The first 3 words are: And then what? Here are the remaining 4 words:

What. If. They. Don’t.

We ALL do this sometimes (that includes yours truly): We set up campaigns that are only designed for everyone on our list to buy what we’re selling, when we want to sell it. Here’s the problem with that:

No matter what you do or how supercalifragilisticexpialidocious you and your products and services are, not everyone will do what you want them to do, when you want them to do it.  They may respond and/or buy later and they may never do it at all. And that’s ok – I always tell clients that even though there are people in your world that will never buy from you, they just might be your biggest raving fan and referral source on the planet.

Here’s what you need to do:

Prep your strategy in “What if they don’t?” mode. This basically requires that you build in a long term nurture sequence into your strategy.

As you know, Lifecycle Marketing looks like this:

In between “Nurture Prospects” and “Convert Sales” you need a lengthy “And then what?” plan to accommodate those that do not buy. You will also want to do this right around the “Upsell Customers” area and the “Get Referrals” area of your strategy since people may not be ready to buy MORE from you YET or send you a referral YET.

Very Important Note: Do not consider this permission to delay asking for the sale. I know, it’s hard for many of us to ask for the sale and we will joyfully hold off on doing so whenever possible. You still ask for the sale and upsell on schedule (in the perfect case scenario where prospects do everything you want them to do from beginning to end).

There you have it:

“And then what?”

+

“What if they don’t?”

=

The 7 most import words in building Infusionsoft strategy.

Agree? Questions? Comments? Share them below!

Being that I am capable of being a control freak, I don’t allow myself to be guided nearly enough. However, when I do, it never steers me wrong.

This week, I discovered I didn’t have a guest blog post lined up. It didn’t worry me much, however the reality was that I had no guest blog post for today!

It just so happens that I started interacting in a different way on my Facebook business page recently. I was reviewing my metrics recently and I saw that I was getting a much (much) higher level of engagement when I post authentic, off-the-top-of-my-head-but-it’s-true posts than auto posts. So, I have been making an effort to engage in a more meaningful way on the Facebook business page.

In the process of doing this, today’s guest blogger – Danielle Greason – showed up on my radar by engaging in one of my updates. That turned into clicking through to see what Danielle was all about, seeing that she had a gorgeous website (with hints of orange throughout!), and excellent blog posts. And here we are…

Danielle has written a wonderful post that should serve as inspiration for all of you that know it’s a good idea to blog (a fantastic way to Attract Traffic, Infusionsoft friends!), take my word for it that you can reap massive exposure and great results from consistent blogging, have tried and tried to blog, and just feel stuck.

Today’s post is about delegating, leveraging, and finally getting into the blogging game where the sky is the limit on attracting traffic to your business.

Enjoy!

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Your blog is an essential part of your overall content strategy and effective social media marketing. Yet it is only powerful and effective if it is updated on a regular basis and carefully positioned within your niche. A blog is the perfect way to communicate with your clients and prospects, letting your audience know exactly what value you have to offer.

A static website, after all, represents something like a snapshot in time whereas your blog, if properly maintained, is able to keep up with the times and helps to convey the fact that you are “on top of” all new developments and expertise within your industry. So, how can you use a virtual assistant to support you in creating an outstanding blog that attracts and engages new readers every single day?

Here are 5 ideas to get you started…

1. Blog Research.

One excellent way to use your blog is to ensure that whenever a news story breaks that’s relevant to your particular niche, that you have a position to take and can provide commentary on that story that adds value for your audience. This requires the business owner to keep a finger on the pulse of all top blogs and industry news sites, which as you know, can be a very time-consuming endeavor. A virtual assistant who knows your business intimately, is ideally placed to always be on the lookout for potentially powerful breaking news stories in a variety of different source locations online.

2. Blog Content.

Once industry relevant information has been sourced through research, it needs to be translated into an engaging blog post that includes the particular voice and personal angle of your business. A virtual assistant can help you to create the blog post outline and sub-headings, write the entire article, or source and manage a professional writer on your behalf. An SEO savvy VA will be able to ensure your headline includes the most relevant keywords and is written in such a way that entices your audience to “Like”, “Share” and “Retweet” your content once it’s distributed through your social media accounts.

3. Formatting and Tagging.

Your blog posts should be formatted in such a way that they are easy to read and quick to interpret when your readers are scanning just the headline and sub-headings of your article. The use of bullets, numbering, quote blocks, bold and hyper-linked text all help to break up large blocks of text and make the post attractive to the eye. If you have written your draft post, you can then hand it over to your virtual assistant to take care of quality formatting and also conducting some basic keyword research for including keyword tags, to increase the odds of your post ranking in search engines.

4. Selecting Images.

It has been proven time and again that well-selected images can focus the attention of your potential reader and your post is then more likely to get read. Your virtual assistant can locate relevant, high-quality imagery for each and every blog you post and can make sure that it is inserted correctly as part of the configuration of the page, to ensure consistency and quality throughout your site.

5. Blog Commenting.

One of the reasons that blogs are so powerful in building a loyal following, is the fact that they allow for dynamic, two-way communication between yourself and your audience in the comments section of each post. If you are committed to responding and interacting with your audience through the comments, you’ll find that you will naturally encourage more and more interaction and likely attract increasing numbers of visitors. Your virtual assistant can arrange to receive all notifications from your blog, so that whenever somebody comments on one of your posts, a response can be posted to acknowledge the reader’s contribution or reply to their question. An outstanding virtual assistant is well aware that the entire purpose of maintaining a blog is to ensure that dynamic interaction with your audience is encouraged. Your VA can also help to ensure that spam commenting is screened and deleted on your behalf, saving you the distraction and keeping your blog clean and clutter free!

Danielle Greason is an online business manager working with a small team of specialist virtual assistants. Danielle has had a passion for Internet marketing for the past 7 years and she loves to use what she has learned to support online entrepreneurs who have awesome products and ideas to share with the world. Connect with Danielle at her website, on Facebook, on Twitter, via LinkedIn and Google+.

Jessica, we don’t need the field called _______ or _______ or _______ on the general tab in the Contacts section. However, we really want a field called ______ and ______ and _______ because that is information that’s really handy for us to have.

Or

Jessica, Why does it say “Phone 1″? No one knows what that means. We would like it to say “Primary Phone Number”. Can we do that?

In a nutshell, you can’t add or remove fields from the general tab of Contact Records. However, you can modify the names of the fields (called labels) on the general tab in the Contact record section and many other places throughout Infusionsoft. Why is this good to know? Because oftentimes renaming a field in your app better suits the needs of your business and your data. Watch the short video below to see how it’s done!

A few things to keep in mind:

• If you are going to do this, try and do it sooner than later. Why? Because once you have data in your fields you will need to move the data (via modifying your records) if it no longer should be in that field due to your renaming/new use of that field. This isn’t a show stopper, but it’s added work so think long and hard before making these changes.
• You CAN go back! I change the names of fields in my Infusionsoft app all the time for demo purposes and then I set the info back the way it was when I am done. You can too!
• Merge fields do not take on the new field name. If I change “First Name” to “Participant First Name” in the Contact section of my app, for example, the merge field for emails will still be ~Contact.FirstName~ rather than ~Contact.ParticipantFirstName~.
• You are not limited to modifying Contact fields. That just happens to be the most common place in the app where people try to make changes. These are all of the areas of the app where you can modify label names:

Questions? Comments? Post them below!

There are 7 simple words that will take your Infusionsoft strategy to new heights no matter if you are starting from “zero” or you have already hit “hero”. I will share 3 of those 7 words in today’s post. Those words are:

And. Then. What.

Yes, that’s it. Yes, it’s that simple. If you continue to ask yourself that question over and over again from the time you start with “Attract Traffic” and end with “Get Referrals” (I am referring to the Lifecycle Marketing model), you will be well on your way to creating complete strategies in your Infusionsoft application over and over again. Here’s how it works:

We usually have a plan around how we plan to start a campaign. Whether it’s a new membership site or a new eBook or a new Special Report, we usually have no problem getting started with our strategy. We are usually quite clear and enthusiastic about how things are going to kick off.

We usually have a goal in mind for our campaign. That goal is usually a purchase. That’s a super goal, but if you get out your copy of the Lifecycle Marketing model and take a peek at it, you will be reminded that the purchase is only half way through your complete strategy. The fun has just begun!

So, in between starting and buying, and in between buying and rounding up referrals so you can start the process all over again, you must ask “And then what?” (and answer it) over and over to map out the rest of your strategy. Here’s how it works:

1. Attracting traffic via _______

2. Capture traffic via my free ________

3. And then what?

4. And then what?

5 And then what?

6. And then what?

7. They buy!

8. And then what?

9. And then what?

10. And then what?

And so on…

Are you asking yourself this question over and over when you build your campaigns? If not, it’s time!

Sneak peek! On Friday, I am going to reveal Part II to this strategy discussion which means the remaining 4 most important words in Infusionsoft strategy will be revealed and discussed. Yes, you have to wait until Friday. Tomorrow is how-to Wednesday and Thursday I have an awesome guest blog post to share. I know, it’s amazing how a blog with fresh posts every weekday has a hard time fitting everything in!

In the mean time, I would LOVE for you to guess the 4 other words in the comments section below. Hint: It’s another question…

Signing up for Infusionsoft directly with Infusionsoft

This is how I signed up for Infusionsoft, by the way. And, I pay full price for my application. So, when people complain to me about the price of their app, I have a hard time feeling their pain since I usually pay more than they do. And that’s ok with me. The VALUE I get from using this software makes it a moot point.

When you sign up for Infusionsoft directly through Infusionsoft, you are probably signing up through the company website, on the phone via your sales rep or at a live event such as a conference that Infusionsoft is participating in. In addition to signing up for your software, you will also sign up for a KickStart coaching package. There are a few package options and they are clearly defined on this page. You will pay Infusionsoft directly for your monthly software application charge and your KickStart coaching. You will be assigned a coach from Infusionsoft and you and your coach will get started getting you started with the software.

Signing up for Infusionsoft through an Infusionsoft Certified Consultant (ICC)

When you become an Infusionsoft Certified Consultant (which I am, in full disclosure), you can sell Infusionsoft to new customers too. It’s called “reselling” and the difference is the buy link that you use to pay for your monthly software application fee.

You still have to invest in KickStart coaching. However, you can do your coaching with the ICC rather than directly with Infusionsoft. Here are the benefits of doing this:

• You get to to pick who your coach will be – it will be your ICC!
• You can ask your ICC to create a coaching plan that fits your needs and goals. Standard packages are great and pretty much a must when you have to move hundreds of people through a program every month. However, ICCs that offer KickStart coaching packages will usually build a package to meet YOUR needs. Consider this the “boutique” option. Note: There are minimum coaching requirements and investment amounts that are set by Infusionsoft so this is not an option to look at to save a few bucks. This part of the option is the same no matter what. However, you should have more flexibility on how the coaching will be delivered when you work with an ICC.
• Ongoing support is at your fingertips should you need it. This is when I talk to a lot of Infusionsoft customers. They have just finished their KickStart coaching and they are experiencing a feeling of “Now what?” All new customers experience a certain degree of “Now what?”, however, when you are working with an ICC, you don’t have to look far to figure out any next steps you may need to take.

Want the details for going down this road and buying your Infusionsoft application from THIS ICC – click here for the details!

It’s worth repeating: There is no better than/worse than comparison going on here. I find that the KickStart options are apples and oranges between Infusionsoft direct and an ICC. OPTIONS help us all make the BEST decisions for our businesses. Review your options and then join the Infusionsoft family!

Another little known fact about me is that I am a self proclaimed Brady Bunch expert. I have for sure watched every single episode of The Brady Bunch several times. I have taken it one step further in that I have seen every Brady Bunch special and movie too.

There is a point to all of this.

In the Brady Bunch movie that came out in 1995, there is theme throughout the movie that architect Mike Brady (aka the dad) is creatively “stuck”. He is hired to design a gas station and he designs a gas station that looks like this:

He then is hired to design a restaurant and he designs a restaurant that looks like this:

The Brady Bunch house is a template that Mike Brady can’t get away from using and it’s not working out well for him because it’s not meeting the needs of his audience. This is a risk we run if we rely on the new Infusionsoft campaign templates too much.

To be clear, I think the templates that are now available for download directly into your Infusionsoft application (once you have the spring release) are an excellent tool and resource. However, if you rely solely on templates for all of your marketing strategy, you will not see the results you would see if you took it one step further and made the template your own by adding relevant content, steps, and features.

Do you watch any of the singing competitions on tv? What’s the one thing that all of the judges on all of the shows say eventually to the best of the bunch? “I love that you made the song your own.”

Here are tips to make Infusionsoft campaign templates “your own”:

Review the Lifecycle Marketing model – all 7 steps of it:

You will find that your template(s) are likely a good start but need more. More of a compelling offer? More follow up? More options to buy? Whatever the case, you need to create a complete strategy.

Need help doing this? Grab my free Lifecycle Marketing eBook by clicking here.

Focus on what YOU want to accomplish. If you grab a “happy birthday” template but you have not gathered a single date of birth in your database you are not going to get very far. If you love the idea and you plan to start collecting birthday information – super – however, keep in mind that it might take you a year to be able to actually send out that birthday greeting. Also ok, but you will need other plans for nurturing and ROI in the mean time.

Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. Infusionsoft’s free campaign templates are a new feature with the latest software release and shiny object syndrome is in full force. People are downloading templates because they CAN. Then many are turning around and doing nothing with them and sit puzzled as to why the templates are not working. Download info that will help you move toward your goals. If something that’s available is going to ultimately get in the way of that – steer clear of that “download” button.

Use the templates as ideas and then have someone help you create the actual plan. When I am going to see a movie that was originally a book, I either read the book first or I read the book never. I do this because once I see the movie I can no longer imagine the characters in my head.

If you have someone like an Infusionsoft Certified Consultant or Success Coach at Infusionsoft help you create your strategy, they can help you cover ALL steps in the Lifecycle Marketing model rather than just focusing on the starter information in a template.

I barely look at templates because it will cloud my creativity when I meet with clients. Instead I learn what the goal is and figure out how we are going to get there using Infusionsoft. No two scenarios have ever been alike.

Recap: Templates have a useful purpose and should not be ignored. However, templates can steer you away from what YOU want to do and what YOUR AUDIENCE needs from you. If you use them as a TOOL, you will successfully avoid the trap dad Brady fell into: Brady Bunch Syndrome.

Pat’s post is about creating S.M.A.R.T. goals. I love the concept of creating goals that follow these rules. You might recall that I posted about my Infusionsoft Work Days last week. When participants in that program are deciding what they will work on during our time together, I have them create their plans using the S.M.A.R.T. system.

These tips are PERFECT for all of us to use when creating our MAPs (Marketing Automation Plans) in Infusionsoft. Enjoy!

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Goal setting is often referred to as the “secret” to success for most successful people in the world. Well, it can be very challenging to define the goals that inspire you to hold yourself accountable to what we truly want in life.  This is why each year I sit down and write out the goals I want to achieve in the New Year and then develop a plan of action to fulfill on them.  This takes something, but it’s completely worth it.

To look back during my quarterly goals review and actually see complete what I couldn’t see as even possible just a few months earlier is motivating.  There are many methods to use for creating goals and I use the SMART goal method to develop both personal and professional goals and so do many other successful people:

#1: Specific – Objective clearly states what is accomplished in terms of end result.

#2: Measurable – Objective clearly states the level of accomplishment of the end result.

#3: Attainable – Objectives are ambitious, but achievable. Objectives should ask for improvement over past performance and are based on facts, analyses and knowledge.

#4: Relevant & Remarkable – Make sure each goal is consistent with other goals you have established and fits with your short-term and long-range plans. They should be realistic, yet challenging.  In other words, develop a stretch goal.

#5: Time-bound – Results will be accomplished within a certain period of time.  Short-term and long-term objectives are differentiated in specific time measures and deadlines and milestones serve as the basis for evaluation of progress for short-term review cycles.  Such as, every 90 days.

The bottom-line: Developing goals is a way to take SMART consistent action on a daily basis and help you fulfill on what you truly want in life.

“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.” ~Tony Robbins

Pat E. Perkins, Career Advancement Mentor, works with emerging leaders and emerging entrepreneurs to progress smarter, faster and with a lot less effort and experience the joy of success in the process. Pat is the creator of ADVANCE! Coaching System™ which helps you powerfully transform how you advance your career, grow your business and reap sustainable results. Because of her high-level listening skills, Pat is known for her ability to truly “get her clients” and coach you to accelerate your goals with purpose, grace and ease. Find out more at www.PatEPerkins.com and connect with Pat socially on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

I have created a video that walks you through the process for finding AND merging duplicate records in Infusionsoft – check it out:

Note: Sometimes having some duplicate records may be part of how you decided to set up the information in your database. It’s more the exception than the rule to do this, but if this is part of your strategy and it works for what you’re trying to manage, then stick with it.

Questions? Comments? Feedback on doing this in YOUR Infusionsoft app? Leave a note below!

Since I manage to turn nearly everything I observe into a business lesson, this was no different.

Kids are some of the best examples I know of for modeling fearlessness. In this example, my little guy is sitting in all his glory in a sea of 40,000 strangers with a giant balloon hat on his head as if it was as typical as the t shirt and shorts he wore yesterday. It never even occurred to him to think about whether his new balloon hat was a good or a bad idea. It was crafted in Green Bay Packers colors per his request and he was thrilled. He “owned” his look.

This reminded me of a quote from Spencer Johnson:

What Would You Do If You Weren’t Afraid?

Too often, we are afraid to try something with our Infusionsoft app. It could be fear of failure or it could be fear of success. Either way, we STOP and do not do anything – and that’s going to become a problem for your marketing efforts if it’s not already. Here are some tips to keep you moving forward with your marketing automation plans:

You probably can’t break it. I suppose anything is possible, but I have yet to see anyone break their Infusionsoft application. In extreme cases I have seen customers need to call Infusionsoft’s tech support about restoring something important that they deleted, but that doesn’t happen often.

The only way that you can get results with your Infusionsoft application is to plan and take action. When it comes to working in Infusionsoft, it’s daunting to take a new action – or any action for that matter sometimes. But through the power of testing and retesting, you have every opportunity to get it right.

And if you get it wrong, that’s ok too…

Doing nothing is the ONLY way you can get zero results. Even if you make a mistake or you are not wild about the results a given strategy yielded, I can guarantee that you will learn something and your next strategy will be different and better based on what you learned from doing.

Standing out in your crowd has its benefits. In case you don’t know this yet, orange is my favorite color. There is not much marketing that gets out the Maes Consulting door these days without some orange on it. This wasn’t always the case. It took some practice to “own” my orange business cards, orange shirts, orange pens and notebooks, and more. Not because I didn’t love orange, but because sticking with earthy colors always allowed my marketing to blend in to a crowd.

Then one day I did a mailing that involved sending out letters in giant beautiful orange envelopes. You know what happened? EVERYONE opened my letter and sent me a reply. Why? Because I did something classy that stood out. You can too.

Do something different than the rest of the pack – send a personal note as a follow up, make a high touch phone call, print your business cards in an interesting shape or color. Whatever your “thing”, make it yours and you will not regret it.

Just because they don’t buy doesn’t mean they are not listening. So many businesses under market to their audience. Why? Because we don’t want to be a bother. We fear the unsubscribe button. Or worse, the spam complaint. However, if you went about building your list the right way, unsubs and spam complaints are a fairly low occurance for most businesses. I have many, many people on my list that consume my information for information’s sake and rarely buy from me. However, if/when they need Infusionsoft consulting, I am probably going to be their only call. Or, when their friend decides to buy Infusionsoft, I will probably be the only person they introduce them too. Don’t worry about “bothering” people with your message. Make sure you HAVE a message (don’t email just to email) and you will be golden.

When you are first starting out with building a complete marketing strategy in Infusionsoft you are going to feel like you are “pushing the envelope”. That’s just you moving out of your comfort zone. I can assure you, everything you are hoping to gain from marketing with your Infusionsoft application is right on the other side of that fear barrier. Put on your best balloon hat and “own it”.

I want to make sure info about the Infusionsoft Work Day program makes it to the blog so that anyone that’s interested in coming to Chicago to participate can register; but also so everyone can understand the program regardless of where you live and “raise your hand” if you think this program would be good to bring to YOUR CITY!

What is the Infusionsoft Work Day

I created the Infusionsoft Work Day about 6 months ago. At that time I had consulted at 3 Implementation Accelerator programs (a program Infusionsoft no longer offers at this time) In AZ at the Infusionsoft HQ and I was seeing first hand how much customers could get done in their app if they spent a full day focused on the work that needed to get done.

To be clear, my Infusionsoft Work Days are in no way, shape or form Implementation Accelerator events. Implementation Accelerator events were priced at $10,000, they were 3 days long, and customers implemented with the help of a team of consultants and Infusionsoft employees. They were GREAT events, but what I created isn’t a replica.

The piece of Implementation Accelerator events that inspired my Infusionsoft Work Days was witnessing first hand that a ton of Infusionsoft work can get done when you create a plan and then spend a full day executing the plan. I took that inspiration and created a workshop that I felt was practical for ALL Infusionsoft customers, at a price point that ALL Infusionsoft customers could consider, and a time commitment that ALL Infusionsoft customers could accommodate with enough notice.

Infusionsoft Work Day

While the actual work day coming up on May 29 is the main part of this program, it is a program with more to it than just the work day. With only one work day, we have to come to the event prepared and ready to rock. So, this is how the entire program rolls out:

• As soon as you register for an Infusionsoft Work Day, you receive homework to help you prepare for the Work Day. I just revised it to make sure it was still totally relevant and the homework is 11 pages. It’s not difficult, but it’s thorough. It’s a step by step guide to help you narrow your focus so that you come to the Work Day with a plan that YOU can execute and that YOU can finish by the time we wrap up for the day. Two VERY important things in order to be successful. This prep guide alone can be used over and over and over so that you can constantly be creating focused plans and then implement in your system even after the Work Day – nice!

• There is a Work Day pre-call about a week before the Work Day. While not required, you are encouraged to attended AND have your homeowork done. On this call we cover logistics for the Work Day and talk about what you plan to accomplish during the work day. I will give you feedback on if I think it’s not enough, too much, or just right. I will also make sure you are prepared to DO the things you want to day that day, and if not give you resources so you can give yourself a crash course before the Work Day.

• There is a private Facebook group that you are invited to after registering for the program. A Facebook group is only as active as its participants, but it’s a way for you to have more access to me and meet and share information with other Infusionsoft users.

• Our actual Work Day is 6 hours of focused work time. Truth be told, we find time to eat, drink coffee, share about 5-6 Infusionsoft tips and laugh, but we DO work for 6 hours in our apps too! All participants work in a conference room together and I rotate around the room continuously for the entire day to answer questions and help you keep moving forward. At the top of each hour I share a software tip, and breakfast, lunch and snacks are provided throughout the day.

• About 2 weeks after the Work Day we have a post-call so that you can share wins and ask questions as needed.

Infusionsoft Work Day Chicago

The reason I have hosted this program in Chicago is that it’s a large market that I can drive to and so can many Infusionsoft customers. There are hundreds of customers in a 150 mile radius so it’s a ripe spot to have the event. I have also held the event here Madison, WI.

Currently I am contemplating bringing the program to Minneapolis and Los Angeles, but I am open to bring it wherever there is a group of customers that crave an Infusionsoft facilitated Work Day!

You can learn all about the upcoming Work Day in Chicago by clicking here. If you are interested in having me bring the Work Day to a city near you, let me know by completing this form.

Hope to see you in Chicago!