Wil and I just spent the last 3 days working “on our business” instead of “in our business.” There is a huge advantage to that and I want to tell you why our first trip to InfusionCon was an exceptional one. First, what is InfusionCon?
InfusionCon is Infusionsoft’s software user conference. Infusionsoft is a sales and marketing automation software that is designed exclusively for small businesses. (If you click on the links you can learn all about both. 🙂
So, what made it such a fabulous event? I know that’s what you came here for, so let me get right into the 3 BIG reasons why I look forward to attending this event every year.
Education: I learned so much from the many presenters who attended. One of my favorites was Pam Slim, who wrote Escape From Cubicle Nation. She really highlighted the importance of recognizing what the root cause is for our entrepreneurial journey. LOVE is the root, she stated. What she focused on is the BIG WHY that we have for running our business in the first place. We all created our business for a very specific reason. No matter what it is, whether it is to fill a gap in a particular market, to design our ideal lifestyle, or to unlock the shackles of an employer.
Our BIG WHY needs to continue to burn bright inside us and fuel our success. In addition to that, the products or services that we offer cannot be crap! At the end of the day, are we truly providing a good product to those who need it? I could go on for days about the value that I received from the keynote speakers. But, I really want to share with you what I learned about using the software.
Over the past 3.5 years, we have built a database of thousands of people (over 8,600 subscribers). A key point that I gleaned about working with our database is to make sure that the community is solid. By solid, I mean actively engaged. With Infusionsoft, we can actually look at our database to see who is interested in the information that we offer.
For instance, did you know that contacts in your database who never open your emails can actually hurt your email deliverability? You can be automatically marked as SPAM by un-engaged community members. That was a shock to us! (Talk about “not knowing what we don’t know!”). That is why it’s so important to really learn how to use the tools you invest in to grow your business. Infusionsoft gives us the power to see who is involved and eliminate those that could potentially damage our email marketing. Now that we understand this, we’re taking steps to resolve the challenge,
I encourage you to be fully involved with the tools that help you to run your business. Learn nitty-gritty stealth techniques that allow you to take full advantage of the products in which you invest.
Networking: This is one of my favorite activities! The cool thing about InfusionCon is that it was a “user” conference. The majority of the people that I met were focused on learning how to maximize the potential of the product. That made the networking atmosphere relaxed and easy-going. It was not like attending a traditional networking event where the purpose is to work hard to drum up business.
A bonus was bumping into good friends that I haven’t seen for a while. Some were colleagues, mentors and former clients. It was so good to see so many people that I already knew and have been connected with for a while via social media. I was able to rekindle some relationships that had tapered off due to the passage of time.
Attending in person events have always been priceless investments of time and money for me. We live in a virtual world. But it’s humans that are behind all of this technology. Nothing can replace the human touch. I challenge you to get involved in one or more in person events in 2012. Get out of your office and meet some new people!
Implementation: We are already starting to implement the points that we have learned from the conference. We found a few add-on products that will enhance our usage of Infusionsoft’s dynamic software. We also found an RSS feed provider that is integrated with Infusionsoft. That will lead to better communication with our growing communities.
As you may know from reading the blog and past ezine articles, I am a fervent implementer. It is always my goal to help you to implement anything that I share with you. My clients who do so obtain the best results. Likewise, you will get results from implementing the many things that you learn about growing your business. Make the choice to NOT get overwhelmed when it comes to implementation. Take one project and one step at a time.
InfusionCon has really energized us as we move into the 2nd quarter of the year. We look forward to sharing with you more of the brilliant strategies that we learned and increasing the quality of the products and services we provide to you.
ACTION STEPS:
- Find 4 in-person events that are scheduled for 2012.
- Register for an event that is a good fit for your business. It could be one to help you get a better ROI on a tool for your business, to connect with referral partners or to mingle with prospective clients.
- Make plans NOW to attend the event. Decide who you want to meet and what you want to get out of it.
- If you are nervous about going to an event, get a buddy to join you. Make it FUN!
