Transcript
WEBVTT
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Hey everyone, logan with sweet fish
here. As you may already know,
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we've had the HASHTAG agency series running
for a while now here on bb growth.
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Over the next several weeks you'll be
able to listen in to select episodes
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of the Innovative Agency, hosted by
Sharon Torrik, as she leads conversations with
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agency leaders about how their teams are
staying on the cutting edge of marketing trends,
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how they're adapting their businesses to meet
new challenges and a whole lot more.
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All right, let's get into the
episode. Welcome everybody back to another
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episode of the Innovative Agency. It's
share and touric here with you again,
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and as the year has gotten off
to a roaring start for many of you.
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I know that as a talk to
a lot of you, I know
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that it doesn't necessarily the mean that
you've all got your plans firmly in place
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for two thousand and twenty, and
so I think this is an operate awesome
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opportunity to talk to the guests that
we've got on the show today just about
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growth and what prevents it and different
ways you might think about it. And
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as as my guest just told me, a couple minutes ago. Not Growing
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is dying as an agency owner,
as a business and probably in other aspects
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of your life. And so those
aren't my words, those are grace in
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the friends, as were as so, Grayson, I want to welcome you
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to the podcast today. Thanks for
joining me. I'm in a bit of
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agency. Yeah, thanks, Sharon, for having me excited to talk to
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you. Yeah, looking forward to
it as well. So you are a
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founder of power digital, which is
based in San Diego, and tell us
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a little bit about your agency and
then I'd love to hear your entrepreneurial background,
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because you've done a lot of things. Heard being an agency deal?
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Yeah, for sure. So for
our agency, power digital, we found
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it power digital at the very end
of two thousand and twelve and really what
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what our charter has been from day
one is to work with leading brands to
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help them scale revenue and profits.
So we're very, very performance focused,
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I'd say middle to bottom of the
funnel. Typically, the really about how
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do we drive the right customer to
the site and then ultimately convert them into
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a transaction, whether that's the e
commerce sale or a staff sign up or
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lead for the sales team, and
then we do a lot of work to
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then take that customer list and further
monetize them through upstells, cross cells and
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moving them further down the funnel.
That's really our focus. You know,
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over the years we've been one of
the faster growing companies in our space and
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been the last to be on the
ink list, I think the last five
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years and in two thousand and nineteen. In January we actually did a deal
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at the private equity firm called periscope
equity that is based out of Chicago,
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and that gave us some liquidity and
allowed us to really reset the CAF table
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and set ourselves up for this next
day where we're investing a lot more heavily
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into our proprietary technology and platform.
And then also, in addition to the
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organic growth that we've always had,
which is through true typical getting new customers,
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retaining the customers, growing the customers, we also are now growing through
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acquisition. So we did our deal
with periscope in January and then we did
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our first out on acquisition with a
group called factorial digital. There really was
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the elite Seo and consulting firm based
out of New York, and that closed
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in October. And so far as
just been a amazing experience. They have
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incredible people and it's been a ton
of fun to get a joined forces with
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them and have them on the team. And then in terms of financial performance,
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were coming off an amazing October,
November and December. So really exciting
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time. And when we look at
had the playbook here for two thousand and
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twenty is to lean really hard into
our technology and the development of that and
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then also to close another two to
three acquisition. So we have, you
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know, one that's in Lli,
another one that's very close and then we're
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really looking for that third perfect fit
that matches our investment thesis and will allow
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us to provide the world's best product
to our customer base and and create more
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opportunities for ours staff. So that's
kind of the high level of power digital.
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We have about a hundred and thirty
people. A hundred and twenty of
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them are here in our offices in
San Diego and then the other tenor on
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the east coast in New York,
and excited for what two thousand and twenty
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holds for us. That's great.
So You d history in under ownership before
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starting power digital and you did a
lot of things that are really non agency
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like before. Maybe they felt similar
to you because they were just different industries
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but the same type of entrepreneurship experience. So talk a little bit about your
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background before you became an agency owner
and what made you decide to found an
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agency. Yeah, so I'm a
seven time founder, at least seven times
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now. Had some successful companies and
some less successful. So learned a lot
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of good lessons along along the way. But when when we actually founded,
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my two partners and I, when
we founded our digital in two thousand and
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twelve, it was a little bit
out of necessity. We had a manufacturing
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business and a staff company. The
manufacturing business, we were in a lawsuit
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that we have been fighting for a
long time and we were in a little
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with a holding pattern, and so
we just started doing marketing and helping some
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entrepreneurs we knew and companies scale their
businesses, because we had always been really
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good and used Internet marketing to grow
our own companies. That's kind of how
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it started off. I've always been
very attracted to the type of business model
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that agency has because, you know, as an entrepreneur you get a shiny
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new toy every single day. You
get to see a lot of data,
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see a lot of different ways that
people are making money and succeeding in different
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industries and making an impact. So
it's just a really powerful to be in.
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But to your point, you know, definitely don't come from a traditional
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agency background and I think that's atually
one of the thing that's really separated out
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of power digital and allowed us to
have a lot of stasses that we don't
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follow the playboff that everyone else is
following. We really follow what we think
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make sense, what we think in
powers our staff to innovate and do great
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work, and those are the structures
and processes that we put into flight and
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they're very different than the way that
a typical agency with you. Yeah.
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Well, I so much that I
want to unpack here and I don't know
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that we'll get to it all,
but as an IP lawyer by training,
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I am always and as someone who
hosts an innovation focused podcast, I love
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to talk about I love a story
that involves an agency creating its own platforms,
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technologies, solutions, content, libraries, whatever it is, creating your
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own stuff and then figuring out a
way to leverage and monetize that, and
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so I hope we get to that. But let's talk about first of all,
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though, you scaled incredibly rapidly and
may not feel that way to you
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because that might just be the way
you've always grown businesses, but to the
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owner or leader of an independent agency
listening to this, it's just it's dramatic
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growth and I know you have philosophies
about growth and there's lots always to accomplish
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it, but I know you have
ideas as well about the things that prevent
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agencies or maybe any entrepreneurial business from
growing. So let's talk about those pitfalls.
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You you shared with me earlier that
you're you're sort of theory is that
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there's five pitfalls that prevent the grows. So let's throw yeah, so I
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think what I've seen in my career, and this is partially through mistakes I've
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made in my own company, partially
through what I've seen with companies that we
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work with, and then also just
through friends and people, whether it's through
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the entrepreneur organization or Ypo, and
really just seeing the difference and factors that
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usually lead to a company that's growing
really quickly versus one that's a little bit
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more stocker or not able to get
to that flection point. So the first,
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you know, biggest pitfall I see
is analysis proalysis, and I think
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it starts at the top with the
CEO and works its way down. But
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I see way too many companies they
get way overly caught up and overanalyzing the
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business model, overanalyzing their their customer
data, you know, doing the thing,
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the hard work. That is not
a revenue generating activity. So,
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you know, certainly believe in having
a really clear strategy, but in the
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day and age that we're in,
beautiful is that you can really pass and
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iterate very quick so the difference that
I've seen is the companies that are not
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growing, they've got the analysis proalysis. The companies that are growing rapidly,
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they come up with a strategy and
they do it pretty quickly and then they
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hit it hard and then they in
real time, pivot and Tweek the strategy.
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So that's number one. Number two
is kind of building off of that,
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which is a lack of r Ga, and I like that word r
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ga or that acronym, and it
stands for revenue generating activity and I think
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for any company, if you want
to grow, you better make sure that
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the majority of your time is spent
on revenue generating activities. So you know,
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working on a document and a plan
is not an art revenue generating activity.
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Certainly you opt to have a strategy
to go after it, but really
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those revenue generating activities are looking at
your day and saying it's fifty percent plus
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of my day spent on something that
will generate revenue for the business. And
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if the answers know, that probably
is a big part of the reason why
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you're not having growth. And I
think especially for smaller agencies, you know
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early on the executive team, the
founders, you have to be that rainmaker.
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It's really probably the hardest role,
the higher for and so you know,
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if you look in the mirror and
say a fifty percent of my time
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spent on revenue generatey activities, then
I think you're and you can sustain that,
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you're going to see really great growth
and if it's not, then you're
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probably going to be looking for solutions
on how to get more growth. So
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those, I think, are the
first two. Is just avoiding analysis prowess
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that and really focusing in and making
sure that you're putting a lot of your
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time into, you know, stuff
that's going to generate revenue. So Do
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you feel most agency owners, particularlyly
those who own smaller agencies, should they
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be their agencies primary generator revenue?
Should they be out? Should they is
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their time best spent being the primary
rainmaker for the agency, or is that
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a skill I need to focus on
hiring for so they can work on the
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next big game changer for the business? I'd say for the vast majority of
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small agencies the founders need to do
that. Not like there's the only ones
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doing it, but you know,
in our business there's not a lot of
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barriers to entry and if I'm a
superstar sales person in this space, I'm
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probably not going to go work for
your smally. So I think it's the
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hardest one to hire for. You
know, for us that power digital,
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for example, I was very involved
in sales up until really the end of
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two thousand and eighteen and two thousand
and nineteen, and we had to then
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rip that band aid off and move
from a founder led sales org, you
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know, and move out of that
and it's a very hard transition, probably
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one of the hardest transitions for a
firm to make. But by then we
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had the technology, the process,
the brand, the reputation and the assets
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that the lot easier to win,
to get more deal flow and wind business.
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So I think you know early on, yes, it's you know,
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nine times out of ten the really
growing, rapidly growing companies are going to
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have founders that really can drive business
and make it happen. The other kind
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of pitfall, the third pitfall,
funny enough, is thinking that you can
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outsource growth and the fourth is really
not fully understand the correlation between sales and
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marketing. So the other thing that
I see often is exactly that. They
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think I'll just go hire a sales
guy, they'll be to figure out how
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to build this growth engine. Well, again, that's just really hard to
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do. If you haven't really a
stablished a growth engine and sales process that
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works, the odds that you finding
a superstar and being able to afford them
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and being able to retain them are
just super low. And the same thing
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as I find a lot of times, especially in our space, people want
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to use Internet marketing, but when
you're a startup and you really have very
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little brand or awareness, you need
to start it with sales and the way
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that I've always view the correlation between
sales and marketing is that for any bb
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brand tails is how you start the
flame and get the fire to start burning
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and then, once you have it
burning, marketing is the gasoline that or
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on the top. But way too
often, you know, both in our
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space but really outside of our space, do I see entrepreneurs. They want
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to they're scared about the rejection that
you get in sales and just how ruling
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that can be to prospect and to
do that, so they try to shortcut
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it with marketing and they end up
spending a lot of money and time and
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not getting to where they want to
go. Yeah, well, they're also
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if their Agians, depending on the
size and the scope of their agency,
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they're wearing more hats than is suspend
are sustainable right over the long term,
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and they have seen more agency owners
for themselves out because of that. Then
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I have seen agency owners give over
the reins too quickly to somebody else to
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manage that process. And it may
be a function of what you said earlier
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about superstar sales people not wanting to
work for really small agencies or even midsized
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ones in some cases, but I
have definitely seen more hern out than abdication.
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If do well, so I think
that alliance with the pitfall that you
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just mentioned about the alignment, especially
between sales and marketing, to all right,
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what's up this one in the fifth
one is not committing enough time and
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resources to give your company that chance
seed. The one thing I've learned to
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that point is hobbit. If you
have the best talent and you're in the
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right deef meeting, you're playing to
your super powers and passions, it's very
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easy to win and it's very easy
to grow, and if you don't,
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then it's very difficult to grow.
And so I think one mistake that I
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made is I didn't bring in enough
top talent and spend the money that it
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costs early enough, and I think
if I would have done that earlier,
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I would have gotten to where I
want to go faster. Where now,
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for example, in twenty nineteen,
you know, we went on a huge
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spinnings free to go get incredible talent
and we still home grow a lot of
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talent and been a lot of time
developing our talent through training. But when
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you bring in that right a player, as long as you're putting them in
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the seat where they're playing to their
passion and superpower and as long as there's
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good core values alignment, the growth
that you experience from that in the impact
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starts to really multiply. So I
think a lot of companies, they just
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are, are too slow to do
that and it really prevents their ability to
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grow. Or they get enamored by
somebody on paper that has great experience,
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but the core values alignment is there
and then it becomes a very extensive,
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time consuming felled experience and then makes
them gunshy to go get you know,
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maybe the more high priced superstar the
next time around. Sure. Well,
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plus they've spent they've invested so much
already in the first person that they've brought
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on. Right, that ended up
not fitting the role because of the things
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you just said. So so you're
thing with the talent is if they're really
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good, they'll pay for them.
They should pay for themselves with them thirty
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or forty five days. Yeah,
that's one thing I've never understood is I'll
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see these firms in our space that
are raising a bunch of money. It
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makes sense if you're building technology,
but if you're not, then you probably
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have a bigger problem because you know, cash flow shouldn't be that big of
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a crunch. It's not like we're
dealing with a bunch of inventory. And
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really, you know, Star players
should be able to get profitable within thirty,
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two, forty five days. So
I think if that's not the case,
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then maybe there's a bigger issue with
your business model, how you're pricing
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stuff to clients, how you're collecting
you know, how you're managing your books.
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So really it should be a very
quick payback period with that type of
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talent. My experience. Yeah,
it's I think it's just a question of
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getting enough runway up front right so
that you can afford to wait for them
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to start being profitable for the business. Ye, all right. Well,
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these so all right, so we've
talked about five pitfalls that prevent agency growth
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and then you all you also promise
that you'd share five of your top business
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tips. So now that we know
what landlines to step aside from one of
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the things that we should be doing. Yeah, so the first thing that
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I think we didn't do well a
power digital early on, but then we
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kind of cracked the code on and
when we did it really made a big
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difference. Is doing a great job
of aligning employee compensation with what drive growth
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in your business. And so naturally, in any type of business you know,
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people will typically will do what they're
with their compensation plan dictates. And
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so, to give you an example, in our business, resigning our clients
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and keeping our client is the most
important metric. And so when that happened,
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we compensate our staff and they get
compensated more through that model when based
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on the duration of the resign and
ability to expand that partnership. So it
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really aligned what drives our company and
what's best for the client with what's best
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for that individual employee. And in
another big driver fross is the ability to
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add another service to a point.
We have really clear data that shows the
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more services that we have on a
specific client and that we're managing for them,
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the better the results for that client
and in turn, the better the
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retention rate for our agency and the
more profitable. And so when, when
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the marketing team is able to do
that and find those opportunities on a client,
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they get compensated and then our staff
also gets compensated for recruiting great a
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players. If they happen to bring
deal flow into the funnel, they get
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paid for that and then they also
get bonused out based on cost control.
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So when they really take to ownership
interest and do a good job of not,
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you know, splurred you on a
tool that's not necessary and finding how
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to finding ways to do great work
more efficiently, you know they get a
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share in that. Fine. So
those are a couple kind of quick examples.
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But really, if you're looking at
your complan and you know what drives
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your economic engine for your company doesn't
drive it for your staff, then there's
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probably a problem. And if you
just make that single week, you're going
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to probably see a much, much
greater alignment and you'll still see your staff
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really start to do the things that
drive value for your firm. Yeah,
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I love it. That makes a
lot of sense. I would love to
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hear more. Yeah, yeah,
there's really simple things you can do with
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it. We don't pay any sales
people. Sales people only get paid for
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bringing a new business. If it's
a resign of a client or growing a
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client, you know that's because we're
doing great marketing work for them and so
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that gets split amongst the team that
works on that client. So I think
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if you look in your own company
and you really look at what drives Your
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Business and then you figure out how
to build some compensation for your staff,
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you'll see a pretty quick improvement in
terms of them doing those things that drive
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your company. The second really big
thing that not just in our industry but
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across a lot that always surprises me
is it's really really important to establish very
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simple leading indicators. So your financials
are a lagging indicator. By the time
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you see what you did in a
month you really can't do anything about it.
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And so building a dashboard and developing
leading indicators that you'll make it a
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lot easier to accomplish the goal.
So they're a little bite size things that
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you can divvy out two team members
to accomplish. That, if you if
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you hit them, will drive the
end result is really critical. So you
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know, I think for most agencies
it's very simple and there's four pillars that
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go into those leading indicators and the
first one is, you know, a
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monthly new business goal. So what
is the target of new business and you
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know what percentage of that is,
maybe retainer Verse Project Contractoration? A second
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one is usually your client retention rate. So what is a churn threshold that
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you need to be under on a
monthly basis? And then really annualize.
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The fourth is same crossmer, different
product. The really how do you grow
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your partnerships so that know, as
you're doing great work for that client,
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that the financial benefit grows for you? And then for us, the fourth
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leading indicator is cost control and we
use a very simple matric, which is
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revenue per production employee on a monthly
basis. And so for us, if
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a certain department is above that revenue
for employee production employee threshold, they could
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hire whoever they want. If they're
below it, then we need to really
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figure out why are they below it
and is that because we're selling deals wrong?
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Do we have clients that are stuck
in resources? You know what's driving
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that? So those leading indicators give
us the ability to really see where we're
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winning and then see where maybe we're
missed in the mark and then really use
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that data to go optimize and improve
our business and it really takes the surprise
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out of you know what our performance
will be in a given month or quarter.
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So I think if you really look
at your company and establish those same
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same metrics and goals and a sure
that they lead up to the end result
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that you want, just putting visibility
into them will typically Nott a better performance.
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Yeah, and then how we layers
down into the company? Do you
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share the leading indicator metrics to discuss
them with everybody in the agency, or
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are there do you you deploy them
just to leadership, or how do you
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handle the good questions? So we
share every mattric with every person in the
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company. So we just got our
twenty company why? Two Thousand and twenty
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kickoff and every department has an even
a goal. No, revenue, revenue
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doesn't really matter. And in our
space that everyone knows the company wide even
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a goal. They know the department
even a goal, they know what their
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revenue is. They have their individual
score card that updates in real time that
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gives them a score based on how
much revenue they're facilitating, the performance of
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their client, the npscore of their
client, the growth rate, their customer
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attention. So we're an open book
with that and you know, I think
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if you have a culture where you're
not able to do so those and that
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would be kind of something that I
would look into and is a potential concern
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because, as you know, how
is your team supposed to help drive the
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end result if they don't know what
the end result is and what I found
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that it's kind of hard to score
when you can't see the hoop. So
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we really try to put those fronts
center and then they all go into a
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proprietary system we have called command center. It gives them real time visibility into
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Howard we're tracking against it, both
company wide but then within their department and
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within their specific roles. Okay,
all right, I love that. That's
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I'm a I'm a huge believer and
and one of my just to get vulnerable
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for one second. As a business
owner myself, one of my vulnerabilities was
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not sharing enough data. I think
earl in earlier years of running the business
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and feeling like you're being protective when
you're doing that, but you just setting
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yourself up for a lot of aggravation
and sometimes failure in reaching the goal because
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you haven't shared it with enough of
the people on your team. So I
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totally endorse that to your good agree
when I talk to friends and stuff that
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are shocked that we do that,
because I've got that reaction a lot over
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the years. When I asked why, they're usually scared. Well, they
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know how much money the companies makes. They might get upset or this or
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that. To me, it's like
those things mean that maybe you don't have
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a real relationship with your people or
maybe you know your people don't understand how
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the business to be. To understand
that, you obviously the goal behind the
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business is to generate, you know, profit and opportunities, because that creates
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a lot more opportunities for every it. So I do think, though,
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with that said, one of the
things that's always made me comfortable sharing that
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is that we align the way that
our team makes money with how we make
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money and so they get the benefit
from that. But I think typically when
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people are nervous to do so again, that would tell me that maybe you
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need to get you don't have the
right people, or you need to get
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a lot deeper in your relationship with
the staff that you have and have them
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are body into really what you're accomplishing
overall and what it's going to do for
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them individual yeah, I think I
agree with that and I think for me
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personally, it was the opposite.
I felt like I was being protective for
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the times when maybe we weren't hitting
our goals or the firm wasn't doing what
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we needed it to do, and
wanting to sort of shield them from worrying
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about what that meant for them personally. Right, so there's two sides of
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it. I think for our most
small businesses it doesn't help to be protective
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either, because it sometimes leads you
to make decisions that don't have any context
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for the people who they affect.
Yeah, that's a great point to and
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that makes a lot of sense.
Yeah, all right. So what's their
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network? Yeah, for the third
I touched on earlier, but it's just
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investing its top talent. It's just
been so successful for us now. We've
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swung and miss to on people that
we thought were top talent, and one
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thing that I've learned is that typically
we like when we bring in somebody,
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even if it's for a leadership role
or they're going to be managing, we
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put them into a little bit of
a probation period where they're doing that job,
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but they're also doing the job of
a person. They're managing and they're
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proving that they can do that and
that they're relatable and they're they're earning that
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leadership title, because in our companies
titles don't mean anything. I can give
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somebody a director title. That is
a mean that the people will respect them
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and listen. So I think it's
not as simple as just go find people
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that you know look great on paper
and a great experience, but really finding
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that superstar talent that you know can
really come fill a gap that you have
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and then, you know, interviewing
for core values fit and then really making
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sure that they kind of have to
earn that and prove themselves to your team.
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But when I started doing that it
made such a big defference and I
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think your point with with especially in
this agency world, it can be super
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stressful for a CEO, for a
founder. You will not be able to
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fix that until you bring in some
really, really proven, incredible talent,
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and so it's kind of one step
back to take three steps forward, and
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certainly that's been the case. You're
a power digital and they give you an
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example. I mean this, in
the last month I've also hired a president
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and he's going to come on the
new business pillar for us and the service
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expansion pillar, and we've also hired
a CFO that will come all the budget
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pilling and you know, for me
it's just so exciting to be to have
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these guys come in and to learn
from them and they will own those pillars
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and do that so much better than
I will, because that's where they're super
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power lies, in their focus.
So I know I'll get a huge return
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on that investment, but it is
hard to get yourself over the Hump to
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do so because certainly, you know
there's a step back in the short term,
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you know, as that impact comes
into play and you start to get
381
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a realized benefit of that. Well, yeah, exactly. Really, I
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realize that the benefit from a financial
or performance perspective is one thing, but
383
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also, you know, sort of
advancing away from or retreating from that sense
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of control that you had over that, you know, that domain within the
385
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within the agency before you hired someone
else to execute on it. It's an
386
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evolution right for an entrepreneur, it's
it's getting more entrepreneurial, mature maturity so
387
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that you are, you know,
willing to bring on somebody who knows more
388
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than you do about some area of
the business, and that's a vulnerability for
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most CEOS. Two of closely health
companies. Yep, totally, and I
390
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think it's for me it's always been
about wanting to make the jump with our
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company, where I go from entrepreneur. That created a great job for himself.
392
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To me that's not even really entrepreneurism
or really building a right company,
393
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as opposed to the building a machine
that can run and operate without and I
394
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think it's tough to do, but
I think it's also, to your point,
395
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sometimes hard for us entrepreneurs to let
go of because we're control freaks.
396
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Yeah, it's like, well,
if I'm not needed in the day to
397
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day, then I mean I'm not
important. Well that that means that you've
398
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really done a phenomenal job and you
built something special. So to me it's
399
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like the day that that happened is
the day that I've truly, you know,
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done something special and really built a
great company, and that's something that
401
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as a group, we're all working
hard our doors is certainly make it progress,
402
00:28:06.619 --> 00:28:08.980
but you really look forward to get
into that point some day. Yeah,
403
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exactly. All right, cool.
So what's the next one? Number
404
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I think up too for right.
Yeah, so, for is diversification of
405
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deal flow. So in the business
that we're in, deal flow is everything.
406
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The more opportunities that you that you
get to see and get a evaluate,
407
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the more you can pick the winners, the more you can get your
408
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ideal customer base, the more aggressively
you can price the quicker you can get
409
00:28:33.880 --> 00:28:37.920
that get rid of really bad this
functional clients because, as everybody knows in
410
00:28:37.000 --> 00:28:41.470
this business, for your team,
when you have a really bad clients,
411
00:28:41.589 --> 00:28:45.549
it's it's doesn't treat you well,
even if they've got to get business,
412
00:28:45.589 --> 00:28:48.509
it's a miserable job and you're going
to burn your people out. So you
413
00:28:48.589 --> 00:28:51.990
know, how do you diversify deal
flow? Well, I like to look
414
00:28:52.029 --> 00:28:56.259
at it in for buckets and typically
what I find is that in the early
415
00:28:56.299 --> 00:29:00.980
days agencies will have one of these
buckets and if you can get the two
416
00:29:00.980 --> 00:29:04.140
or three, you start to give
yourself a lot more predictability and a lot
417
00:29:04.180 --> 00:29:08.140
more leverage and power. So the
first one is referral and network, and
418
00:29:08.220 --> 00:29:15.690
that's typically where I see the earlier
stage. I guess lower performing agencies is
419
00:29:15.809 --> 00:29:21.529
that the founder has a lot as
a great network and connection and people know
420
00:29:21.690 --> 00:29:23.440
that that's what they do and they're
just getting stuff that comes to them and
421
00:29:23.599 --> 00:29:26.240
that's great. You should always take
advantage of that. Those are usually really
422
00:29:26.240 --> 00:29:30.400
warm lead but you really don't get
a pick the ideal customer. It's really
423
00:29:30.440 --> 00:29:36.160
what's coming to you. The second
pillar is channel, and I think again
424
00:29:36.240 --> 00:29:38.150
for early stage. This is a
really good one. Is so who are
425
00:29:38.269 --> 00:29:41.150
the companies that are servicing the same
customer that you want, that you can
426
00:29:41.230 --> 00:29:45.750
forage a partnership with and make it
worth their while? And so what's great
427
00:29:45.750 --> 00:29:49.750
with that is that the customer acquisition
costs basically fixed because it's based on performance.
428
00:29:49.950 --> 00:29:53.339
But same thing, you're dependent on
that partner. If that partner decides
429
00:29:53.420 --> 00:29:57.380
to offer the services that you do, you're going to lose that. If
430
00:29:57.460 --> 00:30:00.299
they you find somebody else to partner
with, you're going to lose that.
431
00:30:00.420 --> 00:30:06.259
So it's just not as predictable as
I would like. The third is inbound
432
00:30:06.500 --> 00:30:08.450
and I think that takes the most
time for an agency. It's so competitive
433
00:30:08.490 --> 00:30:12.410
and all the people that you're going
to get to get that inbound deal flow
434
00:30:12.529 --> 00:30:18.890
are great marketers, but really getting
that content machine cranking and having those that's
435
00:30:18.930 --> 00:30:22.279
out there in those hooks so that
they come to you is a really powerful
436
00:30:22.279 --> 00:30:25.599
thing. And then and in the
fourth is building an outbound machine where you
437
00:30:25.640 --> 00:30:29.480
can go target the exact persona the
exact brand you want and you can go
438
00:30:29.680 --> 00:30:32.880
win. And so I think most
companies, and I know this was our
439
00:30:32.960 --> 00:30:36.349
case early on, you have one
of those and the quicker you can get
440
00:30:36.430 --> 00:30:37.829
the two and then the Acor you
get the three and then the four,
441
00:30:38.309 --> 00:30:44.470
you'll notice a really quick correlation with
increased profit, you increase value of your
442
00:30:44.470 --> 00:30:48.670
organization due to more predictability and a
lot less stress. So you be.
443
00:30:48.869 --> 00:30:52.099
That's that's a really, really key
one and one of the harder one tackle
444
00:30:52.220 --> 00:30:56.099
and too thick. But if you're
looking at two thousand and twenty, yeah,
445
00:30:56.099 --> 00:30:57.779
I'll I think that should almost be
on everyone's game plan, certainly on
446
00:30:57.980 --> 00:31:02.380
B is, to do a better
job with more deal flow and more diversion
447
00:31:02.460 --> 00:31:06.009
for our coup. So let me
ask you question about the third pillar of
448
00:31:06.849 --> 00:31:11.329
the diversity, which is the endbound. Where do you stand on niches,
449
00:31:11.769 --> 00:31:19.400
either vertical category niches or that more
horizontal expertise for an agency? Do you
450
00:31:19.799 --> 00:31:23.279
is we've had all different schools of
thought about this. I have my own
451
00:31:23.279 --> 00:31:29.400
personal view, but that's my view. Where do you stand on on focus
452
00:31:29.720 --> 00:31:34.630
and niching for small to mid size
agencies so that they can use that niche
453
00:31:34.869 --> 00:31:41.029
to sort of guide their inbound strategy? Yeah, I think it's really important.
454
00:31:41.190 --> 00:31:42.470
I think the more you can do
at the more valuable your company's going
455
00:31:42.509 --> 00:31:45.349
to be, but it's easier to
be a little bit more general. So
456
00:31:45.509 --> 00:31:49.220
you just got a way that that
balance the Faras we started a little bit
457
00:31:49.259 --> 00:31:52.420
more general in terms of the types
of brands we work with and then we
458
00:31:52.500 --> 00:31:56.660
niche down as we built the reputation
of power. With that said, like
459
00:31:56.779 --> 00:32:01.250
our team members, we niche in
two ways. So we have twelve court
460
00:32:01.250 --> 00:32:06.849
departments in the company and they're based
on marketing channels and discipline. So like
461
00:32:06.970 --> 00:32:09.609
our SEO team only does SEO,
or paid social team only does pay social.
462
00:32:10.049 --> 00:32:14.289
You know, our influencer team only
does influencer and I think to be
463
00:32:14.490 --> 00:32:16.640
the best in class these days you
have to be all in on one channel
464
00:32:16.799 --> 00:32:22.079
because it's just so competitive online and
there's so much great talent. So we
465
00:32:22.480 --> 00:32:24.799
specialize like that. And then we
build custom teams around the brands. And
466
00:32:24.839 --> 00:32:30.109
then we also specialize based on business
model. So we have a consumer team
467
00:32:30.150 --> 00:32:34.710
that really only does consumer products,
specifically around e commerce. We have a
468
00:32:34.750 --> 00:32:38.950
FAB team that really only focuses on
Betab because there's very different challenges and things
469
00:32:38.990 --> 00:32:43.509
that work there, and then we
have a legion team that really focuses on
470
00:32:43.549 --> 00:32:46.140
business to consumer legion and Fath.
So you know, when you mix the
471
00:32:46.180 --> 00:32:51.539
channel expertise with then the business model
expertise, you know, to me it
472
00:32:51.619 --> 00:32:53.500
gives you an advantage with getting deal
flow, but more than more importantly,
473
00:32:53.500 --> 00:32:58.059
it just gives you an advantage and
getting resulved. So that's kind of how
474
00:32:58.099 --> 00:33:01.809
we've done it and I think that's
something that our clients really value. But
475
00:33:02.529 --> 00:33:06.849
it also gives our team members something
that they can really own and really really
476
00:33:06.970 --> 00:33:12.089
hone their craft, both within their
specific marketing discipline, but also really just
477
00:33:12.210 --> 00:33:17.039
understanding the nuances of the specific business
model and and really seeing getting a lot
478
00:33:17.079 --> 00:33:22.200
of APP Fath within that business model
so that they can start to spot trends
479
00:33:22.279 --> 00:33:24.160
and, you know, when they
walk into a scenario, it's something that
480
00:33:24.200 --> 00:33:30.109
they've seen before, they fixed before
and and they can spot those. Yeah,
481
00:33:30.470 --> 00:33:36.269
well, I think this year to
attract and retain and develop talent to
482
00:33:36.589 --> 00:33:43.019
when you are very specific and clear
about the nish as well, whether it's
483
00:33:43.180 --> 00:33:47.339
the type of skill set or whether
it's category or industry expertise. So that
484
00:33:47.420 --> 00:33:51.859
makes a lot of sense to me. Yeah, and it creates more paths
485
00:33:51.940 --> 00:33:54.059
the leadership. I think one of
the biggest power diage we've had his degree
486
00:33:54.059 --> 00:33:59.049
about a ninety five percent employee attention
rate, which is really strong in our
487
00:33:59.049 --> 00:34:04.450
industry, and one of the reasons
why, I think there's variety of reasons,
488
00:34:04.490 --> 00:34:07.089
but one thing that I think that's
worked well as we have this path
489
00:34:07.250 --> 00:34:10.920
the leadership where people don't get stuck
behind a director in their department, and
490
00:34:12.159 --> 00:34:15.440
usually when that happens, someone's going
to go look. They want to grow
491
00:34:15.519 --> 00:34:16.679
and they want to evolve in their
career, they're going to go look elsewhere.
492
00:34:17.159 --> 00:34:20.800
And so, you know, this
is one example being able to be
493
00:34:20.920 --> 00:34:23.349
really the champion over our vertical is
one example where it really creates something to
494
00:34:23.389 --> 00:34:27.829
the individual can own, they can
put their own spin on it, they
495
00:34:27.869 --> 00:34:30.670
can use that entrepreneur all side of
the brain and I think it's really helped
496
00:34:30.750 --> 00:34:35.670
us, you know, create those
opportunities for our rising stars and put them
497
00:34:35.670 --> 00:34:38.980
into more impactful positions, but then
also help them involved their career so that
498
00:34:39.619 --> 00:34:43.300
they can do that at our digital
and they don't need to look out for
499
00:34:44.019 --> 00:34:46.460
right. All right, these are
so great. I'm loving this. Okay,
500
00:34:46.579 --> 00:34:50.900
so what is number five? Number
five of the top business tips.
501
00:34:51.780 --> 00:34:52.929
Yes, I think that the last
one is I look at two thousand and
502
00:34:52.929 --> 00:34:57.489
twenty for our company is just really
daily Focus and discipline. So with all
503
00:34:57.530 --> 00:35:00.369
these things, I know for us
we'll do our executive off site. We
504
00:35:00.449 --> 00:35:02.889
got a ton of great work down
there. Then we do our company wide
505
00:35:02.929 --> 00:35:06.769
dickoff. We have the themes.
We have our training theme of the year,
506
00:35:06.769 --> 00:35:10.199
our culture theme of the year,
are leading indicators and PPI's. Well,
507
00:35:10.199 --> 00:35:14.719
when the dust clears and you go
back to working in the business,
508
00:35:15.280 --> 00:35:17.440
I think it's very easy for companies, and it has been for us historically,
509
00:35:17.960 --> 00:35:22.710
to just fall back into doing things
as they come to you, letting
510
00:35:22.710 --> 00:35:27.829
the email inbox dictated or splack or
what the customer says. So really putting
511
00:35:27.869 --> 00:35:32.389
mechanisms and tracking an accountability in place
so that that plan that you so strategically
512
00:35:32.510 --> 00:35:38.099
crafted is focused on every day and
you have accountability and discipline against it.
513
00:35:38.860 --> 00:35:43.739
That's really the biggest key to taking
a great a great plan and strategy and
514
00:35:43.780 --> 00:35:46.340
assuring that it's executed across. So
for us, you know, I know
515
00:35:46.460 --> 00:35:51.449
that's one of our biggest focuses.
We like to have a really healthy paranoia
516
00:35:51.489 --> 00:35:54.409
within our company about things and for
me that's one that I'm, you know,
517
00:35:54.530 --> 00:36:00.090
overly paranoid in the healthy way around. Just really making sure that all
518
00:36:00.170 --> 00:36:05.039
the amazing brainstorming and flaws that we
found in our company that we plan to
519
00:36:05.079 --> 00:36:07.559
bolster, that we're really executing against
those and doing that as fast and efficient
520
00:36:07.599 --> 00:36:14.960
as possible. What are you what
so paranoia about was specifically so we believe
521
00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.909
in healthy paranoia across the board.
Clients and retention. So, just because
522
00:36:19.949 --> 00:36:22.110
the clients doll on your great job, you know, making sure we really
523
00:36:22.110 --> 00:36:24.989
dig into what else is going on
in their business? Are we at the
524
00:36:25.030 --> 00:36:30.510
right contact level? What is the
personality of the client? Are they person
525
00:36:30.670 --> 00:36:32.260
that ends it, doesn't like conflict? And if that's the case, they
526
00:36:32.300 --> 00:36:35.539
probably is going to tell you that
you're doing great and we need to help,
527
00:36:36.300 --> 00:36:38.019
you know, die deeper and get
to the surface. So that's an
528
00:36:38.059 --> 00:36:42.420
example. With our staff and the
retention of our staff, you know,
529
00:36:42.500 --> 00:36:45.179
it's like we don't really really pushing
them and just because they say yeah,
530
00:36:45.179 --> 00:36:49.489
I'm happy, I'm good, making
sure that we dive into their earning goals,
531
00:36:49.650 --> 00:36:51.849
making sure that we dive into their
role and how they want to see
532
00:36:51.929 --> 00:36:54.610
evolve, what they want to learn
and just what's going on outside of work
533
00:36:55.210 --> 00:36:59.809
so that we don't get surprised and
so that we're really doing our part to
534
00:36:59.849 --> 00:37:02.480
help them have a balance, successful
life and not just taking their word for
535
00:37:02.559 --> 00:37:05.840
it, because I think that's the
way that you can lose really good people.
536
00:37:06.599 --> 00:37:08.679
So those types of things would be
some examples, you know, in
537
00:37:08.719 --> 00:37:13.079
terms of things that we try to
be really paranoid and what I would say
538
00:37:13.119 --> 00:37:16.110
a healthy way. Paranoid might even
be the right word, but you kind
539
00:37:16.110 --> 00:37:22.909
of get the idea of just of
just really trying to de risk situations and
540
00:37:22.949 --> 00:37:25.070
and look, not just look at
the black or white, but look at
541
00:37:25.070 --> 00:37:29.550
all the different shades of color and
the spectrum around the scenario. Yeah,
542
00:37:29.550 --> 00:37:32.340
I think that's being visulant. Not
Right. Not Care if it's just being
543
00:37:32.420 --> 00:37:37.940
under yeah, you're welcome, you
can have that one, visilant. Well,
544
00:37:37.139 --> 00:37:45.170
yeah, start using them. Oh
well, this has been such,
545
00:37:45.010 --> 00:37:52.409
I think, an instructive and helpful
hurmer for agencies. What are the PIFALSE
546
00:37:52.449 --> 00:37:55.530
to alloid? And then what are
the things you should be doing and thinking
547
00:37:55.570 --> 00:37:59.679
about? And I know the folks
listening are going to get a lot of
548
00:37:59.760 --> 00:38:01.719
value out of it. So I
want to thank you, Grayson's, for
549
00:38:02.679 --> 00:38:07.199
sharing your gross story. First of
all, it's poor digital. You are
550
00:38:07.800 --> 00:38:15.550
a awesome and to some of us
what feels like head turning trajectory over there,
551
00:38:15.230 --> 00:38:22.030
but I love how you're doing it
thoughtfully and how deeply you're thinking about
552
00:38:22.030 --> 00:38:27.110
it along the way so that it's
it's not getting off tracks for you right
553
00:38:27.139 --> 00:38:30.460
because that's so easy to do when
you're growing quickly. Totally I appreciate that.
554
00:38:31.179 --> 00:38:36.340
Super Fun shouting with you and you
know I'm lucky because we just have
555
00:38:36.539 --> 00:38:38.940
such a great team and, more
than anything, talent, but we've been
556
00:38:39.019 --> 00:38:43.809
together a long time and just great
human beings that really care about their careers,
557
00:38:43.849 --> 00:38:46.530
and so it's a lot easier to
do these things when you can divide
558
00:38:46.570 --> 00:38:51.530
it up among you people that you
know all deliver and and you have a
559
00:38:51.570 --> 00:38:53.730
bunch of different your hands to make
to make the work light and it doesn't
560
00:38:53.809 --> 00:38:58.280
follow too much on one person.
So I just feel very lucky to get
561
00:38:58.320 --> 00:39:00.199
a work with the team and it's
been fun shotting with you. And the
562
00:39:00.239 --> 00:39:02.280
other thing is would love to talk
to any of your listeners. You know
563
00:39:02.320 --> 00:39:07.679
we're actively looking for your great acquisition
targets that fit into our strategy and thesis,
564
00:39:07.760 --> 00:39:10.869
and so if that's of interest to
any of the listeners, would be
565
00:39:10.869 --> 00:39:15.070
interested to kind of learn more about
the business and share more about our strategy
566
00:39:15.550 --> 00:39:20.429
and maybe there's ways that we can
partner or combine to join forces and and
567
00:39:20.550 --> 00:39:22.750
do something really big. So thus
love to have any of those conversation.
568
00:39:23.150 --> 00:39:27.780
Yeah, great, mabb to the
punch. We always like to ask our
569
00:39:27.860 --> 00:39:31.820
guests where listeners can go to learn
more or to connect with you. So
570
00:39:32.019 --> 00:39:36.820
let's give them the details how to
reach out to you and how to reach
571
00:39:36.820 --> 00:39:40.289
out to power digital. Yeah,
so for me it's just best connect found
572
00:39:40.329 --> 00:39:45.329
linkedin, just grazing La friend paying
me there and let's get get something lined
573
00:39:45.369 --> 00:39:49.050
up. And then for power digital, you can find we do our team
574
00:39:49.050 --> 00:39:51.889
spend a lot of time on our
instagram, so they can certainly find us
575
00:39:51.889 --> 00:39:54.199
on instagram. I think it's power
under digital. Find US on Linkedin.
576
00:39:54.639 --> 00:40:00.800
Can also reach out and email us
at contact oer digital MARKETINGCOM and would love
577
00:40:00.840 --> 00:40:02.960
to connect. And thanks again for
having me on. Really enjoyed it and
578
00:40:04.000 --> 00:40:09.909
appreciative. We really hope you enjoyed
this episode in the Hashtag Agency series from
579
00:40:09.949 --> 00:40:15.710
the innovative agency. To hear more
episodes along these lines, check out the
580
00:40:15.829 --> 00:40:21.110
innovative agency in Apple Podcast, your
favorite podcast player or the links right in
581
00:40:21.110 --> 00:40:23.340
the show notes for this episode.
As always. Thank you so much for
582
00:40:23.500 --> 00:40:31.219
listening. Is your buyer a BB
marketer? If so, you should think
583
00:40:31.260 --> 00:40:36.769
about sponsoring this podcast. BB growth
gets downloaded over a hundred and thirty thousand
584
00:40:36.849 --> 00:40:40.210
times each month and our listeners are
marketing decision makers. If it sounds interesting,
585
00:40:40.250 --> 00:40:44.570
Sin Logan and email logan at sweet
fish Mediacom