16. THE EDGE OF SUCCESS-9 Building Blocks to Double Your Sales be ready to buy If you're not following up with your prospects and customers on a regular basis, someone else is going to land that business. And guess what? That someone else" who lands the business will be your competitor, who either 1) Followed up relentlessly; or(more likely) 2)Got lucky enough to cross paths with your prospects and customers at the right time You don't want to leave new or repeat business up to chance, not unless you like being poor or losing to your competitor. No one does! But staying in front of your contacts is probably the single greatest challenge in your business And that is why you must learn to "master the moment. You need to be standing there for every possible selling opportunity You need to be there when your prospects decide to give your product a try. But you also need to be there when your customers make a second or third purchase. You should be there to promote up-sells and cross-sells You should be providing your customers and prospects with continual op portunities to build a relationship with you Basically, it all boils down to this: as a small business owner, it is your responsibility to create moments of interaction with your prospects and customers. But you must also learn to maximize those moments in order to close more sales, gain more customers, and grow your business Which is exactly where the building blocks come in The Building Blocks are They are the tools for creating and making the tools for making the most most of your contact moments with your prospects and customers. of contact moments with: Mastering the momentis o Prospects your ultimate key to crossing the edge into unbelievable small business success and o Customers quickly doubling your sales o Partners c 2008 Infusionsoft
© 2008 Infusionsoft 16 • THE EDGE OF SUCCESS- 9 Building Blocks to Double Your Sales be ready to buy! If you’re not following up with your prospects and customers on a regular basis, someone else is going to land that business. And guess what? That “someone else” who lands the business will be your competitor, who either: 1) Followed up relentlessly; or (more likely) 2) Got lucky enough to cross paths with your prospects and customers at the right time. You don’t want to leave new or repeat business up to chance, not unless you like being poor or losing to your competitor. No one does! But staying in front of your contacts is probably the single greatest challenge in your business. And that is why you must learn to “master the moment.” You need to be standing there for every possible selling opportunity. You need to be there when your prospects decide to give your product a try. But you also need to be there when your customers make a second or third purchase. You should be there to promote up-sells and cross-sells. You should be providing your customers and prospects with continual opportunities to build a relationship with you. Basically, it all boils down to this: as a small business owner, it is your responsibility to create moments of interaction with your prospects and customers. But you must also learn to maximize those moments in order to close more sales, gain more customers, and grow your business. Which is exactly where the building blocks come in. They are the tools for creating and making the most of your contact moments with your prospects and customers. “Mastering the moment” is your ultimate key to crossing the edge into unbelievable small business success and quickly doubling your sales! The Building Blocks are Prospects Customers Partners tools for making the most of contact moments with:
17. THE EDGE OF SUCCESS-9 Building Blocks to Double Your Sales Chapter 3- Supercharge Your Website Because you're an entrepreneur, I'd be willing to bet you already have a website up and running. And that's great But have you taken that website to the next level? I speak with far too many companies that throw a couple webpages to gether, put them online and call it good What is a random visitor supposed to do with a website like that? Most viewers will give you about 10 seconds to decide if your site is worth viewing. If you have really interesting content. they might give you 30 seconds. If you haven't used your space on the Internet to capture an retain their attention, the next thing you know the person is gone Now, call me old fashioned, but i believe that when I invest my own time or pay for someone to create something for me it should do what i need it to do. In the case of small businesses, they need customers. So this chapter discusses the need to get your website working for you Your website should attract viewers, provide an interactive experience for them, and ultimately provide you with additional leads. But too many websites fail to do all three(or even just one) these things Harness the power of the Internet 70% of the U.s Population The average adult spends up to 3 hours a day Regularly Use the Internet more on the Internet than they spend watch ing television. About 70% of the U.S. popula tion regularly use the Internet. Over 1 billion people in the world are online. And this is a vast chunk of your market! These are your customers! But only if you have a website that draws them in 1,00000000 Are Onl Unfortunately, not everyone understands the power of the Internet. In fact, an Arthur Anderson study(survey of Small and mid Sized Businesses: Trends for 2000) showed that 16% of small business owners viewed the Internet as a threat. I sincerely hope that 8 years later that number has decreased to O% percent. The Internet is not a hindrance or a threat to small businesses. In actuality, not using the Internet, or not maximizing your web presence can have devastating consequences c 2008 Infusionsoft
© 2008 Infusionsoft 17 • THE EDGE OF SUCCESS- 9 Building Blocks to Double Your Sales Chapter 3- Supercharge Your Website Because you’re an entrepreneur, I’d be willing to bet you already have a website up and running. And that’s great. But have you taken that website to the next level? I speak with far too many companies that throw a couple webpages together, put them online and call it good. What is a random visitor supposed to do with a website like that? Most viewers will give you about 10 seconds to decide if your site is worth viewing. If you have really interesting content, they might give you 30 seconds. If you haven’t used your space on the Internet to capture and retain their attention, the next thing you know, the person is gone. Now, call me old fashioned, but I believe that when I invest my own time, or pay for someone to create something for me, it should do what I need it to do. In the case of small businesses, they need customers. So this chapter discusses the need to get your website working for you. Your website should attract viewers, provide an interactive experience for them, and ultimately, provide you with additional leads. But too many websites fail to do all three (or even just one) of these things. Harness the Power of the Internet The average adult spends up to 3 hours a day more on the Internet than they spend watching television. About 70% of the U.S. population regularly use the Internet. Over 1 billion people in the world are online. And this is a vast chunk of your market! These are your customers! But only if you have a website that draws them in. Unfortunately, not everyone understands the power of the Internet. In fact, an Arthur Anderson study (Survey of Small and MidSized Businesses: Trends for 2000) showed that 16% of small business owners viewed the Internet as a threat. I sincerely hope that 8 years later, that number has decreased to 0% percent. The Internet is not a hindrance or a threat to small businesses. In actuality, not using the Internet, or not maximizing your web presence can have devastating consequences
18. THE EDGE OF SUCCESS-9 Building Blocks to Double Your Sales It's as if some unspoken fear of the Internet keeps small businesses they do lizing on Internet possibilities. They have a website because they were told to get one. lon't truly under stand that their web presence might mean the difference between a market and an enor mous market Drowning in the Sea of Similarity. and Boredom There are over 400 million active websites on the Internet right now. That's 400 million chances Internet viewers are overlooking you for someone else. For the small business owner the odds don't seem to be in your favor. In the minds of many small business owners, making your site stand out is about as realistic as winning the lottery. Actually, lottery odds are slightly better Unless you have the knowledge of how to make your website work for you Think back to the days before the Internet.(Dont worry. We'll only reminisce about the dark ages for a moment. )When consumers needed a product or service, they picked up the phone book. Then, they'd spend an hour on the phone looking for the cheapest, most convenient busi ness to meet their needs. With a static website, you are offering the consumer little more value than an ad in the yellow pages. You're still forcing them to resort to time consuming, out-dated practices Now, let's slip back into the present. Guess what? Most people are unwilling to exert the energy of calling business after business to get the information they need. Todays consumers, especially those us wikipedia definition of web 2 ing the Internet are searching for a whole lot more. If you've got a static site, what sort of value are you of- " Web 2.0 is the business fering your prospects? I guarantee the vast majority of revolution in the computer consumers are going to go looking for something a little industry caused by the move more updated to the Internet as platform and an attempt to understand So now the question is. what should your website look the rules for success on that like? And what should your website be able to do for new platform.” you? Supercharge to be a Superstar. Whatever your negative opinion of the Internet might be, I want you to suspend it and view the Internet as a small business owners best friend. With this positive frame of mind let's dig into the benefits of using the Internet.and not just using it but supercharging your website to maxi Personally, I love Web 2.0. Infusionsoft has a great time posting blogs, creating and posting videos, and hosting user communities. If I could, I would bring every customer into our office to experience the enthusiasm and high energy of our work environment. The Internet is our second best choice for displaying our passion "for helping small businesses c 2008 Infusionsoft
© 2008 Infusionsoft 18 • THE EDGE OF SUCCESS- 9 Building Blocks to Double Your Sales It’s as if some unspoken fear of the Internet keeps small businesses from capitalizing on Internet possibilities. They have a website because they were told to get one. But, they don’t truly understand that their web presence might mean the difference between a small market, and an enormous market. Drowning in the Sea of Similarity…and Boredom There are over 400 million active websites on the Internet right now. That’s 400 million chances Internet viewers are overlooking you for someone else. For the small business owner, the odds don’t seem to be in your favor. In the minds of many small business owners, making your site stand out is about as realistic as winning the lottery. Actually, lottery odds are slightly better. Unless you have the knowledge of how to make your website work for you. Think back to the days before the Internet. (Don’t worry. We’ll only reminisce about the dark ages for a moment.) When consumers needed a product or service, they picked up the phone book. Then, they’d spend an hour on the phone looking for the cheapest, most convenient business to meet their needs. With a static website, you are offering the consumer little more value than an ad in the yellow pages. You’re still forcing them to resort to time consuming, out-dated practices. Now, let’s slip back into the present. Guess what? Most people are unwilling to exert the energy of calling business after business to get the information they need. Today’s consumers, especially those using the Internet, are searching for a whole lot more. If you’ve got a static site, what sort of value are you offering your prospects? I guarantee the vast majority of consumers are going to go looking for something a little more updated. So now the question is…what should your website look like? And what should your website be able to do for you? Supercharge to be a Superstar! Whatever your negative opinion of the Internet might be, I want you to suspend it and view the Internet as a small business owner’s best friend. With this positive frame of mind, let’s dig into the benefits of using the Internet…and not just using it, but supercharging your website to maximize its value. Personally, I love Web 2.0. Infusionsoft has a great time posting blogs, creating and posting videos, and hosting user communities. If I could, I would bring every customer into our office to experience the enthusiasm and high energy of our work environment. The Internet is our second best choice for displaying our “passion” for helping small businesses
19. THE EDGE OF SUCCESS-9 Building Blocks to Double Your Sales Google Analytics for Infusionsoft Jun1,2007-Jan31,2008 Dashboard Comparing to: site EpoA曰Lm 4 000 SIte visIt Only 300 Site VIsitors Jan2008! Jan2007-Feb.2007 usion 2003 Infusion Slte= 2006 Infusion Site 2008 Infusion site= Now let me take a minute to expose my own embarrassment. Do you remember how I said In fusionsoft also struggled when we were first getting started Our original website was as inade quate as the static sites I'm harping about Our first few concepts were not the powerhouse tool we've made them. In the first few years of Infusionsoft, our website generated little interest and few customers. Within the last year alone, our website has generated interest at an exponential rate(And brought in packs of new customers. Now, I'm not saying that a supercharged website requires videos, user communities, and every other form of social networking interaction. I'm just pointing out that they work, they're effec tive, and theyre drawing the attention of millions of viewers a day. The more involved you a in providing your viewers with Web 2.0 technology the more likely you are to grab and keep their attention There's some tough competition out there. I'm certain you haven't forgotten about the 400 mil- lion websites you'll be fighting against. But what a great competition! And what an unbelievable opportunity to demonstrate why you are a true entrepreneur Turning your Website into a Lead Capturing, Lead Converting Machine Everybody knows one sided relationships(no matter what type of relationship it is) never work. The same is true with websites. The website that is focused entirely upon the customer is the one that will shine through the millions of others c 2008 Infusionsoft
© 2008 Infusionsoft 19 • THE EDGE OF SUCCESS- 9 Building Blocks to Double Your Sales Now let me take a minute to expose my own embarrassment. Do you remember how I said Infusionsoft also struggled when we were first getting started? Our original website was as inadequate as the static sites I’m harping about. Our first few concepts were not the powerhouse tool we’ve made them. In the first few years of Infusionsoft, our website generated little interest and few customers. Within the last year alone, our website has generated interest at an exponential rate. (And brought in packs of new customers.) Now, I’m not saying that a supercharged website requires videos, user communities, and every other form of social networking interaction. I’m just pointing out that they work, they’re effective, and they’re drawing the attention of millions of viewers a day. The more involved you are in providing your viewers with Web 2.0 technology, the more likely you are to grab and keep their attention. There’s some tough competition out there. I’m certain you haven’t forgotten about the 400 million websites you’ll be fighting against. But what a great competition! And what an unbelievable opportunity to demonstrate why you are a true entrepreneur! Turning your Website into a Lead Capturing, Lead Converting Machine Everybody knows one sided relationships (no matter what type of relationship it is) never work. The same is true with websites. The website that is focused entirely upon the customer is the one that will shine through the millions of others