127 James White, CEO of IntouchCRM

We discuss with James White CEO of IntouchCRM what its really like to run a successful SaaS company in 2016. James and team have spent the last 8 + years building one of the most popular CRMs in the UK for small businesses.   In this episode, James has a lot of insights on how to differentiate yourself from the competition, what it takes to makes sales, and the importance of email marketing.   Show Table of Contents   0:00 Intros 1:52 Why did James start a Software as a Service company in the first place? 4:20 What is the general advice James would give people starting a company or wanting to be an entrepreneur? 6:28 Dont concentrate on the technology - find your customer and focus on your marketing. 7:24 Planning is the most important step in launching a business 8:39 How the InTouch Growth Academy is helping businesses actually succeed with their CRM 9:43 "Software (by) itself doesn't do anything." 10:20 Customers need help getting started with your product 11:40 The value of a hybrid Saas and training service 12:57 The importance of listening to people who have succeeded in the same path that you are trying to walk down 14:45 Knowing who you can't help is important for your business 15:18 If you are planning the problem you want to solve, and who you want to solve it for, most of your pain as a business owner will disappear 16:57 What are the most common mistakes that the user base makes when marketing their business? 17:30 Unless you drive traffic to your site, there's no point in having a website 18:15 You have to keep following up to close a sale. Most sales take place on the fifth to twelfth interaction. 19:41 Where did James get the idea for the Growth Academy? and what sort of difference has it made in onboarding, sales, and customer success? 22:49 How does automation make following up easier? And how does this affect your overall closing rate and sales? 24:35 "There will come a time where you have to pick up the phone." 25:01 "Most people don't schedule the right amount of time to do their sales activities." 25:20 Making sure you have the discipline to do your sales activities every day. 26:06 If you don't make time to pick up the phone, you won't carry on in business for very long 26:49 "When you're busiest, that's when you need to step on the gas the hardest." 27:13 Triggered emails and the advantages they have over traditional email blasts 27:38 Relevance gets rewarded 27:49 The analogy of the two pet owners (brilliant way to explain email marketing) 29:15 Triggered emails + relevance + information means you can talk directly to a specific customer 30:03 Using email sequences to take people on a journey through the sales funnel 30:30 Understanding leads to trust, which leads to closing sales 30:54 The importance of email segmenting 32:54 "If you're too big for the small jobs, you're too small for the big jobs." 34:38 Outros and ending remarks 37:19 Easter egg outtakes     InTouch CRM http://www.intouchcrm.com/     ==================   You can find additional show notes on the WP-Tonic website: https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/127-james-white-ceo-intouch-crm/   ==================   Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2   If you get value from our twice weekly WordPress podcast, we would love it if you'd give us a review on iTunes. :)   ==