Starting a Klaviyo Email Marketing Digital Agency

[ChrisLeeHoskins]

What about making X number of daily outbound emails or calls your goal?

The sales calls is a lagging indicator of doing enough outbound calls/emails.

I'll give it a try. I gotta get offers in front of other people's faces ASAP. I appreciate the push.

 

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[Andy Black]

There’s a popular saying that “What gets measured gets done.”

Personally I’m not a massive fan of management by numbers, especially at the start of a project where you’re trying to find what works.

Indeed my favourite business quote is the Mother Theresa line in my signature.

I can’t remember if you already mentioned this, but have you joined Facebook groups and online communities of people using Klaviyo and helped them?

If you talk about XYZ, help people with XYZ, and especially help people in public, then you’ll get known as “The XYZ Guy/Gal” and you may find work comes to you.

That would be my preferred way of approaching this.

A lot of the links in my signature may help you.

 

[NinjaBartender]

To give you some more food for thought: I'm currently reading Alex Hormozi's book "$100M Offers" and I think it might give you some inspiration for what to actually offer and how to set your offer apart.

 

[ChrisLeeHoskins]

There’s a popular saying that “What gets measured gets done.”

Personally I’m not a massive fan of management by numbers, especially at the start of a project where you’re trying to find what works.

Yeah, my thinking is definitely on the numbers side. Being formally educated to think so systematically may have its use in the future, but right now, it's just overthinking.

I appreciate the pushes through, it's forcing me to consider what's taking a step forward vs. what's sugar coating data to make it look aesthetically nice.

I can’t remember if you already mentioned this, but have you joined Facebook groups and online communities of people using Klaviyo and helped them?

I did follow @NinjaBartender's advice and followed a bunch of Shopify groups. I should add Klaviyo on top of that, good idea.

If you talk about XYZ, help people with XYZ, and especially help people in public, then you’ll get known as “The XYZ Guy/Gal” and you may find work comes to you.

That would be my preferred way of approaching this.

Your recommendation is enough to get me started with this. It'll be nice to play a more active role in solving problems as a community member. I gotta practice what I preach if I want to be the type of person who genuinely wants to help business owners!

A lot of the links in my signature may help you.

I slowly go through the content every day. At the moment, I listen to your podcast when I'm taking breaks, I believe I'm on episode 7(They are pretty short). Good stuff so far. It's nice to hear how human the sales process can be and how simply wanting to help others can be the bedrock for good business.

 

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[ChrisLeeHoskins]

To give you some more food for thought: I'm currently reading Alex Hormozi's book "$100M Offers" and I think it might give you some inspiration for what to actually offer and how to set your offer apart.

I've been following his Youtube for a while. I also have the book, but I admit it's just been laying around. I'll get to it from your recommendation! I love your references!

 

[ChrisLeeHoskins]

Day 10 breakdown:
Current Profits: 0/1000 (Days Left: 18)
Pomodoro Count: 2 (I forgot to record a few pomodoros)

• Planning [x1]
  • I was planning for how I'd like to systemize how I'd offer my service. In retrospect, this pomodoro was just overthinking. It's way too early to start considering how to neatly package my service.
• Prospect List [x1]
  • Slogging away again at building up the list to a decent size. I'm hovering around 10, but only a handful are worth pitching towards. I have more of a jumbled list of "what to-do's" and "what not to's" sprinkled in with prospects.

I was continuing on with building the prospect list and got the comment from @Andy Black about just starting tracking emails sent. From there(I forget to record pomodoros here), I started sending out personalized emails to the prospects I already have. At the moment, I'm using Saleshandy's extension to track open rates and such. We'll see how the emails do.

 

[NinjaBartender]

Great to see you started sending some emails!
Talking to potential clients even without an offer package already built out will definitely give you some insights on what your clients need.

Will you focus on email marketing alone or did you consider doing SMS/ text message marketing with Klaviyo as well?

 

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[ChrisLeeHoskins]

Great to see you started sending some emails!
Talking to potential clients even without an offer package already built out will definitely give you some insights on what your clients need.

Will you focus on email marketing alone or did you consider doing SMS/ text message marketing with Klaviyo as well?

I'll focus on email campaign setups/writing email copy because it's what I know. I know I'll offer SMS marketing in time, just haven't made the leap yet. Have you had any luck with SMS marketing?

 

[NinjaBartender]

Hah, I have zero experience with SMS marketing, I just find the concept intriguing. It might be a great added service for your potential clients and a chance to set you apart from competitors. Certainly worth looking into!

 

[ChrisLeeHoskins]

Hah, I have zero experience with SMS marketing, I just find the concept intriguing. It might be a great added service for your potential clients and a chance to set you apart from competitors. Certainly worth looking into!

For sure! It's only a matter of time when the trend becomes a normal part of any website, anyways.

 

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[ChrisLeeHoskins]

Day 11 breakdown:
Current Profits: 0/1000 (Days Left: 17)
Pomodoro Count: 5

• Emails [x5]
  • These pomodoros were pretty straightforward. I set the goal of sending 25 personalized emails for the week. As we are getting later into the week, I'll hold off on sending the emails and send them on Monday instead. I'll still be generating the emails in advance.

 

[ChrisLeeHoskins]

Day 12 breakdown:
Current Profits: 0/1000 (Days Left: 16)
Pomodoro Count: 1

• Emails [x1]
  • Started writing some emails and things just fizzled out.

I was exhausted on Friday. As far as I can tell it came down to physical fatigue. I do workout quite a bit during the weekdays. But, it's starting to become a theme during the weeks. I'm either doing too much or something. Does anyone out there run their own business and workout? How do you manage your fatigue? I know this is largely dependent on lifestyle, but who knows.

 

[ChrisLeeHoskins]

Day 13 breakdown:
Current Profits: 0/1000 (Days Left: 15)
Pomodoro Count: 0

Nothing special about today, just taking it easy. I'll be brainstorming how to address some of the recurring problems with fatigue over the weekend.

Hope yall enjoyed your weekend!

 

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[ChrisLeeHoskins]

Day 14 breakdown:
Current Profits: 0/1000 (Days Left: 14)
Pomodoro Count: 0 (I did a bit of planning, but didn't record them)

Last week was an all-around mess. Sprinkle some overzealous planning with a dash of desperate actions and you wind up with my confusing mess of a week. I'll be dialing back the workouts and upping my precious veggies. I'll definitely be managing my fatigue better throughout the week.

I think the most important thing I'll be doing is setting strict sleep times so I can actually get an adequate amount of sleep. At the moment, I'm averaging only 6 hours.

Same plan as last week. Get personalized emails out there. Quantity is the theme of the week!

 

[ChrisLeeHoskins]

Day 15 breakdown:
Current Profits: 0/1000 (Days Left: 13)
Pomodoro Count: 3

• Emails [x3]
  • Continuing on with finding and contacting as many people as I can.

I'm starting to pick up on how naive it was to set a numbers goal without much of a plan to do that.

As I run out of days to complete this goal, I'm realizing that I've got to change a few things up.

For one, the goal of making $1000 isn't working.

Although it's a goal in the right direction, this goal is pulling me away from getting in contact with customers. I'm rushing decisions that only enable profits. Currently, my goal should be getting testimonials and proof of how valuable my services are to the client.

All I care about is getting in contact with those clients/customers.

What that means is beyond just sending emails for a closing pitch, it's about building up a wealth of context about my market, my customers, and in the end, a clear opportunity to provide value. I've been trying to shape vs. fulfill the demand of the market.

I'll spend the next month focusing on getting to at least 500 points of contact. Whether it's email, social media, or problem-solving on an eCommerce forum, I want to focus on reaching out to as many people as I can within this space(eCommerce). What this goal means is that my new goal is to find 500 NEW points of contact in total.

For the time being, the goal of $1k is delayed, not canceled. I won't give up on that.

What to expect from upcoming posts is:

• Where I got in contact with someone (LinkedIn, Email, Facebook)
• An overall # of total contacts end goal being 500
• How many contacts convert or anything I learn along the way

I apologize for the confusing narrative! Just trying the readjust as quickly as needed to get these goals done.

 

[Black_Dragon43]

Day 15 breakdown:
Current Profits: 0/1000 (Days Left: 13)
Pomodoro Count: 3

• Emails [x3]
  • Continuing on with finding and contacting as many people as I can.

I'm starting to pick up on how naive it was to set a numbers goal without much of a plan to do that.

As I run out of days to complete this goal, I'm realizing that I've got to change a few things up.

For one, the goal of making $1000 isn't working.

Although it's a goal in the right direction, what this goal is doing is pulling me away from getting in contact with customers. I'm rushing decisions that only enable profits. Currently, my goal should be getting testimonials and proof of how valuable my services are to the client.

All I care about is getting in contact with those clients/customers.

What that means is beyond just sending emails for a closing pitch, it's about building up a wealth of context about my market, my customers, and in the end, a clear opportunity to provide value. I've been trying to shape vs. fulfill the demand of the market.

I'll spend the next month focusing on getting to at least 500 points of contact. Whether it's email, social media, or problem-solving on an eCommerce forum, I want to focus on reaching out to as many people as I can within this space(eCommerce). What this goal means is that my new goal is to find 500 NEW points of contact every day.

For the time being, the goal of $1k is delayed, not canceled. I won't give up on that.

What to expect from upcoming posts is:

• Where I got in contact with someone (LinkedIn, Email, Facebook)
• An overall # of total contacts end goal being 500
• How many contacts convert or anything I learn along the way

I apologize for the confusing narrative! Just trying the readjust as quickly as needed to get these goals done.

Awesome, keep us updated, you’ve got a much better direction now!

 

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[Andy Black]

I wonder if you'd do better helping 5 people a day rather than contacting 500 people a day?

As per this:

There’s a popular saying that “What gets measured gets done.”

Personally I’m not a massive fan of management by numbers, especially at the start of a project where you’re trying to find what works.

Indeed my favourite business quote is the Mother Theresa line in my signature.

I can’t remember if you already mentioned this, but have you joined Facebook groups and online communities of people using Klaviyo and helped them?

If you talk about XYZ, help people with XYZ, and especially help people in public, then you’ll get known as “The XYZ Guy/Gal” and you may find work comes to you.

That would be my preferred way of approaching this.

A lot of the links in my signature may help you.

 

[ChrisLeeHoskins]

I wonder if you'd do better helping 5 people a day rather than contacting 500 people a day?

As per this:

The 500 contacts are for the entire month. I think I'd probably shoot for around 5-10 ish per day. 500 a day would be insane!

 

[Andy Black]

Ah. I read this and wondered...

What this goal means is that my new goal is to find 500 NEW points of contact every day.

 

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[ChrisLeeHoskins]

Ah. I read this and wondered...

Gotcha. I fixed it. I should have added a comma.

 

[Speed112]

The 500 contacts are for the entire month. I think I'd probably shoot for around 5-10 ish per day. 500 a day would be insane!

When I was doing sales by phone, 500 cold calls PER DAY was the target. Nobody managed to reach it, but that was the target. Best I did was ~350 or something. If your average call is 1 minute that's 6 hours or so, so 500 is doable. The reason it was set like that because the managers were stressing the idea that "if they're not interested, next" and "it's a number's game".

Maybe the quantity you're reaching out to is insufficient? It is a bit on the short side even for personalized stuff. Quality doesn't make THAT big of a difference. Are you taking 25 min to send one email?

Say your conversion rate is 1% if you just personalize the first line for 30s and copypaste the rest. You can send 50 emails/h.
(or have pseudopersonalization that is the same for everyone based on their niche)
And you have 10% conversion rate (very generous) if you take your time and write an email from scratch every time. 2e/h.

50*0.01 = 0.5, 2*0.1 = 0.2. You'd get 2.5x more leads in the same amount of time with the quantity approach.

Doing 100 emails per day is not a big ask.

You just have to find an efficient method to acquire quality leads and contact them. If you plan on having an email marketing agency, that is literally your job. So focusing on improving this part of your business will also help you improve your fulfillment. Good luck.

 

[ChrisLeeHoskins]

When I was doing sales by phone, 500 cold calls PER DAY was the target. Nobody managed to reach it, but that was the target. Best I did was ~350 or something. If your average call is 1 minute that's 6 hours or so, so 500 is doable. The reason it was set like that because the managers were stressing the idea that "if they're not interested, next" and "it's a number's game".

Maybe the quantity you're reaching out to is insufficient? It is a bit on the short side even for personalized stuff. Quality doesn't make THAT big of a difference. Are you taking 25 min to send one email?

Say your conversion rate is 1% if you just personalize the first line for 30s and copypaste the rest. You can send 50 emails/h.
(or have pseudopersonalization that is the same for everyone based on their niche)
And you have 10% conversion rate (very generous) if you take your time and write an email from scratch every time. 2e/h.

50*0.01 = 0.5, 2*0.1 = 0.2. You'd get 2.5x more leads in the same amount of time with the quantity approach.

Doing 100 emails per day is not a big ask.

You just have to find an efficient method to acquire quality leads and contact them. If you plan on having an email marketing agency, that is literally your job. So focusing on improving this part of your business will also help you improve your fulfillment. Good luck.

You're definitely right. I actually wrote up a response as to why that is, but in the end, with the business so fresh, it's just about churning the numbers and I'd be making excuses if I said it was because of something. I admit I'm definitely spending way too much time perfecting each email. I'll start timing my emails just to keep my time commitments to a minimum.

I appreciate the comment!

 

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[ChrisLeeHoskins]

Quick Update:

I'm taking a brief few days to brainstorm a few ideas and work on routines for the upcoming work week. My concentration has been pretty terrible. I'm simply not doing enough work. I'm adjusting myself by taking breaks from social media and preparing my environment to get the work done. I'll start the new goal of 500 contacts for the month on Monday.

 

[ChrisLeeHoskins]

[Goal 2.0] Day 1 breakdown:
Total Contacts: 10/500 (Days Left: 29)
Pomodoro Count: 8

• Planning [x2]
  • I had to spend an hour to make sure that all the boxes were checked and I clearly understood my "why". It came down to understanding that if I want to know how I can help others, I've got to get into the flow of finding leads by learning more about them.
• Contact [x6]
  • Breakdown of Contacts (Total: 10)
    • 4 Personalized Emails
    • 1 LinkedIn Message
    • 5 Upwork Proposals (A lot of Klaviyo jobs going on. I can, at least, confirm the demand!)

This whole process is clunky at best.

I'm following basic guidelines for sending emails such as good attitude intro -> state problem -> state your solution -> strong CTA. I'm not at the point where I can write these emails too quickly as I'm in the midst of learning that skill, but it's coming along. I can definitely see myself improving how many emails I send on a given day.

I'm not too worried about Upwork proposals. I have a decent strategy to close deals on that, I've done so at least a dozen times.

Overall, when the day goes by quickly and I don't have to consider my current state of mind, then that's as effective of a strategy as anything. I have to make sure that I'm being effective and not just staying busy.

I've got to pump my numbers up though! In order to reach my goal of 500 contacts for the month, I've got to average around 17 contacts.

But, nonetheless, good day.

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I can't wait for Spring!

 

[ChrisLeeHoskins]

[Goal 2.0] Day 2 breakdown:
Total Contacts: 10/500 (Days Left: 28)
Pomodoro Count: 8

• Research [x2]
  • Basic research on the eCommerce market and where it's heading.
• Skills [x3]
  • I wanted to put my hands to work so I'm whipping up a few email flows to jog my memory.
• Marketing Automation [x3]
  • Klaviyo is just one small piece in the overall plan. I'll be heading towards more market automation consultation with Klaviyo being the fundamentals of that service.

I didn't get any contacts for the day, which is what I planned for.

I'm being as conscientious about Action Faking. I'm limiting any venture outside of generating contacts to bite-size pieces that only should last a few hours or so.

Today, I was looking into starving markets.

I can definitely see a growing need for marketing automation experts. Of course, with a highly specialized field like that, come steep time investments. From what I can tell, Salesforce certifications are a great way to get a leg up in that field but it seems to be a 3-year commitment. We'll see where that thinking goes.

I won't stray too far from what I've got to do: sink my teeth into getting my email marketing services out there.

Let me know if any of yall have tips on freelancing market automation. This kind of service excites me more than anything, I just don't know where to start.

P.S. I'm writing this the next day. I tried writing it last night, but the writing was getting pretty lazy and a bit valueless. I'll have another update later today for day 3.

 

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[Andy Black]

I didn't get any contacts for the day, which is what I planned for.

Do it first thing?

 

[NinjaBartender]

Glad you're making some progress! I think the beginnings are always a bit clunky, but things will improve once you found your rhythm.

Are you getting better at finding potential clients?
One thing you could do is look for a really random product on google and then check the google shopping results that come up, as well as normal search results from page 5 or so (because that's where the smaller shops will hide). Products that are generic rather than branded work better, I think, like "kitchen apron" or "dog harness".

It all depends a bit who your ideal client will be. If you consider Salesforce, that's a different league than a small family-run shopify business.

 

[ChrisLeeHoskins]

Do it first thing?

Yeah, I should be working on it each day. Thanks for keeping me accountable.

 

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[Andy Black]

Yeah, I should be working on it each day. Thanks for keeping me accountable.

Some things are the rocks in our day. Some things are just the sand between the rocks in our day.

“Kill a rock every day.”
(Blaise Brosnan)


(No rocks were harmed in the making of this post.)

 

[ChrisLeeHoskins]

Glad you're making some progress! I think the beginnings are always a bit clunky, but things will improve once you found your rhythm.

I appreciate the feedback you're always giving!

Are you getting better at finding potential clients?

I'm okay with finding clients and getting them to close, at least on Upwork. I don't think I've ever failed to close a prospect after getting them on a call. But, that's only from a dozen calls or so.

It all depends a bit who your ideal client will be. If you consider Salesforce, that's a different league than a small family-run shopify business.

True! I've just got to have an honest conversation with myself about what kind of clients I'd want to commit to. If I ever went down the route of Salesforce or anything as corporate as that, I know I'd be sinking a lot more effort to keep clients afloat. I'll have my answer in time, I'm sure.