InfusionSoft – Think twice before sinking your money in this CRM tool

I’ve seen a number of clients invest in CRM tools that are far more powerful than their businesses require – and more expensive than they can currently afford – because their business advisers have told them that they should invest in technologies now that will support their future business plans.  These business advisers instill the fear  in their clients that their company won’t be prepared in the future when their prospects and clients outweigh the capability for the company to manage them.  I have never witnessed a case where this was the reality.  In reality, the sudden onslaught of clients never comes, and even if it were to, most CRM systems are built so that all current data can be easily migrated with a learning curve for using the technology.

The biggest example I have seen in unfortunate CRM purchases is InfusionSoft.  I have seen InfusionSoft touted by so-called industry experts and gurus (think Dan Kennedy, Bill Glazer, Ali Brown) who advise info-marketers to invest in this CRM solution now in preparation for future business.  InfusionSoft has a number of drawbacks like not being able to paste text in various modules and difficulties pasting links to name a couple quick irritants.  The biggest thing about InfusionSoft is that it is NOT for info-marketers.  InfusionSoft is for businesses with actual sales teams.  To use InfusionSoft effectively the business needs to be sales-oriented, equipped with a multi-person sales force, have a database with hundreds of thousands of contacts AND have the budget to effectively implement this technology.  The time to migrate data, implement the tool and train a salesforce how to use it – and continue to update it – is extremely time intensive.  This is not the responsibility of a business owner either.  This is the responsiblity of an IT Leader.  While Champion Assistants provides the service of IT Team Lead, we are very careful to only work with clients who have a business that is both financially and mentally prepared for a company-wide CRM rollout.

Sadly, I have seen a number of solo-preneurs buy InfusionSoft on the recommendation of their marketing or sales advisor and start implementing the software only to find that it’s extremely cumbersome to use and their business only requires a fraction of the power of the tool.  InfusionSoft is not for contact management.  It is in fact a full-scale CRM tool.  Also, I have seen that the people referring this software get a handsome referral bonus, and I know there are ulterior motives at play as well.  For instance the Dan Kennedy – Bill Glazer Inner Circle has made huge amounts of money through their referrals to InfusionSoft.  They make so much money they actually hold presentations on buying InfusionSoft at their SuperConference and InfoSummit conferences!  It’s great business for them, but not necessarily the right decision for all of those people trying to follow the Dan Kennedy – Bill Glazer methods.

I advise against purchasing any technologies that require your business to grow into.  It’s difficult to predict if the tool will be outdated by the time you need it or if there would have been a better solution based on what your business actually needs at the time. Save yourself time and aggravation and focus on strategic growth instead.

Best,

Heather

Teleseminar Targeted to Those of You Who Are Considering a VA

This Thursday I’m holding a teleseminar with Meggin McIntosh PhD, the Productivity Professor, and we’re discussing:
“Do *Only* What Only *You* Can Do: Working with Virtual Assistants”

Here’s the scoop:

**You’re busy.
**You’re super busy.
**You sometimes think, ‘I can’t believe I am doing this ______ (task, activity, errand, chore, project).’
**You’ve been heard to say, “If only I had someone to help me.”

Actually, this *is* an option…You can hire someone to help you, and in particular, you can hire a virtual assistant.

In this teleseminar, here’s what you will learn:

**How to decide to use a VA,
**Ways to access virtual assistants
**Best ideas for using a VA,
**Considerations when choosing one (or more) virtual assistants.

Join me in this free teleseminar “Do *Only* What Only *You* Can Do” on Thursday, March 13 from 4:00 – 5:30 p.m. (Pacific). To sign up: http://tinyurl.com/2kjhgh.
If you miss it, I will be posting the audio to my website at www.championassistants.com.

Are you OVERwhelmed?

Meggin McIntosh Ph.D, the Productivity Professor, has a great business focussed just on getting people whelmed.  Check out her website at www.justwhelmed.com.  It’s a fabulous (and obvious!) concept – we need to be whelmed, not overwhelmed or underwhelmed.  She offers great resources for achieving the right balance.  I don’t think I’m the only one who can’t shut my brain down at night to get a good night’s sleep, and this is just one of the issues she addresses.

She explains how to get in the zone and feel energized and jazzed by what you are doing.  In order to lead a balanced life she recommends delegating and remembering to stay focussed on what’s really important.  One of the neat phrases I heard her say was, “If you can’t say no, at least think twice before saying yes”.  Another helpful tip I got from her to help me turn off my work brain at the end of the day is to set up an End of Day process (routine/ritual).  It’s just too easy for me to carry work through my personal life, so an End of Day routine is very helpful for me.

If you’re over- or under-whelmed, make sure to check out her site and seminars!

Kind regards,

Heather

www.championassistants.com 

Recycling Electronics for Free or Even Make Money!

I have an extra laptop in my office that I turned on once in the past year. My main laptop runs Microsoft Vista and my older one runs XP, and I’ve just hung on to it for that just-in-case situation when I will need to run something on XP. Obviously, with just one use in a year, I really don’t need it. Recently, I started looking into recycling options and found a recycling program at Costco. The recycling is free and they may even pay you for the item depending on what it is and its condition. They send you a UPS slip to print out and you simply send it in. So quick and simple even I have the time for it! If you have a laptop, camera or game system sitting around gathering dust and need an easy way to recycle, check this out:

Costco.com
Trade-In & Recycle Program
For PCs, LCD Monitors, Digital Cameras, Camcorders, Game Systems & MP3 Players

Kind regards,

Heather

www.championassistants.com

Ali Brown – How to Leverage the Power of a Virtual Team

As a member of Ali Brown’s Silver Mastermind group, I attended the monthly teleconference tonight.  Great topic – virtual team building secrets!  Ali acknowledged while it’s fun doing everything yourself when starting your business, this just isn’t sustainable as your business grows and as you need your business to grow.  You just can’t make money doing everything yourself because you are not using your time optimally. “You’ll get what you’ve always gotten if you keep doing things the same way”.  If you are considering expanding your business or are already overloaded, then a virtual team may be the solution you and your business need.  Here are a few points to consider:

The first step is to identify your needs and write them down.  Understand where you are devoting your time, decide what only you can do and delegate the rest.  If you need to follow-up with clients after events, but never get around to doing that it is costing you sales.  Instead of repeating lost opportunities, create a process for following up with clients (like add business cards to Outlook, send an e-mail, invite to a seminar, send a postcard, touch base by phone) and hand that over to your virtual assistant to do for you.  Following up with 25 strong contacts after an event might cost 2 hours of service time, but could generate thousands of dollars – or more –  in sales.  How many people have piles of business cards sitting on their desks that aren’t followed through with?

The next step is to hire the right virtual assistant.  The basic thing to keep in mind is you get what you pay for.  As a virtual assistant, I think it’s perfectly fine for people to use the services of students or even outsource to India – for certain things like side projects.  For anything that is core to your business and core to your success you need to invest in quality help.  I would never trust a student, someone less experienced or someone overseas with my business bookkeeping.  I need to make sure the person performing the job is up to the task, reliable and is someone I can trust.  Also, make sure you are paying what that individual is worth.  If someone undervalues their skills, they may not stick around very long.  I have heard of someone who agreed to a job at a low rate and when she realized she undervalued herself and underestimated the project she got so nervous about it all she left that client in a lurch.  Paying people their fair value is just that – fair.  Both of you get what you need – quality services for the client and a fair rate for the assistant.

Moving forward with your virtual team: Set up the team you need to take you where you want to be.  Once you have identified your goals, make sure you bring on the expertise you need to reach them.  This could be one person or more depending on the skills and amount of time required.   A virtual team is a no-brainer investment in your business when you recognize the value they add.

Kind regards,

Heather

www.championassistants.com

Assisting your success…virtually!

Author Event with Bob Bloom – The Inside Advantage

Today at the Seattle Chamber Bob Bloom, author of The Inside Advantage, talked about his book and what it takes to grow your business.  Growing your business from the inside is the fastest and cheapest way, and what is inside your business is your Uncommon Offering.  An uncommon offering distinguishes you from your competition – it’s what only you offer.  Since business is all about the customer, your uncommon offering has to be tailored to your core customer and marketed to them only.  Bob Bloom stated he does not emphasize marketing and instead emphasizes only making your product known to your core customer, that customer who is most likely to buy your product or service in the quantity required for optimal profit.  Very insightful!  How many of us spend marketing dollars trying to appeal to a broader market to include those who use our services or products as add-ons and who don’t generate the kind of revenue we need to grow our businesses?!

To appeal to your core customer with your uncommon offering, the best strategy is to speak to their emotions.  BMW, for example, sells a driving experience; not a car.  What BMW projects is the experience and not the car stats, image appeal or features.  BMW appeals to our emotions, our desire for a driving experience.  How does your product or service uniquely appeal to your core customer?  It may be highest quality, fastest to market or easiest to get, but what does it do for your customer?  What need does it fill?  What problem does it solve?  What sets it uniquely apart from the competition?  To run a successful, growing business you need to stand on a platform uniquely designed for your feet, apart from your competition.  Own your offering and make it well known to your core customer.  For more detailed steps on how to accomplish this, you’ll need to read his book!

Kind regards,

Heather

www.championassistants.com

Assisting your success…virtually!

Ali Brown’s Interview with Robert Skrob

Last week Ali Brown (eZine Queen) had an insightful phone interview with Robert Skrob about “The 9 Simple Steps to Building a $$$ Million Dollar Info-Marketing Business…Within 12 Months!”.  Robert took some time to explain opportunities to develop home study courses, coaching seminars and teleseminars.  The emphasis was packaging what you know and marketing that to your target audience.  People need to take their individual knowledge and break that into 6 topics such as How to…, Ways to Breakthrough, and How to Systematize. 

The trick is to write down your topics and each of these can be turned into a teleseminar.  The teleseminar can be a 6-week series devoted to those topics.  If you have a potential market, sell the teleseminar, and even if there is a small turnout you can sell CDs of the teleseminar as a product.  A lot of people get nervous wondering if they will get enough people to just sign up for the teleseminar.  By recording it and producing it as CDs, there is an additional opportunity for people to buy your product. 

To get yourself to motivated you need to set a date!  Put yourself on your calendar and prepare to let yourself shine!  Just by having a date you can begin brainstorming and putting everything together in a set format.  Don’t put yourself under pressure with unreasonable expectations.  Know that you are bringing value to your audience with your  knowledge and experience!

Kind regards,

Heather

www.championassistants.com

Your business-savvy virtual assistants!

Webupdates made easier!

If one of your ambitions is to create your own website in 2008 and become more adept at using HTML code, I highly recommend checking out http://www.w3.org/. A great tutorial can be found at http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/Guide/. A good Dreamweaver course or two would also be extremely helpful!

Kind regards,

Heather

www.championassistants.com

 

Seattle Chamber Annual Business Conference with Tom O’Keefe, Founder & Chairman of Tully’s

I attended the Seattle Chamber Annual Business Conference this week, and managed to take away quite a few helpful tips. The keynote speakers were Tom O’Keefe, Founder and Chairman of Tully’s, and Mary Mitchell, CEO of The Mitchell Organization. Tom O’Keefe admitted to visiting a Starbucks and Tully’s every day, and noted he learned quite a bit by being among Tully’s customers. He emphasized how important it is to “touch” your customers by doing things as simple as acknowledging them as soon as they come through the door. Just by greeting customers as they walk in, you reset their mental clocks so that waiting in line for three minutes feels like one. They feel acknowledged and welcomed. Tom O’Keefe also emphasized being consistent with the financial values of the day. To be a successful business owner, one needs to operate a business that is consistent with current financial values. That includes accounting practices, product and service selection, pricing, marketing strategy and even company policy regarding giving back to the community.

It’s inspiring to hear seasoned business owners speak about issues they face and issues that we all have in common. I highly recommend becoming involved with the Seattle Chamber or any other organization that offers high-caliber speakers and seminars.

Kind regards,

Heather

www.championassistants.com

Your business-savvy virtual assistants!

Do you know when to file taxes throughout the year?

There are a number of deadlines throughout the year to report and file taxes. This can be overwhelming for small business owners who are already busy with day-to-day operations and managing their business. An easy and helpful way to remember key dates is to download tax calendar dates right into Outlook. Visit http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=177839,00.html for easy instructions to do this. You can select the dates that are relevant for you and your business.

Kind regards,

Heather

www.championassistants.com

Your business-savvy virtual assistants!