To masterKeap or any CRM or marketing automation platform requires knowing the process you want to automate instead of making it up as you go.
I call it "Process Before Login."
I cringe when I hear...
Wes, Keap is hard*. I call it 'Confusionsoft!'"
(*Building a business is hard. Creating processes is hard. Mapping out your processes is hard. But what's the alternative? Going back to your W2 job?)
Sure, learning any new program has its ups and downs, tips and tricks, nuances and subtleties. Infusionsoft is no different.
But the absolute biggest hindrance I see slowing the progress of new Infusionsoft users is not the software.
Lack of a documented process is holding you back from massive growth!"
THERE! I said it.
Now you have two choices:
But beware, the trouble with opportunity is that it always comes disguised as hard work and is dressed in overalls.
The saying "garbage in, garbage out" is more applicable to Keap than any other software you'll ever own.
Why?
Because it's 4 things in 1:
(The key to Keap mastery is business process mastery. You can't have one without the other. To get help in these areas, check out my resources below.)
So what's your profit-producing process?
If you can only answer one or two questions, you're not alone."
As soon as you can answer them all—and automate it—you will be alone...at the top.
If you're afraid of the top because someone once said it's lonely up there, forget them. There are plenty of good people at the top that welcome the company.
Since 2008 I've heard every excuse and witnessed dozens of "Cinderella stories" where clients have succeeded "against the odds."
One of the most common excuses I hear is
Wes, why is it so hard to just do one simple thing with Infusionsoft?"
First of all, it's not hard "to do just one simple thing" with your Infusionsoft or Keap application.
I equate Keap to a full-featured fitness center vs. a gritty, rusty old-school free-weights-only gym.
I don't bad-mouth L.A. Fitness for giving me sooooo many options and ways to improve my health.
If I have time I'll go to L.A. Fitness and stretch, hit the stair climber, maybe shoot hoops for 15-20 minutes, hit the free weights, catch the last half of a pilates program, knock out 10 laps in the pool then sit in the sauna for 20 minutes before I shower and head home.
But, L.A. Fitness, why is it so hard for me just do one simple exercise at your gym?"
Sounds crazy when you put it that way, doesn't it?
Some days I am pressed for time and I may run into the gym, hit a quick 10-minute cardio to loosen up, bang out a few sets of bench, hop over to the peck deck then finish with some dumbbell flies and I'm out of there.
The same is true with Keap.
Do you just want to send an email blast to a list of Contacts?
Want to sell a new Product through Keap?
The REAL difficulty you probably have is the lack of a process.
Most business owners just shoot from the hip with a one-off promotion or email blast or letter or Tweet and blame the marketing medium for their crappy results.
Like the gym, you'll have better results if you show up with an aerobic and weight-lifting plan, give yourself time to execute the plan, and have the discipline to follow the plan to completion.
Also, like the gym, Keap gives you the flexibility to hit it hard or get your quickie in on those days that are just a little more hectic than we'd prefer.
So the next time you're tempted to place the blame on a 3rd party software application for your lack of sales and marketing success, ask yourself if you're blaming your less-than-ideal physique on the Pop-Tart that FLEW into your mouth "on accident...30 days in a row!"
As soon as you accept responsibility for your own failure and success, success will be yours for the taking.
Since 2008 I have used Keap to grow my business, support my family of 9, promote my two books, my speaking and training business, and to grow to my business to $36,268.12 in a month with no salespeople, no full-time employees, no paid advertising and no outbound calls by fixing my follow up failure.
In the Keap demo below, I log in to my own application and show you things such as:
So get comfy, pour yourself a drink, and lean into your screen as I pull back the curtains on my own Infusionsoft Demonstration using my own Infusionsoft application to explain "The A.B.C.D.E.™ Sales & Marketing System."
Ready to Buy Keap today?
Still have questions about Infusionsoft? Contact me today.
Now go sell something.
Asking how the Keap CRM can help you grow your sales is like asking how useful the transmission is in your car.
While the transmission is not the car, it’s a vital and necessary part of your car.
In all candor, the CRM component of Infusionsoft is somewhat lacking.
You cannot customize it much and you can only add 100 custom fields (to the many standard fields they give you.)
That being said, if you are a
…who wants to grow your sales without growing your staff and do it affordably, with great support and an expanded network of certified partners to help you customize and supercharge your marketing automation engine, you must take a look at how Infusionsoft brings together all of their modules
…for $299 to $379/mo.
The reality is you can cobble and duct tape together your own Frankenspot system for free or almost free.
For instance, you can buy/use:
The problem with “Free/Cheap” is that you either get no support or slow support when things are working properly and one vendor will ALWAYS blame the other.
“What’s that? Your purchases in Shopify aren’t triggering your MailChimp thank you emails with your upsell offers and it’s costing you $2,000 / mo in lost sales?"“I’m sorry, Ma’am, we only provide support on Shopify. Have you called MailChimp?"
“Oh, they don’t have phone support? What about Zapier?"
“Oh, they don’t have phone support, either?"
“Well, what did you expect for free?”
That’s the real world.
If you spend one hour per day troubleshooting your Frankenspot software Monday to Friday and you value your time at just the minimum wage of $15/hour, that’s 22 workdays per month times $15 = $330/mo you could spend on software that provides real support and breakeven.
If you value your time at $100/hr you could spend $2,200/mo on an integrated platform and breakeven.
Keap offers live phone support during the week and chat support at night and on weekends.
How many times have you done a launch or simply been so busy that the only time you could work on your business was at night or on the weekends and been frustrated because the “affordable” platform you compromised on wasn’t available to help you?
You can’t “save your way to prosperity.”
You and your time are worth a lot more than $15/hr.
Invest in the best tools and you’ll see your business grow according to the tools you have at your disposal.
In 2008, Keap had one pricing model: $5,000 down and $299/mo for a 5-user license.
I was still working alone building The Sales Whisperer® but I saw the vision and dove in headfirst.
Now my residual income alone is 6-figures, which frees me up to work on my business and not in it, which creates even greater growth.
Many others strung chicken wire around their “free” tools…but we don’t hear from them anymore…because they are no longer in business.
They “saved” themselves into oblivion.
Invest wisely. Invest in yourself. Invest in the tools that will help you grow.
Let me know if I can help you with that.
You get Keap to build big contact lists and nurture them until they buy from you, send you referrals and testimonials then buy from you again.
That's why I offer my Creating and Saving Contact Lists as part of our CRM Butler services.
If your contact lists are not clean, accurate, tagged, and segmented you won't be able to send targeted offers at the proper time, which is the key to sales automation and marketing automation, which is the key to leveraging Infusionsoft to make money while you sleep!
Remember that Marketing Automation Plan we started out with?
Related Articles:
We can go back to that to maintain clarity and focus on your main business-growth goals with Keap including Saving Contact Lists, streamlining your Tags, deleting unused email Templates, tightening up Follow-Up Sequences, adding Triggers to your Opportunity pipeline, and more.
We know how to do that because we made the same mistakes way back in 2008 and we've now been helping dozens and hundreds of Infusionsoft clients do the same.
The word "API" (is it a word or an acronym or an abbreviation? "I'm so confused!!!") is a word fraught with fear, trepidation, and anxiety, in the wrong hands.
In the proper hands, it's like Picasso's brush, Shakespeare's pen, or Dan Kennedy's swipe file in that it can make magic happen right before your very computer screen.
Wikipedia defines API as "Application Programming Interface." Breaking that down, an API is simply a translator between software programs.
"Why do I need a translator, Wes?"
Because software programs are built by humans, and humans have preferences, tendencies, and quirks that may either align with your own preferences or may make you nuts.
"How so?"
Let's say you prefer to pick up your mail as you leave your house for work, sort your bills and pay them during your lunch break and file the bills when you get home with the most recent in the front of your filing cabinet.
Then you get married and your spouse prefers to check mail upon arriving at home, pay them once a week on Saturday morning and file them with the most recent in the back of the filing cabinet.
You and your spouse need a bill-paying API.
Is API coding hard?"
That's like asking Michael Phelps if it's hard to swim fast.
We'll both give you the same answer: not with a lot of practice, excellent coaching and determination to get it right.
Is API coding expensive?"
You won't get good API work on Fiverr and you probably won't find a high school savant to do the work either.
So expect to pay more for API coding than you would for a new tri-fold brochure for your next trade show.
However, if you're even considering API coding you know the benefits you'll realize from the automation and integration of your software platforms so you know the benefits of good API work far outweighs the monetary investment it will require.
There are two adages I've learned during a career in sales beginning in 1994:
Take the time to find a firm with experienced Keap API Developers, outline what you need, get their scope of work and pricing in writing, pay them well and demand they perform.
The extra $100 or $1,000 or $10,000 will be paid back exponentially in bottom-line dollars grown as well as hassles and frustrations eliminated.
If you haven't read my bio I can tell you I graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1992 with an emphasis on engineering.
I then graduated from Texas A&M in 1993 with a degree in meteorology, which, counter to popular opinion, is nothing more than Calculus, Physics, and Thermodynamics.
With that background in discipline, engineering, math, science, and attention to detail I entered the world of full-time sales in 1997 after starting a couple of ventures while still on active duty.
The majority of my sales career has been in the technology space where I was a user of databases and CRMs since 1998.
In 2008 I became certified with Keap and have been one of their top sellers, trainers, and contributors.
My team is now up to nine with bursts to 12 when the workload calls for additional brainpower.
To get started simply complete the Contact Us form and select "Keap API" at the top of the list box and my assistant will be in touch to schedule a call.
I look forward to speaking and working with you.
When you bring on The Sales Whisperer® team to help with your Keap Services we'll jump right into creating your Infusionsoft Email Templates.
Three Options In The Keap Email Templates Builder
As you can see in the top photo, Keap Email Templates are just one of the nine templates we can help you create when you leverage us to help with your Keap Services. The nine templates include:
There are so many templates because Keap helps you automate your entire marketing and sales processes.
These are the steps you and your staff do without thinking.
But taking what you do naturally and mapping it out and capturing it and loading it into your Infusionsoft application takes work.
It takes skill.
It takes the knowledge and experience of someone as dedicated, determined, and creative as my team at The Sales Whisperer®.
A fundamental part of my Keap Services is setting up, cleaning, and organizing your Keap Tags.
You apply tags to your contacts so you can sort, sift, and separate your database and know who's who in the zoo!
It used to be "the more Tags the better!" But that is no longer the case.
Sure, you'll probably always have Tags for Prospects, Clients, Short Term Nurture Follow-Up Sequences, Long Term Nurture Follow-Up Sequences as well as Keap Tags for those that purchased specific products, those that clicked on Trackable Links, those that attended webinars, workshops, and conference calls and more.
When it comes to contact Tags, many still believe the more the merrier.
You want to know what interests your contacts so you can offer them what they want.
If you're out tracking bobcats you'll have better luck with raw steak than carrots.
Your tags let you sort and sift and segment so all of your communications are targeted, relevant and profitable.
Creating, organizing, and cleaning up your Keap Tags is just one of the 15+ ways I support you with my various Keap Services.
Just like luggage tags or red tags at your favorite retail store, Tags help you identify contacts in your Keap CRM for the purpose of sending them targeted information such as sales offers, upsell offers, invitations to events, webinars, etc.
Related Post: Print Money With Keap Multi-Media Follow-Up Sequences
That's a key concept: sending targeted information.
The key to growing in today's over-communicated, always-on world is to send targeted, relevant information to people that have raised their hands and asked to receive more information from you. You know who has raised their hand by the Infusionsoft Tags you apply to their contact record.
To help with your organization of contacts, Keap gives you some default categories such as Prospects, Customers, Nurture, etc. Feel free to use them or delete them all and add your own.
The key is to build out your system in a way that is most conducive to your style of work and then use it daily!
Personally, I run multiple entities out of my one Keap application so I will make a category out of one of my entities, such as The Sales Whisperer®, and under The Sales Whisperer®, I'll have Keap Tags such as Prospect, Client, Former Client (what were they thinking?), Affiliate, Workshop Attendee and more. (174 total Keap Tags just for the Category of The Sales Whisperer®.)
If someone fills out a web form they get one of several of my Tags.
If they click a link I give them one of my Tags.
If they buy, buy an upsell, refer someone or just contact me for more information I give them one or more of my Infusionsoft Tags.
Because people have different needs, wants, and desires, and the more closely I can match my offer to those needs, wants, and desires the greater the likelihood I'll make a sale, a fan, and a client for life.
Let me explain.
In my Keap database, I have a list of clients that are salespeople for a major technology firm.
These people are interested in topics such as cold calling, handling voicemail, reaching decision-makers, setting firm appointments, getting their proposals accepted, hitting quota, and navigating the complex sale.
They ARE NOT too interested in social media marketing, Facebook advertising, SEO, or WordPress design.
Nor are they great prospects for my Keap Customer Referral Program.
So rather than send out an offer to attend a workshop or webinar I'm hosting on SEO or Keap to these 740 contacts and risk alienating them and having them unsubscribe from my database I search for their Tags and exclude them from my offers on topics I know do not interest them.
That's the beauty of Keap Tags.
Once you have a well-defined list you can then save it and it will be automatically updated with new names that are added or removed as they occur.
No more list-scrubbing.
No more duplicate data entry.
No more lost margins or irate clients that receive a 10% off offer the day after they just bought from you!
Just apply the correct Tags via your Web Forms or Keap Note Templates or even Automated Links and let the system take care of the rest.
Why do we offer to clean up your CRM data?
Because anything worth doing is worth doing poorly.
What a crazy saying, huh?
But if you think about it, it makes sense.
It was worth learning how to walk, talk, run, ride a bike, hit a golf ball, etc.
We were terrible at them at first but since they were worth doing we stuck with it until we mastered it. (Well, maybe we're still trying to master golf. But you get the point.)
Maybe you jumped headfirst into Keap and started sending emails and creating web forms and email templates and now you have some redundant or extraneous data cluttering up your Infusionsoft application.
We can help with our Keap Services: Cleaning Up Data.
Remember that Marketing Automation Plan we started out with?
We can go back to that to maintain clarity and focus on your main business-growth goals with Infusionsoft to:
We know how to do that because we made the same mistakes way back in 2008 and we've now been helping dozens and hundreds of Infusionsoft clients do the same.
They are MISERABLE when you have to clear them constantly to test your shopping cart updates inside Infusionsoft.
When you are testing the checkout process on one of your websites I recommend you follow the steps I cover in this video to streamline your testing.
Adding products to Keap and getting paid for them takes just 5 steps.
Some additional Salesforce vs Keap resources here at The Sales Whisperer® include:
How to add a Company to Keap in just 5 easy steps. (Keap Tips Tricks.)
Whereas old-school CRMs are Company-centric, Keap recognizes you sell to humans AT a company, so empower you to be Contact-centric. (Isn't that the first "C" in "CRM?") When you need to link multiple Contacts in the same Company just follow these 5 simple steps.
If you still have questions about ordering Infusionsoft for your business and would like to see Infusionsoft in action, let's talk.
Infusionsoft Consultant Wes Schaeffer shows off his Ford Excursion with the "Double Your Sales, GUARANTEED! with Infusionsoft Marketing Manager, Rebecca Sprynczynatyk.
Back in 2010 Infusionsoft Consultants like me helped promote the Double Your Sales Infusionsoft motto. And it was GUARANTEED! And it was documented!
But we stopped using it in 2011.
Why?
Because we found it was unbelievable.
Despite the documented case studies it was just too bold so we stopped using it.
But we didn't stop helping entrepreneurs double their sales.
I wrote this post originally on December 28, 2009.
I updated it on December 8, 2012.
Now in April of 2022, I have over 2,355 active clients around the world using Keap, HubSpot, Ontraport, Nimble, and ActiveCampaign to Automate. Integrate. Dominate. their markets and business is accelerating for all of us.
A wise man once told me
It's better to pay more than you had hoped than less than you should have."
When you are looking for the best Keap Consultants in the World of The Whisperer you've come to the right place.
This is the right place because when you work with the Keap Consultants here at The Sales Whisperer® you are building a team that can:
Thank you for considering retaining The Sales Whisperer® team as your Keap Consultants.
We look forward to helping you grow.
Greg and Marie Rippel were classic small business owners.
They grew tired of the Rat Race and decided to pick up and move from Chicago to Eagle River, Wisconsin, start their own business, All About Spelling, and take control of their own lives.
At least, that was their intention.
Their company consisted of selling their multi-sensory spelling program to teachers and home-school parents, the Rippels were able to provide for the needs of their family.
However, like most small business owners, they soon found themselves in the middle of the small business whirlwind–fighting for time, energy, and business growth. Their dream of small business ownership wasn't turning out quite the way they expected.
Then they entered a contest that would change everything.
On April 28, 2008, Greg and Marie Rippel received one of the most life-altering phone calls of their lives.
They were chosen as the winners of Keap's Edge of Success Contest and the marketing team was calling to congratulate them.
As the winners of Keap's "Double Your Sales" contest, All About Spelling received a free Keap account for one year, the support of Keap's marketing department, and a guarantee that they would double their sales in three short months.
Situation: A faltering economy and only 90 days to double sales.
Now do you understand why every Keap employee was holding their breath when they took on this challenge?
It was a tall order to fill and all the pressure was on me.
Somehow the sales for July through September had to double from their sales from April through June.
Now, obviously, you wouldn't be reading this if Keap hadn't succeeded.
But no one had any idea how extraordinary All About Spelling's success would be. (I'll give you the results in a minute, but first let me show you why All About Spelling needed a powerful marketing tool like Infusionsoft.)
Before using Keap, All About Spelling was struggling to keep in contact with its prospects and customers.
Despite the 5,000 names in their database, and their monthly newsletter, they failed to:
By simply fixing these issues, Keap was prepared to help them double their sales.
After all, they had an incredible product, their website housed dozens of raving testimonials, their customer service was fantastic, and Greg and Marie Rippel took the time to speak directly with concerned customers and prospects.
But without a follow-up marketing plan in place, All About Spelling was missing out on thousands of dollars in revenue every month.
Prospects weren't taking that final step and making the purchase.
Existing customers lost their enthusiasm and drifted away.
In fact, repeat business was dropping off by 50% from one product to the next.
And, Marie and Greg Rippel were becoming overwhelmed with their manual efforts.
Like most small business owners, the Rippels struggled to keep up with their workload.
They were talking to customers on the phone, hand writing letters and manually sending emails, packaging their own products, and completing a million other repetitive, manual tasks.
They were using multiple systems to organize their marketing and sales efforts.
The more they worked, the more they were forced to work, and the less time they had to spend with each other doing the things they loved like hiking, mountain biking, and fishing.
What they were looking for was a solution to save them time and energy, and help them grow their business.
Then, they found Keap.
Okay, this is the information you really want.
The results!
We won't leave you wondering anymore.
By implementing Keap into their business, All About Spelling:
But that's not all! By the end of three months:
Each month, All About Spelling has easily outsold their results from the previous year.
Despite the impact of the recession!
And, all they did was use Infusionsoft to fix the greatest (and most common) of all small business downfalls: the lack of follow-up.
On top of that, the Rippels found more time to focus on the things they want to do most!
And Infusionsoft has the power to help YOU find more time, increase your revenue, build your business, and reach your most ambitious goals. How?
With our three-part promise to you!
People buy when they are ready to buy.
This means timing is critical to capturing sales.
But it can be really difficult, especially for small businesses, to consistently follow up with prospects and be available when they are finally ready to make a purchase.
You've got a business to run.
You can't be spending your time waiting for a prospect to finally buy.
Infusionsoft allows you to systematically and automatically follow up with prospects so that you're standing there the moment they need you and your services or products.
Imagine how great it would be if you were able to:
With Keap, you'll never let another prospect fall through the cracks again.
And, you can stop leaving money on the table with untapped prospects.
I realized I couldn't do everything on my own. I had to find a way to automate my business. Infusionsoft's follow-up sequences allowed me to simultaneously create a 15-step new customer "welcome" campaign, as well as create a "reactivation" campaign for my customers. Before I knew it, sales soared by 200%."
~Richelle Shaw, Fresh Start Telephone
If you're like most small business owners, you have an untapped resource...your existing customers.
Unfortunately, most small business owners are too busy chasing new leads to worry about their customers' needs.
After all, you've got to pay the bills, right?
But ironically, it's more cost-effective to get a repeat sale from an existing customer than it is to sell to a new prospect.
Why?
Because once you've established a business relationship with a customer, they are more likely to buy from you again...IF they remember you.
With Keap, you can easily generate repeat sales from your customers by:
Give your customers the one thing they want most...a relationship with you. And, of course, it's all automated.
I spent so much time and energy trying to sort through several different systems that ultimately, at the end of the day, it meant I was not following up with the people who relied on me. I wasn't providing them the service that would set me apart and allows me to do the meaningful work I enjoy."Infusionsoft allows me to focus on growing my business, rather than wasting my time dealing with technology issues. Since using Infusionsoft, I have increased my contact list by 300%, and the constant contact with my customers has lead to a 576% increase in sales."
~ Ronnie Nijmeh, ACQYR
Growing a small business can be challenging.
Most small business owners already juggle an overwhelming workload so the only way to grow is to add staff.
Unfortunately for many businesses, adding staff would kill their profit margins. But there is another option.
Infusionsoft helps you grow your business without growing your staff by improving the efficiency of your operations, enabling you to do more with less.
With Keap, you can:
See what's working. Fix what isn't. Put your business on autopilot so you can focus your time on the things that matter most.
Keap is not a magic solution.
It's the best, most effective way to fix your follow-up failure and drive more revenue.
I learned about Infusionsoft at just the right time. I was just getting to the point where I didn’t know if I could continue to grow my business because I didn’t know how to manage all of my contacts. I didn’t know what to do next. Infusionsoft cut down the time it took me to manage my business; it literally works while I am not working."~Shelle Soelberg, Let’s Play Music
The All About Spelling story is certainly phenomenal.
But it's possible you're still not convinced Keap has the power to double sales.
Maybe you need a little more proof than the phenomenal results of a single company.
Well, do the following names mean anything to you?
They sure mean something to us.
Each of these multi-million dollar small business and marketing experts is a Keap customer.
And, all of them endorse Keap!
All About Spelling was not a unique business.
Their results are not unique to them.
They were chosen as Keap's ultimate case study because they were the best representation of the average, typical, entrepreneurial, and strong-spirited small business.
This means you, too, can double your sales using Keap.
Bottom line: Keap is the most powerful marketing tool any small business can possess.
With Infusionsoft you can easily:
We are so confident in Keap's ability to help you grow your business, that we're willing to give you the guarantee we gave the Rippels.
It's simple:
Implement the software...use it for 12 months...bring on affiliates...implement the e-commerce features...and you'll double your sales in 12 months or less guaranteed!
If you don't double your sales in that timeframe I'll get 100% of your monthly fees refunded to you, which makes this a win-win situation.
Either you double your sales within a single year with Keap's unlimited free tech support, send out thousands of emails a month, build a list of thousands or even tens of thousands or you get your money back.
There is NOTHING better than Infusionsoft. In 4 months I've made a 180 switch from first thinking, 'DAMN, that's pricey' to 'Ok, you got me' and now 'I couldn't imagine my life B.I. (before Infusionsoft)...because this thing is INCREDIBLE!' If you're serious about systemizing and automating your business, then you NEED Infusionsoft."~Sean Greeley, NPE, LLC
But, you have to act now!
You see, although ANY small business can double their sales using Keap, the guarantee only applies to people THAT TAKE ACTION!
After all, no matter how powerful the software is, you must use it in order to double your sales.
So, I am looking for entrepreneurs who:
If you still have questions about ordering Keap for your business and would like to see Keap in action check this out.
If you're ready to get started with Keap and you want to secure over $2,741 in bonuses and savings by ordering through me please contact me now and I'll help you buy Keap today.
If you already have your own Keap account and need to get more out of it just pick the block of time for my Keap Services that fits your budget at my CRM Butler page and get ready to get more leads, convert more sales and make more money...while you sleep.
Market like you mean it.
Now go sell something.