PartnerCon 2013: Strengthening Partner Marketing Strategies (Day 2)

So, here I am on the second night of PartnerCon 2013 with a frosty beverage in hand sitting back, thinking about the amazing sessions and content that was shared today. To give you a bit more of an inside look of what it’s like at PartnerCon, I’ll share a recap of some of the highlights with you.

If you missed the recap of the first day, read it here. It’s definitely required to get a good idea on the vibe and feel of this partner-oriented event.

We started off the morning with Greg Head, Chief Marketing Officer of Infusionsoft, who delivered a much-loved session on marketing strategy and positioning. He was able to relay through his 25+ years of experience core tenets in positioning a company, product and service for others and offered very clear examples for attendees. His main point was that once you understand your position in the market, what it is you do, and whom you serve, only then you can create very effective marketing collateral.

Strategy is simply the decisions you make so your tactics work. #PartnerCon13
— Jama St. John (@StrategicVS) November 6, 2013

Next, we got down to business. Mark Bailey, Certified Consulting Trainer at Infusionsoft, facilitated a truly interactive session so partners could interact with each other and trade best practices in crafting effective campaigns for themselves and clients. Partners worked in small groups so everyone had a voice and was able to actively participate and learn. We dubbed this session as super-charging campaigns and we think we worked marvelously.

After a short break, Jermaine Griggs, owner of Hear & Play and 2011 Ultimate Marketer, delivered a fantastic session on the abilities and the possibilities of automation beyond emails. Jermaine has been a crowd favorite and routinely wows attendees at our conference with his panache and accessibility of his content. He delivered was a handful of very practical ideas that partners can take to their clients to wow their customers through multiple channels – well beyond email.

If you can lavish attention on grandma with @infusionsoft, imagine what you can do for your customers! #partnercon13
— Design+Automate=Win (@DesireeScales) November 6, 2013

After a generous lunch provided by PowerPay, we reconvened to join a panel hosted by the one and only Brian Jambor, Partner Marketing & Sales Manager at Infusionsoft. He likes to give Camaros away … and in my book, that deserves massive respect. Seriously, though, he led a competition among partners to drive the highest number of sales and he moderated a panel featuring Janette Gleason, Marc P. Summers and Dobbin Buck. Questions directed at this panel weren’t softballs, either. It went into direct Q&A from the audience with a few clarifying points by Brian. All the top performers of the contest provided helpful, direct and even a bit surprising insights about what it took to win (or come extremely close to winning). The overarching theme was that these people worked closely with their Infusionsoft sales representative to best position and engage more small businesses to choose Infusionsoft.

#PartnerCon13 Big Shout out to the best patner sales rep at Infusionsoft for always beeing here to support me @InfusedEvan
— Guillaume Couillard (@GCouillard1) November 6, 2013

@CoryBendixen get ready…we are going to be busy this month! #partnercon13
— Misty Kortes (@mkkortes) November 6, 2013

The following breakout sessions covered two relevant topics to partners and small businesses at large. Janette Gleason, founder of Gleason Consulting Group, delivered a riveting presentation sharing how she was able to corner her vertical market, the legal services industry, by delivering tailored value to all of her clients. She worked alongside Infusionsoft by crafting various service and support packages that her company would completely setup from scratch. In her session, she explained precisely how she was able to maximize the revenue from her clients while delivering premium-grade service.

Similarly, Jordan Hatch, Professional Services Development Manager at Infusionsoft, went in great depth as to the how, what and why Infusionsoft offers various Kickstart services. More importantly, he walked attendees through the steps necessary to discover what new services they can offer clients while ensuring maximum revenue and satisfaction by measuring Net Promoter Score (NPS), Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) and more. Additionally, the attendees were able to get a walk-through of the four distinct technology buyers including their motives, interests, pains and objectives so partners can better position their services around real-world customer needs.

Thanks @JordanHatch. Really great data-driven insights into @Infusionsoft target opportunities. #PartnerCon13 #SharingIsCaring
— Gareth Everson (@garetheverson) November 6, 2013

We concluded the day with an exciting keynote from Amy Porterfield, owner of her own social media consultancy, explaining how to effectively use Facebook to generate leads. It was a real gift to have her share her insights because she was able to go more in-depth than ever before explaining the innards of Facebook’s Power Editor, advanced targeting strategies and how to cost effectively generate thousands of warm leads. This isn’t only applicable to the partner’s businesses, but also our customers so they can expand their footprint into the social media marketing industry for customers. She provided a lot of insight and examples proven from her experience with brands large and small.

We concluded the day with a funny, but relevant message from Marc P. Summers, owner of Information Street, which emphasized the capabilities of his event check-in solution that integrates with Infusionsoft. With a like-minded crowd, he was able to captivate them with his irreverent speaking style, yet understanding the plight of the needs of our customers.

"Stop #Hustling. Start working with strategy and focus." – @AmyPorterfield #PartnerCon13
— Steven Burt (@stevenburt) November 6, 2013

With this frosty beverage in hand (more accurately, a couple), I want to affirm the point of all these amazing sessions – they are to help customers succeed. Our company and partners agree that we want to help you achieve the business benefit quickest without any pain, so we are arming them with the tools, tips and strategies so they are best positioned to be winners on your team. So, why not cruise through the Infusionsoft Marketplace and work with a partner who would be thrilled to support your and your business’ goals?

As an aside, I can tell you that the energy here is definitely—without question—on par with the likes of InfusionCon. And by energy, I mean the attitude, perspective and optimistic outlook of the future of Infusionsoft, our community and the state of small business. I’ve spoken with a number of partners and they are asking the larger questions, much more confident in their approach and share strong bonds in how they deliver value to small businesses. While strategies and tactics are definitely being picked up here, it’s evident that the Infusionsoft Partner community is strong, united and incredibly connected.

We have some really exciting buzz to cover tomorrow about our software, product strategy (as hinted by Clate yesterday) as well as some killer social media advice, so you won’t want to miss it.