Let's face it. Migrating to a new platform is hard. It's a daunting prospect and is virtually guaranteed to cause you a headache or two. To compound matters, it is rather unfairly positioned right at the gate as you enter the Mago world.
It doesn't have to be painful, though, and we're here to help if you need it.
The first pitfall that you'll come to is the idea that you have to get your Mago account all configured and the automations set up before you begin using it and getting value out of it. This is simply not true, and that train of thought often leads to a sense of dread when you sit down at your computer to get started. It's easy to get into a pattern of "This is complicated, I'll dive into this when I have more time..." and before you know it, you've been subscribed for months without getting any of the benefits.
Relax. This is not an "all or nothing" thing.
Your first steps
The first thing we recommend you do is do a little sandbox testing. Make a test contact with an email address that you have access to but is not the one you're using for Mago. Create a fake gig. Send yourself some quotes, play around with templates, get a feel for how the booking process flows and what it looks like on both sides. Go through a couple of full bookings. Send yourself a $1 gig and book it and just see how that works. The insight you gain from manually walking through the process with yourself a few times will be invaluable when it comes to making automations later.
Once you've played in the sandbox a little, it's time to start your migration.
Choosing a migration strategy
There are a couple of different ways to go about it, and one that is fairly easy but does involve some overlap of the old and the new system is to simply begin entering new data into your new system and letting the old gigs play out on the old system. It's not the fastest way to migrate, but it is possibly the simplest. Once you've got your new data coming into your new system, you can begin to migrate some of your old data. Maybe start with your gigs that are the furthest away on the calendar and work your way to the present. Whatever makes sense to you. Just make sure as you are backfilling your data that you make use of the tag feature. This will pay off for you later when you want to start doing sophisticated email marketing campaigns and email blast.
After you have manually entered a few gigs and contacts, you will get a feel for the kind of information you want coming into the system. Time to start putting Mago to work for you to get new information directly into your database by setting up a contact form. This lets you effortlessly keep all your new data coming into Mago so you can turn your attention to other tasks.
Getting started with automation
Another reason it's important to manually go through the booking process a couple of times is that it gives you insight into what your business process actually looks like and what your workflows are. This information is key to harnessing Mago's powerful automation engine. There are so many possibilities, it's difficult to know where to start without that information in mind.
The great thing about Mago is that you don't have to dive in a create all your automations on the first day to begin getting value out of it. Start simple. Go into a record and manually schedule some automated emails. Then try out the automation tool that lets you set up whole routines so you don't have to manually schedule items anymore.
Set up a lead automation that sends a quote and also schedules a follow up 10 months down the road to the effect of "Hey, sorry we didn't get to work together last year but I've got a brand new show this year I'd love to talk to you about." Doing this one tiny, simple thing will grow your business without you having to lift a finger. If this person books, great! That follow up "sorry we didn't work together" email will vanish because it's no longer relevant. If they DON'T book you, no problem. You'll be automatically checking in with them next year and we have seen those converted to bookings many times.
Of course you'll also want to start automating your booking process. Once the person books, you can have Mago send them some follow up questions about the event so you can customize your show. You can send little check in emails to let them know you're looking forward to their event. You can send yourself a pre-show checklist. Start simply and build as you find gaps. Before you know it, you'll have everything flowing smoothly, giving you more free time.
Importing your database
Once you're up and running and have Mago taking care of some of your routine tasks, you can turn your attention to importing your historical information if you want to. A lot of people think they need to do this first before they start to use Mago, but we don't recommend that.
The first reason is that the process of manually entering some of your information will give you a good idea of how Mago uses that information and how the data from your old system relates to your new data in Mago. This will make the import process make a LOT more sense when you sit down to to it.
The other big reason we don't recommend bulk import as a first step is that it is often a long, tedious process and we don't want you getting bogged down with that and thinking you can't begin utilizing Mago without having gone through that process first. You want to import nice, clean data and sometimes the data coming out of your old CRM is pretty messy. It's going to take some work and it's not unusual for folks to spend 10 or more hours cleaning up their data and getting it ready for import. It would be very easy to get frustrated and impatient if you were of the opinion that you had to have this done before using Mago.
When you're ready, here are the instructions for importing your existing information.
As overwhelming as the first steps of using a new platform can be, we've all be there. If it feels like it's too much, just keep in mind that is easily the most difficult part of the process and with a little patience and investment in time, you'll be a pro before you know it. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out and we'll be happy to help.