On Friday we’ll celebrate Infusionsoft’s 10th birthday. We’ll also hit a great milestone – 7000 small businesses that now use Infusionsoft for their marketing automation software.

When my brother Eric and I started this company ten years ago, there’s no way we could have imagined Infusionsoft as it is today. Admittedly, we were a bit clueless. Filled with entrepreneurial zeal, we set out to prove that we could create something that we could call our own.

Somewhere along the way, we got this crazy idea that we could actually change the way small businesses grow… that we could become the standard for marketing automation software among small businesses.  And since that time, we’ve been driven by a deep, pounding passion to liberate and empower entrepreneurs who have become enslaved to their businesses.

Watch on YouTube: Evolution of Infusionsoft.

It took a few years to create Infusionsoft, the web-based software you’ve come to know and love. Today, there is a thriving ecosystem of 23,000 users who use our all-in-one marketing automation software. Here are a few notable highlights:

• You’ve sent more than 4.5 billion permission-based emails!
• You’ve captured 58 million contacts through web forms.
• You’ve processed a meager $2.7 billion in transactions with our e-commerce features.

Be sure to read more about our rapid growth in our press release:
Infusionsoft Leads the Industry in Marketing Automation Implementations

We’ve taken our fair share of bumps and bruises along the way, as every entrepreneur should expect. Despite the challenges, I still sit in awe ten years later… thankful to be a part of this exciting movement.

We’d like to say ‘thank you’ to all our users, partners, employees and friends who have stood by us, given us benefit of the doubt along the way. You’ve helped us accomplish some amazing feats. As a result, no other marketing automation companies have implemented as many small businesses as we have. And that’s a massive accomplishment we’re proud of!

Swing by our Facebook page to see some of the fun, exciting and outright weird photos from the past ten years in our office. If you have photos, go ahead and post them to our Wall.

With our spring 2011 release, Infusionsoft customers are now able to quickly and easily interact with Infusionsoft Technical Support by clicking the Help menu, then “Support Chat Online.” I’m excited to tell you about this great way to better support our users.

Online chat support will be available the same hours as our live telephone support: 7AM to 5PM, Monday through Friday. It’s a great benefit to our users because they don’t have to call and wait on hold if they have a simple question.

Our friendly support representatives will be available to answer any questions users have about the software and will be able to provide links to relevant training articles and videos that you can refer back to later.

We’ve had chat in “beta” mode for a few months with select users and have received very positive feedback from it. Here is some of the feedback people have shared with us:

“Not waiting in a phone queue with a phone to my head!  I can get on with other stuff while I wait.”

“Great for quick questions that I have while I’m busy working and don’t have time to call.”

“Allows me to stay focused on my job and get the answers that I need.”

Over the past couple of years, we have maintained an online Q&A section on the Help Center. The new chat support will replace the Q&A section of the Help Center. We hope the immediate, personalized attention now accessible through chat will be a far more effective way for users to get their questions answered.

Unfortunately, most entrepreneurs don’t come out of the womb knowing how to build an effective marketing plan. It’s something I and my team see every day when working with small business owners. I have a hunch why, and I’d like to offer a simple solution to improve your marketing this year. It’s the Perfect Customer Lifecycle. Think of it as a marketing plan that marries simple with an eye-opening epiphany. We like to think it’s the framework every business owner and marketer of a growing company uses when thinking about their sales and marketing funnel for prospects and customers.

Limitless options causes overwhelm.
While some entrepreneurs are confident students of marketing, most report a feeling of overwhelm and uncertainty about what they should include in their marketing plan. The “menu” of available marketing tactics that I could do is ever growing.

• E-mail marketing—How can I be using it better?
• Social media—How do I interact with my fans?
• Website—How do I make it more effective?

Incomplete plan leads to shut down.
At first, it’s exciting to think of all of the possibilities and tactics, but it soon feels more like chaos than strategy. When all of these mini-strategies don’t roll up to a comprehensive marketing plan, the end result is too often overwhelm and helplessness (i.e. We shut down and don’t actually do much of anything).

How this year can be different.
We created the Perfect Customer Lifecycle because we wanted you to have a free, simple guide that helps you take your marketing to a new level this year, and next.  The Perfect Customer Lifecycle was redesigned from the feedback we received on our Success Path. The Perfect Customer Lifecycle is a comprehensive framework that works for all business types.

First, it started out with this whiteboard sketch.

We thought about it much more and made tweaks to create more clarity.

And then our awesome marketing team got their hands on it to create the Perfect Customer Lifecycle in its final form. I’ll explain each step now.

There are seven distinct phases to the Perfect Customer Lifecycle:

1. Attract Traffic
   This includes all of the work you do to generate interest in your business, like website traffic, foot traffic, etc. that comes from online/offline advertising, partners, etc.
2. Capture Leads
   Smart businesses are very intentional about capturing contact information for interested leads as well as permission to follow up. You can’t follow up if they leave your site or store without giving you their info!
3. Nurture Prospects
   Let’s face it, some leads are hot, and some are not.  Smart businesses have appropriate follow-up in place to educate & build trust with their new leads. Some take 5 minutes to warm up, some take five weeks, some take five years, but when you nurture well, you are the one they think about when they are ready to buy.
4. Convert Sales
   Once prospects are hot, it’s time to turn them into customers. Whether you have a sales team, or you use automatic follow-up to get the job done, you’ve got to close the business.
5. Deliver & Satisfy
   What are you doing to make sure that every new customer is completely wowed by you? In addition to delivering your core service, there are many small but powerful strategies for creating happy customers
6. Upsell Customers
   We all know that it is significantly cheaper to resell a new product to an existing customer, but too often we aren’t systematic enough about offering additional products to customers who’ve already bought.
7. Get Referrals
   Finally, there are never any better leads than those who come from referrals. What are you doing to ensure that your customers are referring you when they get asked the questions.

The key takeaway to think about is, “How does it fit in your business?” How can you benefit from incorporating this thinking into the way you operate your marketing and sales functions of the business? As I’ve watched business owners use this Perfect Customer Lifecycle guide to map out their marketing plans (many of whom actually stick it up on their wall in front of their desk as a constant reminder) here’s what I’ve observed:

1. Chaos turns to order—Everything you are doing finally has a place.
2. Goals become clear—Rather than doing stuff just to do it, each marketing activity has a distinct purpose.
3. Gaps become clear—Now that the comprehensive plan is staring at you in the face, it’s simple to identify additional opportunities that you can jump on.
4. Structure breeds innovation—Although counter-intuitive, the structure and focus you provide yourself while planning will free your mind up to powerful innovation.
5. Printing and posting helps you execute—Those who print their one-sheet marketing plan and tape it to the wall where everyone can see it find that their ability to execute on the plan increases.

I’m excited to dig deeper on this and share best practices for each phase of the lifecycle. If you want to know more about the Perfect Customer Lifecycle, leave a comment with what you’d specifically like help with and what intrigues you the most about it.

–Scott

Starting today, our company will make a big step for entrepreneurs.  It’s a big step, but the right step. Effective today, new customers to Infusionsoft no longer need to pay the required setup and activation fee and they can use our software risk-free for 15 days in a trial. I firmly believe these are the right changes we needed that will help us fulfill on our mission to become the leading marketing software entrepreneurs choose to run their small business.

I want to provide some insight into why we’ve made these changes – for the better.

For the past few years, our team has collectively worked on making our software easier to use. To be frank, our software wasn’t easy enough…  until recently. It was in our customers’ best interest to be guided through implementation process. We did this at an expense of taking on new entrepreneurs, because our required setup packages were an obstacle.  We talked with a ton of entrepreneurs out there who were fighting the good fight and simply couldn’t afford our solution.

Not too long ago, we broke the one-size-fits-all mentality and offered a variety of editions of our software which meet the needs of small businesses: Basic, Deluxe and Professional. Those included an array of unique features, capacities and limits for different prices. In light of this (risky) move, we were met with great success as plenty of new users chose us to grow their business.

Okay, so I think you get the idea – we’re out to revolutionize the world of small business with our software. The initial setup cost was prohibitive to accomplishing our mission and we’ve listened to what our customers have said as well. I’m very excited about these changes and this marks an important day for our company.

We’ve also wanted to put our money where our mouth is with the launch of the Double Your Sales Club program earlier this year. It’s been a hit and many entrepreneurs have affirmed our promise that we have doubled their sales with our software. Along with that came our Double Your Sales Guarantee – which is a bona-fide way of promising our software would work. We’ve also updated that in light of our new service offering. Vice president of Marketing, Dave Lee, posted an update as to the Double Your Sales Guarantee that we offer in addition to a host of new feedback.

I’m sure you have many questions for me as well as others here at the company. I’ll see if I can address a few of them for you today:

Q: What changed?
A: We no longer require our customers to purchase a setup package, eliminating the upfront financial hurdle.  We also offer a free trial to new customers.

Q: Why?
A: Our customers told us to. And it was the right time.  Our software has reached the point where people can set themselves up without requiring hands-on training. (We’re also adding a ton of new features to make it even cooler, so stay tuned).

Q: I’m a customer, how am I affected?
A: As a loyal Infusionsoft customer, you are ‘grandfathered’ in at your current price with the same benefits, service, and features you’ve been using. You don’t have to do anything. We got you covered. If you have more specific questions about your account, contact us.

Q: I’ve been interested in Infusionsoft for a while, how can I take the red pill?
A: To try Infusionsoft out, simply visit http://www.infusionsoft.com/ to get started. That will get you going on our Basic edition and you can upgrade anytime.

Q: If I need help to migrate my business into Infusionsoft, can I get it?
A: In addition to our amazing support team, customers can also optionally purchase various consulting services to help them get up and running fast. To see more, visit the website for details.

As you can tell, we’re all very excited to help entrepreneurs nationwide take advantage of our software. If you considered using us before, but haven’t made the jump due to the price, now may be the time to reconsider. I’m sure that after trying our software free, you’ll get a better idea of what we have going on. Who knows, it might even be a perfect match for your business.

If you have questions or comments, go ahead and let me know below. I appreciate your feedback in advance and will keep you privy of any updates here on the blog.

UPDATE: The press release about these changes is available on our site, Infusionsoft Unveils New Business Model After Record Growth to Bring Award-Winning Marketing and Sales Software to Mass Market.

–Scott

I don’t usually sport a stache… (at least not like this).

But every December, I thoroughly enjoy participating in Infusion’s “Beard-Off” competition. Though poorly named, this annual tradition is all about who can put on the most facial hair–and then craft it into a work of art. Several prizes are awarded:

• Narc (Best Mustache)
• Norris (Best Overall Beard)
• Ozark Hobo (Scariest)
• Van Casso (Most Creative)
• Patch Adams (Patchiest Beard)

My message today is to those who raise their noses at this youthful venture… I can hear you now… “What child’s play! Unprofessional!”

You know what I say to that: “Bah Humbhug!”

If you’re tempted to become a beard-booer… ask yourself this: Why did you get into a small business in the first place? So you could be controlled by a bunch of boring people and irrelevent opinions? If you want to do that, I can point you toward a bunch of big, boring companies who’d be happy to stamp out all of the fun and excitement in your life.

So maybe a clever mustache competition isn’t going to dramatically affect our bottom line this year. But if you ask me, the same culture of “fun” that inspires this tradition is what fuels the creativity, innovation, and passion in our business.

The point is, let’s lighten up and enjoy life in small business!

P.S. I must admit… I did find it slightly embarrassing escorting my grandmother to our monthly lunch with my handlebar stache. And yes, I do find the thing very itchy.

Infusion’s Finalists: