Are you still cold calling prospects? How leaky is your sales funnel and how much money are you leaving on the table? Do you still think social media is really paying off for your business? Are you really maximizing your current client list to squeeze more revenue and find more clients? Do you know how to really measure social media and it’s true effects for your bottom line?

What you really need is a program that can not only follow up with clients and nurture leads but measure email and website behavior for a much lower price than paying your assistant’s yearly salary to do these menial, repetitive tasks. Time to look into the future with me and see what is coming up next when it comes to online marketing. Just jump into my time-machine. Here we go!

I discovered marketing automation in my business in November 2012. I can’t tell you what a difference it’s made for me and so many others. My personal sales and marketing automation software of choice is called Infusionsoft. I was so impressed I became an Infusionsoft Certified Consultant (ICC) in May 2013.  I saw the future the minute I watched my first Infusionsoft demo.

What made me realize I was on the right track was something that happened while I was eating my lunch the other day. I opened the following article in Entrepreneur magazine caught my attention. (See infographic below.)

Looking at the infographic, a few things stand out immediately:

• Companies that use marketing automation see a 451% increase in qualified leads. They use the software to warm up prospects, qualify them and entice them to convert to a sale through automated emails which can easily be set up in Infusionsoft.
• Companies that automate lead management see a 10% or greater increase in revenue in 6-9 months. Deals close faster when you’re the only one consistently communicating to your clients and your competitors sleep.
• Marketing automation helps sales professionals spend time on leads that matter while pushing “tire kickers” through the sales cycle automatically. This saves companies time, money and resources. Why waste time on people who don’t qualify? So 2013.
• The adoption of marketing automation will increase 50% by 2015!

See? I knew I was on to something big. If you haven’t yet wrapped your arms around how powerful marketing automation is, now is the time to do it before your competitors figure it out and beat you to the scheduled punch. The key here is building a sales and marketing funnel with absolutely no leaks. There is no such thing as a bad lead. Always, always get people to do something on your site even as basic as giving you their email address. Want to know why? Connecting and engagement.

The Three Rules of Marketing Automation

1. Build your marketing list 24/7 with a prominent opt-in and compelling offer.
2. Deliver valuable content over time with sequential automated messages.
3. Track and measure your marketing efforts

If you’d like to invest in a great workshop to help you learn all about marketing automation and how it fits into your business, look no further than the Social Shakeup Conference where I will head up this session along with Travis Campbell from Infusionsoft. (Want to save some money on it? Use the code INFUSION20 for 20% off your ticket.) Be prepared for the “next big thing” in sales and marketing. This workshop will help you learn how.