PartnerCon 2013: Thrilled about ‘Easy, Fast and Wow’ Product Vision (Day 3)

The last day of PartnerCon was a great one. This day, we focused a lot on the software and the vision of where it’s going. The killer product keynote offered a lot of visibility into what Infusionsoft is doing to make life for entrepreneurs much easier and fulfilling.

The product vision is summed up as, “Easy, Fast and Wow.” These three words resonated precisely with what partners and their clients want from Infusionsoft. In all honesty, this conference was a powerhouse of information and great energy for Infusionsoft partners, so this is a meaty recap of the third day.

Looking for more recaps? Read what happened on the first day and the second day of PartnerCon 2013.

We got started with a product keynote by Brian Gates, VP of Product Management at Infusionsoft, and Lindsay Bayuk, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Infusionsoft. Both of them delivered an insightful keynote into understand exactly the goal they have when developing software. Lindsay shared that with the participation and involvement of the entire partner community, we have improved the software release process and communications.

The future of Infusionsoft will be to focus heavily into these four constructs: Know My Contacts, Follow Up, Gather Insights and Getting Paid. With this future outlook in mind, Brian led the audience through how Infusionsoft will be known as “Easy, Fast and Wow,” among our customers and partners alike.

Without being too specific, we will be investing heavily to accomplish these goals, expanding our commitment to mobile, cross-browser support and increasing the reporting capabilities seen across the software. Most importantly, Infusionsoft has departed away from date-driven software releases to ensure maximum quality. It’s evident that this ideology works because we released three maintenance releases and we saw no meaningful increase in support volume compared to non-release days. Internally, we often ask each other, “how did the release go?” It’s not uncommon to now hear in return, “what release?” Exactly.

They answered a handful of questions from attendees. Topics ranged from on-boarding experience, ability to voice suggestions to product teams, administrative access (for partners) as well as mobile accessibility. Brian was clear, but open about addressing these questions head on. One of the announcements that was met with a huge applause was a promise that partners will soon be able to access authorized customer applications without needing to create an additional user.

Learning about all the new features coming to @infusionsoft in the coming months – Exciting stuff – #PartnerCon13
— Marc P Summers (@MarcPSummers) November 7, 2013

Day 3 #partnercon13 – Brian Gates and Lindsay Bayuk talking 2014. Wow, I am so excited to be part of the @infusionsoft Community
— Daryl Hine (@DarylHine) November 7, 2013

For the breakout sessions, we had Zach Mangum, VP of Social Products at Infusionsoft, and Sarah Richardson, Lead Development Manager at Infusionsoft.

Zach shared valuable insights on how to run successful marketing campaigns with GroSocial. He addressed a number of questions about the practical and effective ways to raise awareness for your Facebook page. He explained all that is required to run successful marketing campaigns on Facebook. He also addressed a few questions about Facebook’s policies on sweepstakes on their platform. For those who provide social media marketing services for clients, his session was a must-attend, as GroSocial tools are ones you definitely want your marketing arsenal.

Get a promotion up on Facebook within five minutes with @grosocial –@zachmangum #PartnerCon13
— Nathan Weill (@NathanWeill) November 7, 2013

Sarah led a captivating session on the right way to educate and nurture leads so they become well-positioned to succeed at Infusionsoft. In it, she explained that we have almost tripled our conversion rates because her team focuses on the needs, satisfactions, desires and decisions that are on the minds of prospective Infusionsoft users. Basically, many partners have been curious how our sales and marketing teams customize our software services for their long-term success. Sarah concluded with how to best position our array of services (Infusionsoft, CustomerHub and GroSocial) to generate leads, save time and close more sales.

Learning about N.E.A.D.S sales process – a little like the SPIN process – Very Powerful #PartnerCon13
— Marc P Summers (@MarcPSummers) November 7, 2013

After a short break, people were quick to return to main stage to hear Scott Martineau, VP of Demand Generation and co-founder of Infusionsoft, share advice on how to conduct Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis. This planning strategy is proven and is even used today at Infusionsoft. He was able to deliver excellent guidance on how to interpret and constructively perform a SWOT analysis. Attendees didn’t only listen and take notes – they worked through the current reality of their business and participated extensively throughout the session. Comments I overheard were, “This was profound for my business,” and “This will make a huge impact for me.” Scott concluded with advice to spend a full day working through these exercises once a quarter to stay on track and focused.

@scottmartineau's presentation at #PartnerCon13 is JUST WOW!
— Nathan Weill (@NathanWeill) November 7, 2013

Once again, after we enjoyed lunch provided by PowerPay, we reconnected into the main stage area for some interactive learning and discussions. Kara Barney, Certified Consultant Program Manager, guided everyone to gather in small groups and collaborate on delivering additional value to their clients, cornering various niches and trading best practices to win more customers. These were working sessions where no one lectured, but instead, they learned from each other.

Next up, we had two sessions that covered topics that partners and entrepreneurs alike care a lot about. Heather Dopson, Social Media Manager of Infusionsoft, delivered valuable insight and practical advice for managing Facebook Pages and maximizing the interactions to ensure optimal engagement. She answered a handful of questions from attendees regarding post content, images, the thoughts behind content publishing schedules and more. I was proud to see how much she has grown the social media program at Infusionsoft and her advice was dependable because it is validated by hundreds of thousands of interactions on behalf of the Infusionsoft brand and many other small businesses she has worked with.

Loving @heatherdopson's session at #partnercon13, especially the balance between basics and 'hey bet you're not implementing this' #gold
— Gareth Everson (@garetheverson) November 7, 2013

Dave Sherman, Partner Development Manager of Infusionsoft, helped entrepreneurs become even more confident in their elevator pitch and tighten up their personal and professional branding. See, Dave himself is a professional speaker and is a regular at networking events, so the advice he shared was built from many years of experience, reading people and building valuable relationships from the first impression. In his session, volunteers from the audience were provided live feedback and developmental feedback to improve their introductions that they could put into practice immediately.

Great STUFF here! RT @stevenburt: "Stay out of the weeds, Focus on the benefit." – @davespeaks1 #PartnerCon13 #Quote
— Teri Johnson (@Teri_Johnson) November 7, 2013

That wrapped up the educational sessions that attendees at PartnerCon. We converged in the main stage room to reflect on what we learned, engaged in our well-known camaraderie among employees and recognized partners themselves throughout the conference.

Cindy Eagar, Director of Partner Programs at Infusionsoft, closed out the three-day partner conference by affirming that the ‘State of the Union’ is strong within our partner community. She warmly thanked partners for their continued support, flexibility and focus on leveling up in their business. It’s not always going to be easy, but she assured that the Infusionsoft team is always listening and commits to maintain open and real communication to support the needs of partners. She was incredibly thankful for everyone for taking the time to spend time with the community, investing to work on their business and ‘Level Up’ within the Infusionsoft ecosystem.

Kara Barney was emphatic about expressing sincere gratitude for the people who helped make PartnerCon 2013 possible. Sponsors such as Revenue Conduit, PowerPay, Bistro Inventory and Information Street were incredibly supportive to help make this a premium event for all. Thank you!

Kara specifically acknowledged the following people who made a difference at PartnerCon 2013: Dave Sherman, the Partner Sales Team, the Partner Marketing Team, the Infusionsoft Leadership Team, Devin Merrill, Ryan Stradling, Merestone, Joe Manna, Heather Dopson, Drew Fullmer, Michael Hunter and Cindy Eagar. She also shared a very special thanks to Katie Healy for leading the planning and all the operations of the entire PartnerCon 2013 event.

Read what everyone else had to say by checking out the #PartnerCon13 hashtag on Twitter and join in the conversation.