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You probably started your business in the pursuit of something greater than profits...

Maybe you dreamed of doing things your own way and being free from “The Man.” Or perhaps you longed for the flexibility to manage your own schedule so you could spend more time with your family. Or maybe you even aspired to revolutionize your industry, or better yet...change the world.

But sadly, if you are like most entrepreneurs, you have discovered that accomplishing those goals is not easy. Despite investing countless hours of sweat equity and emotional capital in your company, it still isn’t enough.

Why does this happen? Why do entrepreneurs discover that instead of being set free, they have been enslaved by their business?

The answer to these questions is more complex than we can address in a few pages, but we can help you grow your business and get your life back.

In this guide you will discover proven strategies to grow your business—even double your sales. But more importantly, this guide will empower you to achieve the fleeting aspirations that inspired you to start your business in the first place. It will propel you to the edge of success—and beyond.

Let’s begin by sharing a secret...

Small BuSineSS Growth Guide IntroductIon

Infusionsoft Small Business Growth Guide 1

There is a fundamental marketing and sales principle that has held true since the beginning of time. People buy when tHEY are ready to buy, not when you are ready to sell.

This does not mean that prospects will never buy from you. In fact, a study by the Gartner Group showed that 87% of prospects that inquire about a product will purchase it or a similar product within 12 months.

Your job is to be available when prospects are ready to buy. If you are not there, someone else is going to land that business. And guess what? They were probably just lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time.

Why leave your sales to chance? Staying in front of your prospects is the single easiest way to boost sales and grow quickly.

It is your responsibility to create moments of interaction and maximize them to close more sales, gain more customers, and grow your business.

That is exactly what this Small Business Growth Guide will help you do.

The guide begins by outlining the nine building blocks you need in place to grow your business.

Each building block is accompanied by a helpful self-assessment worksheet that will help you map out a plan for applying the building blocks in your business.

At the end of the guide, you will learn about tools you can use to implement the building blocks in your business.

So what you waiting for? Get started now!

Small BuSineSS Growth Guide IntroductIon

© 2010 Infusionsoft. All rights reserved.2

Self aSSeSSment IntroductIon

1. What inspired you to start your business? ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

2. Has running a business turned out to be harder or easier than you expected? Why? ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

3. Are you creating moments of interaction with your prospects? If so, what are they? If not, what is holding you back? ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

4. Are you truly ready to grow your business? YES NO


Your website can and should be one of the most powerful tools you use to grow your business. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case for most small businesses.

Most companies either have a brochure site that doesn’t capture leads or a site that drives straight to purchase, which alienates prospects that aren’t ready to buy.

Neither of those is as bad as when a business gets so hung up on trying to create a perfect website that they never even launch one. This is especially tragic because the first building block to growing your business is to supercharge your website. It’s easier than you think.

Position Yourself As An Expert When potential buyers have a problem, they look for an expert to help them. In today’s world, that means they search for a solution online and then check out the website for evidence of expertise. So what does expertise look like?

It can take many forms, but it almost always includes social proof (awards, certifications, or testimonials) and high-value educational resources (like reports and presentations). When you publish this type of content on your website, you become an “expert” in the eyes of your prospects. Get Visitors to opt-In Since at least 87% of your site visitors will not be ready to buy right away, it is critical that you capture their information so you can market to them. You can do this by offering your expertise in exchange for their name and email address. The most common offer is a free report, but you can also offer instructional videos, free trials, quotes, etc.

In order to make this happen, you will need a simple web form on your site that puts the information into a database for follow-up. There are many options available (but we’ll get to that later).

BuildinG Block 1: SuPErcHArGE Your WEbSItE


Self aSSeSSment: SuPErcHArGE Your WEbSItE

1. Within the first 7 seconds of visiting your website, can visitors see: —What you do? —A clear indication that you understand their pains? —Social proof and educational content that positions you as an expert?

2. How many educational downloads are available on your website?

3. How many opt-in forms are on your site?

4. If you don’t sell online, does your website act as a sales agent by: —Educating prospects about your offering? —Resolving concerns that can impede buying? —Showing the benefits of your product or service? —Including a call-to-action to move the prospect closer to purchase?

5. What can you do today to supercharge your website? ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________


Today’s leads are tomorrow’s buyers. To really grow your sales, you need to fill your funnel with prospects so you can convert them into buyers down the road.

Get Funnel Vision To fill the funnel, most businesses turn to advertising in hopes that it will generate enough sales to get through the month.

The problem with this model is that they cherry-pick the best leads (let’s say a hefty 5%) and let everyone else (the other 95%) go to waste. This is called the hunter mentality—eating what you kill today.

But you know that most people don’t see an ad and immediately buy your product. They buy when they are ready to buy. To reach these buyers, you need a systematic approach to converting them into buyers.

Master the Formula Filling the funnel is easier than you think. First, identify the right places to generate leads. This could include online sources such as GoogleAds or offline sources such as mailing lists, print ads, or referrals. Regardless of the lead generation sources you select, remember to select ones that will be seen by the right people—your target market.

Then, create an ad that captures attention and drives readers to your website or landing page. The page should contain similar messaging as your advertisement so visitors know they are in the right place.

Once visitors hit your landing page, capture their contact information using an opt-in form. You can offer a free report, coupon, or anything that you think will entice them to opt-in. Remember to connect the form to your database so you can collect their information and follow-up in the future.

That’s what the funnel is all about—capturing leads that aren’t ready to buy and funneling them progressively toward greater and greater commitment through continuous, automated follow-up campaigns.

BuildinG Block 2: FILL Your FunnEL


Self aSSeSSment: FILL Your FunnEL

1. List several attributes of your target market. ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

2. List a few advertising or lead generation sources that you can use to connect with your target market. ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

3. Write a few sample headlines that will capture the attention of your target market. Make sure it address a pain or desire. ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

4. Identify three items you can offer to capture opt-ins. (ex. report, discount) ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________


Once you’ve filled your funnel with leads, you need to convert them into sales. Basically, you need a lead conversion follow-up sequence.

A well-designed sequence will naturally pull prospects through the funnel until they are ready to buy. this is the key to systematizing growth and remaining profitable.

define the Funnel Wouldn’t it be great if you could look at your leads and predict when they are most likely to buy? It’s not as hard as you may think.

First observe patterns in your prospects’ behaviors. Then identify logical and measurable steps that indicate that a lead is getting warmer, such as downloading a free report or scheduling an appointment.

Plan Your Follow-up Using the steps you identified above, map out a logical path for prospects to follow—from the first time they hear of you to the day they purchase.

Then determine how you can drive prospects from one step to the next. The steps can be in any form of media (email, direct mail, phone) but to be most effective, each message should have a specific purpose.

Place Motion Sensors Motion sensors are designed to detect action and respond. You can do the same thing in your follow-up sequence using marketing automation software. Not only will a system track when a prospect takes action (such as downloading a report), it can respond automatically by emailing the report along with an offer for a free consultation.

You can set up motion sensors to detect when someone fills out a form, clicks on an email link, attends an event, or doesn’t take any action at all. This will give you the information you need to connect with the right prospects when they are ready to buy.

BuildinG Block 3: conVErt Your FunnEL


Self aSSeSSment: conVErt Your FunnEL

1. What actions could your prospects take as they move through the funnel? (ex. download a report, schedule a consultation, watch a demo) ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

2. What actions could indicate a prospect is ready to buy? ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

3. Map out a basic lead nurture funnel below.

Download a report via a web form.

Schedule an appointment via an email link.

Attend appointment.

PURCHASE!


Once you have an effective system in place for converting your leads, what will you do to increase sales?

You could focus on driving more prospects into your funnel or you could simply flip the funnel!

Flipping the funnel refers to what you do AFTER the sale to turn one-time buyers into loyal customers and raving fans. There are three simple strategies you can use to effectively flip the funnel.

create customers for Life The longer a customer stays with you, the more valuable they will become. Your job is to convert customers into raving fans so that they’ll buy from you again and again. To create customers for life you must continuously cultivate strong relationships that generate loyalty.

Contrary to popular belief, most customers don’t leave a company because they are unhappy. They leave because they don’t feel special. So go above and beyond to wow your customers. A little humanity, honesty, and extra mile behavior can really make you stand out from the competition!

cross-Sell Additional Products Cross-selling is offering your customer a product or service related to what they are purchasing (ex. “Would you like fries with that?”). Done properly, it is an excellent way to boost sales and deepen relationships with customers.

Many small business owners are afraid to cross-sell because they don’t want to be pushy. This fear is unfounded. As long as you offer relevant products in a range of prices, your customers will appreciate that you made them aware of your other products and services.

up-Sell to Increase transaction Size Up-selling is a great way to increase sales with little effort. As long as the offer is relevant to the original purchase, either your customers will accept (and thank you for the deal) or decline.

BuildinG Block 4: FLIP Your FunnEL


Self aSSeSSment: FLIP Your FunnEL

1. What could you do better to really wow your customers after they buy? ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

2. What products or services could you cross-sell or up-sell to increase your average transaction size?

Product cross-Sell up-Sell

Hiking Boots Socks, insoles, laces 1 year warranty


Just because a person buys from you once, does not mean they will do so again. With the right strategies, you can create customer loyalty that will increase repeat sales and grow your business.

Here are a few ideas to help you give customers the experience they deserve.

Keep a database If you want to manage your relationships effectively, you need a customer database that tracks their likes, dislikes, past purchases, interests, and anything else that could impact their decision to buy from you.

Using that information, you can send targeted marketing campaigns that will wow the socks off your customers and give them a reason to return.

Make Service a Marketing Strategy Customers like to feel special. The want to feel that their decision to buy means more to the business owner than just another sale.

Providing great customer service gives you an edge over competitors and generates repeat business. The way you treat people can make you irresistible in the minds of your customers.

Keep It Simple Providing great customer service doesn’t have to be complicated. Simple solutions are best. For starters, deliver as promised. You have to meet the expectations set during the sales and marketing process before you can get repeat sales. Then, go above and beyond and blow the socks off your customers. This will practically guarantee life-long loyalty.

BuildinG Block 5: WIn LIFELonG cuStoMErS


Self aSSeSSment: WIn LIFELonG cuStoMErS

1. What is your current attitude toward your customers? ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

2. List three changes you would make to improve your customer service. ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

3. What are your customers’ top three requests or complaints? ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

4. How could you meet customer needs in a way that would give you a competitive advantage in your industry? (ex. free shipping, return policy) _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________


No matter what you sell, if you want to reach a broad market of willing buyers, you need to sell online. Not sure how or what to sell online? No problem! Here are few easy steps to get you started.

decide What to Sell There seems to be no limit to what you can sell online these days—everything from retail products to professional services can be sold online.

When deciding what to sell online, the question is not “Will it sell?” but rather, “Do I have an easy and efficient way to collect payment and deliver the product or service to my customer after they buy?”

Automate the Logistics A key component of selling online is being able to collect payment and deliver products and services automatically. Merchant processors will give you the ability to collect credit and debit card payments, while commerce solutions will help you create your actual web store and shopping cart.

Make Shopping Fun and Easy Whether your business is housed in a building or on a website, you must make the shopping experience fun and easy to maximize sales. When selling online, create detailed product descriptions, include high-quality photos, and make it easy to add and remove items from the shopping cart. When it is time to pay, make sure that shipping and payment options are crystal clear.

Minimize Purchase Anxiety Your website can’t just be safe and secure. It has to LOOK safe and secure to minimize purchase anxiety.

You can do this by providing a safe shopping guarantee, clearly spelling out the terms of your return and refund policies, and providing instructions for buying offline. Social proof such as partner icons from the Better Business Bureau and customer testimonials are also effective.

BuildinG Block 6: SELL onLInE


Self aSSeSSment: SELL onLInE

1. List several of your products or services that make sense to sell online. ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

2. Are the following items displayed prominently in your web store to minimize purchase anxiety: —Satisfaction guarantee? —Return, refund, or replacement policy? —FAQs about purchases and policies? —Instructions for purchasing offline?

3. Are you using the following types of social proof to inspire confidence: —Better Business Bureau logo? —Industry association icons? —Customer testimonials? —Endorsements? —Partner icons?


Wouldn’t it be nice if you received payment instantly every time you sold a product or service? But that’s not how it works. Getting paid can be more difficult than closing the deal.

Ironically, the more you sell, the more financial overhead you need to manage.

Here are a few strategies to reduce overhead and help you collect the cash faster.

Prevent collection Problems before they Happen Establish a crystal clear payment and collection policy and share it with your customers. Provide an EASY way for them to access information about how and when to pay—whether on the invoice, in an email, or on your website. If you can, incorporate a method for credit card processing to guarantee instant payment. Once that is in place, you will never again worry about collecting what is due to you for services rendered.

Ask customers to Pay You Some entrepreneurs are just plain uncomfortable when it comes to asking customers to pay. If you’re going to collect the cash, you’ve got to ask people to pay you. But with the Internet, at least you don’t have to do it in person! You can create a friendly email collections campaign that increases with urgency over time. This allows you to automatically collect from clients that simply forgot to pay so you can focus on growing your business. Make It Easy to Pay Remind customers of how, when, and where to pay to you. People have way too much to keep track of these days. To assume that they don’t need a reminder is like assuming you don’t need to tie your shoes…if you don’t do it, someone’s going to get tripped up in the process!

Put Your collections on Autopilot Software can turn the nightmare of collections into a simple, automated process that works every time. The right system will liberate you from the tedium of collections by automatically sending out reminders, late notices, final warnings, and notices to your collections agency (should you choose to use one).

BuildinG Block 7: coLLEct tHE cASH


Self aSSeSSment: coLLEct tHE cASH

1. What were your sales last month? ____________

2. What percent of those sales were paid in cash? ____________

3. What percent of those sales are still in collections? ____________

4. List three specific collection problems you want to fix. ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

5. Does your payment and collections policy include information about: —What forms of payment you take? —Payment due dates? —Late fees? —Installment plans? —Consequences of non-payment? —How to cancel?


To truly grow, you need to expand your vision—and your strategy—to include strategic partners.

There are a lot of factors that contribute to the success of your partner program, so it is critical that you define what you want to achieve and then design your partner program around those goals.

outline Your objectives Growing through partners is a fantastic way to reach new markets, expand your product and service offering, generate more leads with a small budget, and increase your credibility in the marketplace. It can be tempting to try to accomplish everything at once, but the most effective programs focus on two or three primary objectives. Identify target Partners There are several types of partners you can join forces with. Referral partners are great at driving traffic to your site and generating qualified leads through their website, email marketing, and social media. Other partners, such as Value-Added Resellers (VARs), are great at selling on your behalf. Since you pay for performance, referral and VAR programs have a high return on investment.

Don’t overlook partners that can lend credibility to your business, such as professional associations and industry groups.

offer Incentives A successful partnership must be mutually beneficial. In addition to paying commission to partners, consider swapping marketing services (they market their product to their list, you market their product to your list) or developing a solution together that you can both market to your existing customers.

In the end, it all comes down to understanding what motivates your partners and developing incentives that best fit their needs.

BuildinG Block 8: GroW tHrouGH PArtnErS


Self aSSeSSment: GroW tHrouGH PArtnErS

1. Rank the following partnership objectives in order of importance:

I want my partners to: rank

Drive traffic to my website

Generate leads and referrals

Sell my products and services

Advise me in my areas of weakness

Lend credibility to my business

Provide complimentary products

Other:

2. How much does it cost you to generate a lead? $ __________

3. How much can you pay a partner for a lead? $ __________

4. What does it cost for you to make a sale? $ __________

5. What can you pay a partner per sale? $ __________

6. If you can’t afford to pay for referrals, what can you offer instead? _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________


A lot of marketing dollars are wasted on campaigns that generate little or no return. This generally happens because it is difficult to predict the effectiveness of campaigns and because small businesses have little visibility into what worked in the past.

This expensive, frustrating challenge can be solved with a simple process called measuring and tweaking.

define Success Identify what you hope to accomplish with your campaign. Do you want to generate leads? Move prospects through the funnel? Convert leads into buyers? Once you define success, you can figure out how to measure it.

Measure twice, cut once Success can be measured in terms of raw numbers—which is usually the case for lead generation and conversion campaigns—or by percentage, which is generally used to measure movement through the funnel as well as response rates. Benchmark response rates vary widely by industry, although the average rate for a lead generation campaign is 1% to 3%.

test and tweak Testing takes the guesswork out of marketing and adds a scientific element that will give you the information you need to make the right choice. Plus, it’s easier (and more fun) than you think.

Begin by adjusting one factor at a time, such as the subject line of a promotional email. Email Version A to half of your list and Version B to the other half. Then measure and compare the open rates. The version with the highest open rate wins.

Once you determine the best subject line to use, you can test the design, copy, offer, and other elements to your heart’s content. In the end, you will have a marketing strategy that is proven to work and grow your business.

BuildinG Block 9: MEASurE And tWEAK


Self aSSeSSment: MEASurE And tWEAK

1. List three things you want to test in your marketing campaigns this month. (ex. target audience, offer, creative, timing, copy, media format) ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

2. Pick an element of your marketing to test and complete an analysis using one of the charts below.

test one offer to multiple target audiences

Audience 1 Audience 2 Audience 3Campaign Response Rate 4.2% 2.6% 2.8%

test multiple offers to one audience

offer 1 offer 2 offer 3Campaign Response Rate 4.2% 2.6% 2.8%

custom test

Variable 1 Variable 2 Variable 3Campaign Response Rate


congratulations for completing your Small business Growth Guide!

Hopefully you have a clear vision for growing your business as well as some specific action items moving forward. If you are feeling a little overwhelmed, that’s okay. It happens to everyone.

The good news is, we can help. For nearly a decade Infusionsoft has worked with thousands of small businesses to implement proven growth strategies. With that much experience, you can bet we’ve heard it all and seen it all!

Infusionsoft is designed specifically for small businesses to help them grow. By combining email marketing, CRM, and a powerful automation engine, Infusionsoft has created the ultimate small business growth suite.

Powerful Email Marketing Expand the range of traditional email marketing and combine it with CRM to tell you EVERYTHING about your contacts. Deliver perfectly tailored messages at the right time to Fill and convert Your Funnel, Win Lifelong customers, and collect the cash.

Fully Integrated crM Store your contacts in a single, centralized database. Set up motion sensors to detect action and use that intelligence to convert and Flip Your Funnel, Win Lifelong customers, and collect the cash. And don’t forget to use the reporting tools to Measure and tweak.

Smart Automation Create campaigns to automatically follow-up with prospects at each point of the sales process. Automate tedious manual processes, like collections. It’s like having an employee that works around the clock to convert Your Funnel and collect the cash.

Multi-Media Marketing Dramatically boost response to your email campaigns by enhancing them with letters, postcards, faxes, and voice messages. Launch targeted multi-media campaigns to Fill and convert Your Funnel, Sell Stuff online, and collect the cash.

Small BuSineSS Growth Guide tHE PAtH ForWArd


© 2010 Infusionsoft. All rights reserved.

About InfusionsoftInfusionsoft, the leader in Email Marketing 2.0, empowers small businesses to grow smarter and faster through targeted marketing that automatically adapts to prospect and customer behavior. Infusionsoft is the first to marry email marketing and CRM in one application that’s driven by a powerful automation engine that allows entrepreneurs to market more effectively so they can grow their small businesses.

The privately held, three-time Inc. 500 company is based in Gilbert, Ariz. and is funded by Mohr Davidow Ventures and vSpring Capital.

2065 W. Obispo Ave. Ste. 103 Gilbert, AZ 85233 | 866.800.0004

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