As regular readers of my articles know, I am an Infusionsoft Certified Consultant. My team and I have worked with literally hundreds of small business owners, worldwide, to implement and successfully launch Infusionsoft for CRM, Marketing Automation, eCommerce and Affiliate Marketing.

We all learned in Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers, the more hours you commit to working at something, like Infusionsoft, you tend to get good at it. Really good at it.

Here is the single most important point I can make to any small business owner, entrepreneur or professional who currently uses Infusionsoft, is considering investing in Infusionsoft, or is using any system like Infusionsoft for growing a small business.

Start and implement your Infusionsoft system with a map. That’s it. (Write it down now. "Get off butt. Call Cliff. Schedule time to do serious mapping and planning today. Grow my business.")

My friend and business associate, Craig Jacobson with Open Spaces Marketing in San Diego, California, is an early adopter in the realm of what Infusionsoft and top certified consultants are now calling the Marketing Automation Plan or M.A.P.

Craig had a different name for it in the early days. Infusionsoft has since trademarked their version including The Perfect Customer Lifecycle which serves as a great visual aid and sales funnel model.

At WealthNet Partners we call it The Sales Acceleration Map or S.A.M. Our team of technology, business, marketing and engineering professionals can then take these S.A.M.s, one or two-page flow charts with detailed descriptions of every step of the marketing and sales process.

Why are these maps so crucial to successful small business owners? It forces us to come down from our 30,000 foot view. But it’s one thing be a great visionary and strategist. It’s quite another to execute tactically with the minute details of growing a business.

Business owners fly by the seat of their pants way too often. It’s dumb. And risky. And really expensive based on my personal experience the last 30 years in business.

The maps get us focused. Focus is powerful.

The first map we craft is the big picture. All the elements that impact sales results. Lead generation, conversion, nurturing with automated follow up, closing the sale, and fulfilling in a way that you develop tons of Raving Fans and referrals! The whole sales funnel so to speak.

The next level of maps we create is for each project, marketing campaign or launch you want to do. Instead of the 30,000 foot view, we drill down to the exact steps in a marketing campaign. This is what I call hyper focus!

These maps are created in programs like Gliffy.com and comparable online mind mapping and flow charting tools.

Without focus you are screwed in business. I used to be a very unfocused marketer and small business guy. Then I got help. My business coaches taught me how to focus, plan and execute in a much more disciplined way.

That’s what the mapping process is all about. The power of focus.

So let me ask you an important question. Do you have a clear road map and plan of ACTION for your business? If not, why not?

What are your thoughts about a process like this?

We always appreciate your thoughts and comments on the WealthNet Partners blog.