OK, back from spring break with my family. I didn’t get a chance to wrap up all of my ICON takeaways and there’s one I have share with you. When I kicked off ICON with my keynote, I told the audience of more than 3,000 people that they would be hearing all about the Small Business Success Method during ICON. I encouraged them to do an SBSM assessment, get an action plan and begin implementing.
We did a pre-ICON workshop the day before ICON at our offices where more than 200 customers came to work on the SBSM. This was our official unveiling of the SBSM, a method of implementing sales and marketing automation for small business success. We knew from our years of practice and nearly a year of codifying the Small Business Success that it would be a hit. The day before ICON we got clear confirmation of that fact, as the audience ate up the content and went right into implementation mode.
So, when I touted the SBSM in my keynote, I was genuine when I said that it wouldn’t be long before small businesses everywhere would be clamoring to get their hands on the SBSM. Well, what happened at the very end of the conference confirmed what I had said in my keynote.
I was standing in the expo hall after three-plus days of events, content sessions, and keynotes. I was tired, but I was having fun talking to the final guests who were soaking up the last bit of ICON. I was just about to leave when one of our great employees came over and asked me to stop by before I headed out; I gladly agreed.
When I went over to talk with him, he had about 10 customers standing around in a circle. They were holding action plan printouts, asking all sorts of questions. When I got there, one of them looked right at me and said, “Why didn’t you make a bigger deal of the SBSM from stage?!” I was a little caught off guard and reminded him that in my keynote address I had touted it as one of the top three things our customers should focus on during the event. He said that wasn’t enough. I reminded him that it was one of the highlights of our chief product officer’s keynote as well. He said that still wasn’t enough.
Then he said something I’ll never forget: “The Small Business Success Method simplifies and clarifies exactly what we need to do to be successful as a business. Not only that, but it gives us clear action plans we can execute in the software. You’ve taken all the guesswork out of it for us! Where can I get every action plan you’ve created?!”
Well that was music to my ears. The SBSM is designed to help business owners identify where they are and exactly what they need to do next to drive success in their business. We are having a blast implementing it with our customers. And like one of the customers said right at the end of ICON, “I hope you’re ready for what’s coming, because you’re going to have waves of business owners lining up at your door to do an assessment and get an action plan.”
