by Amber Miller | Sep 20, 2016 | Blog, Infusionsoft, Marketing
We were over at Infusionsoft’s blog the other day catching up on all the wonderful things they post over there when we came across this post, 5 Sales Promotion Ideas That Small Businesses Can Execute. They talk a lot about actual promotions you can do, duh, but what we liked most about the post was the information they shared about the details. Yah, you could throw a flash sale or offer a discount, but if you miss out on important details- it could end up killing your business instead of growing it.
The first part of the article talks about the execution. Before you announce any kind of promotion, it’s important to consider the who, what, why, where, when… you get the point. What kind of promotion do you want to offer? What is the goal of the promotion? Why are you offering this promotion? Understanding the reasoning behind the sale/promotion will help you decide what the best course of action your business needs to take to prepare and execute the sale/promotion.
They then go on to list a number of promotion types including flash sales, Buy One Get One Free (BOGO), coupons and/or discounts, tripwires, and recurring sales. Each point provides information on what each type of sale is, what type of customer it could target the most, and even includes several points on how to execute the sale to your own business needs.
All in all, we thought it was a darn good blog article and thought we should share with all our followers. It’s great information, and if you decide to implement some of these ideas to your own business, please let us know how it worked for you in the comments!
Read the full Infusionsoft blog article here.
by Amber Miller | Aug 8, 2016 | Blog, Customer Service, Infusionsoft
We encountered a rather large issue between Leadpages and Infusionsoft and felt we needed to share our findings since many of our customers use both of these programs together.
Referral tracking is not supported with Leadpages’ API integration into Infusionsoft.
This means Leadpages will only report clicks, not optins. The dashboard will only show you how many clicks you get on different pages but will NOT show the actual optins or attach them to Infusionsoft contacts for affiliate credit. This is because Infusionsoft handles referral data differently than a webform would, the API integration does not communicate properly. Keep in mind, this issue is contained to the Drag and Drop builder.
Luckily, there is a way to avoid the majority of these issues by implementing the Copy/Paste integration features into the drag and drop builder to allow the direct use of webforms. By doing this, referrals will be reported correctly within Infusionsoft.
If you are running across any integration issues or have any questions about this issue, please contact us!
by Amber Miller | Jun 29, 2015 | Blog, Featured, Infusionsoft
Considering taking your business to the next level with AUTOMATION? Don’t know where to start? Overwhelmed with all the options out there?
Here’s an informative, no-nonsense approach from Wes Schaeffer, The Sales Whisperer©, that compares two popular systems: Ontraport vs. Infusionsoft.
http://thesaleswhisperer.com/office-autopilot-vs-infusionsoft-by-an-infusionsoft-consultant/.
We here at Smart to Finish are knowledgeable and experienced business automation experts, and we can help you make an informed decision on the direction to take your business automation!
by Tina Walker | Mar 26, 2015 | 1Shopping Cart, Blog, Entrepreneur, Featured, Infusionsoft, Marketing
New Tax Rules for Selling to European Countries
If you haven’t heard, the European Union has new rules on value-added tax (VAT), which took effect on January 1.
To put it simply, ANY businesses selling digital goods and delivering them electronically to customers in European Union member countries will be required to collect and pay VAT based on the VAT rates of the country where the customer is located and does apply to businesses based outside the EU who sell to consumers in the EU.
So what does that mean to you? Well, if you are selling digital products to European Countries, it might be something you want to have us setup in your tax settings to collect the tax for those specific countries.
What are the consequences if you don’t? This is a new thing, so we are not sure on that and would probably advise asking your accountant.
If you want help with us setting up your shopping cart so that you are in compliance, contact us at assist@smarttofinish.com, we are happy to help.
by Amber Miller | Nov 16, 2014 | 1Shopping Cart, Blog, Ezines, Infusionsoft, Marketing, Social Media, Training
Is your email marketing a well-oiled machine? The simple 5 step email marketing plan.
Now, if you are like any other business online you more than likely incorporate email marketing into your marketing arsenal. You need to ask yourself, are your emails creating the sales you need them to create to sustain your business? Most online business owners would answer no that that question. I am going to share with you a proven system to get your email marketing working for you like the power house that it should be.
First, let me be clear you don’t need the biggest most expensive piece of software and you are not going to need a mega list to see results from this simple 5 step plan.
Each and every email that you send out needs to have one of five clear and understandable purposes.
Indoctrinate– This email is to teach them who you are.
Engage– This email it to engage with your leads and get them to purchase your products/services.
Ascend– This email is to get them to purchase additional products/services from you.
Segment– This email will tell you what they want to purchase next.
Re-engage/Win Back– This type of email is to bring them back into your sales funnel.
Each one of these emails is dependent on the previous email which creates 5 different stages of email marketing.
The process looks something like this:
Not utilizing this simple 5 step email system can be a very costly mistake. Once you understand this email system and how each email works you will be able to create dynamic auto responders that work.
Each step must be done in a specific order because you can’t have one without the other. For example you can’t have engagement from your list until you have introduced yourself. And you can’t segment your lists until you have engagement. Make sense?
Let’s take a closer look at each step in chronological order.
Step 1- Indoctrination (Introduction)
Once you have a lead that has opted in what do you do?
The first step in the 5 step process is going to be to introduce yourself and your organization. In this first email you are going to indoctrinate them into your system/processes.
This first email is going to:
- Tell them who you are
- Tell them what you and your organization stand for.
- You are going to tell them why you are different.
- You want to let them know what they should expect from you.
- Let them know how often they will hear from you.
- And let them know what they should do next or what the next step is.
- This type of email they will only receive one time
Step 2- Engage with your lists
The purpose of engagement emails is to convert your leads into customers. These emails should be making offers to your lists. Your engagement emails should be a series of emails spread out over a designated period of time.
Step 3- Ascension
Every customer you obtain through your engagement series should also receive an ascension series. This is a great way to cross promote other products/services you have or offer higher ticket products/services once you have built trust with lower level products/services.
One great example of this is to offer free content then quickly move to offer additional higher level content by offering a pro level or upgrade.
Step 4- Segmentation Emails
Now the goal of segmenting your lists is to get your potential customers to raise their hand (so to speak) and show a level of interest into something you are offering them.
When they do show interest via an open, click or opt-in they will be placed within the appropriate Engagement Series. This does mean you may have several Engagement Series created for different purposes. For example let’s say you sent an email to Linda and Jim about your free report. Linda opened the email and downloaded the free report. Once she did that it triggered an action in your auto responder to say Linda is interested in this subject/product. Once that has been triggered she is automatically going to receive an upsell offer to a related product/service that you offer.
Now Jim was not interested in this free report which let you know 1 of 2 things 1) he was not interested in this product/service 2) he didn’t have time to open it. The next email could be one of 2 things 1) a new offer 2) the same offer presented in a different way.
Segmenting your lists and moving them through the sales funnels for the different products and services you have can set off a chain reaction of sales.
Stage 5- Reengagement/ Win Back Emails
Okay, now what do you do when your lists lose interest and stop opening or clicking on the emails that you are sending to them?
If you said leave them alone you are making a HUGE mistake. Doing this can and will leave sales just lying on the floor and can results in huge income just lost.
If you want to capitalize on your low hanging fruit it would be in your best interest to set up an auto responder that is designed to re-energize your tired lists. This process brings them right back into your funnel and throws them back up into steps 3 and 4.
One way of doing this is to threaten to take something away if they do not take action now. Another way would be to tell them you miss them and offer them something of value for free if they take action now. Another way to do this is if you offer a free trial moved to a paid service. You could re-introduce the free trial by “extending their free trial”. There are several creative ways of doing this.
If you are looking to have a professional team to create, implement and manage your email auto responders series for you contact the Smart To Finish Virtual Assistant Team. We offer professional email marketing support including Infusionsoft virtual assistant support and can assist you in tailoring this 5 step sales process to your specific needs.
written by – Skye Hawk, Smart To Finish Diva
by Amber Miller | Nov 3, 2014 | Blog, Delegating, Entrepreneur, Featured, Infusionsoft, Marketing
Are you overwhelmed by your To Do List? Is there so much to do that you don’t know where to start? If you are doing tasks that someone else can do, then who is doing the tasks that ONLY YOU CAN DO? The answer: ???? Effective time management = The ability to delegate.
For most everyone, regardless of position, the cliché is true: Time IS money. If we don’t manage our time correctly, the business won’t run smoothly and there will be things, important things, that don’t get done or aren’t done correctly. If you are like most people, there is always the temptation to do it all yourself, because it is easier than delegating it to someone else and trusting that they are going to get the job done right. However, if you are stuck in that mind set, you are also stuck in the rut of “too much to do and not enough time to do it”. There are steps you can take to bring focus to your life, both professionally and personally, and organize your day so it doesn’t disorganize you.
The first step is to realize you need to delegate. Without the willingness to delegate, learning about time management is like cooking a delicious meal and then just sitting at the table and not eating it. Sound ridiculous? Yes, is does. But so is trying to do everything yourself. Delegate, delegate, delegate. You may ask, “How do I decide what to delegate and what to do myself?” Here are some tips:
Surround yourself with people you trust and who can do things you can’t do. Having a team you can rely on, a team with skill sets that you don’t necessarily have, is vital to any organization’s success. You personally don’t have to know or learn everything about everything. That takes a lot of time, energy AND money. You don’t know HTML? When you need your website updated, it is a wonderful thing to have an HTML diva on your team who can do it for you. You’re not a good copy writer? Delegate it to someone who has a way with words and knows the ins and outs of today’s market place. You can decide to delegate and then have the final approval and, yes, control the outcome.
Make a list of what needs to be done. This is a complete and comprehensive list of tasks – from answering the phone to making bank deposits and everything in between. Daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly things. Things like checking emails, calling clients, picking up and dropping off the mail, doing annual inventory, sweeping the floor, setting up a webinar, arranging travel to a quarterly conference, etc. The list goes on. The important thing here is to make sure the list is complete. Write down the things you do as you do them and how often you do them and how much time it takes to do them. This is an excellent way to get an overall time snapshot of your world.
Mark the things on that list that ONLY YOU CAN DO. Not the things that you WANT to do, mark the things that only you can do. These are things that are unique to your position, whatever that is – functions that only you can perform. This can be the hard part, though, because there are probably things that you have been doing that you like doing and want to do, but someone else can do them. You need to let go of those things. You need to focus your time and effort on areas where you are most effective. That is usually doing the things only you can do.
Provide the details when you delegate to other people. How you delegate tasks to other people is as important as the actual delegating. If you don’t provide enough information when you delegate (details AND a deadline), then don’t expect the results to necessarily be what you want. Yes, occasionally there will be someone who “knows what you are thinking”, but most people don’t know unless you tell them. The degree of detail you provide is directly related to the level of success you can expect when you delegate a task to someone. Of course, delegating the task of sweeping the floor doesn’t sound like it needs much detail, right? But if you don’t specify that you want all of the furniture moved and swept under, then those lint balls will probably stay under the desk. If you delegate the task of organizing your filing system and don’t give any detailed instructions, then you probably won’t be able to find that file you are looking for when you need it. Always be sure to delegate with details and a deadline.
Trust them to get the job done. Micromanaging is NEVER a good thing. It will suck the time out of your schedule, and it can be worse than not delegating at all. If you have ever had to work with someone “looking over your shoulder”, you know that is uncomfortable and counter productive, so don’t do it when you delegate. If you have surrounded yourself with knowledgeable, trustworthy people, you can delegate and let it go. People tend to live up to expectations, so if you maintain a high standard of expectation, your delegation process should be a success.
Be willing to adjust your delegating plan. We always have the best of intentions when we start anything new, and this is no different. Once you have your list made, your tasks assigned (to yourself or to others), and your people and your plan place, be flexible and willing to adjust along the way. If you have a team with diverse skills, then you should have no problem in delegating to the right person to get the job done, on time, and the way you want it done.
Regardless of your situation, whether a solo business entrepreneur or a high level manager, your ability to delegate is a key to smooth work flow and overall business success. When you figure out what only you can do and delegate the rest, you are well on the way to the next level. Have a “Delegation Revelation” and take the first step: Let the Smart to Finish Office Solutions virtual assistant team come alongside you to implement your day to day operations and Infusionsoft support, so you can focus on your mission and your passion – DOING ONLY WHAT YOU CAN DO! Happy Delegating!
written by – Janet Broer, Smart To Finish Diva
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