I have been an Infusionsoft Certified Partner for several years now, and I have talked to a lot of small business owners about automating their sales and marketing. It has gotten to the point where I can tell if the person I am talking to has a real automation strategy in a very short time. How can I do that when I am in Indianapolis, Indiana and lots of the people I talk to are on the phone from other states? Don’t I have to at least have a face-to-face conversation? Well, no, and here is why.
I often ask a new business owner acquaintance to describe their ideal client so I will be able to recognize suitable referrals. The ones who start going down the checklist in their heads describing the demographics of their target audience get big points for automation strategy. The ones who answer, “Anyone “, lose big points.
When I ask how they track prospects and opportunities, those who start talking about using a sales funnel get points even if they keep their notes in Excel. (Oh surely it isn’t just people in Indianapolis who track sales with Excel?) Talking about a need to do better tracking, to standardize a sales process, to do a better job of responding to inquiries and communicating with customers after a sale all get major automation strategy points.
These small business owners think in automation strategy terms even before they even know sales and marketing software tools like Infusionsoft exist. If they talk about doing a better job of qualifying leads it is icing on the cake; they win all the points. They are more than ready for some real sales automation tools to make their automation strategy take off.
These strategic thinking business owners have big ideas for the future – big specific, pragmatic ideas. They talk about looking for a software tool that will take them where they want to go. It is fun to share the news I have about Infusionsoft because it makes them so happy.
Finally, pricing really is a measure of how developed the business and the business owner’s automation strategy are. Business owners with automation strategies already have a marketing budget. Spending money to grow the business with more effective automation makes sense to them as a next step.
The business owner who pushes back hard on price isn’t just being cheap. They are reflecting honestly the fact that their business has not yet grown to the point where the price of Infusionsoft is reasonable. They often do not yet have a marketing budget and that is okay for their current level of development. I never try to push anyone to buy software they can’t afford. I would rather suggest something in a more affordable price range so they can continue to develop their business and their automation strategy. If they successfully do that, some day in the future we will be talking again, this time about how Infusionsoft will grow their automation strategy exponentially.