Propel Point

Now that we’re in 2011 – shouldn’t technology be a major focus for your business? After all – we’re in the future now! The second decade of the 21st Century, and all. With that in mind, here are a few technologies that we’ve been keeping an eye on here at Propel Point:

1. Litmus: This is a straightforward service that does one thing very well: Litmus helps make sure that your emails are being delivered to their recipients, and that they look as best as they can. There are basically two services built in to the product. First is an email appearance validator. It will show you what your email will look like in dozens of email clients, browsers, and devices. That alone is pretty handy when you want to make sure your technical formatting is working well. The second feature is probably the more attractive for our industry – the spam testing functions. It does a screen of your email against several spam services, and then tells you what gets flagged and what gets through. If you’re using Infusionsoft, there’s no built-in spam checking, so this is a great “add-on” service to get your emails out to more people!
2. Eventbrite: Even if you’re using a CRM suite to manage your events, the simplicity and new features that they’ve rolled out in Eventbrite makes it easy to organize a small event. If you’re just getting started in the seminar space, one of the best features is the fact that Eventbrite will handle payments for you. Obviously if you’re an established industry professional, that feature isn’t quite as important, but for beginners without access to a merchant, this can be an easy way to create revenues from your small “feeder” events. Also worth noting is the inclusion of unique tracking links, as well as paid affiliate links (and reporting). And if you’re hosting a free event, Eventbrite is free to use as well.
3. FuzeMeeting: If you’re looking for a newcomer with some hot features for your webinar events, take a good look at FuzeMeeting (now with Webinar features). This is a solid service for a couple reasons. For one, it works on many platforms, including in-browser support (doesn’t require a separate download like GoToWebinar) as well as iPad and iPhone support. On top of that, Fuze has a cool feature which will automatically dial-out to your registrants as the meeting begins. Add on the high-definition streaming video capabilities, and you’ve got the makings of a great new webinar service provider.
4. Square Payments: While perhaps not the perfect product for a full-blown seminar, the Square Payments service & device for the iPhone could be a great resource for those of you with feeder products or entry-level solutions to offer. Their payment device simply plugs in to the iPhone, allows you to process credit cards, and handles the whole transaction wirelessly and in real-time. So, if you’re selling a book on the go, or just want a way for your staff to be able to collect small transactional payments at your upcoming events, take a look at Square as one of your payment solution options.

So, there you have it. A few neat technologies that might make a big difference to your seminar business in the new year. Are you looking at some other technologies that we should be checking out? Let us know – post in the comments or drop us a line!