The BIG Idea of the Week: Spring Cleaning your CRM-2

May 21, 2013 by June Brockmeyer Leave a Comment

The Big Ideas Show is Here!

As you know, the Big Ideas team is always looking for new, creative marketing ideas to provide you valuable content in different ways.

Podcast by Big Ideas team

With so much entrepreneurial knowledge out there, we want to make sure we bring you the most relevant and useful content to help you grow your business each day.

The Big Ideas Show is all about helping small businesses achieve big goals with our sales and marketing advice, entrepreneur interviews and tips.

We’ve taken this time to create the first episode of the Big Ideas Show Podcast where we introduce the team to you, and we talk about what we do and why we love helping small businesses succeed.

In this episode you’ll hear from my lovely coworkers and friends Joe Manna, Tracie Rollins, Madison Jacobs, Andrea Parker and I’ll also chime in with a few words. Our Director of Content, Jay Pinkert, will also help make this podcast great and you’ll be hearing more from each of us as we host upcoming podcasts.

Check out the Big Ideas Show now and please tell us what you think. We want to hear your comments and value suggestions for future shows. This show is for you so we hope you enjoy it. We can’t wait to start the conversation with you!

Filed Under: Podcasts Tagged With: Big Ideas, Infusionsoft, june brockmeyer, podcast, small business tools

May 20, 2013 by June Brockmeyer Leave a Comment

Creating Business Solutions in the Pet World

Our “What’s Your Story?” video series is here again and we’re kicking it off with a video starring Robyn Kesnow, Owner and RVT of Animal RN. Kesnow says that after working for a veterinary clinic for 10 years, she saw a need and wanted to provide a business solution for it.

“We do in-home pet care. So, we’re trying to change the way the world does pet care. Pet-sitting at the most basic in-home medical service and animal hospice,” says Kesnow.

“I worked in the veterinary clinic for 10 years and people were always asking us to support them at home when their animals needed just a little bit of extra attention above and beyond dumping down food and changing the litter box. I always wanted to have my own business, why not fill those people’s desires and ditch the day job.”

Kesnow says that she loves being an entrepreneur because she enjoys being in control.

“I joke that when I was an employee I tried really hard to get out of having people look over me and tell me what to do, now that I have my own business I seek out accountability partners to help me make sure I’m staying on track and having a great successful business,” says Kesnow.

And after facing many challenges, Kesnow says that she has been able to get over the hurdles of life and create better things for herself and her business. She says Infusionsoft has played a role in her success.

“My content has gotten better, I’m so excited because I’m talking to people conversation style- I’ve actually had a hard time writing blogs, writing emails to people, it’s felt very strict and confined but Infusionsoft is actually doing a good job helping me make sure that I come across in being authentic which is one of my personal core values and it’s how I want to show up in business.”

Kesnow tells us what success means to her.

Animal RN: In Home Pet Care

“Success is changing the way the world does pet care. Being a part of that whole movement to be able to say ‘dog and cat owner: right now you have a problem you go to the vet there’s no other option.’ Being able to have dog and cat owners go ‘I have a problem, who am I going to call? Am I going to call a veterinary nurse or am I going to call the Doctor?’ and one doesn’t replace the other but, being able to give them those options rather than a big ticket or nothing.”

What does success mean to you? Leave us a comment to let us know!

Filed Under: Videos Tagged With: Animal RN, june brockmeyer, Pets, Robyn Kesnow

May 17, 2013 by June Brockmeyer Leave a Comment

Referral Fears, SEO & Infusioncon: Daymond John [SBB]

Our Small Business Buzz video series continues as we share what’s happening on the Big Ideas Blog each week. We have creative marketing ideas that can help you succeed!

This week’s Friday recap features:

Fear Factor: Asking for a Referral- This guest post by Skip Miller helps get rid of some fears that can come with asking for referrals. It’s all about putting yourself in their shoes and having a plan. Get the fear-fighting tips in this post.
Four Free SEO tools for Small Businesses- In this post you’ll hear about free options that can help you achieve great results when it comes to SEO. Daniel Page is the Director of Business Development for ASEOhosting, a leading provider in SEO hosting and multiple IP hosting and he shares his insights in this guest post.
Infusioncon Expert Insights: Daymond John- This is the first video for our new series where we interview experts to share tips for success with you! Daymond John, Urban Entrepreneur and Shark Tank Judge shares 3 things all entrepreneurs should know.

We’d love to hear what you think so please leave us your comments and remember to follow us on Twitter @BigIdeasBlog and like our Facebook page.

Filed Under: Videos Tagged With: Daymond John, InfusionCon, june brockmeyer, Referrals, seo strategy

May 15, 2013 by June Brockmeyer Leave a Comment

The BIG Idea of the Week: Spring Cleaning your CRM-2

This month on “The BIG Idea of the Week” we want to talk to you about Spring Cleaning your CRM and provide simple tips that will help in managing your small business.

This week, we’re continuing our chat with Wes Schaeffer, Infusionsoft Certified Consultant, also known as The Sales Whisperer. He joined me via Skype last week to talk about some tips and tricks when it comes to cleaning up your database.

One great thing about utilizing a CRM system for your small business is that you can be as organized as you need to be. In our interview, Schaeffer talks about how having Infusionsoft can simplify a few of the steps you need to take to clean up your database, but if you don’t have Infusionsoft don’t worry, the tips can also work for you.

He begins to talk about your branding.

“I always encourage people to do something with their thank you page anyway. People have taken the time to either give you their name and contact information and/or buy something. Do some type of up-sell there, even if it’s just your link to your social media to ask them to engage or have a true up-sell there,” says Schaeffer.

Schaeffer also suggests that you use the tools you have available to organize things like past order information, payment information, activity history etc. By doing this on your Dashboard or whatever platform you see everyday, you’ll feel more organized and it will save you time.

“It’s a great way to streamline how you spend your day,” says Schaeffer.

Schaeffer also says that the key is to use your CRM more efficiently.

“Creating tasks, creating appointments, having them all in one place…now is that really Spring cleaning? maybe, maybe not but I think it’ll clean up your desk, it’ll clean up the paper, it’ll clean up the lists that we all juggle,” says Schaeffer.

The reason why Spring cleaning is so important for entrepreneurs and small business owners is because you can define what it means to you.

To contact Schaeffer directly you can tweet @SalesWhisperer, visit his facebook page or go to his site. Remember to follow & tweet at us @BigIdeasBlog. We’re also on Facebook so please give us a “like”.

We’re excited to start the conversation with you!

Filed Under: Videos Tagged With: CRM, june brockmeyer, Spring, Spring cleaning, Wes Schaeffer