Infusionsoft Sucks AND Keap Sucks? Dang!

Stop kicking tires and uploading your logo to a bunch of tools you don't know how to use and why you want to use them, and what you want them to accomplish for you.

Map out your processes before you log in, then...

When you buy Keap CRM for your small business benefit if you are looking to:

• embed web forms.
• build a database.
• tag that database for future, relevant correspondence.
• communicate with that database regularly with good, relevant content.
• codify and quantify your unique selling propositions to ensure your messaging is delivered to 100% of your prospects 100% of the time.
• track open rates with HTML emails and trackable links embedded in the emails.
• process credit cards (e-commerce) for both one-time orders and subscriptions via order forms and/or a shopping cart. (I also like Spiffy for enhancing my Infusionsoft orders.)
• offer an upsell at the time of checkout.
• store and share notes and files/documents with small teams.
• grow.

I’m glad the Keap CRM Setup has been lowered to make it more affordable for small business owners.

Back in the day, i.e., 2008, when I joined, it was $5,000 to set up, and despite that hefty fee, it's probably the best investment I ever made.

Then it went to $1,999, $1,499, and $999, and now it's as low as $0 to start, depending on how much setup and support you need to get started.

That setup fee gets you a dedicated person (like me) to help you get started with several private calls (four to five calls if you order Keap CRM through me) of private assistance. Try getting that from some of the other guys.

Keap CRM, when installed and used properly, is PERFECT for the one-office dentist, Realtor, mortgage broker, promotional items company, IT VAR, restaurant owner, etc, with 1-25 employees and thinks marketing is putting a wrap on their car and their picture on their business card and expect the phone to ring.

I’ve been selling and/or training since 1995, and I can tell you that Keap CRM and Dan Kennedy made me stretch to fully comprehend and begin to master the art of marketing through persuasive copywriting, consistent follow-up, and upsells.

Did Infusionsoft sell a little more than it could handle back in 2007-2009? Probably. (How many small businesses [or former small businesses] wished they had that problem?)

Did it cause some pain for some users? Obviously.

Are some of their salespeople a little pushy and cheesy from time to time? They used to be, but they've really grown and matured as a company and have a serving attitude recently.

Do any of the salespeople possess the power of telekinesis or Jedi Mind Tricks that forced people to buy?

Not that I know of.

Do the support staff blow people off?

Nope. They’ve never done it to me or any of my clients, and I don’t have ESP, telekinesis, or Obi-Wan’s powers.

Are the support staff inexperienced? Not at the start of 2023 with Clate Mask leading the charge.

Is Keap CRM a better solution for the small businesses I listed above compared to hobbling together Outlook, Excel, aWeber and ConstantContact, and Salesforce.com?

Without a doubt.

If you’re a 90-person company with 650 SKUs and you’re growing 50% a year, and you’re adding five products a month, Keap CRM is not right for you, but they admit it.

Conversely, if you don’t have a list, you’re just starting out online, you’ve never created a web form, and you’ve never even used the “Categories” feature in Outlook to segment your contacts, might you be better off with a ConstantContact account for $19 or $29/mo?

Probably.

But how big do you want to be and how quickly?

If the answer is “BIG” and “fast,” then it's worth it for you to start out with Keap.

If you’re a 10-person company with two salespeople and you, as the owner, are involved in sales, and you’re doing manual, duplicate entry while sales and leads are falling off the table, then Keap can be a lifesaver.

But if you’ve never written a follow-up sequence or exported contacts as CSV files or tagged/categorized contacts, and you can’t explain your own company’s USP, and you can’t rattle off in your sleep 3 COMPELLING reasons why I should buy from YOU then you’d be well-advised to take the $499 you just saved on the Keap CRM setup fee and retain someone to help you set all of this up for you FROM DAY ONE!

Why?

Because sales and marketing are:

• Not the same.
• Not as easy as it looks.
• Friggin’ IMPOSSIBLE to master in a timely fashion for the typical “E-Myth” technician that thinks, “I can shimmy a door better than my jerk of a boss,” and goes out on his own to open his own contracting business only to have his ass, kidneys, liver, lungs, nostrils, knee caps and esophagus handed to him a mere six months later after he’s run out of fancy business cards and relatives he can beg business off of.

If you try to duct tape your marketing and bootstrap any platform, in 4 months, you’ll be out $800 to $3,000 in consulting fees, $8k-$20k in lost opportunity costs, and 80 hours of software-induced frustration, and you’ll be posting on here your love for Keap rather than spouting off on social media that some CRM is awful.

See "How an $800 'savings' cost you $21,418.99."

Now go sell something.