The Truth About Your Infusionsoft Consultant

Infusionsoft Consultant Shares Biggest Frustration for Clients

Does Your Infusionsoft Consultant Really Understand Your Business?

What I am about to share with you can apply to any circumstance in which you need to find and engage a consultant to help you grow your business.

First let me tell you that I am an Infusionsoft consultant. Actually right now I would have to say I am an "unofficial" Infusionsoft consultant. The reason for this is the current Infusionsoft Consultant program is undergoing a radical transformation for the better, All prior certified consultants are now required to be recertfified which includes many hours of training to ensure high quality standards for Infusionsoft’s growing customer base worldwide. This is starting later in the month which is why I must tell you that I think we are all kind of "unofficial" for the moment. But great things are coming out of the recent revamp of the consultant program. Stay tuned.

I also am a long-time Infusionsoft user. I stumbled into it in 2006 or 2007 because what I was using before was "acting" up. Also, I like to test drive almost every piece of software my team and I might recommend for a client. It’s important that we earn this first-hand experience with any software product or business solution. We practice what we preach.

My team and I have worked with almost 150 small business owners around the world working in a wide variety of businesses from brick and mortar to high-end ecommerce businesses. And we have learned a ton about the single most important aspect of any small business investment; ROI. Yes. Return On Investment! Being in the trenches gives us a very useful perspective to share with new users. The bottom line is we can help you avoid many of the pitfalls any system like this might present.

I am not sharing any of this to brag. But I am a full-disclosure guy though. Now that all my cards on the table I want to tell you the truth about any Infusionsoft consultant on the planet Earth today. This means anyone you would ask for advice to get a better return on your investment in Infusionsoft. And right now I think this number of so called consultants might be in the hundreds.

The Truth You Need to Know

The simple truth about Infusionsoft itself, or any other software solution you choose to implement in your business, is it’s only as good as your implementation plan and execution. Which is only as good as the person leading the implementation effort. Ideally this would be someone who actually has experience in business and with the system itself.

The simple truth about your Infusionsoft consultant, or anybody you pay to consult and advise you on the software, absolutely, positively must take the time on the front end of your business relationship to understand your business. Look. Not all consultants are created equal. Same for Infusionsoft consultants. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. It’s your job to figure this out BEFORE you hire any consultant.

If your Infusionsoft consultant does not ask you many intelligent questions about your business then you really need to consider what you are paying for. Here’s why. Infusionsoft is a tool. Actually it’s an incredibly powerful and extremely affordable solution for small business owners who seek to integrate CRM, automated email marketing, ecommerce and tons of other functionality. But the tool, the system, needs a great operator. If there’s not a great architect, builder and maintenance person on your team, and you choose to outsource this work, then you need to make sure this person knows your business as well as possible.

Again, as powerful as this incredible software is, there is huge gap between the software’s potential and realizing a Return On Investment for your  business. This is true because your strategic vision, your sales process, your reporting, your follow up, your accountability resource for sales management and all aspects of your current systems must get mapped to the tactical level in the Infusionsoft system. If you don’t have a roadmap then you’re completely shooting in the dark.

How to Find the Right Consultant for You

In my experience there are many very capable and talented Infusionsoft consultants around the world. Most of us are Infusionsoft users ourselves. We are entrepreneurs in our own rights. Some of us are programmers. Some of us (like me) are not programmers. We are business people first, who also learned to implement Infusionsoft to varying degrees. Most of us have a certain area of strength to add value to the consulting relationship. So how do you find the right Infusionsoft consultant for you?

Here are three steps to consider when finding the right consultant.

1. Do they ask you intelligent questions about your business? Sales process, marketing messaging, unique sales proposition, etc. If they don’t then you may not want to look to them to do more than maybe a few sequences, tags, web forms, and the more basic functions of the system. But will they get your strategy mapped into the system for you? Not if they don’t understand it. Therein lies the key to success.

2. Define what it is you want your system to do for you. If you’re not clear how can you expect your consultant to be clear? We start out with a mapping process. There are few Infusionsoft consultants who are really good at this kind of thing. They can be super strategic with you to click into your vision. Then they can translate the mapping, your vision and sales process, into your Infusionsoft application.

3. Don’t be cheap. The truth about this kind of work, the serious implementation of Infusionsoft, sometimes integrated with your Quickbooks and other applications, is really, really intense work. Don’t believe me? Jump on into that bad boy and tell me how it works out. I’ve seen some real train wrecks. Worse yet, the application just sits there. It’s like having your dream race car (Right now I’m into World Rally Car kinda of rides. Just a phase.) sitting in the garage with no air in the tires, no rocket fuel in the tank, and no driver ready to rip it.

Sad. But all too common. Be realistic with the fact that a well-crafted implementation starts out in the low thousands of dollars range. Infusionsoft provides a ton of coaching value for the fee they charge. The support is generally exceptional in my experience. But beyond your initial fee to purchase the software be prepared to pay $150-$250 per hour for the better consultants to help you implement and integrate other systems like Quickbooks, etc.

So there you have it. These of course are just my opinions based on my experience using the system and consulting small business owners to implement the system.

What is your experience as an Infusionsoft client? Or maybe you’re an Infusionsoft consultant reading this. Feel free to add your .02.

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