Why Some People Hate Infusionsoft

Occasionally I run into people who have a real disdain for Infusionsoft.  As I dig deeper with them, I discover that their feelings originate from one of three different places:

  1. Love

    Love?  You think I’m crazy, right?  But this is really where most people fall.  I liken it to the relationship between parent and child.  Parents love their children more than anything.  They’d do anything for them.  That love is unconditional.  But, when a child misbehaves, parents can get VERY frustrated, even angry.  Notice how I’m talking about parents and children in the 3rd person?  Because I’d never get angry with my kids.  🙂  But really, our deepest feelings (good and bad) come in situations that we care about a lot.   We love what Infusionsoft can do for us.  We love the automation, the all-in-one-ness, the values, the dream.  But when Infusionsoft misbehaves, it hurts,  Yes, we get angry.

  2. Laziness

    There are dreamers and there are doers.  When someone has the rare combination of dreaming and doing power, that’s when big things happen.  But many doers don’t dream big enough.  They sit in their cubicles day after day doing.  And doing.  And doing.  But never dreaming.  Dreamers, on the other hand, create imaginary worlds that are amazing.  But more often than not, those worlds never materialize.  They lack the ability to put into action those things conceived in their minds.  When dreamers buy Infusionsoft they buy a future that does not yet exist for them.  They buy a dream.  But then months go by and that dream never arrives.  Why?  Because they don’t do the doing that is necessary.  They don’t dig in and learn Infusionsoft.  They don’t master it.  They lack the ability to work on something until mastery is achieved.  They stay in their  dream worlds for too long, hoping, wishing, but not doing.  Infusionsoft is a tool that requires mastery.  With mastery comes amazing power.  If you’re not willing to do, you will dream and dream and only end up frustrated.

  3. Blame

    Unfortunately, a LOT of small businesses fail.  And although Infusionsoft can help businesses fail less, still some fail.  The reasons are vast: lack of funding, unfounded business model, competition, lack of marketing & sales expertise, not enough market demand, and the list goes on and on.  Infusionsoft users sometimes misunderstand Infusionsoft’s power.  They think that Infusionsoft can save them from those fundamental business problems.  It can’t.  So, when the business fails, they blame Infusionsoft.  Taking the blame themselves hurts too much.  It would be admitting to friends and family that they didn’t have what it takes.  It’s admitting that the naysayers were right.  It’s painful.  In that situation, true entrepreneurs will learn, pick themselves up, and try again.  Others will avoid the learning, avoid the shame, avoid the pain, and deflect it all onto Infusionsoft.  It’s an easy scapegoat.

A note to Infusionsoft Users:

I’ve spent the last 7 years working with Infusionsoft users.  I’ve seen many of them become ultra-successful.  It is an amazingly powerful tool when mastered.  And I’ve seen others who hate Infusionsoft.  Those haters tend to be people who hate a lot of things.  Those haters never spent the time or energy necessary to master Infusionsoft.  If you want success, choose mastery and you will win.  All of the ultra-successful companies I know of that use Infusionsoft have an Infusionsoft master in-house.

A note to Infusionsoft employees:

As business owners, we put our “life” in your hands.  We put our entire businesses in your software.  Billing, customer follow-up, lead generation, lead conversion, sales, our tasks, workflow, and just about anything else you can think of.  We put EVERYTHING in your hands.   We entrust you with everything we have, literally.  Our businesses are our livelihood.  Our businesses feed our families.  Our businesses pay our bills.  Our businesses fund our retirement accounts.  Our businesses put our kids through college.  Our businesses help us contribute to our communities.  Our businesses keep us from working for “the man”.  Our businesses help us fulfill our dreams.  When Infusionsoft stops, or hiccups, or slows down, our businesses stop.  And when our  businesses stop, our lives, our families, our communities, and our dreams are all impacted.  Please understand the tremendous amount of trust we put in you.  We are doers.  And we are dreamers.  And we’ll reach our goals no matter what.  But we choose to do it with you.

I’ve been in your shoes.  I worked for Infusionsoft for almost five years.  I’m not sure I always worked with the constant understanding of the trust Infusionsoft users put in me.  So, I urge you: don’t let a day go by where you don’t feel that trust and that urgency.  Don’t let up on the gas.  We want you to win.  When you win, we win.  Dream it with us.  Do it with us.

 

About Tyler Garns

Tyler Garns is best known for his work as the Director and VP of Marketing at Infusionsoft, where he led the marketing efforts that produced massive results between 2007 and 2012. But he’s also been the “go-to” Infusionsoft guy for many of the top marketers and Infusionsoft users out there. His combination of technical skill, Infusionsoft expertise, and marketing experience make him one of the most reliable sources of business breakthroughs for Infusionsoft customers.

8 thoughts on “Why Some People Hate Infusionsoft”

  1. Tyler, fantastic article! The only thing that I would add is that a relationship with Infusionsoft is more of a PROCESS that many users go through than categories that they reside in. I will speak for myself personally because this is the process I found myself going through.

    I began my relationship in “love” with Infusionsoft and what it can do to help me (and my clients) reach our goals and dreams. Then I quickly realized that Infusionsoft (like all of us) is not perfect and so the next phase of my relationship was to “blame”. Blame Infusionsoft for my “laziness”. As the saying goes, I was “frustrated with the results I wasn’t getting for the work I wasn’t doing”. Luckily for me, I moved through these phases rather quickly. I knew that to reach my goals and dreams it was going to be a fight…..MY FIGHT. Infusionsoft was a TOOL to HELP me reach them. I decided that I was no longer going to be a “lazy blamer” and that I would take Infusionsoft up on the tools, resources, and community that they so generously offer….that’s when I entered the phase of “respect”.

    As I got involved with Infusionsoft I began to learn more about who they are and what they stand for. I respect Infusionsoft for their mission; vision; how they treat their employees; how they value their tribe; what they stand for; their commitment to improvement; their willingness to take responsibility and their unwavering passion to make a difference for small business (among many other things I have seen).

    As a Small Business Owner I know that my chances of achieving my goals and dreams are directly linked to partnering with the right people who share the same values, goals, and dreams. Infuionsoft is more than a software company to its users. Infusionsoft is a community of leaders (both inside and outside of the company) that share the same passion, goals, and dreams that that stretch me to think and grow beyond my own knowledge and understanding. Little did I know what when I purchased Infusionsoft’s software that I was going to get a partner in business…..and for all of this (and more) I am “loyal”.

    1. Thanks, Misty. Very well said. I am sorry for the challenges as you went through the process, but I appreciate your willingness to stick with it and give us the opportunity to win your respect. Your story is a very familiar one to me. I’m working hard to shorten the learning curve, drive quicker value for customers and get to the “respect” phase faster. 🙂

      I can tell by your mentality that you are a great entrepreneur. Congratulations on your success and thank you for allowing us to partner with you.

  2. Hey Tyler,

    Great post. You hit the nail on the head. Infusionsoft is a key ingredient to small business success, but it’s only one ingredient.

    The recipe for success requires lots of key ingredients. Business owners need to have at least a decent understanding of each ingredient and how it fits into the success recipe.

    Infusionsoft has been a game-changer for small business success but it certainly is not a push button solution.

    I think the word “commitment” is critical to business and marketing success and it certainly applies to Infusionsoft. Commitment to mastering Infusionsoft in your business, commitment to the process, commitment to the campaigns you’ve put in place to let them work over time.

    Commitment to mastery.

    Keep up the good work my friend!

    Justin

  3. Tyler,

    Thank you for writing out the “note to Infusionsoft employees.” You are dead on–our customers put their livelihoods in our hands. I take that responsibility so seriously. But sometimes we get a little lax inside the building, myself included. Your note served as an excellent rallying cry for me on Monday–I referred to it in our leadership meeting (several of my team members had read it and loved it), I used it as the quote of the week (it’s on the wall outside my office) and I read it verbatim to our Consultants. Thank you.

    There is one thing I want to point out that perhaps is a little different than what you’re saying. You say that Infusionsoft success requires mastery. That’s true at the highest levels of success. But over the years, I’ve come to see that our customers can be successful without “mastering” the software or becoming “Infusionsoft ninjas.” What they need is what Justin called out above: commitment. In particular, they need to be committed to launching campaigns. Too often, a customer will get lost in “all that Infusionsoft can do” and they won’t do the basics: import contacts, send a broadcast and launch a campaign.

    I have watched this for years. I can tell you that if a customer will import contacts, send broadcasts and launch campaigns, they will be successful. Some might call that mastery; some might call that the basics. Some might call it “mastering the basics.” 🙂 I just wanted to go on record as saying you don’t have to be a marketing whiz, a techie or a superhuman entrepreneur to make Infusionsoft work for you… you just need to be committed to importing contacts, sending a broadcast and launching a campaign.

    The commitment and those three basic steps are the predictors of Infusionsoft success for our customers.

    1. Clate, thanks for responding. I agree whole-heartedly. “Mastery” means different things to different people. In my experience, those businesses who have been MOST successful are those that have truly mastered Infusionsoft. They may not be what you’d call a “ninja”, but they’ve mastered the things they need to do on a daily basis to be successful. They understand it’s capabilities although sometimes they may not know how to execute. That’s ok, they’ll figure that part out or hire someone to do it for them.

      And I’ve seen many who may not fall in the MOST successful category that haven’t quite mastered the software. But they’re trying and they’re doing the basics like you mentioned. They get great benefit out of their investment with Infusionsoft.

      It’s those who don’t ever really attempt to make it work, those that aren’t “committed”, that end up frustrated. They buy the dream, but they’re not willing to put in the work.

      1. FYI, there are also people like myself who love Infusionsoft, have been supporting it for many years to send broadcasts and launch campaigns, who invest a lot of time and a lot of money, are committed to making it work, who also end up frustrated with slow servers (particularly mid to late afternoon), changes which negatively impact existing functionality, and a stubborn unwillingness to integrate the ability to track orders to specific ads (i.e. ad tracking, not just lead tracking.) Clearly, Infusionsoft is currently dealing with some significant growing pains. So as a longtime user, I continue to love what Infusionsoft does well and I lament (but not hate) what it fails or refuses to do well.

        1. David, thanks for your comment. That’s the basis for my plea to Infusionsoft employees to really understand how much we’re putting in their hands. Having been an Infusionsoft employee for years, and having stayed close to the company since I left, I can say that despite the hiccups we’ve experienced, I have more faith in their ability to continue to create world-class software than I ever have in the past. They have the right leaders in place. They have solid teams. They have a plan to get it done. There’s just a lot to be done. And for those of us who live in the software every day, it just doesn’t seem to come fast enough sometimes.

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