A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of getting to know Anita Campbell, an expert on all things small business.  Anita runs www.smallbiztrends.com and she recently invited me to be a guest expert on her site.  I gladly accepted and I now blog on her site each month.

My first blog was posted yesterday.  I wrote about “Your On Again, Off Again Marketing Relationship” and it generated a bunch of great comments.  Check it out.

I’m a huge Phoenix Suns fan.  I have enjoyed their strong regular season win-loss records for the past 20 years.  No team in the NBA has a better regular season winning record than the Phoenix Suns over the past 20 years.  But championships aren’t won in the regular season.  Championships are won in the playoffs when mental toughness, not talent, is the most important characteristic of a team.

This year I hoped we would finally break through.  We traded Shawn Marion (who I love as a player) for Shaquille O’Neal.  As much as I hated to lose Marion, I believed it was a good trade that would help us in the Playoffs when toughness would be required.  Shaq’s tougher than Marion.  And some of the other guys have stepped up their toughness.  But one thing is still missing…

The leader of the team is the coach.  And although I like a lot of things about the Suns’ coach, Mike D’Antoni, I really don’t like his mental toughness.  It’s weak, simply put.  In Game 1, he made so many crucial mental mistakes in crunch time that I was yelling at the TV like an idiot.  I’ve since seen the error of my ways and calmed down… a little 

Toughness.  NBA Championship coaches have it and their teams mirror their coaches’ toughness in the way the teams play.

What does this mean for entrepreneurs?  You’ve gotta be mentally tough to win, to lead your team, to accomplish something so many others say you can’t accomplish.  You’ve gotta be smart, calculated, hard-nosed and tenacious in your pursuit of your entrepreneurial goals.  And if you’re leading a group of people, I can promise you this, if you don’t develop the mental toughness your company needs, your people will not exhibit that toughness in their work every day.

Our re-branding initiative has created quite a stir.  One of my all-time favorite bloggers, Paul Greenberg, called us out in a recent blog post.  You can see my reply on his blog.  Suffice it to say, our focus is on entrepreneurs and small businesses and what they need to efficiently GROW their businesses, regardless of what the market calls our software.

As I said in my reply to Paul, I think eMarketing software more accurately describes the marketing automation software we provide to help small businesses grow fast.  Simply put, eMarketing software is automated, integrated marketing and sales.  And I think automated, integrated marketing and sales (or eMarketing software as we say) is the future of small business.  Whatever it’s called, I think Paul and I agree on the fact that automated, integrated marketing and sales is the future of small business.

In CRM Magazine, writer Marshall Lager’s coverage of our re-branding pointed out that Aberdeen Group’s research bodes well for our focus on marketing automation.  Lager said:

Infusionsoft may be tapping into emerging market demand. According to research from Aberdeen Group, “the average small business does not have the luxury of many disparate solutions due to budget and resource constraints, but…they are aware of the benefits of these technologies.” In fact, Aberdeen says, 76 percent of small businesses — which the research firm defines as having annual revenues of less than $10 million — do not currently use marketing automation solutions, but 66 percent are planning to implement them over the next 2 years. Aberdeen also suggests that all organizations are “starting to assess the strategic value of integration between sales and marketing technologies.”

Hmmm… “The strategic value of integration between sales and marketing technologies” ???  Sounds like eMarketing to me. 

When I did my MBA program about 10 years ago at BYU’s Marriott School of Management, there weren’t many schools in the country offering an Entrepreneurship track.  I had one class on running small and family-held businesses, which was outstanding.  But beyond that, there wasn’t much offered.

Lately, I’ve noticed more and more universities and b-schools offering up Entrepreneurship degrees and MBA tracks.  I think that’s GREAT!  And I have some pretty strong opinions about what should be offered.

So, the other day when I read Scott Shane’s post on Anita Campbell’s blog, I had to chime in.  Scott’s original post and the many replies are seriously worth the read for any entrepreneur.  Check it out.

Infusion users send a lot of email. By “a lot” I mean over 250,000,000 messages in 2007! We’ve worked hard here at infusion to build the technological infrastructure and to establish the relationships in the email deliverability industry to get our user’s email delivered. However, much of the success of getting email delivered rests solely with the sender using best practices. The following are a few tips to help:

1. Focus special attention on the beginning of the email relationship
The most significant decline in email performance comes a couple months after recipients opt in. Engage your new subscribers immediately with an orchestrated campaign that includes a welcome message that is sent out upon confirmation, followed by something of value like the current newsletter or promotion, or emails offering a set of best-of newsletter articles or an email-exclusive offer just for newcomers.

2. Clearly establish expectations
Make sure you manage subscribers’ expectations from the start by adequately explaining the email program’s value proposition, frequency, type of content and privacy policies. Be sure to mix-up sales pitches with valuable content targeted at your subscriber. Don’t be a “blastard”.

3. Test, Test, and Retest
What worked for you just a few months ago might not work today. Companies need to test variables continuously, including format, design, copy style and calls to action, subject line approach and offers, personalization, content types or product categories. Start with simple A/B split tests, and repeat the test at least a few times to verify results.

4. Use Content Best Practices
Don’t try to be tricky with subject lines or introductions. Proof your work and use a content checker. Use a rendering tool to make sure your email formatting appears correctly in a number of different email clients. Use targeted, relevant content that provides valuable information to your subscribers.

5. Get Permission!
It might seem obvious, but without doubt the number 1 way to get your email delivered is to get and confirm permission from your subscriber. Capturing an opt-in and confirming it with a follow-up email is the best practice to ensure you only add recipients that want your email.

The email deliverability landscape is always changing as ISPs try to keep ahead of the SPAMers. The thoughts above are just a few of the many best practices used to get email delivered. Post your ideas on what works and share your success tips and trick a little effort, everyone should be able to have successful and profitable email marketing campaigns.

I’ve spent some time recently with John Jantsch, a great guy who really knows his stuff when it comes to small business marketing. He’s written one of my favorite books on the subject, Duct Tape Marketing, and we recently did a podcast together where we talked about the real engine of business growth - marketing automation. Check it out. I think you’ll be glad you listened.

I’ve got the reading bug. It started about 2-3 years ago. My wife thinks I’m nuts for reading so many books that have to do with entrepreneurship, marketing, sales, & business success. As she puts it, “why don’t you read something fun?!”. Well, to me, these books ARE fun, interesting, insightful, and have really propelled me. So, which are my favorites for entrepreneurs and small businesses?

• The E-Myth, Michael Gerber
• Duct Tape Marketing, John Jantsch
• Dan Kennedy’s No B.S. Series (Ultimate Sales Letter, Ultimate Marketing Plan, Time Management, etc.)
• The New Rules of Marketing & PR, David Scott Meerman

I recently came across a blog post by Mike Michalowicz on CNBC.com with his list that looked pretty solid.

I’d love to know what books you’ve read that you think should be on the list…

Entrepreneurs are usually pretty passionate about their mission.  But as the organization grows, it can be tough to add talented people who share the passion. Should the entrepreneur REQUIRE everyone to share the passion?  Or, should the entrepreneur settle for adding talented people who view his passion as an obsession?

I’ve thought a lot about this subject over the years. I was in an entrepreneurial venture during the dot com days when my passion gradually parted ways with the company’s passion. At InfusionSoft, as our company has gone through growth stages, it’s been interesting and challenging to keep every employee fired up about our mission.  There have definitely been times when an employee or two has viewed my passion as an obsession, not to be shared or appreciated.

So, the other day, when I read a couple of great blogs about the issue, I perked up.  The best place to go for a summary on the topic is Tim Berry’s post in Anita Campbell’s Small Business Trends. Tim’s the founder of Palo Alto Software and co-founder of Borland International. He’s a seasoned entrepreneur who knows his stuff.

So, where do I stand on the issue? I absolutely do require all of our employees to share the passion for revolutionizing dthe way small businesses drive and manage their growth.  Our mission is too important to me to have a bunch of people on board who don’t get it.  But I also want our employees to have a life outside of InfusionSoft.  For the most part, I think we’re getting it right… and it’s one of the things I love most about what we’re doing at InfusionSoft.

A few weeks ago we had the 2008 Infusion User’s Conference held in Scottsdale, Arizona. It was AWESOME! This is the third year we have held the conference and it was great to reconnect with old friends/customers and meet so many new members of the Infusion family.  Small business and entrepreneur uber-guru Michael Gerber was the keynote speaker on the second day. It was great to be inspired by Michael again. He was a keynote speaker last year too. I have also had the great personal benefit and pleasure of having attended an In the Dreaming Room session with Michael early last year held in Napa Valley, California. Listening to Michael again at the conference reminded me of many of the things I learned in the Dreaming Room.

The experience literally changed my life.

I attended the Dreaming Room with Scott Martineau, the founder of Infusion and our Vice President of Product Management and David William Lee, our Vice President of Marketing.  Michael introduced us to the concept of “intentional dreaming” and he startled me out of my state of relative sleep to see things completely diferently.  I actually “woke up” from my day-to-day state of “waking sleep” to really, intentionally dream and discover the meaning of what I am doing personally, and what we are doing at Infusion.

Michael’s Dreaming Room changed Infusion also.  Scott, Dave and I came back from the Dreaming Room with our minds blown.  We felt like we were in a different universe with regard to thinking bigger and with more meaning than we ever had before.  We returned to the office with a new sense of purpose.  A few months after the three of us went to the Dreaming Room, our President Clate Mask and Sam Blackham our Director of Finance attended an In the Dreaming Room session with Michael.  Same result!

As the leaders of Infusion we all put our heads together and re-tooled our company, particurally with regard to the meaning of why were building Infusion to serve small businesses.  Clate later created our Dream, Vision, Purpose and Mission as follows:

Dream:
Revolutionize the way small businesses drive and manage their growth.

Vision:
Infusion will be THE sales and marketing software program small businesses use to grow their companies quickly and profitably.

Purpose:
Liberate and empower small businesses and their employees so they can enjoy doing business, wow their customers and better serve their families and communities

Mission:
To create the leading sales and marketing software program for small business that is easy to use and powerful enough to turn small businesses into big businesses.

It is not hard to see our focus and commitment to small business. We sometimes say that we are “stubbornly small business.” Michael taught us how to intentionally dream and it has made a tremendous difference, both for me personally and for Infusion. I can’t recommend the Dreaming Room highly enough.  Thanks, Michael.

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