CRM stands for Customer Relationship Manager, but I bet you knew that. There are many CRMs out there. Some have been around for many years and they vary from the very basic to the very complex. How do you navigate all that and make the right decision?

In just a few fast weeks, the 2018 holiday season will be a memory and we will be on to another exciting year as business owners. Exciting, that is, if you are ready to hit the ground running. If you need a little help with your creative thinking or problem-solving, here are 15 creative exercisese exercises we found 'around the web'. 

They say everybody has a least one great story inside of them screaming to get out. Of course, given the fact that anyone with a keyboard and a little spare time can produce an e-book these days, there’s also a school of thought that says maybe you should keep that book to yourself. The question of whether you should take a bold step forward and put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) is a personal one. Before you make that decision, here are some things to ask yourself.

In a previous article, we discussed reducing churn for the new member. To summarize, you have to (1) continue to wow new members after they actually buy as you did when marketing to them, (2) you cannot overwhelm them so that they don’t think that they can do it, (3) create an early win for the new member, and (4) reward them when they meet that goal.

I recently scanned an infographic in a magazine that was illustrating proper etiquette in a shared work environment. One of the points made was about bringing your dog to the space. The author’s comment was ‘It’s 2018, the dogs have won!’, essentially saying get over it and quit complaining.

What is your procedure when you get a lead? When you get a customer? To retain a customer? Any other time?

Look, followup is the most important thing that you can do.

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.

Building rapport is the single most important thing you can do to sell your products or services, and to sell them at higher prices.

What’s the secret?

It’s not rocket science.

Passion is a powerful force, an energy born from what excites you. In order to be successful in your business, you must be passionate about the work that you do. If you are not passionate about what you do, you will quickly become burnt out or bored.

Think about it. Do you know any successful people who are not passionate about what they do?

Last week we celebrated Thanksgiving -  a holiday for celebrating family and friends, and for giving thanks for the good things in life. Some people are comfortable expressing gratitude year-round, but if you find you only think about being thankful during the Thanksgiving season, read on for some things to consider.

The simple answer is — always, whenever possible! End of article.

OK, that would make for a very short newsletter, and set me up for some negative feedback, so I’ll expand.

But before we get into the details, I want to say that all things being equal, nothing, I mean nothing, ever beats the conversion of a good, well designed and well-executed direct mail campaign. NEVER!

You’ve done it! You’ve created an awesome membership program that everyone in your niche is clamoring for! You’ve nailed the marketing, the audience and the message. They WANT your stuff! You’ve hit the lottery, you are on top of the world… but all too briefly.

Posts, let’s see, there are fence posts, post a letter, post-it note, and perhaps other types of posts. But none of them are what we are talking about here. Here we are going to talk about an HTTP post. What the heck is that? [Geek alert]

Even if you’re charging ‘enough’, are you charging the best way to support your business model and goals? Let’s consider some creative and profitable options.

I wanted to give you some neat little (or not so little) Infusionsoft tips and thoughts about some complex ideas like using fulfillment lists or looping campaigns, or ???.

But instead I decided to talk about extending Infusionsoft.