Leads via DMs vs. Paid Facebook Campaign?

[B-qiri]

My brother and I started a marketing agency and we are not sure how to continue.

Before I’ll get into the problem and my thinking a short disclaimer:
I am NOT chasing after some trend or guru.

How I got the idea to start a marketing agency​

I have been running my fathers gravestone business the last 7 years and have made many good and bad experiences in marketing, which was my main focus.
After realizing that I cannot scale that business by the end of last year, I wanted to change my focus. What are my skills? Marketing, business development, process optimization, leadership. But mainly marketing.
So that was what I focused on.

My skills:​

• Mainly marketing strategy in general
• Also Creative approaches
• And Copywriting
• Pretty good at Google Ads with experience
• Somewhat good with facebook ads but not that much experience

Now lets get to the problem:

Am I being impatient or am I being too cautious?​

Explanation:
I’m not sure what the best way is to get our leads.

«I thought your skill is marketing »
I need to hear your opinion to be sure that I have thought about everything. If you really see that I’m delusional, then too I need to hear that!

Here’s what we’ve tried:

1. Cold Calling
Type of lead: Bought from a website that sources directly from the official commercial register
Offer :« I might know how to get you more sales, can I get an hour of your time where I tell you how and develop a free and actionable 16-page marketing strategy for ? »
Results: 800 leads, 40 of them were of quality, reached 20, got 1 appointment, 0 sales. Most of the rejections were "I don’t want more sale"

2. Cold E-Mail
Type of lead: Searched for about 50 local combat sport gyms and 50 Yoga-Studios
Offer : « Heres 1-3 (highly specific, often times individual) suggestions for bettering your website and 1-3 more for your social media. Want more such tipps ? book and appointment and get your free, actionable etc. marketing strategy»
Results : 50 sent emails a few days ago for the gyms, 15 sent today for yoga / No responses and I am suspecting that they are all landing in spam.

3. DMs in Facebook and instagram
Type of lead: ca. 30 combat sport gyms, 30 yoga studios 25 ecom 25 servicebased companies
Offer : « Great page/product whatever, have you thought about doing X ? or what about Y ? »
Some variations when they were doing ads : « I saw you’re doing ads, what are your results ? Have you tried X ? »
Results : (The yoga and combats are from yesterday and today, the rest a few days ago.)
5 declines and 1 kind of order where I’m just helping him with google Ads for free as he too just started.

All in all I have reached out to about 110 leads with highly specific and individual approaches at least a week ago and to about 140 the last 2 days and today. So 250 leads for only 7 responses and 1 appointment. This is without the networking events where also the majority of the companies were way too big or "didn't want more sales" whatever that is all about. (Most of them said that without knowing that I do marketing)

Other useful informations about us​

Offer in ads: I offer a free comprehensive, individual and most importantly actionable marketing strategy. Most competitors ask for at least 500-1500 USD for that.
What we offer: Mainly Google Ads and Facebook Ads
USP: We get results or we die. I work for small companies with a small budget and I will treat them as if they're a big corporation. If I don't get them results, I'll return their money. The big agencies only take them on to give the interns something to do which results in bad results (speaking from experience).
Our website is just an online business card, for a campaign we would need something better: www.biflo.ch
We are still working on our apperance in IG and FB but it's not our focus at the moment. IG: @bifloschweiz, FB: Biflo

The decision​

Am I being impatient and I should just keep on or should I really use the following third strategy where I risk quite a lot but potentially gain a lot?

The possibilities​

1. Keep on with the current method
Not a good option, since it’s way too slow

2. Keep the current method but try making it faster (DM at least 100 leads per day)
Filtering the leads less and not crafting as individual texts

3. Build a funnel and advertise it with FB Ads
This will take a lot of time and money with an uncertain result. I have only about 400USD per month for the ad budget which limits my ability to split-test (However I could potentially lend some money from friends and family)

(In any case I’ll definitely call the leads to whom I sent the e-mails and DMs if for nothing at least I’ll get some info on the client.)

Where am I straying?

 

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[Black_Dragon43]

My brother and I started a marketing agency and we are not sure how to continue.

Before I’ll get into the problem and my thinking a short disclaimer:
I am NOT chasing after some trend or guru.

How I got the idea to start a marketing agency​

I have been running my fathers gravestone business the last 7 years and have made many good and bad experiences in marketing, which was my main focus.
After realizing that I cannot scale that business by the end of last year, I wanted to change my focus. What are my skills? Marketing, business development, process optimization, leadership. But mainly marketing.
So that was what I focused on.

My skills:​

• Mainly marketing strategy in general
• Also Creative approaches
• And Copywriting
• Pretty good at Google Ads with experience
• Somewhat good with facebook ads but not that much experience

Now lets get to the problem:

Am I being impatient or am I being too cautious?​

Explanation:
I’m not sure what the best way is to get our leads.

«I thought your skill is marketing »
I need to hear your opinion to be sure that I have thought about everything. If you really see that I’m delusional, then too I need to hear that!

Here’s what we’ve tried:

1. Cold Calling
Type of lead: Bought from a website that sources directly from the official commercial register
Offer :« I might know how to get you more sales, can I get an hour of your time where I tell you how and develop a free and actionable 16-page marketing strategy for ? »
Results: 800 leads, 40 of them were of quality, reached 20, got 1 appointment, 0 sales. Most of the rejections were "I don’t want more sale"

2. Cold E-Mail
Type of lead: Searched for about 50 local combat sport gyms and 50 Yoga-Studios
Offer : « Heres 1-3 (highly specific, often times individual) suggestions for bettering your website and 1-3 more for your social media. Want more such tipps ? book and appointment and get your free, actionable etc. marketing strategy»
Results : 50 sent emails a few days ago for the gyms, 15 sent today for yoga / No responses and I am suspecting that they are all landing in spam.

3. DMs in Facebook and instagram
Type of lead: ca. 30 combat sport gyms, 30 yoga studios 25 ecom 25 servicebased companies
Offer : « Great page/product whatever, have you thought about doing X ? or what about Y ? »
Some variations when they were doing ads : « I saw you’re doing ads, what are your results ? Have you tried X ? »
Results : (The yoga and combats are from yesterday and today, the rest a few days ago.)
5 declines and 1 kind of order where I’m just helping him with google Ads for free as he too just started.

All in all I have reached out to about 110 leads with highly specific and individual approaches at least a week ago and to about 140 the last 2 days and today. So 250 leads for only 7 responses and 1 appointment. This is without the networking events where also the majority of the companies were way too big or "didn't want more sales" whatever that is all about. (Most of them said that without knowing that I do marketing)

Other useful informations about us​

Offer in ads: I offer a free comprehensive, individual and most importantly actionable marketing strategy. Most competitors ask for at least 500-1500 USD for that.
What we offer: Mainly Google Ads and Facebook Ads
USP: We get results or we die. I work for small companies with a small budget and I will treat them as if they're a big corporation. If I don't get them results, I'll return their money. The big agencies only take them on to give the interns something to do which results in bad results (speaking from experience).
Our website is just an online business card, for a campaign we would need something better: www.biflo.ch
We are still working on our apperance in IG and FB but it's not our focus at the moment. IG: @bifloschweiz, FB: Biflo

The decision​

Am I being impatient and I should just keep on or should I really use the following third strategy where I risk quite a lot but potentially gain a lot?

The possibilities​

1. Keep on with the current method
Not a good option, since it’s way too slow

2. Keep the current method but try making it faster (DM at least 100 leads per day)
Filtering the leads less and not crafting as individual texts

3. Build a funnel and advertise it with FB Ads
This will take a lot of time and money with an uncertain result. I have only about 400USD per month for the ad budget which limits my ability to split-test (However I could potentially lend some money from friends and family)

(In any case I’ll definitely call the leads to whom I sent the e-mails and DMs if for nothing at least I’ll get some info on the client.)

Where am I straying?

Disclaimer: My business works with digital agencies helping them scale. I’ve generated multiple 7-figures in revenue for several agencies so my answer will be based off that. I’ve also scaled my first agency to a team of 18 people, my current agency grew from 2 people at the start of this year to 8 now.

First, please begin by reading this thread: NOTABLE! - MARKETING - Does your Agency have the foundations to scale to $1M+?

Second, to work on your marketing strategy, sign up to this workshop, I’ll make sure you come out with a strategy that covers everything. Please ignore the date in the thread, the real date is Oct 10th at 14:00 UK timezone: https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...ting-strategy-for-your-digital-agency.109554/

Now the specifics of your concern.

1) You don’t really have a marketing strategy at all. You’re just throwing shit at the wall and hoping something sticks. That’s not likely to work. A marketing strategy is much more than a channel / tactic. It’s a combination of channels/tactics that can walk someone from stranger to buyer, along all steps of the buyer’s journey. Not Aware > Problem-Aware > Consequence Aware > Solution Aware > Buyer > Repeat Buyer.

2) You need to work for real businesses. A “small company” isn’t a real business. Most of them live hand to mouth, they’re struggling, and hence marketing is a big gamble for them. You need to work for stable, successful businesses that are hungry for more.

3) You need proof. I’d start with your father’s company. They were your first client. Write up a case study in a Google doc documenting everything you did and the results you achieved. Make sure to paint a before/after picture. Give as many details as possible, and at the end of that case study, have a call-to-action to book a call with you.

4) Work for little, or even for free, to build case studies. Collect feedback along the way — meaning as soon as you do the first thing for the client, ask for feedback that you can share with others while on a call. Keep recording feedback at different stages along the way.

5) Outreach: FB for B2C businesses, LinkedIn and Cold Email for B2B. You can go on my website under “Our Strategy” and download that big fat playbook. It will teach you everything — who to contact, how to contact them, how to build trust through the conversation, get the call, and then even close the deal. It’s free.

6) Cold calling is for super newbs or losers, with the sole exception of you being in an industry that can’t be reached otherwise. Cold calling sucks because it’s not scaleable.

7) You need to Network > Nurture > Convert in that order. Most agencies just want to Network and Convert and they do NOTHING to nurture. Posting content is absolutely critical to building a brand and a sustainable agency.

8) Paid Ads are a scaling mechanism for outreach. You don’t have something that’s working, therefore there’s nothing for you to scale. If you use paid ads for B2B, you should also rely on B2B lists of your ideal customers that you upload, NOT on retarded targeting options offered by platforms/advertisers that will make you lose money. Create your list first, upload it to the platform, and target those people.

If you want more help, DM me and I’ll point you to other resources too including our paid course / agency community. But this should give you a solid start, for free.

 

[The-J]

I have been running my fathers gravestone business the last 7 years and have made many good and bad experiences in marketing, which was my main focus.

What do you mean you can't scale it? Are you sure about that? Maybe scale in that industry isn't what you think it is. Maybe the challenges of scaling are not as simple as "turn up ad budget".

I don't know, man, I get wanting to go out on your own and make a name for yourself, but how much further could you go in business and in life if you found a way to grab more market share in the gravestone business?

Unlike most posters, you're actually sitting on a gold mine. The problem is that the business likely lacks the foundation to grow greater.

Here's my guess: You're stuck with the population of your current geographical area. Outside of a certain radius the numbers no longer make sense. You can't just go to a new geo and set up shop there. It would be a capital risk without much reward. You have to make relationships that might be impossible to make because everywhere you go has an entrenched competitor that owns all the supplier/vendor relationships. Why should they give business to you when they already have someone to take care of it all & they've been here for 100 years?

I'm just spitballing here, if I'm completely off base go ahead and let me know. I worked with a funeral home some time ago and they basically grew as big as they could. That was more or less the case for them.

You might be better off optimizing your current business (do it faster, cheaper, more premium, etc) & then acquiring other monument businesses to grow so you can use whatever you learned in their business. Shit, I wouldn't be surprised if a company in another geo sends you an email saying "We're interested in buying your company" because they wanna do it themselves. Much smaller of a risk than trying to go into another geo and outcompete a 100+ y/o company owned by a family that's been doing it for generations & knows everybody in the industry.

But if that's impossible, then maybe look upwards in the supply chain and look at business opportunities there. Because of who you are in the industry you're in, you can do things that we can't reasonably do. Maybe start there.

I guarantee you there are more opportunities that you can win and win big at rather than starting a marketing agency.

Also BD is right, you don't know what you're doing. You gotta do a method for a long longer than that to see if it's going to work. Your budget isn't as big of a problem as you think it is but you'd need a different strategy at $400 a month than you could do with $10k+.

The real real: If a company were to hire you, what kinds of results would you be able get them?

 

[Andy Black]

I have been running my fathers gravestone business the last 7 years

Nice.

Offer :« I might know how to get you more sales, can I get an hour of your time where I tell you how and develop a free and actionable 16-page marketing strategy for ? »

You *might* know how to get more sales. Give me an HOUR of your time. Get a 16 page doc.

Searched for about 50 local combat sport gyms and 50 Yoga-Studios

Hold on. Why not gravestone businesses?

Where am I straying?

I think so. From what you know?

Have you tried helping other gravestone businesses? How many of them are there in the world? How much money is spent on gravestones? How many searches are there on Google?

 

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[B-qiri]

Disclaimer: My business works with digital agencies helping them scale. I’ve generated multiple 7-figures in revenue for several agencies so my answer will be based off that. I’ve also scaled my first agency to a team of 18 people, my current agency grew from 2 people at the start of this year to 8 now.

First, please begin by reading this thread: NOTABLE! - MARKETING - Does your Agency have the foundations to scale to $1M+?

Second, to work on your marketing strategy, sign up to this workshop, I’ll make sure you come out with a strategy that covers everything. Please ignore the date in the thread, the real date is Oct 10th at 14:00 UK timezone: https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...ting-strategy-for-your-digital-agency.109554/

Now the specifics of your concern.

1) You don’t really have a marketing strategy at all. You’re just throwing shit at the wall and hoping something sticks. That’s not likely to work. A marketing strategy is much more than a channel / tactic. It’s a combination of channels/tactics that can walk someone from stranger to buyer, along all steps of the buyer’s journey. Not Aware > Problem-Aware > Consequence Aware > Solution Aware > Buyer > Repeat Buyer.

2) You need to work for real businesses. A “small company” isn’t a real business. Most of them live hand to mouth, they’re struggling, and hence marketing is a big gamble for them. You need to work for stable, successful businesses that are hungry for more.

3) You need proof. I’d start with your father’s company. They were your first client. Write up a case study in a Google doc documenting everything you did and the results you achieved. Make sure to paint a before/after picture. Give as many details as possible, and at the end of that case study, have a call-to-action to book a call with you.

4) Work for little, or even for free, to build case studies. Collect feedback along the way — meaning as soon as you do the first thing for the client, ask for feedback that you can share with others while on a call. Keep recording feedback at different stages along the way.

5) Outreach: FB for B2C businesses, LinkedIn and Cold Email for B2B. You can go on my website under “Our Strategy” and download that big fat playbook. It will teach you everything — who to contact, how to contact them, how to build trust through the conversation, get the call, and then even close the deal. It’s free.

6) Cold calling is for super newbs or losers, with the sole exception of you being in an industry that can’t be reached otherwise. Cold calling sucks because it’s not scaleable.

7) You need to Network > Nurture > Convert in that order. Most agencies just want to Network and Convert and they do NOTHING to nurture. Posting content is absolutely critical to building a brand and a sustainable agency.

8) Paid Ads are a scaling mechanism for outreach. You don’t have something that’s working, therefore there’s nothing for you to scale. If you use paid ads for B2B, you should also rely on B2B lists of your ideal customers that you upload, NOT on retarded targeting options offered by platforms/advertisers that will make you lose money. Create your list first, upload it to the platform, and target those people.

If you want more help, DM me and I’ll point you to other resources too including our paid course / agency community. But this should give you a solid start, for free.

Thanks for your valuable tipps. I will look into your thread and the other ressources and act on them.

I'm aware that it's not a full on strategy but it seems more random than it is. My goal was to just get the first 1-5 customers to have some proof and at the same time test out different messaging and channels to see which one I should scale. I honestly expected that I'll get that with my highly individual and useful texts and I knew that wouldn't be scalable but at least I would have informations on what works and with whom. Turns out the texts weren't as powerful as I thought.

Although the reason for that might very well be our target customers as you point out in 2). There are some problems with the bigger companies: They are getting hunted by other bigger agencies all the time. Everybody ignores the small companies for the reasons you stated which is why I wanted to change that. Ideally I would help them eventually grow in to a good stable company.

I will look into your ressources and give you some feedback afterwards.

 

[B-qiri]

What do you mean you can't scale it? Are you sure about that? Maybe scale in that industry isn't what you think it is. Maybe the challenges of scaling are not as simple as "turn up ad budget".

I don't know, man, I get wanting to go out on your own and make a name for yourself, but how much further could you go in business and in life if you found a way to grab more market share in the gravestone business?

Unlike most posters, you're actually sitting on a gold mine. The problem is that the business likely lacks the foundation to grow greater.

Here's my guess: You're stuck with the population of your current geographical area. Outside of a certain radius the numbers no longer make sense. You can't just go to a new geo and set up shop there. It would be a capital risk without much reward. You have to make relationships that might be impossible to make because everywhere you go has an entrenched competitor that owns all the supplier/vendor relationships. Why should they give business to you when they already have someone to take care of it all & they've been here for 100 years?

I'm just spitballing here, if I'm completely off base go ahead and let me know. I worked with a funeral home some time ago and they basically grew as big as they could. That was more or less the case for them.

You might be better off optimizing your current business (do it faster, cheaper, more premium, etc) & then acquiring other monument businesses to grow so you can use whatever you learned in their business. Shit, I wouldn't be surprised if a company in another geo sends you an email saying "We're interested in buying your company" because they wanna do it themselves. Much smaller of a risk than trying to go into another geo and outcompete a 100+ y/o company owned by a family that's been doing it for generations & knows everybody in the industry.

But if that's impossible, then maybe look upwards in the supply chain and look at business opportunities there. Because of who you are in the industry you're in, you can do things that we can't reasonably do. Maybe start there.

I guarantee you there are more opportunities that you can win and win big at rather than starting a marketing agency.

You are pretty close with your guesses!

I won't go too deep into the details however if details would be of interest to you let me know and I'll be happy to share.

Rough timeline:
2017 start in company, learn a lot, do mainly admin, learning and optimizing EVERYTHING. We're 3 people at this moment. Turnover in 2016 was 70k in a year, one of the worse years. In the best years the turnover was 300k
2018 open store in another location
2019 open stores in 3 new locations, hire another sculptor
2020 sales getting good
2021 We're now 6 people, turnover reached a record of 890k
2022 the previous year didn't reach as much as I wanted and there was no logical reason for it. Last chance to change the situation. During this year it was getting clear that not only are we not going to reach my goal but for the first time since my takeover not even last years turnover. After analysing the whole thing I decided to trim everything down and finally get some profit for the company (as I have invested everything immediately. We're still 6 people with a turnover of 774k
2023 Canceled all 4 new stores, trimmed down in marketing, we're now back to 3 people, 2 of which are working half-time. Turnover looks like its going to be at 580k this year but with a much better profit than last year. At the moment I am focusing on delegating all my work except for marketing and development in general.

The analysis: There are some other problems but as I looked into the statistics and data I have gathered in those years there was one big realization which ultimately led me to let it be. The total market size in my whole country would be 50 million. Realistically in this industry I would need all my effort and all the methods there is and about 20 years to get the company to 10 million which is still pretty ambitious to get 20% market share in such a peculiar market.

I won't get much more with a marketing agency either but it's not my goal to do that with the agency. I want to construct myself a day-job withing the marketing agency for the next 2-3 years so that I can nurture myself with that job when I try out other ventures. Why not just get a job? Because with this I can hone my skills in various ways while getting potentially more money or at least the same amount, i see many markets and businesses from within and I build a network.

As for going up or down the supply-chain: Honestly I have burned my hands enough in this industry. I have done that so many times and said, come on, let's try out one more thing. If I would have accepted the reality I would have probably stopped in 2019 and saved 4 years. Apart from that I don't know any company in this industry that is not struggling hard. No wonder, 20 years ago 90% of graves had a gravestone, today it got down to 10%.

Also BD is right, you don't know what you're doing. You gotta do a method for a long longer than that to see if it's going to work. Your budget isn't as big of a problem as you think it is but you'd need a different strategy at $400 a month than you could do with $10k+.

Of course, that is what I'm trying to figure out: Which strategy to use.

The real real: If a company were to hire you, what kinds of results would you be able get them

I don't have a lot of proof but I do have some. Firstly the gravestone-business (see above). And I have worked with a lawyer who got 7 times his investment back. If he would have paid me that would still have been 3 times his investment.
Another client who's selling seasoning got very good facebook ads metrics but no sales which is most likely because of his product on which we are working now without pay.
I just got on board a friend of mine who does professional video content so he will be proof too.
Lastly my price is very low and I will pay them back when I don't get results so almost 0 risk.

 

[Mister]

Why don't you try to get clients in the gravestone business?

You just do the same that you did with your current biz for other clients.
You already have proof because you are running it for a few years.
Also, you know how to do it, what works best and what you should avoid.

Sounds like a no brainer to me

How to get a client?

I'm no expert on it, but all the people who are successful in the space have a website, YouTube or social media with a ton of traffic / follower.

But also, all of them have killer case studies and already proof that they are the real shit.
I'm talking decades of experience or 250k revenue increase in 4 months.

Matt Diggity, one of the biggest guys in SEO, did a presentation where he ranked all the lead sources he has and ranked Youtube as the best one.

I also wouldn't overcomplicate it.

Try to call up 100 companies
Try to run ads for 100 dollar
Try to send out 100 cold emails
Try to DM 100 people

After that, you know what works better and you can double down on it.

In my own experience, I get my current clients all through personal interaction, will try to replicate that in the future. Will see how that goes.

 

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[B-qiri]

You *might* know how to get more sales. Give me an HOUR of your time. Get a 16 page doc.

That might was just to not sound too salesy. Didn't want to press too much confidence so that their defense was low. Also I wasn't exact, that was my script:

Good morning
This is Me from Biflo Agency.
(Am I talking to XY? Is XY there?)
(Very good.)
We are an advertising agency specializing in small business and I believe we can help you get more business. Do you have a quick 3min to listen to my offer?
Great! As I said, we specialize in small businesses. Because we have experienced ourselves what it is like
I have worked in marketing and management of our sculpture company for over 7 years.
And from that I know that small businesses don't have thousands of dollars in budget and need real results, not just some pretty brochures. I also know that small businesses have little time.
And our offer is based on exactly this knowledge.
We start with a half-hour interview online. There we discuss your situation and goals in more detail and - most importantly - give you initial suggestions that you can already implement yourself. Then the whole thing is worthwhile for you anyway.
Do you have time for such a non-binding interview in the next few days?
Very well! How about XY?
Great. I'm looking forward to the conversation! I will email you a link then. Is the e-mail XY ok? Great.

The few interested asked me how would I know to give them good suggestions, one of them being the one appointment I got.

Hold on. Why not gravestone businesses?

Mostly because of 2 reasons:
1. It's a small and unironically dying market
2. I don't want to strengthen our competitors and I don't think they would want the competitors son giving them advice on how to run their marketing

Have you tried helping other gravestone businesses? How many of them are there in the world? How much money is spent on gravestones? How many searches are there on Google?

However I did not think globally. The 2 problems I stated above are true for most of europe. Maybe there could be some potential but than there is the other problem that I just want to get away from this industry for a while honestly.

 

[B-qiri]

Why don't you try to get clients in the gravestone business?

See my answer to Andy

Try to call up 100 companies
Try to run ads for 100 dollar
Try to send out 100 cold emails
Try to DM 100 people

After that, you know what works better and you can double down on it.

That's pretty much what I did and the results are pretty disappointing

 

[Mister]

That's pretty much what I did and the results are pretty disappointing

Then you need to try something different.

But dont be disappointed, I had the same experience.

What only worked for me was showing up in person to business.

 

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[B-qiri]

Then you need to try something different.

But dont be disappointed, I had the same experience.

What only worked for me was showing up in person to business.

Well it's not that it makes me sad or anything I just don't want to waste my time and I think I have enough data to know that something in my thinking is not right. I am assuming it's the channel I'm reaching out through or my target group is not right.

 

[Mister]

Well it's not that it makes me sad or anything I just don't want to waste my time and I think I have enough data to know that something in my thinking is not right. I am assuming it's the channel I'm reaching out through or my target group is not right.

Try to focus on one target group, even when it's just for a few months.

Trying to adjust the target group and reach out method at the same time has a lot of variables.

Even with one target group, you already have 10 different ways and platforms to approach them.

 

[Andy Black]

I don't want to strengthen our competitors

Hmm. I misunderstood. I thought gravestones was a local business? Does your father's business serve the whole of your country?

I don't think they would want the competitors son giving them advice on how to run their marketing

You don't *think*? Maybe test that theory. Also, see my previous question about whether these are local or national service businesses. If they're like local service businesses then they may not care that you're serving a different business on the other side of the country. Indeed, maybe it gives you credibility.

I just want to get away from this industry for a while honestly.

Why? You've 7 years experience and a proven track record in this industry? That's part of your advantage for getting to speak to people in the industry (you know what businesses they source materials and tools from for instance), and that's a huge advantage when you speak to them.

Also, it's less about what you want and more about what the market wants.

 

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[Andy Black]

Maybe work your way through these:

GOLD! - HOT! - MARKETING - Andy's Inbound/Sales Braindump

I was asked this a while ago: If you were to start your business from scratch, how would you approach prospecting? Given that you don't cold call. And you don't know many people in the business world to "spend your money on diesel and coffee" with. And you've already reached out to your friends...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

MARKETING - SIDE HUSTLE - [Workshop Replay] Selling Google Ads as a Service

Here's a presentation about how I started and am building a business that provides Google Ads as a service to other businesses. I did it for @Fox 's paid web design group last year and he's kindly allowed me to share it. It should also help people starting other businesses. Let me know what...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

 

[B-qiri]

Hmm. I misunderstood. I thought gravestones was a local business? Does your father's business serve the whole of your country?


You don't *think*? Maybe test that theory. Also, see my previous question about whether these are local or national service businesses. If they're like local service businesses then they may not care that you're serving a different business on the other side of the country. Indeed, maybe it gives you credibility.


Why? You've 7 years experience and a proven track record in this industry? That's part of your advantage for getting to speak to people in the industry (you know what businesses they source materials and tools from for instance), and that's a huge advantage when you speak to them.

Also, it's less about what you want and more about what the market wants.

It is a local business but we are on "both sides" of the map with 2 stores which leaves a very small portion in the middle of german-speaking Switzerland that is not directly competing with us. I'd say about 20-50 potential clients, more than half of them being way too small even for us.

It's a village-like market. Everybody knows everybody. They have at least heard about our company and most probably not in a good way as we were the ones trying to expand which is looked down upon as being greedy.

But that's Switzerland. There is definitely potential in Germany and Austria and if I decide to go that route I could use even that small pool of potenital clients in Switzerland to build some more case-studies.

I will reconsider to work in that industry but it's no without reason I hesitate to do so as stated here:

Honestly I have burned my hands enough in this industry. I have done that so many times and said, come on, let's try out one more thing. If I would have accepted the reality I would have probably stopped in 2019 and saved 4 years. Apart from that I don't know any company in this industry that is not struggling hard. No wonder, 20 years ago 90% of graves had a gravestone, today it got down to 10%.

 

[B-qiri]

Maybe work your way through these:

GOLD! - HOT! - MARKETING - Andy's Inbound/Sales Braindump

I was asked this a while ago: If you were to start your business from scratch, how would you approach prospecting? Given that you don't cold call. And you don't know many people in the business world to "spend your money on diesel and coffee" with. And you've already reached out to your friends...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

MARKETING - SIDE HUSTLE - [Workshop Replay] Selling Google Ads as a Service

Here's a presentation about how I started and am building a business that provides Google Ads as a service to other businesses. I did it for @Fox 's paid web design group last year and he's kindly allowed me to share it. It should also help people starting other businesses. Let me know what...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

Thanks, I will!

 

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