Notes from Icon15 Talks

Notes from Icon15 Talks Comments from User Group member Dennis Walsh – Walsh Photographic Design You can download a copy of these notes at: www.walshphotography.com/icon15 This was my first Icon – I have only been a user since last Fall. I thought attending would be a great opportunity to hear new ideas and have some questions answered. Note that there are multiple speaker tracks, so you only have the opportunity to hear some of the speakers. As a result, I don’t have notes from every speaker. The conference is held in a great location with excellent facilities. It is quite fairly priced, especially if you book early. Many hotels are close to the convention center and high quality. Rooms $189/night. There is easy transportation to the airport. No need to rent a car. Uber cost $15. If you are staying outside of downtown and driving in, there was ample parking. Downtown does not seem overcrowded. Lots of restaurants. Little shopping. Infusionsoft does not spare any expense. The conference had 3000 guests and was quite a nice production. I was very impressed at the production value. Meeting rooms are large and comfortable. Tables provided for everyone. Audio-­‐Visual support was excellent. Large screens. Excellent sound. Complimentary breakfast and lunch served daily. The food was very good. Trade show was of limited size, but never overcrowded. Easy access to vendors. Infusionsoft has a huge customer service contingent. You can schedule 1 on 1’s on virtually any topic. I met many managers and had several good conversations. There are ample networking opportunities. There’s plenty of time to chat. Speakers were all good. Many were outstanding. Infusionsoft brought some big name, high dollar speakers to these conferences. I was surprised at how many of the speakers were Infusionsoft users themselves. This year’s conference had a lot of speakers who spoke about business, but not specifically Infusionsoft. I am told this was intentional. Apparently, past conferences had more of a teaching vibe. My advice…attend! It is worth it. The more prepared you are with questions or issues you want to address, the more valuable your visit will be. Plan each day using the convenient app and go quickly to each breakout. Some of the best ones had to limit access because of room size. Hopefully this will not happen next year!
Infusionsoft Keynote – Clate Mast and others
Universal Truths
1. Invest in your marketing
2. Follow-up works. Keep in touch with your clients.
3. Automation is the great game changer
Automation does not impersonalize client service - it is a great multiplier
Infusionsoft clients sent 5.6 billion emails last year
Email marketing is still the best way for small business to market - (though some
people are questioning this)
New Product Announcements
• New email builder - template based, mobile responsive, cut and paste.
Coming soon…probably by Fall. Looks very slick. Like Lead Pages
interface.
• New Infusionsoft payments system (summer 2015) 2.9% plus
.30/transaction. No other fees. Built directly into Infusionsoft.
• Quickbooks integraton available in Marketplace.
• Infusionsoft has licenced some Digital Marketing campaigns which can –
for a free – be imported and installed directly to your app. Ask Ross for
details.
Breakout session - Old School Marketing in Digital Age
Carmen runs a martial arts studio in NYC.
www.CarmenSognonvi.com/toolkit
1/3 of her business still comes from off-line (traditional) marketing
Mistake #1 - Making Flier logo too big
Fliers suggestions
more powerful to use a single image, than many small ones
Do not make your logo too prominent. No one cares
Every flier needs an offer.
Tell them what to do next, to take advantage of the offer
her example...
visit www.urbandojo.com/sixweeks or
text mi to 435-xxx-xxxx (uses fixyourfunnel sms conversations)
Action Item: Think about the your call to action
Mistake #2 - handing out promotional junk at events
instead….offer a free trial or a giveaway. In order to get this, they must give
name, email and phone number
Action Item: decide on a give away or promotion you will offer at your next event
If you are too expensive to give away, you can bundle your service into a
package that will be raffled off to one winner. Must register with name, phone and
email to enter.
Mistake #3 Giving flyers to anyone with a pulse
Mini-Billboards
Displays in other stores…use 4x6 postcards or 4x9 cards in a plastic display
stand. Of course, you offer to reciprocate display in your studio
Uses simple crew app to photograph each display and includes date, time and
location. Will also display a map of locations
Mistake #4 - Thinking of marketing as a broadcast only
Don’t think of your fliers and signs as pretty pieces. They must serve as a lead
capture.
1. a weblink - uses LeadPages create separate landing page for every flier,
poster or event. Uses WP plugin "pretty url" so that weblink shows your website
address rather than a leadpages or infusionsoft link
2. via text - text a keyword to (FixYourFunnel) SMS conversations
Don’t try to be pretty. Use simple questions…first name, last name, email
Lead source ROI report to view result
Mistake #5 - Giving away all your information and getting nothing in return
“why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free” Find out what your
milk is?
If there is a key point of information the client will want to know, don’t give it to
them without an exchange of email address
Carmen captures at first point of inquiry. At the top of the funnel. It creates a
better experience for the prospect. Many initial inquires are not quite at the point
where they are ready to buy. Capturing their info early, allows you to continue to
communicate with interested buyers, building know, like & trust factor.
Carmen is not crazy about lead magnets which may be of interest to people
outside your market area. Doesn’t work. Why send your free report to people
outside your market.
What is the key information that they really want to know.
For many people, it is price and schedule. Price ok?…then capture email to get
schedule.
Photographers can make the lead magnet access to your entire portfolio.
Breakout - Lifecycle Marketing - April Goudy
@eventcultivator
Lifecycle marketing is repeatable
The Attraction Phase
Attract - if you market to everyone, you sell to no one
clearly define who we are targeting and who we are not targeting
look at demographics
Attract Interest
understand your target audience, where they hang out, and meet them there
Collect Leads
you must provide value…what will make the lead surrender their contact info
give them something of value, that they want.
Selling Phase
Educate - 86% of consumers research before purchase. Educate and they will
be more willing to buy from you.
What do your clients care about?
The Offer
Build out a buyers process and map to your sellers process
• Awareness
• Consideration
• Recommendation
• Purchase
Purchase - this has to be part of the experience/relationship
Make it easy to buy
Ask “How can I help people, not what can I sell people"
The WOW
Deliver a WOW. Deliver more that what you promised.
Say thank you.
Make it personal. Write a hand written note. It is intentional and has human touch
Offer More
Cross-sell. Think amazon shopping cart
Up-Sell. Supersize?
New - let them know what you have to offer them
Get Referrals
Only 20% of businesses ask for referrals.
You must deliver a quality product and experience in order to drive referrals
Remember, your client is putting their reputation on the line by referring you
Reward your clients for referrals
infusionsoft.com/lcm-planner
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Keynote Speaker - Jon Acuff – best selling author and professional speaker
45% of millennials are more concerned with job flexibility than wages
Skills are the bridge between amateur and expert
new skills
old skills
Bravery is a choice, not a feeling
Being afraid isn’t failure, staying afraid is.
Be brave enough to be bad at something new
What business are we really in...
Be brave enough to ask hard questions
Are we innovating our future or protecting our past?
Character is who you are
empathy - understanding what someone needs and acting on it. Choosing
empathy is cheap, loosing empathy is expensive. Relationships are expensive
Care about what the people you care about care about
Read less minds and ask more questions
Relationships
3 types of relationships
Foes- sticky, take a lot of time.
Friends - don’t put people on pause. Relationships aren’t built on text messages.
Your ability to stay present in a relationship is a game changer
Advocates - someone you shape your business with. A truth teller.
Leaders who can’t be questioned, end up doing questionable things. It is
dangerous when the staff can’t tell the leader the truth. You need relationships
Hustle - doing the important things others don’t, to enjoy the results others won’t.
Hustle takes focus, not frenzy. You will become a workaholic if its something you
love.
Use hustle to grow a small yes into a big opportunity.
Breakout - Lisa and Hamish Macqueen - CleanCorp
5 Rules
1. Don’t waste money - talk to the right people. Don’t waste money marketing
to the wrong people. Target our marketing. Once targeted, everything you do has
to be direct response. You must be able to track engagement. Every email
requires a link click so we can track progress.
Track your marketing
• how many calls
• how many clicks
• how many opens etc
2. People buy from people.
Put personality in your brand and your marketing.
Use Send out cards all the time.
Inject personality
on website
in direct mail
People buy from you because of who you are, not what you do
Follow-up gets results. Quote then call.
3. Pay Attention (e.g. a major change to Google algorithm)
Humanize your business. Put employees out front. Use send out cards to
introduce cleaner and their family to clients. Builds trust and makes their team a
part of their tema
4. Think about how your prospects buy and automate it.
Lead>Thank you page with photo>confirming email of appt> sent testimonials (or
FAQ) etc.
5. You need a system (save time energy and money)
Take action on what you learn
Loves Brian Tracy – Power Principles of Success
Poopourri.com (unique roduct that does great marketing)
Keynote - Rohit Bhargava – documentor of trends
Annual Trend Report — how these trends will affect business
Book - “Non-Obvious"
5 specific trends that can change your business in 2015
(commit to thinking outside your industry)
5 Things Trending in 2015
1. Unperfection - companies are starving to being more transparent.
e.g. The Hans Brinker Hotel in Amsterdam. Show their flaws and tell a story.
steal idea - embrace your (rare) mistakes - own your mistakes
2. Reluctant Marketer - brands increasingly use content strategy. People have
questions and want answers
Hilton Hotels - answering questions on twitter
Weber Grills - real physical books on BBQ
Weber sends a pdf of here is what you should look for. Of course, it is tailored to
Weber specifics.
www.mycymbal.com
Stealable Idea - amazing tube strategy is to not go viral - informative snips
Be useful instead of salesy.
3. Everyday Stardom - people expect to be treated like stars.
Offer VIP treatment based in reality.
4. Micro Consumption
Stealable Idea: Produce sharable bite-sized experiences
5. Experimedia Esther Honig on Buzzfeed.com or Dove Real Beauty sketches
experimedia allows a smaller business to fight back
5 tips on how to identify trends
1. Be more observant - watch processes in action
2. Be curious - empathize with magazines
3. Be Fickle - take notes with sharpies. Don’t dwell on one thing - save it and
move on
4. Be Thoughtful - wait, have patience.
5. Be Elegant - use poetic principles. “I am not a speed reader, I am a speed
understander"
[email protected] for free digital download and a free
webinar and a sneak peek at the 2016 report.
Keynote Speaker - Sally Hogshead - The Fascination Advantage
In a crowded and competitive marketplace, different is better than better.
Identify what makes you different and it will able you to compete with less
marketing.
Finding the very best words to describe a brand is key.
.
A brand has a choice, it can either have the biggest budget or have a fascinating
point of difference.
The greatest scarcity today is attention span. Every time you communicate
you are either adding value or taking up space.
Stand out or don’t bother. The world needs authentic messages that give them
something they didn’t have before.
Become more of who you are. Don’t try to change who you are.
Take this free test
http://www.howtofascinate.com/you
code: iconshare
share with your team, your clients, and share the results
The average attention span used to be 20 minutes. Today it is 9 seconds!
When you fascinate your clients they are totally focused on your message
High performers do not try to be all things to all people. Clients don’t hire you
because you are balanced, they hire you because you are extraordinary in some
way. Your specialty is your fascination advantage. It is the way your personality
is most likely to add value.
As a leader you need to optimize yourself. Build a team with the other traits.
Primary advantage puts you at your best
Secondary advantage
The person who is highest paid is the person who is chosen for who he is…not
what he sells.
Amazon: How the world see’s you.
You don’t need to learn how to be fascinating, you need to unlearn boring.
Don’t change who you are, become more of who you are, at your best.
LeadPages (software for building landing pages)
100% of sales at Lead Pages comes from Marketing and Sales
5 steps for implementing our lead generation and content strategy
1. Invest in Content (like you would invest in a sales team)
Get good content. Hire the best copywriters you can
Lead Pages hired content channel owners…podcaster, youtube person, blogger,
80/20 rule 80% content 20% selling
content should be valuable in and of itself
the 20% should show people how they can get the result they want using our
services
LeadPages gives away landing pages blog.leadpages.net
• All content channel owners are responsible for a number that rolls up to
revenue (either sales or new gen)
• Content metrics are publicly tracked on a weekly basis (like a sales board)
• More money is poured into the high performing channels and content types,
while lower ROI activities are scaled back.
• The most successful content pieces are further amplified with paid media (ads
etc.)
2. Turn every piece of content into a lead generation opportunity. EVERY
TIME! NO EXCEPTIONS! Give a URL or short code to get
Why have a mobile strategy.
More phones than toilets
3. Turn every blog post into a specific lead magnet that is only for that blog
post. (content upgrade)
pdfs, recipes, resource guides, etc related to that blog post. You could even offer
a pdf of the blog post that they can download. Transcript of podcast, audio file of
article.
These options may convert as high as 30-50%
LP recommends removing sidebar single opt-in and replace with LP 2 step opt in
box
4. Utilize the hell out of post opt-in thank you pages.Your hottest leads are on
your thank you page. Don’t end the conversation there. Offer them a way to
further engage. Offer them something - a webinar, a video, another post, keep
the conversation going.
5. Drive people from your thank you page to webinars. HIGHLY
RECOMMENDED. Use a LeadPage
Why webinars?
most Fortune 500 companies use webinars to sell products
Webinars are one of our top 3 conversion streams
A webinar is, hands down, the best of to many sales mechanism (only thing
better is getting someone one to one)
Getting started.
Come up with 10 minutes of content…then do Q&A session
The best one to many sales mechanism for your business
Webinars provide
1. appointment marketing (like one to one sales)
2. A quasi 1-to-1 experience
3. The chance to spend 60 minutes with 1K plus potential customers
4. High conversions
5. Partnerships
Webinars provide very high conversion rates (25%) LP converts 30-60%
Can and should be added to any sales funnel
Start easy
schedule one every week
do them live
John Lee Dumas, host of podcast Entrepreneur on Fire
www.freepodcastcourse.com
eofire.com/icon15 = #1 ranked book on podcasting on Amazon. Latest update.
Know what an avatar is. An avatar is the one perfect listener, reader, viewer,
client. You must know who your avatar is. The avatar is person you are talking
too.
The 5 Funnels
Take you audience and walk them through 5 zones to where they know like and
trust you enough to become your customer
Zone #1 - ICE Zone
your audience doesn’t know you. Be where they are.
iTunes/Sticher/Soundcloud/Spotify directories
Think of keywords you want to rank for. You can rank highly in the podcast
space, even though you are never seen in Google.
Podcast app is native on IOS. Cannot be removed.
All new cars have Carplay enabled, allowing bluetooth streaming to car radio.
Zone #2 - THAW Zone
Speaking directly to your avatar
They will subscribe, rate, comment on your podcast. Now they want more.
You provide the 3 key ingredients: FVC
• Free
• Valuable (its relative) IOF wasn’t capable, so made show interview format.
Skype only. Other options are topical shows, q&a shows, audience poll
show
• Consistent
'
Zone #3 - COZY zone - a feeling of contentment. Trust is forming.
Avatar recommends to friends, colleagues
Avatar is ready for more
Zone #4 - THE ON FIRE Zone
Avatar is now an evangelist. They will promote your show.
Host must ask: “What are you struggling with right now” Now LISTEN.
Avatar shares pain/obstacles/challenges
Host provides solution - a product, service or community
Examples:
Fire Nation Elite - A mastermind on fire. How do I get more access to elite
members. Closed group $200/mo
Live Webinars - Webinar on Fire
Podcasters Paradise - #1 podcasting community in the world. 2200 members.
Zone #5 - The TRUST Zone - avatars waiting for more content. They will buy it.
the Power of Free
FreePodcastCourse.com - 8000 people in the first year
Offered upgrade to Podcasters Paradise
www.thewebinarcourse.com Free Webinar training
As you grow your email list, be yourself.
IF YOU WANT TO BE. ..DO.
IF YOU WANT TO BE ???? DO ????
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Whippy Cake www.whippycake.com
Your brain is not a good place to store to-do's
Write it on a list or in an app and free your brain to do more important things
If you are thinking outside your head, here is the process
Organization Tools
wonderlist app
Evernote
Producteev
The Process of Organization
Collect
Process
Organize
Be teachable…be a lifetime student of your craft
Get to know yourself. The more you know yourself the better you can function
Books
Start with Why - Sinek
Work Environment
You
Your Space
Your Surroundings
Wes Schaeffer - Sales Whisperer
Use Opportunities and Note Templates
Create a sales pipline
Separate by 10 - to leave room for adding add’l steps
Write scripts for each call. Script for call, script for voicemail.
Create an internal form to log call attempt details
name
email
Call attempt (radio buttons) 1-5
Call outcome lm/spoke and moving to next step/spoke and needs time/not
interested
2 or more followup options connected to a goal = decision diamond
Clean up tags as you go. Change, delete or move down pipeline
Opportunity changes cannot be automated…must be manually moved
www.thesalesagenda.com to get agenda
thesaleswhisperer.com/podcasts
Joe Polish – Piranha Marketing – Genius Network
www.25kgroup.com
www.geniusnetwork.com
Podcast - “I Love Marketing” on itunes #1 marketing podcast
Check out 10xtalk.com
There is no relationship between being good and getting paid
There is a huge relationship between good marketing and success
To get results you need capabilities.
People don’t want information…they want experiences.
You can be in the transaction business or you can be in the transformation
business
Selling is influence...Marketing is storytelling…get better at both and your
business will improve dramatically
Marketing gets them to talk to you
Selling is what you tell them when you talk.
Marketing is selling in advance. Great marketing leverages selling.
Genius network - a network
ELF business = easy, lucrative and fun
HARP business = hard, annoying, repetitive
"The life changing magic of tidying up"- Audible.com Marie Condo
Getting results doesn’t take time, it’s the not getting results that takes up
all your time.
The time to quit working is when working is not working! (Cathy Colby colby.com)
The squeaking wheel gets replaced (bad clients)
A good, well implemented tool, like Infusionsoft will replace staff and be more
predicable.
Employees are not costs…they are investments. You can make a bad
investment.
Ryan Diess presentation at 6th Division Pre-Con
www.digitalmarketer.com
www.doubleyoursales.com
The Invisible Selling Machine
how to make money while you sleep
Business is all about solving customers problems, wants, needs,
The wider the gap between the before and after is called value. That determines
how much you can charge.
Does your product or service move the client from their before (needy) state to
their after (happy) state?
Just because you know that they want it, doesn’t mean that they want it
now and it doesn’t mean they want it from you (at least not yet).
The dating analogy…people want to date…courted…nurtured
Selling is a relationship. Don’t be pushy…don’t be the creepy guy in the
bar.
Money is not in the (mailing) list…it is in the relationship.
Most marketings focus on growing their email list, and spend very little thought or
effort on how they’re going to make money from the list once they have it. (like
the dog chasing the car)
You must have your product in place before getting the lead.
Priority #1 - How will you monetize a lead once your have it
Don’t be the guy who gets a girls number and never calls!
Mistake #1 - Fail to followup
Mistake #2 - Send the same email to everyone on their list.
Should all subscriber receive same emails or same #
The more interested they are, the more emails they should get
The less interested they are, the less they should receive
Become market centric, not product centric. That is how your company can
grow.
The Machine
1. Indoctrination - turn strangers into friends. Whitelist you. Show your best
stuff, Its you first date. Share your best content. Follow me on twitter, like on
Facebook, check out this post...
If they do it, you are an authority…an influencer.
Welcome email…will get copy from 6th div.- everyone gets this letter once.
Set up Infusionsoft to not send the Indoctrination Letter to existing clients, they
begin on Engagement email.
Minimum of 3 emails a week
digitalmarketer.com/email-whitelisting (free copy of instructions)
Blog posts should be of relevance to readers and of interest to them. It should
not be about you.
2. Engagement Topical
Interest Based Followup (lead magnet centric)
This where the $$$ is made
How long should by engagement series be? 3-28 days Price dictates the length.
3. Ascension Turn ordinary buyers into Multi-Buyers
Establishes a “value-loop"
Doesn’t need to be your products. They just bought from you, so you are highly
favored at this time. Refer them to other favored vendors.
4. Segmentation Your primary broadcast list
One job: segment subscribers into “Engagement Series"
“Value First” campaign
The way to verify engagement, have them opt in again.”like date night” - it
reinvigorates the relationship. It will make your list healthier.
5. Re-Engagment
Wake up dying leads
Send to non-opens/clicks after 60 days
Goal: get them in an engagement series
Remove the un-engaged
If they go through the whole re-engagment campaign (by digital marketer) they
are not a client.
Get rid of bad leads on your list so you don’t hurt your score with email providers
Do not clean your emails until you have been running the machine for at least 60
days.
If you mail your list less than once a week, you hate money!
Brad Martineau
The only 2 money making areas are Ascension and Engagement
Lead Magnet - something given for free to get email address
From Lead Magnet try to get them to buy something low priced Tripwire
will help segment the buyers
Core Offer - the core product or service that you sell.
Profit Maximizer - something you add to the core offer
Lead Magnets
free consultation
In home design consult
free reports
free session
framing? discounts?
Splintering - identifying lead magnets
What piece of my core offer can a split out and make a lead magnet
From that piece I can move to core offer
Play is
Contact us to
Lead Magnet to Tripwire
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Brian Clark – Home Painters Toronto
Breakdown your sales process
Uses gravity forms
http://www.passionatebrian.com