could you implement in your business?  Need help setting it up?  Check out my service packages.