If you’ve followed Infusionsoft for any period of time, you know we’re huge proponents of culture. Our culture is an incredible competitive advantage for us, enabling us to hire the best people who make a great impact on our customers and the company. We have been named one of the best companies to work for in Arizona for six straight years. And last year, we were named #15 on the list of Best Companies to Work for in America.

I am frequently asked what we do to create such an incredible culture. In fact, I just got off the phone with a reporter doing a story on us. Her main question: “How have you created such a great place to work?”

The answer: it’s all about our Vision.

I capitalize the word Vision because it means something specific to us here at Infusionsoft. Our Vision is comprised of our Purpose, our Core Values and our Mission. We hire to the Vision and we fire to the Vision. Our Vision is the linchpin of our company, and once we created the Vision over five years ago, the company began to excel.

Today, we are refining our Vision. Are we changing the Vision? Absolutely not! We are simplifying the Vision and re-articulating it in words that are easier for everyone to understand, whether you’re inside or outside of Infusionsoft. I want to take a minute and explain the refinement and the reasoning for it.

Until now, we’ve had a Dream, Vision, Purpose and Mission. Each of those components was a long sentence that required some explaining. But the essence of the “DVPM,” as we call it, is our Purpose (why we exist) and our Mission (what we’re up to). All of our employees memorize our DVPM. And we had to do a lot of explaining to people outside the building (“why are there four different sentences?” and “can you boil it all down for me?”).

So, this refinement is about simplifying the Purpose and Mission and getting to the very heart of why we do what we do. Our newly stated Purpose is:

“To Help Small Businesses Succeed.”

Simple as that. It’s what we’re born to do. It’s why we exist. It’s what we’ll be doing at Infusionsoft for the next 100 years or so.

Our new Mission is:

“To create and dominate the market of all-in-one sales and marketing software for small businesses, with 100,000 customers worldwide.”

We’ve got close to 9,000 customers today. Over the next few years, we’ll be working hard to take our amazing software to 100,000 customers.

Our Core Values, as formerly articulated, are Entrepreneurship, Authenticity, Integrity, Passion, Compassion and No Ego, No Fear. These Core Values dictate the way we operate as we passionately pursue our Purpose and Mission. But we found that we were always saying the same phrases when we explained what we mean by these Core Values. So, we decided to re-articulate our Core Values, shifting them from one-word Values to short phrases. Our newly stated Core Values are:

We empower entrepreneurs.

We listen, we care, we serve.

We do what we say we’ll do.

We practice open, real communication.

We face challenges with optimism.

We check our egos at the door.

We innovate and constantly improve.

We do the right thing.

We believe in people and their dreams.

I am thrilled with our revised Vision. The Purpose is why we do what we do. The Mission is what we’re up to for the next few years. And the Core Values are how we do what we do.  Combined, the Purpose, Mission and Core Values make up a powerful Vision that guides our company, attracts the best talent and creates a culture that is a distinct competitive advantage.

Read more about Infusionsoft’s new look from our Chief Marketing Officer, Greg Head.

When I tell people Infusionsoft’s purpose is to help small businesses succeed, I generally get approving nods from the audience. Whether I’m talking to an individual or a group, there is a sense of agreement, a feeling that as we talk about “small businesses,” we are speaking the same language.

Our conversation feels so warm and fuzzy: baseball, small business, apple pie and America. But as the conversation progresses, red flags of miscommunication start to go up.

“So, who else is serving SMBs in your market?”

“Would I recognize the names of any of your customers?”

“I have a friend who works for IBM selling into small businesses.”

My responses are:

“I never said anything about mid-sized businesses or SMBs; almost certainly not; and IBM doesn’t know squat about small businesses.”

Okay, maybe I’m not so blunt about it, but it’s clear to me that my counterpart(s) and I are not thinking alike when we talk about small businesses.

And yet, the fact remains that Infusionsoft is in existence to help small businesses succeed.

So, what’s a small business?

Is it IBM’s definition of “companies with under 1000 employees and/or less than $500 million in annual revenue?”

Is a “small business” a company with under 500 employees, as the Small Business Administration defines it?

Or is it a company with under 15 employees, as Australia defines it?

Ask 10 people to define “small business” and you’ll get 10 answers. To some people, this may not be a big deal. But to us at Infusionsoft, it’s a huge deal. Why? Because our purpose is to help small businesses succeed. If you’re a one-man shop, you have different needs and challenges than a business with 10 employees. And you have widely different needs and challenges than a 100-person company. If a vendor says they serve small businesses (or worse, “SMBs”) and what they mean by that is “companies with under 500 employees,” then the family business with five employees is going to feel totally under-served by that vendor.

Surprisingly, nobody has taken the time to really define for the world what small business means. Until now.

For the past 10 years, we’ve been serving small businesses. We have studied hundreds of thousands of small businesses. We’ve written books on small business, studied the success of small business and pointed out the inconsistencies of vendors claiming to serve small business. In particular, I’ve spent hundreds of hours studying the US Census Bureau’s data regarding small businesses.  I became fascinated with the Census Bureau data a few years ago when Scott and I wrote Conquer the Chaos.  I’m actually slightly embarrassed by the spreadsheets I’ve developed and the time I’ve spent studying this data.

All of our research has led to the frustrating conclusion that there are so many classifications of small business, it’s almost impossible to make sense of it all.

Well, it’s time to make sense of it all. It’s time to create a language around small business that serves small businesses so they can get the products and services they need, instead of the products and services vendors want to sell.

That last part of the prior sentence is important… and controversial. See, the unfortunate truth is, if a vendor sells a product that is built and priced for companies with 100 employees, when they call it a “small business solution” they know they’ll bring in a bunch of businesses with under 20 employees. After all, that’s where the numbers are: over 98% of US businesses have under 20 employees.

In other words, vendors who want to sell stuff to small businesses are all too happy to stay vague about who they serve, hoping they’ll pick up a bunch of customers their product wasn’t meant to serve.

Am I being too harsh toward vendors? Maybe. But the sad truth is that most small businesses are totally under-served with over-built solutions that are designed for “SMBs.”  As we like to say at Infusionsoft, “SMB” really means “smaller mid-sized businesses.”

At Infusionsoft, we aren’t interested in smaller mid-sized businesses. We are interested in small businesses–SBs.  We’re not just interested in them, we’re passionately fanatical about helping them succeed. That’s our purpose. It’s why we exist. It’s what we love doing.

It’s time to talk about what small business really is. Throughout the year, I’ll be writing about the definition of small business in a series of blog posts and articles, all based on our research at Infusionsoft. Everything I’ll be writing about will revolve around The Definition of Small Business: Eight Stages of Success.

My intent with The Eight Stages of Small Business Success is to create a common language in the industry that will ultimately help small businesses get what they need in order to succeed (and avoid the stuff they don’t need). I realize it’s an ambitious goal. And maybe I have no business trying to set the standards. On the other hand, nobody else is doing it. This is going to be fun.

I love this time of year. Resolutions, goals and plans abound. There’s a ton of energy in the air and lots of optimism about what 2012 will bring. As I look at our plans for 2012, I can’t help but get totally excited about what we’re up to here at Infusionsoft.

We have a pretty involved planning process that ensures we’re executing to the vision of our company. That process (and my stellar team) has produced a plan for 2012 that I’m more excited about than any annual plan in the past.

So, as we execute our plan in 2012, here are 10 things I predict will occur by the end of the year:

10. Over 300 employees will be working at Infusionsoft.

9. Our development team will double its capacity.

8. Infusionsoft will be increasingly recognized as the company that “gets” sales and marketing for small businesses.

7. We’ll move into a beautiful new office space that will be the envy of Phoenix tech companies and will accommodate 1000 employees in the next few years.

6. Top tech talent will come from outside Arizona for the opportunity to work at Infusionsoft.

5. The market will recognize that Infusionsoft is as much sales software as it is marketing software.

4. Our 2012 Spring Release will blow away our customers and put a scare in the competition.

3. Our customers will say that, indeed, “Easy is the new normal at Infusionsoft,” a commitment I made last March at InfusionCon in front of 1200 customers.

2. Investment bankers will be lining up to “get to know the company better.”

1.  Our Net Promoter Score will continue to rise, making us the clear leader in sales and marketing software for successful small businesses.

Our company was recently featured by DemandGen Report for our massive growth during 2011. Read about what we did last year in their story, Infusionsoft Expands Solution Portfolio; Closes 3,000 New Customers in 2011.

We’ve got an exciting year ahead of us. Our vision is clearer than ever, which is enabling us to attract and retain talented people who are passionate about small business success.  I’m looking forward to working with a bunch of awesome people to make these predictions a reality.

What an amazing year 2011 was at Infusionsoft! We made a ton of progress toward our dream to revolutionize the way small businesses grow. We added thousands of customers to the Infusionsoft family, we hired almost 90 employees, and we made huge strides in our product and we made our first acquisition when we bought CustomerHub in October. All tolled, it was a monumental year for us.

Each year, we establish annual priorities that will help us better serve our customers and propel us forward in our mission. I want to share with you our 2011 Annual Priorities and tell you how we fared.

1. Shape our Entire Company Around Target Users.  The target user discipline was something Richard Tripp, our VP of Product & Strategy brought to the table when he came on board in late 2010. We clarified our target users based on the research of Richard and his team and got every department in the company focused on serving our target users and delivering the benefits they seek. As a result, we brought in more of the right customers and dramatically improved customer satisfaction.

2. Aggressive Growth and Positive Cash Flow. At a time when many software companies in our space are burning massive amounts of cash, we were cash-flow positive every quarter of the year. All while growing by 50% for the year. We’re pretty proud of that.

3. Create Successful Customers with Profitable Services.  Toward the end of 2010 (after an 18-month experiment of not including services with our software), we concluded that in order to achieve success for our customers—and Infusionsoft—we needed to provide services to help them implement the software. However, we also knew we needed to provide those services profitably. Today, over 80% of our customers launch four campaigns within their first 60 days with us. Customer success has skyrocketed and our customer churn has plummeted. True, a huge part of this success is due to the product enhancements we made this year, but our implementation services were also a huge part. And we delivered those services profitably. Everyone wins!

4. Own Marketing Automation Software for Small Businesses. Simply put, we set out to become the clear leader in marketing automation software for small businesses with fewer than 25 employees. All year long we made progress in this area. In the fourth quarter, we got a bunch of press, including one independent publication that pointed out Infusionsoft has more customers than any other small business vendor. I’d call that “owning” the market.

5. Prepare for Life as a $50 million Company.  This priority was all about building the team and infrastructure to allow us to grow into a $50 million company in the future. I added a top-notch Chief Marketing Officer, Greg Head, to the team and a great SVP of Corporate Development, Hal Halladay. I am on the verge of hiring a CFO. Additionally, we added about 85 “Infusionites” to the team. And our systems and processes have significantly matured this year to enable future growth so that we can serve more customers confidently and effectively.

It was a fantastic year in 2011! While I can look at each of our five Annual Priorities and feel great about nailing them, two things make me most proud:

First, our customer satisfaction ratings soared throughout 2011. Our customers have seen our product improve by leaps and bounds. And they have benefited from our improved email deliverability, of which shot through the roof. In addition, our customer support hit a groove when we began executing to “The Perfect Customer Lifecycle.” As a result of all these big accomplishments (and a hundred more smaller ones), our customers showered us with praise and appreciation — and referrals! It’s funny how when you focus on truly serving your customers, everything falls into place.

Second, I’m super proud of the honor we were given when we were named #15 on the Small Workplaces to Work for in America. We strongly believe that happy employees make happy customers make happy shareholders. We invest heavily in our culture to create an environment where we all love to work. It was really fun to be recognized as one of the best companies to work for in America. My only question is, “Are there really 14 companies that are better to work for than Infusionsoft?” Really? I can’t imagine that!

I’m ecstatic about what 2012 holds for Infusionsoft and our customers. Here’s hoping your 2011 was fantastic and your 2012 is looking great!

I’m eager to tell you about an exclusive special event I’m hosting for successful entrepreneurs in December called The Elite Forum: From Entrepreneur to CEO.

Our company has grown aggressively over the last five years… and in that time I’ve learned what it takes to scale a business. Add to that the work that we’ve done with thousands of business owners in helping them grow their businesses, and it became clear that it’s time to share the knowledge and help more business owners gain from our lessons learned. We can help you if you’re craving that next level.  

The Elite Forum is being held Dec. 1-3 at our headquarters in Arizona. And when I say exclusive and elite, that’s exactly what I mean. There are specific strategic steps entrepreneurs can take in order to reach that next level in their business quickly and intelligently. It all starts with education. In the last 10 years, we have exponentially added to our toolbox of entrepreneurial smarts and have packaged it up for you over a two-day (and optional third-day) session. There are specific strategic steps entrepreneurs need to take and I’d love to share them with you and I’ve been wanting to share the steps and strategies for a long time. I can’t think of a better time to be hosting this than now.

The intimate two-day seminar next month is limited to just 25 attendees. Of that 25, only 5 will be accepted to the Day 3 intensive workshop where we apply everything you’ve learned to your specific business.

So, why an elite forum, and more importantly, why potentially you?

Because the question that Infusionsoft co-founder Scott Martineau and I get asked more than any other is: “How did you guys do it?” Specifically, how did we grow Infusionsoft from a $1 million company to a $25+ million company in just 5 years—and one that has been on the Inc 500 list five years in a row?

As you well know, it’s one thing to turn your dream into a business. Growing that business from $1 million to $10 million is another. Over the two days Scott and I will work with you in your strategic planning for your business including navigating the challenging task of raising venture capital. We’ll discuss the essential components of building a company culture that lasts. And we’ll share with you firsthand through live examples and practical applications based on how we grew Infusionsoft from a $1MM to $10MM to over $20MM. You’ll come away with templates and tools for planning and process to implement meaningful change in your business.

We’ve done it. You can too. We can show you how.

In other words, if you are ready to take your small business and move it into the realm of small company and beyond, this event is for you.

So, who should apply?  The biggest clue will be if you’ve started to asked yourself, “What’s the secret to scaling?” If you are doing $1MM or more in revenue and are setting your sights on growing to $10MM and beyond, then The Elite Forum is a pivotal investment.

I look forward to spending two exciting days with a select group of you. I hope you’ll consider attending by applying here.