by Kyle Leavitt | Leave a Comment

The typical collections process is fraught with manual, tedious tasks such as creating invoices and past due notices, updating contact information, processing payments, following up on failed auto-charge payments, and managing subscription programs.

However, given the technology available to small businesses today, there is no reason you should spend any time or money on these mundane, menial tasks. Every single one can be easily automated using Infusionsoft in tandem with CustomerHub (our web-based Infusionsoft add-on program).

Today I want to share with you two simple tips that will help you automate your accounts receivable processes and dramatically increase your cash flow in 2009 using Infusionsoft & CustomerHub.

Tip 1: Use the Infusionsoft Order Triggers, for Heaven’s Sake!

Did you know that Infusionsoft can fully automate the customer notification process for any of the following scenarios:

• When a credit card is going to expire in X days (0-30)
• When an auto-charge attempt fails the first time
• When an auto-charge attempt fails the maximum number of retries (based on the number you’ve set in your application settings)
• When an auto-charge attempt fails for the 2nd-30th times
• When an auto-charge attempt is successful
• When an auto-charge attempt is successful and the previous auto-charge for the invoice failed or was successful (or either)

If you want to get real crazy with it, you can even setup specific actions to run per product for any of the scenarios above.

Do you realize what this means???

You should never again waste your time (or pay for someone else’s time) to make a phone call, send an email, or otherwise inform your customers about an expired credit card or failed credit card payment. You don’t have to do it because Infusionsoft will do it for you! This changes the dynamics of your job – now your customers will be calling YOU to update their billing information or make good on a declined credit card payment. But wait, it gets even better…

Tip 2: Use CustomerHub for a fully automated collections process

The order triggers I mentioned above are phenomenal! The only problem is that once Infusionsoft has notified your customers regarding their expiring credit cards, failed auto-charges, etc, it still requires you to get on the phone with someone to take their new billing information or process a payment. Before you know it you’ve left three messages and sent five emails trying to track the person down and wasted a whole bunch of time.

In other words there’s a gap in Infusionsoft between notifying someone regarding an expired credit card or failed cc payment and updating billing information or processing a payment. The updating and processing parts both require your time and energy.

Which is precisely why we created the secret collections weapon for Infusionsoft users: CustomerHub!

CustomerHub is a fully integrated Infusionsoft add-on application designed to save time, reduce overhead, and increase cash flow by automating accounts receivable and collections processes. We built it specifically and exclusively for Infusionsoft users. It will change the dynamics of the game such that you no longer have to spend your time on such mundane tasks as playing phone tag to grab a new credit card number or shipping address. Now your customers can do it on their own (customer self-service, baby)!

To put CustomerHub into monetary terms, one Infusionsoft user collected over $29,000 automatically through CustomerHub in the first 45 days after signing up (and he didn’t even use it for the first week or so)!!!

How much did that save him in playing phone tag, updating billing information, creating orders, and processing payments? Hours and hours and hours. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of dollars in savings.

And the better question is: How much money did that add to his bottom line? A significant portion of that $29,000 would NOT have been collected if it would have required the customers to take time out of their busy day to make a phone call (sometimes several) during regular business hours to take care of something as simple as an expiring credit card.

In most cases your customers don’t have to make a phone call to update their billing info or make a payment to their insurance, electricity, or credit card company so why should they be expected to do so for you?

Not to mention there’s a reason why bigger companies have been doing this for years: offering your customers a self-service option saves you a bunch of time and makes you a bunch more money! Ignore this fact at your own loss (and your competitor’s gain).

In summary, my advice is as follows:

1. Setup Infusionsoft order triggers to automate a/r notification processes
2. Implement CustomerHub to automate everything else

Try CustomerHub free for 30-days!

by KC DeKorte | Leave a Comment

I just read an article on Entreprenuer.com that stated 46% of small businesses still don’t have a website.  I am going to make a bold statement and say I don’t believe small businesses always need a website. Wait! Wait! Before you start screaming that I am insane, I want to make it clear. I don’t think every small business needs a website but I DO think every small business needs an effective web presence.  What’s the difference you ask?

Of the 54% of small businesses that DO have websites I would venture to guess that less than 10% of them have an effective web presence – – a way to use the Web to drive their business.  A brochure website that is updated every couple of years and is a place for people to go to read about your business is no longer an effective way to utilize the Web. The Web is interactive and every small business should be using their web presence to do the following:

Establish expertise in their industry

Establish a level of trust

Begin building a relationship

Capture leads and then follow-up

Communicate with customers ongoing

An effective web presence is linked to your business practices and processes, and should act as a key driver of action between your company and your prospects and yes, even your customers. Now I am sure you are asking, what does an effective Web presence look like? How do I use a one dimensional communication tool to establish trust and build relationships?

You don’t! You develop a Web presence that encourages and establishes two-way communication – – interactivity!

1. Use videos to help the visitor get to know you face-to-face.
2. Give away valuable insights for your industry through FREE guides, video tutorials, tip sheets, webinar recordings, etc.
3. Let your existing customers tell others exactly why they do business with you.
4. Capture new leads by giving them something of value in exchange for their contact information: eBooks, contest entries, free analysis, free consultation,  additional guides and video tutorials, free trials, event registrations, etc.
5. Establish online tools you can utilize to communicate ongoing with your customers, such as, a membership only area, forums, idea portals, support centers and account areas.

Today’s effective Web presence is not always a 12 page website with tabs that include the about us, contact us, services, products, etc. Today’s effective Web presence can come in the form of landing pages, squeeze pages, sales pages, social media offerings (Facebook, Twitter, forums, blogs, etc), membership sites, and videos hosted on 3^rd party sites just to name a few.

Remember, the key to any effective Web presence is the visitor’s interactivity with your company. This comes in the form of CALLS TO ACTION. Here are some effective calls to action you should incorporate into your Web presence:

• Watch and learn/Listen and learn
• Get a FREE report/guide/tip sheet/etc.
• Sign-up for our eNewsletter
• Reserve your seat/Sign-up for our Webinar
• Add your comment/feedback
• Give us your ideas
• Buy now
• Sign-up now/Join now/Become a member
• Enter to win
• Use this handy online tool…
• Get a comparison
• Enter a code to save
• Try it for FREE

by Kyle Leavitt | Leave a Comment

I’m happy to say that I’ve successfully navigated through the tsunami of catch-up following the previous week of dedicated focus on InfusionCon. Whew!

As I reflected on the event this last weekend there were a few things that really stood out to me that I wanted to share…

First of all, the event was awesome. I was re-invigorated by meeting so many amazing people including all varieties of entrepreneurs and small business owners (ranging from selling a $3 ‘energy inhaler’ to $250,000 manufacturing equipment). It’s also exciting to witness first-hand the continual growth and evolution of Infusionsoft (both as a company and product). Props to the entire Infusionsoft team (and especially to Nicole Shoots the event coordinator) for making it happen!

Second, the Infusionsoft customer demographic is evolving. One of the things that really stood out to our team this year is that the Infusionsoft user base is continuing to move toward the mainstream. This is a good sign for Infusionsoft (and for any Infusionsoft user) as it represents a more widespread adoption of the product for general small businesses (including brick ’n mortar types), which should result in continued growth around the whole product (not just Infusionsoft but also add-on products, supporting vendors, and partners). Translation: As Infusionsoft continues to grow more toward the mainstream the product will become even easier for the Average Joe to implement and use (case in point: the new experimental email builder).

Third, the success road map for new Infusionsoft customers is becoming more clear. Those of us who have been involved in the Infusionsoft world for our fair share of time know how to successfully implement the software. However, despite Infusionsoft’s best previous efforts this path hasn’t always been crystal clear to the end user. I’m pleased to say that for anyone who attended InfusionCon last week there should now be little question what the correct implementation path should should be. Clate (CEO) probably said it best when he said to the audience at the very beginning of the conference (paraphrasing) “You think you know what is most important to do first in order to double your sales with Infusionsoft but you don’t.” Infusionsoft has boiled the success track down to the following three things:

1. Send Your First Broadcast (2.0 style): essentially this means importing your contact list and sending a reconnect email broadcast with trackable links.
2. Fix Your Follow-up (“The Key Three”): implement the three most important follow-up sequences in Infusionsoft, which are the New Lead Campaign, Long-Term Nurture Campaign, and New Customer Campaign.
3. Automate and Grow: automate your business based on the 9 Building Blocks to Doubling Your Sales. Okay, so while the first two are very spelled out and apply to all businesses this one definitely differs from business to business. This is where most Infusionsoft-based businesses stand to benefit the most by working hand-in-hand with a company like ours for consulting and services (see our Infusionsoft Services)

It’s as exciting as ever to be an Infusionsoft user! I encourage all Infusionsoft users to press forward on the path of growing your business through Infusionsoft. It’s powerful. It works. And best of all its fun if you choose to make it so!

Let us know how we can assist you in this important process, and as always here’s to getting INFUSED!

by Nathan Leavitt | Leave a Comment

How would you like a one-click form submission from your customers? No need for them to fill out their information if you already have it! I will give an example of how to do this through Infusionsoft using a trackable link.

Lets say I want to send an email to all my current customers telling them to register for my newsletter. In the email, I would like a link that sends them to a basic webform asking for their first name, last name and email address. If I already have this information in my Infusionsoft app, I would like those fields pre-populated. That would make it a two-click registration (1st click on email and 2nd click to submit form). To do this following this example you need the following:

• you need an Infusionsoft application
• you need a dynamic language (most hosts now provide php)
• you need to know some basic html or have access to someone who does

Create the form

First you need to create a webform that will be used to collect your opt-ins to the newsletter. In my example I created a webform with three fields: First Name, Last Name, and Email address. All of them required. Save the webform then copy the code for it. Open your html editor or a text editor and paste the code. Below I will paste my example code.

<form action="https://infusionapp.infusionsoft.com/AddForms/processForm.jsp" method='POST'>
<input id="formid" name="formid" value="1" type="hidden" />
<input id="type" name="type" value="CustomFormWeb" type="hidden" />
<table>
  <tr>
    <td colspan=99 style="padding:4px;background-color:#000000;color:#FFFFFF">Contact Information</td>

  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>First Name *</td>
    <td><input type='text' name='Contact0FirstName' value=''></td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td>Last Name *</td>
    <td><input type='text' name='Contact0LastName' value=''></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>

    <td>Email *</td>
    <td><input type='text' name='Contact0Email' value='></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td colspan=2><input class="button np inf-button" id="Submit" name="Submit" value="Submit" type="submit" /></td>

  </tr>
</table>
</form>

Now, we need to add the code to pull in values for each field passed to this page. Here is the code that needs to be in the value for each text field, where ‘NameOfField’ is the name of the value being passed to the page:

<?php echo $_REQUEST["NameOfField"]; ?>

So to populate my first name field I would have this code for the first name text field:

<input type='text' name='Contact0FirstName' value='<?php echo $_REQUEST["FirstName"]; ?>'>

So here is what my form will look like when finished:

<form action="https://infusionapp.infusionsoft.com/AddForms/processForm.jsp" method='POST'>
<input id="formid" name="formid" value="1" type="hidden" />
<input id="type" name="type" value="CustomFormWeb" type="hidden" />
<table>
  <tr>
    <td colspan=99 style="padding:4px;background-color:#000000;color:#FFFFFF">Contact Information</td>

  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>First Name *</td>
    <td><input type='text' name='Contact0FirstName' value='<?php echo $_REQUEST["FirstName"]; ?>'></td>

  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Last Name *</td>
    <td><input type='text' name='Contact0LastName' value='<?php echo $_REQUEST["LastName"]; ?>'></td>

  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Email *</td>
    <td><input type='text' name='Contact0Email' value='<?php echo $_REQUEST["Email"]; ?>'></td>

  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td colspan=2><input class="button np inf-button" id="Submit" name="Submit" value="Submit" type="submit" /></td>
  </tr>
</table>
</form>

The last step is to save the webform as a php file. Select “Save as” and save it with the extensionf of .php. So mine is newsletter_form.php. That is all you need for the form.

Create the Trackable Link

The next step is to create the trackable link that will pass on the variables. To do so, first you’ll need to create the email template that will contain the link to register for the newsletter (Setup > Templates). When in the body section of the email template where you would like to insert the link, click on the ‘Open Merge Window’ button. Then click on the ‘Misc’ tab. At the bottom where it says trackable links click ‘Create Link’. Give the link whatever name you want for the link (eg. newsletter_registration). For the link you’ll need to put the url that the webform we created above will reside (eg. http://www.mydomain.com/newsletter_form.php). Then select the fields you want the link to pass. So for my example I want to select: First Name, Last Name, and Email (use the control key to select multiple options). For the link text you want to put whatever you want the link to say (eg. Click here to register for our newsletter). Click save. Then the merge window will show up. Click on the ‘Misc’ tab again and your link should be in the list of links at the bottom. Click the ‘insert’ link to insert it into your template. Save the template.

You should be good to test now. Go ahead and upload the webform and send the template to a test contact to see that it works.

You now have a 2 click registration webform!!

by Kyle Leavitt | Leave a Comment

Think of all the things you could do with Infusionsoft. Have you ever tried to list out all of the possible marketing and sales applications that Infusionsoft presents to your business? It’s astounding! What a great piece of marketing software.

That being said, today my message is about simplicity.

With all of the possibilities, it can sometimes be tempting to get caught up in the excitement of doing all the cool things you possibly could do. However, there’s a line that every Infusionsoft user needs to draw in the sand between what is possible to do and what is practical to do. Just because you COULD set up an action set with 47 actions and 31 rules doesn’t mean you SHOULD.

Granted, it would be pretty cool to automate EVERYTHING in our businesses, but what happens when the unexpected (and inevitable) changes occur in your business? Now the process that you spent 23 1/2 hours setting up is useless and you need to start over!

That’s why I’m telling you to KEEP IT SIMPLE!

Avoid the temptation to implement processes in Infusionsoft that are overly complex. If it’s not practical then it’s not going to last. If it’s not (somewhat) easy to set up then is it really worth it? How much time are you going to put into setting it up vs how much time its going to save you? Once it’s setup is it easy to change?

In today’s fast-moving and ever-changing business climate, entrepreneurs and small businesses have to find ways to stay nimble, be adaptable, and make adjustments on the fly.

Stay lean.

Make it easy to use.

Practical is better.

Less is sometimes more.

KEEP IT SIMPLE. You’ll be glad you did!

p.s. I was inspired to make this post after reading a book called ‘Getting Real’ by 37 Signals. Technically, it’s a book about building web-based software but if you have a chance to read it you’ll see that many of the principles apply beautifully to running any kind of small business.