This is the first interview we’ve ever had with one of our affiliates. We wanted to give you a sneak peek into one of our top affiliates, Julia Blake of Blake Consultants. We’ll cover who she works with and why, why she recommends Capsule, and the success she’s had with the program itself. Learning how to be a successful affiliate takes time and you should have good knowledge of the product you’re promoting. We hope that Julia's insights will give you an idea about why she recommends Capsule and why she loves being one of our affiliates.
To start off, please tell our readers a little bit about yourself.
I’m the owner / director of Blake Consultants. We accelerate business growth for service-based business owners who know they have the potential to maximize more sales opportunities and retain more clients. We do this by developing clear and effective systems and processes, which support rapid growth. More revenue is generated, costs are reduced, ultimately leading to an increase in net profit and a happier business owner.
What types of businesses do you usually work with?
I work with predominantly service-based businesses. I usually work alongside passionate business owners who are frustrated and know they can do more. They usually come to a point where they realize they don’t have enough time, they’re missing out on sales opportunities or they’re reinventing the wheel too often. In the end they know they need a system that supports this. I work with them to work out where they want and need this support.
Alternatively, they might also be looking at bringing extra people into their business and they’re looking at setting up processes so that the team do things in the way that the owner wants them done. Having Capsule helps shorten the onboarding process of a new team member, and assists workflow and communication when they are up and running. Ultimately, it’s about making more of the business owner’s time - giving them the ability to be more productive with the limited time they have.
In a nutshell, where does Capsule fit into this?
I often talk about Capsule being a clone of your best self - so I work with the business owner to get the systems and processes sorted so that they literally have another person in their team. It also helps them be productive even on a bad day. We all have bad days, but if you have a system that’s prompting you to do the right things then a bad day is not an unproductive day.
So, the systems you put in place, they help businesses achieve more and they act as support when things might not be going well?
Yes. This is really important, and I talk about this a lot. I also think it’s important to talk about the peaks and troughs. Because when you are an owner/manager, you can’t be doing the business development when you’re also responsible for managing everything and delivering your service.
Is that one of the main reasons you started your business?
Yes. I first started my business and started working with Capsule because I realized businesses need more support for those high and low points. When you’re delivering your service, you can’t be developing your business and getting new clients on board and vice-versa. Sometimes, you’ll be in a period focused on business growth and other times it will be all about delivering your service. Because this can be erratic and stressful, there’s a need to ensure as many tasks as possible can tick over in the background. So, by having a system in place it helps you smooth out those highs and lows.
Coupled with other marketing and accounting solutions, you then have support across the whole business. You’re still making sales, you’re still doing the marketing, even when you’re delivering your service.
Also, even the best of us can simply forget to do stuff! But, if you have a system that’s been put together using best practice then it can prompt you to do what you need to do that you might have otherwise forgotten.
What other things does Capsule do that supports your clients?
The pipeline is covered; the marketing is covered when it’s coupled with an email marketing tool; and what you actually deliver is covered as well. It’s brilliant. Not only that but you can manage your own internal projects in it. My marketing plan, my business development plan and my strategy - it’s in Capsule. It’s a Project within Capsule. You can use it to manage your own business as well as using it to support what you deliver to your own clients. All in all, it covers most bases for the service-based business owner.
How long have you been a Capsule affiliate for?
It’s probably been more than 6 years now, but I’ve been using Capsule and have been helping businesses with Capsule for over 10 years. I didn’t start working with Capsule because I saw it had an affiliate scheme. I started working with Capsule because it’s a great system and then I noticed there was an affiliate program and obviously it made sense for me to join. I think the idea of being an affiliate is much more out there now than it once was.
What are the benefits of being a Capsule affiliate?
I have a great relationship with the Capsule Support team - I think they’re excellent. I’d like to think I would have a great relationship with them regardless of whether I was an affiliate or not. Obviously for me the big benefit is that I have a steady revenue stream of passive income which as a small business owner myself is quite hard to come by - it supports the reduction of those peaks and troughs that I was speaking about.
It’s also helped me grow my business as I have the surety and ability to progress my business in a way that I wouldn’t be able to if I didn’t have that steady income stream. It gives me the reassurance and confidence to accelerate my own business growth.
Why do you recommend Capsule to your clients?
Its beauty is in its simplicity. It’s brilliant. It’s intuitive. It’s simple to use. You can literally take it and start using it. But, it also gives you the ability to make a more sophisticated system if you wish to. It means that I can have a system tailored to my clients, and they have a system tailored to theirs.
On top of that, you have the ability to manage your pipeline. So many business owners do not have eyes on their pipeline. Business owners constantly wear multiple hats - you can have a view as a sales director as well as that of a salesperson. You can see the individual sales opportunities as well as the bigger picture. The pipeline dashboard is incredible - you can see conversion rates and other key data. The fact that you can capture the reasons why you’ve lost sales opportunities so you can work out if the leads are the right quality or if you need to tweak your marketing is also vital to running a business. You can also look at different revenue streams by setting up different pipelines or using tags.
It also integrates with so many other great systems such as Xero, QuickBooks, Mailchimp, GSuite, Microsoft 365. Plus, you can use it to manage what you deliver. You can work out your processes and best practices and build it into Capsule. It’s like having a clone of your best self or having another member of the team.
The mobile app is also fabulous. You can click on a phone number, make the call, and then dictate a note about it when you’re out and about and it’s available on all devices and for all users.
It’s also incredibly good value - to have all of that for a very low monthly fee is just phenomenal. There’s also no hidden costs. There’s no tie-in.
While we’re here, anything else you’d like to add?
I’d love to give a shout out to the Capsule support team. I just think they’re phenomenal. They are so supportive. They’re just brilliant. I’d also like to commend you on how receptive you are to suggestions and feedback. Thank you Duncan and everyone at Capsule!
If Julia’s message resonated with you and you’d like to see how, with some help, you can maximize your business opportunities then you can contact Julia Blake at Julia.Blake@blakeconsultants.co.uk or you can visit our Affiliate Program page to find out more about becoming a Capsule affiliate partner.
