CHECKLIST: How to Start a Digital Marketing Agency & Hit $5K in Less than 90 Days

[Sean Marshall]

I've been meaning to write this post for a long time. It's basically the story of how I started a digital marketing agency to be able to do cool stuff. And I would like to give you a nice little checklist that you could use as well if it interests you.

I started my business in 2010. Since then, I reduced my own work load to less than 10 hours a month, lived in Mexico for 4 1/2 years, traveled to 15 countries, and am prepping to head to Scotland for 6 months in Sept - all together with my wife & 3 kids.

I cracked the code to scaling a service-based business using detailed systems (a fancy checklist on Asana) and a good team (all based in the Philippines).

I made $2,450 in my first month. Not crazy I know but it was a big deal for me just starting out. More importantly, that number increased every single month afterwards.

At about month 11 is when I read The Millionaire Fastlane and it completely changed how I viewed my business. I made a bunch of changes based on MJ's advice and started hitting 5 figure months about two months later.

DOES IT FOLLOW MJ'S COMMANDMENTS?

I need to mention that a digital marketing agency does NOT follow all of MJ's 5 business commandments. It breaks one - Barrier to Entry. Basically, anyone can do this. They really can.

BUT, that's also the catch - most people DON'T ACTUALLY EXECUTE! You can give them all the tools, step-by-step instructions, templates, etc and they still won't do anything. I know because I offer a course giving people literally everything they need and only a handful of people actually do the thing.

So in a way, the barrier to entry commandment is almost a non-issue. Besides, there's more than enough business out there.

With the other commandments (time, scale, control, & need), this kind of business passes with full marks.

MAKING $5K IN UNDER 90 DAYS

Why $5,000? Two reasons:

1. It’s usually enough money for most people to quit their jobs to focus full time on the business
2. It’s totally realistic & achievable

This is a number that most people can hit with some focused work. How fast you’re able to hit $5k is up to two things:

1. Your Prices
2. Your Hustle

Obviously, the more you sell, the more you’ll make. Keep in mind that some services typically cost more than others (for example: websites cost more than social media management)

Like I said, I made $2,450 in my first month. How did I make that money? I networked with people I already knew and got in touch with a few key business owners. I shook hands and spoke with everyone I knew.

Simply put, I hustled.

Hitting $5K in under 90 days is totally doable. I have students in my course that have done much more in less time.

WHAT IS AN ONLINE MARKETING AGENCY?

Before I give you a checklist, I have to answer, what is an online marketing agency?

There are a lot of names for this kind of business - internet marketing company, digital marketing agency, online marketing business, and more. They’re all the same thing.

In a nutshell, it’s a service-based business that manages the online marketing activities for companies of any size that are in need of growing their presence online – which is all of them.

This includes services like SEO, social media management, reputation management, website design, and more.

You can choose to focus in on just one branch of online marketing (like website design or SEO) or you can choose to do it all.

As the business owner, you’re responsible for creating the services that your clients will choose from. Then you will need to recruit a team of people to do the actual work. You can even hire salespeople or a sales company later on and scale it infinitely.

There’s no shortage of businesses that need help with their online marketing so the sky’s the limit. There’s also no shortage of people who can do the actual work and you can contract them relatively inexpensively.

*NOTE: Building an online marketing agency might not be your passion.

It really doesn’t matter. What matters is that it offers you a way to sell a valuable service to real people who pay real money. You can quickly build this business, scale it up, and then do whatever the heck you want!

QUICK BENEFITS OF AN ONLINE MARKETING AGENCY

The benefits primarily include:

• You can get started for less than $300
• Extremely low overhead
• Large profit margin - you literally set the prices
• Huge potential - an extra $50K/year or $500K/year - it's up to you
• Work online
• Flexible schedule

THE 5 S's OF YOUR ONLINE MARKETING AGENCY

Starting and running a digital marketing agency breaks down into what I call the 5 S's.

1. Setup
2. Sales
3. Systems
4. Staffing
5. Scaling-Up

I'm going to break down the checklist into those 5 groups.

The rest of this post is literally made up of the steps you can follow to start your own digital marketing agency. If you have any questions, obviously I'll be paying attention to this thread. I won't hold anything back.

Just ask.

***

SETUP
This portion is to help you get started by establishing your business services, messaging & branding, website, and so forth. The goal is to move quickly to hurry and get to making sales.

• Start thinking about your business brand including your business name. Think about what kind “feel” you want your business to have. Write out at least 10 possible names.
• Look up “online marketing company” and check out the first few sites – the goal is to get a feel for what they do and what you’ll be doing.
• Consider taking a class or two on Udemy.com or Lynda.com to get an overview of the online marketing world. Strongly consider also going to QuickSprout.com/University
• Think about an industry you might like to serve (i.e. – chiropractors) and then look up “online marketing for chiropractors” or similar terms and study what comes up.
• Write out (or type out) your motivation. Why are you interested in starting this business? Answer this with something more specific than “to have more money”. Get as specific as you can. Don’t skip the mental work!
• List out the amount of money you would like to make in your first month, second month, following months. Include your first year’s goal.
• Go online and look up other online marketing companies (again) – jot down everything that you like and that you would like to emulate.
• Start thinking about what sets you apart. Ideally it can be summed up in one sentence. i.e. – “We provide SEO services for dental professionals”. This is your USP (unique selling proposition)
• Come up with your 3 packages. List out the services that each package entails. Yours may be just offering social media or just website design or whatever. Be sure to be detailed - list out everything.
• Come up with your package pricing. Decide what you think is valuable for all parties involved and use this as a starting point (you’ll most likely adjust this as you get more experience). Use this pattern: $499/$599/$999 OR $999/$1199/$1699 and so on.
• Identify and write out your USP.
• Write what your ideal client looks like – the more details the better.
• Decide right now you will stay true to your niche and not take on anyone and everyone who needs help “online”. It’s better to focus on a core audience to avoid wasting time and money. Don’t be afraid to say no.
• Come up with your business name. Come up with your business tagline (if you need one).
• Pick your colors. These can literally be your favorite colors. Don’t stress on this one.
• Get a logo done (use 99designs.com, Upwork.com, or Fiverr.com) – don’t do it yourself unless you’re a graphic designer.
• Write up your business plan. Print it out. Change as necessary. Just answer the following questions:
  o What is your company name?
  o What is your company tagline?
  o What services do you provide? What problem do you solve?
  o Who is your target audience or what does your ideal client look like?
  o What is your USP?
  o How much do you charge?
  o What is your monthly revenue goal?
  o How many new or repeat clients do you need to achieve this goal?
  o How do you get new clients?
  o How will you fulfill your services? Who makes up your production team?
  o Who are the other key players of your team? List their names and titles.
  
  
• Set up your corporation (use LegalZoom – for now, just get a DBA and then incorporate once you’ve brought on a few clients and know this is going to work for you)
• Set up your business checking & savings account. Set up your PayPal (or Stripe) business account.
• Buy your domain name (use a registrar like GoDaddy.com). Buy your hosting (use a reliable & affordable host like SiteGround.com. Set up your website (use Wordpress – it’s super easy & all you need). Your host should have a 1-click Wordpress install.
• Create a home page, about page, services page, & contact page to start. This is the minimum. Set up your social media platforms (Facebook business page, Twitter, Google+/YouTube, LinkedIn all a must. Pinterest, Instagram, etc are bonus).
• Buy your business cards (and nothing else) Use VistaPrint.com because they’re super cheap. Only order 250 for your first cards. You may change some info later.

SALES
This portion is to help you start making sales - the lifeblood of your business. If you’re not making sales, you don’t have a business.

• Get your first sale (work your own personal network to get started – make a list of 10 business owners you know or your friends/family might know and approach them offering them a discount or added value to get started).
• Complete the work of your first sale and be sure to get results! If you don’t know how to do any of it, go to UpWork.com and hire someone immediately – see next section.
• Document all of your work – you’ll need this to scale & build a team.
• Get your next 3 clients quickly. Go to networking meetings in your area. Consider joining your local Chamber of Commerce and possibly a BNI group or other networking group.
• Use online directories like Manta.com to find more businesses in your chosen niche. When you find their contact info, reach out to them leading with value - do a mock-up website with their info, list out specific tips to drive more business, or share exactly how they could tweak their online presence for increased traffic and conversion, etc. Think value!
• Reach out to associations in your chosen niche and offer to give free webinars.
• Optimize your company website to reach your target niche and drive traffic to it – have specific pages on your website that you get to rank in Google for organic traffic (i.e. – a page on “Search Engine Optimization Services for Chiropractors”). Then get it ranking and collect leads.
• Continue to look up the Chambers of Commerce in your area and other mixers and networking opportunities. Look to set up 1-on-1’s with potential clients but only ones in your niche. Don’t waste time with anyone else!
• Set up speaking and teaching gigs to get in front of a lot of people at once. Be as helpful as possible. Give your best stuff away for free - be incredibly detailed.

SYSTEMS
Once you have some sales coming in, you need to make sure you document everything and create systems in order for others to do the work for you. This also includes establishing what tools you use in your business. It’s simple but incredibly important.

• Create a sales manual and a production manual. Be detailed and use bullet points.
• Set up your work email (use Google apps or even just gmail to make it easy and route your Name@Company.com email through it)
• Set up your account in Asana.com – it’s free and it will be your project management tool. Name each new project after your client name. Each project is a client & list out in the project all of the work you said you would do in the list of services.
• Set your file storage using DropBox or Google Drive.
• Set up your bookkeeping with Quickbooks

STAFFING
Getting a team in place to do the work for you is key to your growth. You need to hire, train, and lead your team members. As soon as possible, you’ll hire more team members to make sure all work is being done effectively.

• Create a company org chart with you as owner. Create a general manager position with manager positions also in sales, production/operations, & finance.
• List out the work for your first job (base this off of your services in your game plan). Then go to Upwork.com or OnlineJobs.ph and post your job.
• Interview your top 3 candidates. Hire 1 but keep the other two on a short-list for when you need them in the future. Start them off on a part-time basis with the expectation of them doing more soon.
• Hire your first employee or contractor – generally this is a production staff member first (you should not be doing the actual production beyond your first client).
• Take time to train your first team member. Refine your systems and make sure they can operate independently of you as soon as possible. Use Asana (or Basecamp or Trello) to manage everything. If you’re concerned about tracking everything, consider using HubStaff.com.
• As soon as revenue and need justifies it, hire another contractor. And then another. And another.

SCALING-UP
Once you have sales coming in and a team and systems in place, it’s time to scale-up. This section is all about refining your processes so that you can handle 5 or 500 clients while the work to you remains the same. In other words, this is how you make more money while working less.

• Refine your services – productize them! When mapping out your services, make sure your offer is the same to everyone. If you choose a service like SEO for example, then it’s relatively the same regardless of the industry your client is in. Don’t match a service to the client. Match the client to one of your preexisting services.
• Refine your clients - it’s OK & very necessary to the growth of your business to be choosy. Stay away from any "high maintenance" clients. Choose early on how you will handle communication with your clients. Most are just fine with email.
• Refine your systems. Look for ways to save money, increase productivity, and so forth. When possible, swap out human effort with software and automated work.
• Refine your sales. Spend money if necessary on advertising, always targeting your ideal niche/industry.
• As soon as you have at least 90-day’s worth of savings in the bank, have made at least 3 sales (with a lot more in the pipeline), consider going full-time with your business. If you have a significant other, be sure to be on the same page.
• Over-deliver with your clients. If the relationship is there, try asking for a referral but only if you’ve already done a great job.

***

That's it! Just sell. There's plenty of businesses out there. I don't mean to downplay it at all but really, I'm nobody special. I'm not like most of the successful hustlers in this forum. I'm a pretty average dude that managed to create a sweet business.

You can do the same. Just follow the checklist above.

If you have any questions, just ask!

-Sean

 

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[Sean Marshall]

Hey Sean thanks for taking the time to write this out.

In the packages you mentioned, would you be able to give more examples of what kind of services you would offer?

Here's a sample spread of some of the services we offer:



Website Support & Security
Website security – clean of malware/hackers
Remove any spam
Software updates – keep site current & secure
Check for broken links and fix
Site speed – make sure site is running fast
Simple design changes as needed
Site functionality – ensure everything is working

Search Engine Optimization
Website submission to major search engines
Google My Business profile/optimization
Google Webmaster Tools & Analytics tracking
Keyword research & tracking
New keyword targeted page creation including title tags, alt tags, header tags, urls, & meta description
Broken links checking
Continual keyword improvement on website pages
Duplicate content checking
Ensure proper schema markup
Targeted backlinking
Company profile on key citation sites
Profile submission to local niche directories
Monthly search audit
Competitor tracking

Reputation Management
Create/optimize profile on key platforms
Manage and report reviews & ratings
Respond to all reviews appropriately
Supply tools to solicit reviews

Content Marketing
Custom blog writing & posting
Keyword tagging with metadata included
Frequent pinging of content to key directories
Optimize company YouTube channel
Custom videos
Upload to YouTube & fully search optimized
Social bookmarking of key content
Assist with monthly newsletter creation/sending

Social Media Marketing
Post key content (frequency based on platform)
Maintenance of profiles (clean & spam free)
Follower engagement

Support & Reporting
Monthly report
Google Analytics reporting
Unlimited online marketing support

No Contract/Month-to-Month

 

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[Sean Marshall]

How do you deal with a negative cash flow cycle? Meaning you get paid after the services are provided.... Or do you avoid this by having your services "productized" and collect payment upfront to create a positive cash flow cycle?

Are your services one time "products" or do you offer on-going services such as social media management for a client where there is recurring revenue each month? If both, do you have a preference for either or, and why?

I've never dealt with negative cash flow. I always get paid upfront. A new client picks a package, pays, and then we start the work. I was profitable from my first sale and never looked back.

The key to growth is on-going monthly services. This could be social media management, SEO, FB ads, etc. The only products that are one-off are websites (which we mostly avoid now) but even then, most clients usually opt to go to the monthly services - if nothing else, at least a security/maintenance package.

Monthly recurring is key to growth.

Hope that helps!

 

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[Sean Marshall]

Did you do these type of services yourself before starting this company? Like were you a website designer or social media manager?

Yes, kind of. I was already in marketing and dabbled in the online side of things. I had the idea of starting my own business after taking a course and thought, "I could do this". After I got laid off from what would be my last job ever, my wife and I decided to just go for it.

I'm happy to say it was a very smart decision.

So, I would say to go for it. If you're already doing it for your company as a job, you can easily make the transition. The key will be getting new clients, and then getting other people (a team) to do the work for you. Don't be tempted to do the work yourself. Speaking from experience, it will keep you small.

Let me know if you need any help!

 

[eliquid]

I vote this most helpful thread of the month

 

[Sean Marshall]

I find that many times, digital marketing agencies offer a variety of services, yet earn a sizeable chunk of their income from selling SEO services. In this regard, my question for you is twofold:

-Is selling SEO still a viable business in 2018? Before rolling your eyes, look at it this way: search engine marketing has never been more competetive. For a local Google search (for a contractor for example), first there's G's ads, followed by massively SEO'd sites like Angieslist and Yelp which may be very challenging to outrank (if not outright impossible). Sure, you could sell SEO to a client who may not be very tech-literate (and may not see any significant return on his SEO investment), but is it ethical, and more importantly, is it still a relevant business model?

-Many notable people (yourself included) in the online entrepreneurship circle build large portions of their wealth from SEO sales - could you please share a little insight about the SEO aspect of your business? Do you seek out potential businesses and cold call them? How do you help them make the decision that your SEO service will meet their needs as opposed to services offered by other (perhaps larger, more reputable firms)?

Awaiting your response, and might I add, great f*cking thread!

Is selling SEO still viable? YES! Of course it is. As long as there are search engines, there will be room to help businesses get found there. Of course it's ethical as long as you use ethical SEO strategies. Regardless of what your friends in India may do (sorry India, but it's true) black hat is never a win in the long run. You'll lose clients and you'll always be scrambling for new clients.

All of my business now comes in via referrals. I networked hard for two years both in Seattle and in San Francisco and built a huge network. I built my business up enough in those 2 years to then be able to take off - which is why I moved to Cozumel. For the last 6 years, all new business has been referrals - and even then, I'm picky about which clients I take on.

SEO is applicable to any business - you just might have to change up the tactics a bit. As far as convincing them, I don't really do that too much. As referrals, they're already pre-sold on me so it's not as big of a deal. In the beginning though, it was all about the relationship. Know/like/trust was a big factor in getting new business - which is why I networked. Going to a cheesy meeting where everyone is pitching their business is def not my favorite thing to do. BUT, it got me in front of business owners all of whom needed my services.

Often, people had been burned by larger firms. Besides, I worked quickly to get them results and they stayed on. In fact, everything is month to month. I don't do contracts. Clients stay on because they want to stay on. I have clients still that I've had since the very beginning - 8 years now.

Hope that answered your questions!

 

[Sean Marshall]

Well, I thought I was giving value (though admittedly not SEO and it didn't work for me I couldn't even get people to commit to coffee and chat online. I wasn't even asking for money. So I suppose I'm am ineffective value gives and ineffective online networker (in the latter case at least, I can improve the former by finding out what they want.)

I should clarify that when I say value, I mean above and beyond the services you/I/ offer as a digital marketing agency. By providing that service, it is valuable to the client. What I'm referring to is when starting out in the sales process - lead with value by giving them something really, really, useful.

For example, instead of sending an email saying you can help with SEO (or whatever), send a 10 minute video showing them a key changes they could make to their website that would boost them in the search engines. Even go as far as to show them how to do it. This is valuable.

If they're your ideal client, they won't have time to do it and they'll reply back asking if you could do it - not always, but in many cases.

The catch? It takes a while to do stuff like this (videos, custom PDF reports, etc). That's why there are very few people who do it. The good news? Very few people actually do it. That's how you can stand out. It's also showing them you really know your stuff. It's also giving them something really useful.

Plus, even with custom videos/reports, you can still create templates to make it faster. Plus, you can eventually get one of your team members to do it all for you.

It doesn't take long before you have a handful of clients.

 

[Andy Black]

Blimey. I've only just found this great thread. Thanks for the opening post @Sean Marshall, and for all your sensible answers throughout. Rep+

Guys... this only seems to be low barrier to entry. Anyone can "start", but most fall over at the first hurdle of making sales. Like all businesses, commercial skills are more important than technical skills.

 

[Sean Marshall]

Do you have any examples threads of this? Do you set up a landing page, SEO it maybe pay AdWords etc then contact the company? Or do you do value add in some other way? Any good threads/sites on online networking? Perhaps some of your succesfull students would know? Networking and marketing is where I'm failing. I literally can't get to in person events (more than the occasional one off, though I'd prefer them) I literally have no businesses here. I have to order my groceries online because there is no village shop... So learning the ability to network online,is an important one for me.

I just mentioned a few different ways (videos, pdf's, etc). You can also actually do some services for the client and give it to them - depending on the service.

If you do website design for example, you can easily create a sample website, fill in their info, and send it over to them as an example of what you can do. There are even templates out there to do this.

The key is to offer a lot upfront (not just an email). But to really give them something of value. Then, follow up like a madman. I've followed up with people and they finally say yes after my 5, 6, 7th time of contacting them.

Also, think of how you can reach more than one person at a time. Like, fishing with a net instead of just a fishing pole.

One thing I've found really helpful is to approach the presidents of industry associations. Example: let's say you want to focus on contractors. Then based on where you live (or where you want to focus your efforts), you can reach out to a president there. Let's say you're in Southern California for example. I'm sure (without looking it up) that there's some kind of So Cal Association for Contractors. Those associations all need to provide value for their members. You can offer to host a webinar, or do a free website analysis, or give a series of videos, or whatever to those members. All with the intent of helping that president help his/her members grow their businesses. You're there to help them get their phone ringing more.

That's a ninja trick that surprisingly, most people do NOT do.

Hope this helps!

 

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[Sean Marshall]

For those of you who like a book to read, I've attached the original PDF that has all of the checklists that I previously loaded up. It just goes a little beyond what's above.

As always, if you have any questions, let me know. Always happy to help people get started.

 

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[Sean Marshall]

Just follow the checklist above.

I said that in the very first post I made in this thread which I can't believe was in 2018!

I've been happy to update the thread over the years as questions have come in. But also, part of me feels like what I listed out was too complicated. Like, it gave people too much to think about, learn about, and hem & hah about (paralysis by analysis).

In other words, NOT taking action.

Taking action is the ONLY thing that matters. And by that I mean the following 7 things:

1. Choose a niche
2. Find a real problem this industry deals with
3. Find a way to solve that problem
4. Create a dynamite no-brainer offer
5. Build a landing page
6. Run ads to the landing page (Facebook, Google, or YouTube)
7. Book calls and close deals

That's it!

Stuff like what colors you use in your logo, payment processor, how to hire people are all good - but this is what you NEED to do right now to get the revenue coming in fast. In fact, you could do this all in one day if you wanted.

I can expand on what I mean just a bit:

#1 - Choose a niche

Let's say you choose hair salons. Maybe you already know the industry, have some contacts there, or just plain want to work with hair salons.

#2 - Find a real problem this industry deals with

Ask some hair salons owners what they're dealing with when it comes to driving new business online. What do they struggle with? What do they want more of? Less of?

Let's say that most hair salons owners desperately want to have more reviews. They know it leads to new business and maybe their front desk person isn't the best at asking for those reviews. Maybe they don't have any systems set up to automatically ask for reviews. You can do that.

#3 - Find a way to solve that problem

Knowing that they need more reviews, think of a way to set that up for them. Maybe you can do a database reactivation (email blast) to all their past and current customers asking for reviews. Maybe you can set up a process where the customers automatically get a text after they visit the salon that links to a review page. And so on.

#4 - Create a dynamite no-brainer offer

Now that you know the pain, and you have the solution to that pain (a.k.a Value), you need to create a no-brainer offer. This usually looks something like this:

(Highly Desired Result) in (Set Time Frame) or (Risk Reversal)

For example:

We'll get you 10 new 5-star reviews in 30 days or we'll give you $500

You're basically guaranteeing them their desired result and taking away any risk of working with you. Btw - in that particular example, the $500 is the investment they make to enlist your services. It's basically just another way of saying you're giving them their money back.

#5 - Build a landing page

Now you need to build a simple landing page that highlights this offer. So many people get hung up on creating the perfect website for their agency. You don't have to.

Most clients don't care about your website. They care about whether or not you're going to make them money. If you're simple landing page has a compelling offer, then that's good enough (ideally with some social proof).

Be sure to have a clear call-to-action (CTA) like "Get More Reviews Now" or "Book a Call" and have it link to your calendar.

#6 - Run ads to the landing page (Facebook, Google, or YouTube)

Now that you have your offer in place, together with a landing page, now you need to run some ads to it. Yes, this is an expense but you don't have to start big. In fact, unless you really know what you're doing when it comes to online ads, you should start small.

If you're using Google, you can get coupons/credits for starting a new Google/ad account. Use that to get started, track your results, adjust, and refine. Once you have leads coming in (& ideally a few new clients), then you can scale up.

#7 - Book calls and close deals

Once you get those ads running, the calls will come in. Your job is basically to learn about the prospect's business, their pains (they need reviews), show how you're the solution, and close the deal.

That's it!

I don't mean to make it sound too simplistic but that's really what this entire thread boils down to. If you haven't read anything else in this thread, then this is all you really need!

Happy New Year Fellow Fastlaners! I wish you a very prosperous 2022!

 

[Sean Marshall]

It is so crowded and IM thinking that it does not go along with the message of the book, that I would just one among many in a crowded field.

I could start over right now today and scale up a brand new digital marketing agency.

"It's never a bad time to start a great business" - Gary Vaynerchuk.

Sure, it's crowded. So are a lot of industries.

You just have to target the right businesses. Restaurants? Not so much. In my own experience, they don't have the budget.

Focus on people who have the budget. Be great yourself - have a great USP. Then hustle. I don't mean to downplay the work involved but it's pretty straightforward. There's no mystery to it.

This entire thread is 1000% more than what I had when I got started and I was profitable in month 1.

 

[rogue synthetic]

It's actually not that tough:
- Be on time.
- Return phone calls, answer emails.
- Do not overpromise.
- Deliver decent work (ie do not outsource everything to India).
- Do the best for your clients instead of just the basics.

If you would do those things, you would already be better than 80% of the market.

This is exactly right.

The upside of a saturated market is that the percentage of crap increases in proportion.

When I search for 'digital marketing' and related keywords in my city, everything on the first page of Google results is crap. Paid, local biz SERPs, organic results...it's total garbage.

Landing pages that are bland "talk at you" corporate garble with no call to action.

Exciting brand storytellers that aren't exciting and don't tell stories on their own web pages.

These are experts at generating leads and new prospects who can't even market themselves -- but they want to tell YOU how to do it in your own business.

98% of the competition would get blown out by the first guy who read a couple of Dan Kennedy books.

Look at what everybody is doing, and then do the opposite.

 

[Sean Marshall]

there's a shortage of offline unsexy businesses

YES! There's an entire group of multi-million revenue per year businesses that also need help.

I have clients that include:

Concrete fitting manufacturing
Adhesive manufacturers
Thermal imaging
and others

Nobody is going after these businesses. All the online marketers want to spam dentists and plastic surgeons.

But these "industrial" companies have loads of money and desperately need the help

 

[banjoa]

I found this thread two years ago. To be 100% honest, I've been trying to get my first client for 2 years. I developed my programming skills, I learned web design, I've done free test websites for my dad and cousin to practice,I graduated college in computer science, yet, I am unable to successfully get a client

I used Cold Calling, where the best thing that happens is I get a lead or someone too cheap. Every single time. I've tried SPIN selling, Jordan Belfort selling techniques, techniques from many different classes including Fox, and just can't get anyone to buy my services.
I used LinkedIN, where I've been trying my hardest to be genuine and provide full on value for anyone that could use my services and nothing.

After lurking these forums for a couple of years I'm posting this here now to say that I feel beat. I feel like I'm outside of the party meanwhile everyone else seems to be inside making tons of sales. $500 a month would completely transform my life if I could successfully provide someone my service. I would be ecstatic to close a deal with anyone.

I tried building a site for my dad and his store and it went well. i built a website for my friend's clothing line for free to try and get some portfolio experience.

What can I do to get myself out of this shit-hole state of "can't-find-a-client"?

Market Ruleth:

Maybe you’re trying to force a service on a market.

Market should come before service.

Find a market first.

Find out what problems they have.

Then come up with a solution.

The problem has to be high on their totem pole.

Their #1 problem in the business. Something that literally keeps them up at night.

For most businesses this isn’t a whacky website. Dig deeper.

Only when you discover this should you come up with an offer.

I have discovered this research phase is the most important starting a service business.

It’s going to dictate how easy/difficult you sell the offer.

If you nail the research part, you can’t go 2 years without landing a client. So go back to that.

So, market first.
Find problems in the market.
Then come up with an offer.

Intercept businesses at the tipping points

Everyone goes through a purchase flow. We have a set of things we do before making a purchase.

Imagine someone looking to buy widget X they can’t find locally.

They go on google and search ‘widget x’.

That’s a tipping point.

The websites that have optimized for the keyword ‘widget x’ show up.

They are intercepting people searching for ‘widget x’ at a tipping point.

Not saying go start a niche blog or authority site for your service. No immediate benefit. You can worry about that later.

What you want to do is go where your customers can already be found. Shoutout to @andyblack.

FB business groups (cult of Copy, clickfunnels, @Fox web design), forums, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.

Look for these tipping points (you’ll find many if you can read between the lines) and intercept.

Take for example a lawyer that just had his site redesigned and getting no leads.

He comes on his favorite biznass Facebook and posts:

‘Hey guys. I don’t get any contact form enquiry. I’m deeply frustrated. Who else has this problem?’

BOOM SHAKALA.

That’s as tipping as they come.

Most people will reply that post with things like:

‘Hey I can fix that for you. Send me a DM’

‘Hey bro. Have you tried Super duper contact form plugin bla bla bla’

Here’s how to intercept this potential ‘I have a problem and I’ll pay you if you solve this for me’ tipping point.

‘Hey Mike tha lawyer. I worked with a client that had the same problem. We tried many things but what worked was revamping the copy and using DR marketing on the contact form page. Worked gangbusters. Now, he gets 3-5 leads per day. Here’s a link to the case study. Let me know if you have any questions’

This is a pitch that doesn’t look like a pitch with a call to action.

You mentioned you did this for client. Now, he knows this is what you do.

Social proof. Check.
Results. Check.
Call to action. Check.

This is harder to pull off than the generic replies. But way better to get someone to hire you.

Do this enough and you will see results.

To recap:

-Market first.

-Find problems market has. Ask them don’t assume.

You: ‘What keeps you up at night?’
Them: ‘We have problems closing high ticket offers on the phone’

-Come up with an offer/service:
‘We help xxx close high ticket offers on the phone using the ‘Belfort’ system.’

Getting clients:

-Go where your market congregates on the Internet/offline.

Internet:
FB groups, LinkedIn, Social Media, comments section on industry blogs, forums etc.

Offline:
Seminars, Conventions, Golf course, personal network etc.

- Look for tipping points and Intercept

Extras:

-Get testimonials ASAP to land better/more clients

-No website/blog until you land 3 retainers (stable income)

-Don’t spread yourself too thin. Find one CAC and nail that before mastering another.

-Have systems from day one (think about your workflow, how you get clients, who does what...)

- Build a prospect list on a spreadsheet and update daily

- Gamify organic client acquisition methods. If it’s not fun, you won’t last. Per day: 30 cold emails/call, 100 connections/interception with potential clients

- Focus on the quality of your work/results you get clients above everything else. Remember people buy results not services

- Don’t mess around with branding until you are banking dineros.

- When you can spend $100 a day move to paid traffic.

Funnel:
Ad > VSL (with value bombs) > Get ‘em on the phone

Still learning too.
Hope this helps.

 

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[Sean Marshall]

My problem is that I don't have a system. I'm doing everything manually and more or less from the top of my head. Combined with my other responsibilities it's gotten to be too much. How did you tackle this?

Right now I'm drafting a posting schedule, protocol and guidelines.

You can literally use a checklist - really. I use Asana for everything as does my team. I can see at anytime who's doing what and when.

At the beginning of the month, list out everything you want to post, update, etc for the month and then schedule it out. For social media, use something like Hootsuite. Then, make that a template and you can simply do the same thing every following month - with slight changed needs be.

Hope that helps!

 

[Sean Marshall]

Sean,
Thank you for the detailed reply.
I see you are an advocate of building a business correctly instead of being in it for the quick buck.
How much of your work do you outsource? And I presume that you're against blackhat because you're at the mercy of Google's policies and their tendencies to punish shady SEO practices?

It depends on what you mean by outsource... I have a team that does all of the work for me so in that sense I outsource. But, they're all people that are working for me so in that sense, they're on my team and not outsourcing to say Upwork or Fiverr or whatever.

Yes, always play by the rules. You will build a better business (& get referrals).

 

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[Andy Black]

Just start selling. The answers to all of these questions will take care of themselves as you speak with real business owners. Make a sale and you'll get it all sorted fast.

Amen. There should be a bot posting this at random throughout the forum.

@ZCP

 

[Andy Black]

Now I think about it, the other point here is that you have to get your hands dirty before you can scale. If I hadn't spent a year talking to customers day in, day out, I wouldn't know how to turn the sales process inbound.

So much this.

I literally had this conversation with my small team today as we were bringing a new salesman up to speed. I said something along the lines of:

Speak to people face to face. Learn, in-situ, what turns of phrase resonate, and what make them glaze over. Observe and adjust while talking to them. Get slicker at it over time until it flows.

Find out what offer they bite your hand off over.

*Learn* the customer avatars by engaging your market, not by navel gazing.

Only then try and automate and scale.

​

How is this thread not GOLD yet?

Agreed. Done.


Thank you @Sean Marshall for your opening post, AND for patiently responding to queries (and with sensible replies).

 

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[momomaurice]

I live in an area where it is basically all big box stores. The one small place I do go to, a barber shop I only go to quarterly. If you go out to eat, they are all chains so they handle their own advertising or corporate does. What is the best way around this?

I just watched a video on YouTube about how Sam Ovens would get clients if he had 30 days to do it. He said he would go online, select a niche and go over their websites. He would then record the screen and talk for 5 minutes about how that business could improve their website or advertising. He would then find the decision makers email and send them the link. Send 10 emails a day and within the month you will have a customer. I'm currently trying this now and sending the emails out tomorrow.

 

[momomaurice]

Just the fact alone that you did this puts you head and shoulders above everyone else. When you actually speak with other humans, it won't take long before you get a few that will pay you. And then more will start to come in. Getting that first sale is key - it triggers something mentally and makes the rest that much easier.

Keep hustling! It will happen.

Got my first sales call for Monday morning. These "value videos" work.

 

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[Kyle T]

Closed my first sale today and would never have been able to do it without this thread...

The steps are all laid out, you just need to execute!

On a side note, the thing that has surprised me the most is how little business owners actually understand about websites, search engines, social media & marketig in general. There is definitely a HUGE need out there. 50% of businesses (if not more) have websites that are doing absolutely nothing for their business.

 

[Sean Marshall]

Great post.

With regards to not doing the work yourself and going to places like upwork etc, how do you know a good worker from a bad? You say anyone can do this but if i don't know how to do the work myself how can i determine if someone else can do it to a satisfactory degree without trashing the customers rankings etc.

For starters, places like Upwork allow you to filter based on reviews, skills, etc. You can find quality people there with some filtering. Finding good people is key so you want to take your time with this. Also, you get what you pay for. If you go cheap, you'll get crappy work. Pay a bit more, get quality work and people that you can count on for a while.

Also, if you're going to seriously do this as a business, you should learn a little about online marketing - spend a week reading articles, watching videos, etc and you'll know more than enough to get started.

There's no such thing as something for nothing. Yes, a digital marketing agency is a viable, profitable service business BUT you still have to do some work. Your main work will be briefly learning the trade, setting up your services, making SALES, getting a team in place, and then scaling up to whatever size you want. All that requires hustle.

 

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[Sean Marshall]

Sorry for this question...I now both of you are here on the forum, but would like to get an objective answer from someone who already completed the courses. What do you guys recommend? Fox School or Sean Marshall-Clone my online marketing business?

I can't speak for Fox School but for me personally, I don't do any hard sells. I put up a detailed sales page that shares all of the info. I try to treat people like grown ups and not use any cheesy marketing practices. You either want to start an agency or you don't.

Not sure if that helps.

 

[Sean Marshall]

how do you go about picking the type of business to market for i.e. chiropractors. Are there any things you look for to decide that type of business is a good one to specialise in?

When I started out in 2010, I spoke with anyone and everyone I could - all business owners. Eventually, organically, I ended up focusing on what I call "home services" - roofers, painters, contractors, etc. Basically, they had the need, they had the budget, and they did not have the know-how.

So that answers your second question also. Look for businesses that have/see the need and have the budget - that's actually the most important actually!

 

[Longinus]

Differentiating yourself will be tough.

It's actually not that tough:
- Be on time.
- Return phone calls, answer emails.
- Do not overpromise.
- Deliver decent work (ie do not outsource everything to India).
- Do the best for your clients instead of just the basics.

If you would do those things, you would already be better than 80% of the market.

 

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[Sean Marshall]

It's just less glamorous because we like to work from home or remotely.

Exactly.

I started by networking face to face with real business owners. I drove to businesses and interviewed them and how they do things. I gave them free marketing game plans to implement (most of the time they just hired me).

After two years of doing that, and scaled my business with a system and team, THEN I took off to live in the Caribbean and Europe. Not before.

 

[Sean Marshall]

pointing out what they are doing wrong with their website

Just being nit-picky but it's not "what they're doing wrong".

Rephrase it as "what they could be doing better to drive even more business".

If you get people who respond out of fear of what they're doing wrong, they will most likely be the worst kind of clients.

You want clients who respond to wanting to make their business better - not keeping it from getting worse.

Different mindset. It makes all the difference.

 

[eliquid]

View attachment 24502 I’m curious but has anyone checked social rocketship’s site for their metrics?

I did. It’s umm.. not impressive. Now ahrefs isnt perfect but it is one of the top two most utilized tools to check websites.

It doesn’t show all the income he’s made from selling his services to people but it does show how much his site is worth. His site only has about 25 visitors a month.

Now, before y’all go and lynch me, I’m not saying his path to success isn’t a good one or that you can’t make money by following his advice.. lots of people can Im sure.. I’m just saying that his own internet marketing site doesn’t get much traffic.

I felt like this is pertinent info.

I know people who own agency websites ( these agencies do SEO, PPC, Social, etc ) that get almost 0 traffic monthly to their website, spend $0 on PPC themselves, and have little to 0 social activity on their FB and Twitter accounts.

These same agencies have Fortune 500 clients paying them 5 figures monthly, each.

I only know, because I work some of them one on one sometimes and I know what I get paid for helping consult with them. A few I even wrote the proposals for, so I know the exact amount they get paid.

Otherwise, you would think these agencies were nobodies if you did not have this INSIDERS info.

If you can sell, nothing else matters. Including proof you can actually do what you sell. Not saying the OP can not do what he sells, just using that as an example that selling tops all.
.

 

[Sean Marshall]

• What steps do you take to prevent a poor quality delivery?

• How do you handle it when it does happen, especially keeping the customer happy?

• If you have only general knowledge of how to do something, how in the world do you ensure the person that you hire can deliver a quality job? How would you know what standards to hold him/her accountable to?

Great questions.

For starters, you get what you pay for. Don't go cheap. Honestly, I get all of my contractors from the Philippines. Sometimes Eastern Europe. For for middle of the road or just better than that.

Second, I list everything out in crazy detail. But wait, I don't know Schema markup... But there are about 500 great articles/videos online that do and they list it out in crazy detail.

If you hire good people (not cheap, bottom of the barrel) and specify every single thing (using something like Asana or Basecamp), those will drastically lessen the chances of something not going well.

You list out the work you're going to do for a client, you get it done, and then you report to them how well it was done (& the results it gave them). Month after month.

 

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