InfusionCon 2013 was arguably the best conference that we’ve ever put on! I asked our two Social Media VIPs who were on the front lines and covering the event live with you to share what they thought of InfusionCon.
I’m incredibly thankful for both our Social Media VIPs who joined us during InfusionCon. Here’s what they had to say about the three-day sales and marketing conference.
Wardee Harmon from GNOWFGLINS:
I had a great time at InfusionCon 2013. I loved working with Joe Manna (Sr. Content Strategist) and Heather Dopson (Social Media Specialist) and their team members, as well as the other social media VIPs, Desiree and Sarah. I’m still so thankful to have been chosen as a Social Media VIP myself — what a great way to experience InfusionCon! I got to learn and absorb all the information at the sessions as a regular attendee, but also got to work a little behind the scenes with Infusionsoft’s content and social media teams. I love to see how the wheels turn, so this was the best of both worlds!
Hanging out with @dhanchey my @infusionsoft Success Coach! #icon13 twitter.com/gnowfglins/sta…
— Wardee (@gnowfglins) March 29, 2013
Another thing I love is people! So I was thrilled to reconnect with Debbie (my Infusionsoft Certified Consultant), and to meet other Infusionsoft rock stars like Jermaine Griggs, Bob Keen, Juan Sutton and many others. Infusionites are caring and knowledgeable real people. It’s a thrill to meet and visit with them in real life.
As for the conference itself, the things I saw and heard are kind of mulling around in my head taking shape. I can boil down my major take-aways to two things:
Helpfulness. This was a common theme from many speakers, but especially Jay Baer and Mari Smith. Jay Baer called it Youtility. The idea “of being helpful and creating value — marketing that is inherently useful. Marketing that is so useful people would pay you for it.” Mari talked about relationship marketing that’s based on being genuine and caring toward prospects and customers. She recommended that our communications be 80% relationship-oriented and 20% sales oriented. Jay’s and Mari’s advice resonated with me because helping others floats my boat. I’m determined to make Youtility more a part of my business without delay.
Intentional purpose, values, and mission. On Day 3, Clate Mask (CEO and co-founder) and Scott Martineau (VP and co-founder) had a pretty high-level presentation, but I sure got a lot out of it! Scott said, “Companies don’t fail because their purpose is too big — they fail because it’s too small.” He encouraged all to “get out of the raging river and articulate your purpose.” Clate shared that in 2003, Infusionsoft leaders started meeting annually, quarterly, and monthly for strategy planning, and then created a system so their high-level strategies could be implemented at the day-to-day level. This is when Infusionsoft really started to succeed. Clate and Scott attribute their success to this intentional strategic planning. Clate closed their session with these words: “Don’t let business just happen to you.” This was the greatest advice I heard at InfusionCon.
I got a lot more from the sessions but I’ll leave it at those larger take-aways! Thanks again, Joe and Heather and everyone at Infusionsoft, for choosing me to help you share InfusionCon 2013 with the rest of the world. I’ll never forget this experience, and I hope I get to see you all again soon. 
Desiree Scales from Bella Web Design:
I truly understood the meaning of fixing the leaks in your sales funnel once I saw how the Ultimate Marketer finalists used Infusionsoft to follow up with their potential and current clients. Casey and Michael from The Rocket Company went from door-to-door sales to using email as a stealth method of reaching out and keeping an audience engaged enough to expand sales from $200K to $2M. That was a total eye opener.
I also learned how Infusionsoft can actually give entrepreneurs freedom by working behind the scenes in many cases. Once you set it up to connect and follow up with your leads, you don’t have to go back in very often unless you want to change your message. Sure, it takes time and money to set it all up; however, you get out of it what you put into it. I met many people who changed their entire business model because they realized that concept and are now enjoying the benefits.
InfusionCon Venue: The venue was one of the best I’ve seen. The stage and video screens were easy to see. Sound was great. I don’t think people sitting in the back missed much. Networking was easy to do and I still don’t know how the hotel fed 2,200 people lunch every day without a hitch. Amazing.
Meeting the Infusionsoft team: I was lucky enough to meet almost every member of the executive team because they were all very accessible. My first day I interviewed both Clate Mask and Scott Martineau. Watch the video interviews I did with Clate Mask and Scott Martineau.
Everyone was very friendly and passionate about their company and each other. You can tell something special is brewing over in Chandler, AZ! Everyone believes in the product and CEO Clate Mask believes in his team of almost 400. He has a way of making everyone feel important and heard. That’s powerful.
Favorite session: This is a tough one. I was captivated at every session. My favorite was hearing from Scott and Clate on the last day about their business philosophy. They have a clear plan on how they are going to grow the company and a solid team behind it. They stressed the importance of sharing Vision, Mission and Purpose with every member of their team. We are taking those lessons to heart at my company and doing the same.
Personal insight: I have rarely seen a company that understands the power of social media. The fact that Joe and Heather trusted total strangers they’ve never met to Tweet and blog from the event says a lot. Yes, they did a lot of research before choosing us and saw Wardee and I had a great reputation in our field and truly grasped the importance of social media. However, to take a chance on our capabilities and insights during the entire conference was a leap of faith which I believe turned into magic for the audience outside of the venue. I give them both a hand for coming up with the Social Media VIP contest and giving us full access while we were there for five days. It was an experience we both will never forget! In fact, I was so impressed I’m going to become an Infusionsoft Certified Consultant at the end of May. I can’t wait to continue helping my clients with this powerful suite of services which I know is backed by a team which not only believes in small business, but celebrates when those same businesses achieve their dreams!
Thank you Wardee and Desiree for your insights and spending time with a little software company in the desert. I’m thrilled that you were able to tap into and share your native talents with the world and share the story of InfusionCon 2013 with our friends and family across social media. You both were amazing and we’re lucky to have you in the Infusionsoft family!
Now it’s your turn!
What did you learn from InfusionCon 2013? Share tips, ideas and insights that you learned from InfusionCon in the comments below…
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