Intro from Nige:
I’ve said many times that I’d rather have my electricity cut off than lose my access to Infusionsoft – our CRM system. I was Infusionsofts 11th ever customer, when I discovered it in 2004, and over the past 11 years it’s become an essential part of the very fabric of our business. Everything we do, pretty much, runs off Infusion, but I recognize that the level of complexity we’ve built isn’t helpful if you’re at the start of your CRM journey. So I asked four year EC Mastermind veteran Pieter de Villiers, who’s business, Barefoot Funnels, helps companies get stuff implemented and done using Infusionsoft, to share some simple strategies to get things moving with your CRM…
DON’T skip this article just because you don’t use Infusionsoft.
As it is with putting a man on the moon, the key with using Infusionsoft effectively in your business is quite simple. Decide to do it, then take the first step. Just do the first thing. Start!
The key really is to just start with something, no matter how small.
I was reminded of this last week when there was the whole media and social media furore over a question about a bag of sweets in a GCSE maths exam.
Now, aside from the ridiculousness of some teenagers and experts insisting it should be made easier, I soon realised the parallel it has with a lot of Infusionsoft owners (distinct from users). Solving the equation is simple, providing you don’t start your math journey trying to solve that equation. (We need Colin Bradford’s Dr Poopinstinken for that.)
My 4yr old daughter Amélie likes doing maths exercises for fun. So last weekend I gave her some to do, and she quickly progressed from 2+2 or 2 x 2, all the way through to 3 x 2 + 4 etc…. She loves it and I am happy to encourage her interest. However, if we started with the bag of sweets equation, she would be overwhelmed, frustrated, lose interest and worst of all, believe that she can’t do it.
So, I thought I would put together a couple of examples of simple, but very effective starting points. If you have Infusionsoft and feel you do not know how to build your next amazing sales funnel with 3 lead baits, 4 product options, 17 upsets and a 6 month pre-launch campaign, or worse still, you have had Infusionsoft for 12 or 18 months and never really did anything with it, then just use a couple of your 90 minutes to introduce the below two examples, just START!
Know, Like and Trust.
This is a simple, 3 emails in 3 days campaign. The great thing about it is you don’t need to worry about prices, products or any complicated follow-up sequences. This is designed to be the simple introduction and conversation which you might have with the stranger sat next to you at a friend’s wedding. The key here is that EVERY person who makes any kind of enquiry with your business, no matter how small, should get these 3 emails over the following 3 days.
Know: (Day 1)
The first email simply aims for them to get to know you. This is not a case of delivering your memoir to them. It is a short, simple introduction, ideally with a couple of questions too, with the aim of eliciting some response (nobody likes the guy who only talks about himself), but NO selling, EVER!
I use this email to introduce the business.
Like: (Day 2)
Here it is simple again, you need them to like you a bit more by the end of the email. (A bit like making the girl at your mate’s wedding laugh, in a good way.)
I use this to tell them more about me and my life outside of the business.
Trust: (Day 3)
Here you simply use an email to send them some social proof. Why should they trust you? Why should they care to do business with you? The key again is to not turn this into a sales pitch for your products or services.
My trust email simply introduces a video testimonial.
How do you get them into Infusionsoft in the first place? (Hint: Don’t spam people!)
There are many ways for you to encourage people to opt-in on a webform on your website. (Sign up for our eNewsletter is NOT one of them, it’s equivalent to asking a girl at the bar if you can throw peanuts at her every 5mins).
The key is to start a conversation, not a sales pitch, you’ll have time for that later. (Just offer to buy her a drink)
Here you can offer them some information, maybe a handy checklist, an ebook/pdf download or a competition entry. We are about to start using quite an extensive bit of research we commissioned on the cost of inefficient systems and processes to small businesses in the UK (We’ll use a much catchier title though), but you don’t need to start with anything like that. Please don’t get stuck on the finer details of what you are going to send them and then find yourself 3 months later, still having done nothing.
An easy way to get this going is to simply stick up a webforms asking for a name and email address, with a picture of one of your frontline staff members and the headline: If you’d like to find out more, just fill in your details and “Lucy” or “James” will get in touch. Just START! Again, when they do speak to James, his brief should be to start a relationship, not just go right in for sale! sale! sale! (I am not saying you should not sell stuff, nothing happens in business until you someone sells something, but you can not build a strong business on one night stands alone.)
Once they fill in the webform, they getting a simply acknowledgement email and are then passed over to the Know, Like and Trust (KLT) campaign.
Now you have a simple introduction/lead bait, with automated follow-up, and then three emails introducing you and your business. See, that was not so scary, was it?
Whilst the pictures included with this article shows you what the end results look like, it would take many more pages than I have been afforded here to show you everything step by step. So, to help you take action, I have set up some video walk-throughs of building both these campaigns, which you can find in the newly refurbished and awesome EC Vault! (look in the CRM section).
You can also go to www.barefootfunnels.com/circular if you fill in the web-form there, you will go through an example of the introduction
