In this post we’ll look at the simple little marketing mistake that cost one small business THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS in lost revenue… and unknowingly gave it all away to a competitor!

Hopefully you're not making this marketing mistake too!

I was going to go on a bit of a rant today but, well, it’s not really a rant. It’s a quick story about something that happened to a friend last week and it really annoyed me. At first, that is.

Then I remembered… not everyone knows as much about following up with SMS as I do. (And probably not as much as you, either, if you regularly listen to me or read what I share!) So I’m sharing it with you as a valuable lesson for you and your business.

What happened is this…

My friend was telling me about how she took her son to a local optometrist 4.5 years ago regarding an eye issue he was having. They requested her name and phone number when making the booking, which is fair enough. That's expected, right?

Unfortunately, the optometrist wasn’t able to help solve this issue. So my friend and her son looked elsewhere and found another optometrist. They ve never been back to that local optician. End of story. At least, you would THINK it was the end of the story.

Two weeks ago she received a marketing SMS from this first practice, announcing their sale which offered a 10% discount on all frames purchased during January. It took her a while to figure out who this message was from and why she had received it. 

She eventually looked them up online and realised it was the optometrist from 4.5 years earlier. And she promptly replied with “STOP” to opt out of receiving any more messages from them.

Here’s the thing…  

Following up with customers via SMS is vital for small businesses. 
BUT… it has to be done right.

So kudos to this practice for realising the importance of implementing SMS within their business. However this wasn’t the way to go about it. If you ignore a customer for ages, you can’t expect them to remember you or how good your business is if you haven’t kept in touch with them at all for years. Or even months.

I really wish they had come to me first to learn that there’s a simple SYSTEM they could have followed that would get them much better results. I suspect my friend isn’t the only one who opted out of receiving messages from them.

A little side-note here: The new optometrist that my friend took her son to after the local one mentioned above couldn’t help has been amazing.

In fact, they’ve been so good with their service, their customer service and their follow-up that this lady and her son have now spent literally thousands of dollars with them over the last 4.5 years - on eye treatments, glasses, prescription sunglasses and peripherals. Plus, they’ve referred numerous other new customers to them.

Oh, and apparently they’re a little on the pricey side too. But I’m told their customers are happy to pay because of the high quality and service they receive.

Regarding the initial issue that they went to the first optometrist for (and that he was unable to help with), the new optometrist stated that if they couldn't help, they would refer him to the right specialist(s) and monitor to make sure he got the help he needed.

Just imagine if the original optometrist had offered this option and then followed up? Although he couldn't help initially, he would still have profited in the long-term. Instead, he gave all that revenue to his competition.

Please make sure you don't make this same marketing mistake. If you'd like to know more about how to set up an effective follow-up system within your business, we'd love to help you.  

Simply book a free, no obligation call with us today.

Happy New Year!

Well, that's coming soon. I want to wish you a very merry Christmas and a very happy New Year, and a happy holiday season for 2022.

I’ve just recorded this super-quick video below for you, with my special Christmas and festive season wishes for you.

Plus, I’d like to give you a challenge for 2023. By being the best you can be, you’ll take your business to new heights and achieve results you may have been missing before.

Are you up for the challenge? Click the video below to find out more now:

Christmas Season Office Hours:

2023 is going to be bigger and better for us at Automation Made Easy. And I hope it's going to be bigger and better for you as well, in your business.

We close at midday 22nd of December and will re-open on the Wednesday after New Year’s… Wednesday the 4th of January. I do hope you have a happy holiday season during that time.

If there's anything urgent, of course, send it to support@automationmadeeasy.com.au and we will have a look.

2022 Wrap-Up:

Now, we’ve had some major changes during 2022 at Automation Made Easy. There are bigger changes coming along in 2023 as a result of 2022.

We took some downs, and we took some ups and we’re restructuring the business a little to make things better.

2023 Challenge:

I want you to think about that in your business as well. Are you doing the best you possibly can?

Now one of my super-cool customers, Sue Stevenson, she gave me this scenario. She made me think about things in a different way.

And that is, say if you’re quitting smoking - there’s three lanes that you’re sitting in when you’re quitting smoking.

One of them is, “I’m a smoker.”

And then the next one is, “I’m trying to quit smoking.” It’s the weekends when you smoke and during the week where you don’t smoke, and you go through this cycle of ‘trying it on’.

A lot of us are trying on our business and we’re going through this cycle where we do a course and we do a little bit of this and we’re making ourselves busy in our business.

And then there’s the third lane. Now the third lane if you’re quitting smoking is the, “I am a non-smoker” lane.

In business it’s similar. We’re either in this middle lane where we’re looking busy, trying on this business. Or we jump into that third lane where we ARE a business owner and we are driving this business forward.

So in 2023, we’re going to make sure that we jump into that driving lane in our business here at Automation Made Easy.

I hope you’re going to come on that journey with us. This way you'll make sure you’re not in this busy lane, trying on your business… going through the motions… looking like you’re doing something - or convincing yourself that you’re doing something - without getting into this driving lane and driving your business forward.

Anyway, enough from me. In the new year you’ll see more stuff on Keap… more stuff on ClickFunnels 2.0, that we’re bringing into our list of services now as well, and our coaching and training.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
I look forward to seeing you in 2023.

Hey folks, Jason Buckner here from Automation Made Easy.

I get so many customers frustrated coming to me. They're running these webinars, these live webinars, but they're just not getting the attendance that they really want.

On the webinars, you should be looking at around 30% attendance as a minimum. But there are some techniques that you can get for a live webinar to get up to 50% attendance rate and sometimes even more.

There are some very simple things that I need you to implement almost straight away on those webinars so we make sure people are coming along.

Watch the video below where I show you the 3 simple things you can do to increase your webinar attendance:

Number One:

The first thing that I want you to think about doing or make sure you do is make sure that your messaging is congruent all the way through the process. So if you're running an ad, they come through to the landing page on the thank you page, and then all your follow up that we're going to talk about shortly.

All of it has the same messaging. It looks like I'm in the right place every single time. I'm getting the same messaging all the way through. Super, super important so I know what it is that I'm coming along for. That’s number one.

Number Two:

The thing I want you to make sure that you do is make sure you implement SMS follow up into that process, okay? It's super, super important and there's some key times we are going to do it.

The first time is when someone registers, we're going to send them a confirmation SMS. This is super important.

So they're getting instant gratification on the device they use the most to say, “We've got you, okay. You are here.”

Then the second time we're going to do it is three days before the event. We're going to send an SMS that gives a little bit of follow up… a little bit of reminder to make sure people come along.

And then one more the night before your webinar. So 24 hours before the webinar. Maybe it's night, maybe it's the day before. We're going to make sure you send an SMS out to make sure people are preparing for it.

Then the final time is one hour before. We're going to send an SMS one hour before to make sure your attendees know where they need to be.

Now the next thing we're going to do is implement email follow up as well.

So number one is your message.

Number two is SMS.

Number Three:

Number three is email follow up. So we are going to compliment the SMSs with email follow up to make sure people attend as well.

Now, there are a few things I want you to make sure you put into your emails so that people don't get confused. In your welcome email – as soon as someone registers – in your welcome email, we're going to make sure we put in an ‘Add to calendar’ button. We usually put in a Google ‘Add to calendar’, and we usually put in an Outlook or Mac mail ‘Add to calendar’ button. Two different ‘Add to calendar’ buttons that include the link for your punters to join the webinar. Super important.

So if they're smart and they're organised and they add it to their calendar, the link is in there. They don't have to go anywhere else.

That's the first follow up – a welcome email.

The second follow up… we're going to send a one week before email with all the links, all the date and times, and the ’Add to calendar’ button inside there as well.

Then we're going to match up with our SMS. We're going to send a three day before, we're going to send a 24 hour before, and we're going to send a one hour before. Every single one of those emails.

You MUST have the link to go to the live webinar in the emails and in the SMS as well to get your show rate up around that 50%.

Wrapping It Up:

So just to wrap up… we're going to make sure our messaging is congruent.

We're going to make sure we include SMS in our follow up process.

And then we're going to make sure we compliment that with our email follow up process.

But the most important thing is having those links in the emails and having those links in the SMS. So we're taking all the confusion out… we're taking all of the difficulty out and making sure whatever device they're using, whatever communication method they're using, the link is there at the right time ready for them to come along and join your webinar.

If you'd like help setting this up in your business or have any other questions about using Keap (previously Infusionsoft) within your business, we may be able to help.  

Simply book a free, no obligation call with us today.

Today I have some super cool news to share with you...

Hey, it's Jason Buckner here from Automation Made Easy. Now, if you know me you know three things.

You know that:

• I love dogs… and I’m actually dog-sitting some friends of mine’s dogs, that are away in Thailand at the moment. So I love having dogs around.
• I love swimming. I’m a swimmer and a swimming coach and I love helping people achieve their best in swimming, and achieving my best in swimming as well.
• But I also love nerding out on software. I’ve been nerding out on KEAP and Infusionsoft for, I don’t know… the last six or seven years, or even longer. But that’s just KEAP. But most people who know me know that I love it and I think that it’s the bee’s knees.

Well, today I want to tell you about a new player in the industry that I’ve been nerding out on for the last four or five weeks. And I just have to tell you about it because I think that it’s really cool and I think it’s going to make some of your lives a little bit better. I think it’s going to help your business.

If you want to come along on a nerd-out journey with me, I’m going to tell you a little bit about this software called ClickFunnels.

Now, NOT ClickFunnels number 1 version. Not the first version of ClickFunnels. There’s a new version out called ClickFunnels 2.0. And it’s so much better than the first one.

It’s still growing, of course. It’s still getting better. But I’ve decided I’m going to change over some of my business to it. I’m going to use it side-by-side with KEAP so that I can make some processes in my business even better.

So things like my website. Instead of going off to someone to put my website together – to do website design and all this type of thing – I’m going to host my website inside ClickFunnels 2.0.

Then what happens is, I can build funnels inside of ClickFunnels 2.0 as well. Which is a series of pages to convert people to become customers. I get to build that quite easily within ClickFunnels 2.0. Whereas in my website I’ve either got to use a web design template or use a web design builder inside there and just piece together something from a template.

Whereas in ClickFunnels 2.0 it’s so much easier and so much quicker.

I’m also using it for a few other things. I’m going to change over my entire course platform from WordPress to ClickFunnels 2.0 as well. So it’s pretty cool in the things that it does.

What I’d like to do is, I’m going to go to my computer here in just a moment and just show you some of the things that it does and just have a little nerd-out with you as well.

Now if you think you’ll love it, number one: here’s the link where you can sign up for ClickFunnels 2.0 for a 14-day free trial. If you think it might be for you, I absolutely, 100% say get in there and give it a go. If you don’t love it at the end of the 14-days then stop the trial.

Number 2: If you do think you love it as much as I do, I’m going to do a “ClickFunnels nerd-out” session. Maybe once a week for the next four or six weeks, or something like that. Where if you jump on board with ClickFunnels you can come along and ask me any questions and we can nerd out together on the software. 

Register here if you'd like to join me on these live nerd-out Q&A sessions.

Because I think it’s brilliant and maybe you’ll think it’s brilliant as well. It’s super, super cool.

Watch the video below where I show you the things I’m doing in there to make my life in my business a lot easier:

Want to test-drive ClickFunnels 2.0 yourself for free?

Click here to try ClickFunnels 2.0 yourself on a 14-day free trial.

Live Zoom Q&A:

Or register here to join Jason to 'nerd out' and discover ClickFunnels 2.0 together.

If you're looking for an easy way to stand out from the competition, this simple little app is priceless.

Not only can this app increase your profits, but it does so in a way that helps your customers and helps you to build rapport with them. By going the extra mile for your customers, you're easily going to stand out from the competition.

So... what is this app and how does it work?

Watch the quick video below where I show you what it is and how simple it is to use:

The App:

Hey, it’s Jason Buckner here from Automation Made Easy. I want to introduce you to an app that I use, and it's called Bonjoro.

Now, Bonjoro is this fairly basic little system. What it does is, it’s triggered from Keap, or Infusionsoft, across to Bonjoro. Then I get my phone. I can't show you my phone actually, because I'm using it to record right here, right now. But on my phone I get an alert that says, record this sort of video.

And so I swipe left and I open it up and I say, “Hey, Jason Buckner here from Automation Made Easy. Thanks so much for registering for blah, blah, blah, blah, blah…” – whatever it is. I give a little bit of content. “Hey Jason,…” Or “Hey Joe,…” “Hey George,…” Or “Hey Melody,…”

So I can be very, very targeted and record a personal message to that person.

Why Would You Want To Use It?

“Now, why would I want to do this?” I hear you ask. Why would I want to record a personal message to a lead or a personal message to a customer?

Hmm, I wonder why we want to automate everything we possibly can. That's my ethos. You know, that's what we do here.

But we can automate a trigger for you to give some interaction with a customer that's personalised directly to them, and it's going to add so much more value.

When To Use It:

The first time I used Bonjoro, I had four quotes that were dead in the water. And I'd sent them emails, I'd left voice messages, I'd sent them SMSs, and I had no reply on any of those. Then I sent a personal Bonjoro message to all four of them, and three of them ended up becoming customers as a result of the Bonjoro message.

I also use it to increase attendance at my live events. Yes, I know it sounds like a lot, but hear me out here… I send a Bonjoro message to every single person who registers for my event. Then I give them a little snippet of content in Bonjoro. It gives us the ability to give a personal message to that person, and they feel warm and fuzzy about it.

And I continue getting replies like, “Oh my God, I'm so happy that you sent a personal message to me. I'll see you at the event.” So many of these sorts of replies coming in.

I use it for live events. And I use it for webinars. I use it definitely for live webinars. Well, whether they're pre-recorded or live. It increases the attendance and increases the engagement before you get people to come along to the webinar.

How Much Time Will It Take?

I hear you say, “I don't have time to record any more videos.”

Now I want you to make time, okay? I want you to make 15 minutes of your day Bonjoro time and trigger the right things at the right time to come along to your phone.

I’ll just use my case as a little prop here. Come along to your phone so you can swipe, record a message, make them feel good, and then get them to come along to whatever it is that you're doing.

If you'd like help setting this up in your business or have any other questions about using Keap (previously Infusionsoft) within your business, we may be able to help.  

Simply book a free, no obligation call with us today.

There’s one thing so many business owners do over and over again when it comes to business automation that’s costing them a fortune. That one thing is… sending the same email to their entire database.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m really glad they’re following up and emailing clients, but by not going this one step further they are missing out on so much lost revenue.

Watch this short video now to find out exactly what you SHOULD be doing instead:

The  One Size Fits All Approach:

Hey folks, Jason Buckner here from Automation Made Easy. Now, today I want to talk to you about my one pet peeve. Actually, I've got a few pet peeves, but this is a big one this week.

I've seen a number of customers trying to do a “one size fits all” kind of approach to their follow up... to their email marketing… to their processes, which is doing them a disservice.

So using marketing automation systems like Keap or any of the others – I choose and use Keap. I don't care which one you use, but so long as you're using one of them – you don't need to settle for… And I call it settle because you're absolutely settling for a “one size fits all” kind of approach. What I mean there is sending the same emails to every single person on your database, okay?

Having Different Conversations Based On Past Actions (Or Non-Action):

We don't need to do that, and we can be much, much, much smarter about the way we communicate with our database just by thinking about the process a little bit.

Say if someone opts in to a free report, for example, and we send follow up emails to get them to take some action. What about those people who actually have read the free report? What if they've read the eBook or whatever it is that they've opted in to, and we can tell because they've clicked through on a link in an email. Shouldn't we have a different conversation with those people as opposed to those people who have opted in but have not clicked through and actually read the report yet?

Do you think we could be having different conversations there to be very, very specific to the people that have taken the action? And then also be very specific to the people that haven't taken the action, to get them to take the action?

Another example there is after someone opts in. Say you've got a video series to build trust with them. If someone clicks through on each one of those videos and is fully engaged, could you have a different conversation with them to those people that have not clicked through on any of the videos and not taken any action? A hundred percent you could!

Automating Webinar Follow Ups:

On the same topic, another pet peeve on the same tone is when you run a webinar and you register people for the webinar and follow up to get them to turn up.

Then after the webinar you send the same email out to everyone whether they attended, whether they didn't attend or they were absent. Whether they took the action that you want them to, or whether they didn't take the action that you want them to.

You're sending the same email out to everyone here to book for this session or buy this product – a limited time offer. And all of a sudden we've taken our ability to be very, very targeted in the way we communicate and we are just sending out this “one size fits all” kind of approach and it diminishes our results as a result of that.

Ideally, for a webinar, there are all sorts of follow up we could be putting in place. But absolutely, for those people that did attend and those who didn’t attend, have two completely different conversations there.

Smarter Business Automation:

So I want you to be much smarter about the way you're communicating with your database, okay? I want you to think about: Does this email really suit?

Or could we be sending some emails based on some action or lack of action that your database is taking when they opt in for something or when they register for something?

Or even when you are sending out to your database as a broadcast, could you have a different conversation with a different group of people to be loads more targeted?

If the answer is yes, then the answer is yes… you should be doing that as well.

It's super important. You've got the function at your fingertips, you've got this ability to do it, so why not maximise it and be very, very targeted? Give your customers or potential customers the contact that they deserve.

If you'd like help setting this up in your business or have any other questions about using Keap (previously Infusionsoft) within your business, we may be able to help.  

Simply book a free, no obligation call with us today.