In dealing with so many small businesses and their attempts to implement Technology, I’ve found a pretty consistent pattern of the ones that get it done successfully. There are three basic steps to the pattern: People – Process – Technology.
I had seen the patter many times, but Sara Gates, the former Solutions Architect at Infusionsoft, pointed out the pattern by name and said: “Technology is never the magic pill that creates success or failure – it’s always the people and the processes behind the technology."
The order of the pattern is what makes companies successful in their implementation. In my early days, when I was working at Infusionsoft, I was given many customers who where able to get the technology (Infusionsoft) implemented correctly, but I know that it was just a train-wreck waiting to happen. The problem is that they don’t have any real processes around marketing and sales in the business. If you’re going to use an automated system, having a defined process is requirement number 1. I have one customer who knows Infusionsoft very well but continues to struggle every month because they simply won’t define a process for their marketing and sales. Every month, they are doing something different. (Which is ok if you’re testing different things and measuring against a baseline, but that’s not what’s happening there).
Processes are also useless if you don’t have the people part right. If you go to get a job at McDonald’s, you expect to be put into a very regimented process. The people going in know and expect this. If you tried to put an entrepreneur in a place like that, it just wouldn’t work. I’m working with another client right now who really understands this. He’s the new director of sales, and the company has had Infusionsoft for 5 years. The owner likes it, but all of the people who use it every day hate it. So, when the sales director and I talk about implementing new campaigns, he takes it slow with his team, sells them on the benefits of saving time and making more sales.
The result for him is that now things are almost going too fast – His team finally sees the potential and is enthusiastically offering constructive feedback about the process and implementation of the technology.
Get the people right
Get the process right
Then you’ll know if the technology implementation is right immediately.
I had seen the patter many times, but Sara Gates, the former Solutions Architect at Infusionsoft, pointed out the pattern by name and said: “Technology is never the magic pill that creates success or failure – it’s always the people and the processes behind the technology."
The order of the pattern is what makes companies successful in their implementation. In my early days, when I was working at Infusionsoft, I was given many customers who where able to get the technology (Infusionsoft) implemented correctly, but I know that it was just a train-wreck waiting to happen. The problem is that they don’t have any real processes around marketing and sales in the business. If you’re going to use an automated system, having a defined process is requirement number 1. I have one customer who knows Infusionsoft very well but continues to struggle every month because they simply won’t define a process for their marketing and sales. Every month, they are doing something different. (Which is ok if you’re testing different things and measuring against a baseline, but that’s not what’s happening there).
Processes are also useless if you don’t have the people part right. If you go to get a job at McDonald’s, you expect to be put into a very regimented process. The people going in know and expect this. If you tried to put an entrepreneur in a place like that, it just wouldn’t work. I’m working with another client right now who really understands this. He’s the new director of sales, and the company has had Infusionsoft for 5 years. The owner likes it, but all of the people who use it every day hate it. So, when the sales director and I talk about implementing new campaigns, he takes it slow with his team, sells them on the benefits of saving time and making more sales.
The result for him is that now things are almost going too fast – His team finally sees the potential and is enthusiastically offering constructive feedback about the process and implementation of the technology.
Get the people right
Get the process right
Then you’ll know if the technology implementation is right immediately.
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