Welcome to Virtual Assistant, the Agency Growth Machine podcast. Take your digital marketing agency to the next level as we share secrets, strategies, and client success stories. Step back from the Day-to-day of your agency and activate massive growth using Virtual Assistants. And now your host, Azhar Siddiqui Good morning or good afternoon or good evening from wherever. You're joining us today, my amazing guest, a fellow Canadian, Mr. Rudy Hettrick. And Rudy is joining us from Vancouver, Canada, today. I am not too far away. Well, right now I am quite a bit far from Rudy, but usually when I'm in Canada, I am around a 13 hours drive. And between Rudy and I, there's this legendary highway. Canadians call it the Coc, in short, or the coquihalla. And it's a beautiful I don't know if you've ever been on that Highway, Rudy. Have you taken that trip? Beautiful. It's beautiful, man. It is very dangerous if the weather conditions turn. But for the most part, I think it's one of the most scenic highways that I've ever seen in the world. It's just amazing. That drive from over the Rockies and then into the Pacific Ocean, man, it's something. Yeah, it's jaw dropping views. That's why I love it out here so much. Like, even though it's like a busy area, very heavily populated and kind of noisy, it compensates for just the sheer beauty of this area out here. It's amazing. So, Rudy, let's dive right into this. Thanks for doing this. I really appreciate it. Rudy is the owner and founder of Floor Coating Marketers and you guys are exclusively working with floor coating companies across the US and Canada, doing digital marketing for these guys, doing web development, the complete package. And I know you're knocking it out of the park. I've known you for almost two years now, and Rudy and I met at a mastermind group that both of us are part of. This mastermind group is called the Seven Figure Agency. I've discussed this in the past as well. Josh Nelson is our coach, and Rudy and I kind of connected on a different level because we're both from Canada, and so we kind of needed some representation. But it's always a very helpful guy. And I really wanted to thank you once more for doing this to me. But my first question, Rudy, is before we get into your agency and talk about how you're growing your agency right now is why a digital marketing agency, man, where did that idea come from? I mean, why not, right? To be honest, just I think just like any other person who goes into business, they want the autonomy, right? Like who wants to have a job, right, guys? Just kidding. But for me, that's what it was. I ended up just working for lots of companies in the past. The biggest thing was sales. For me, I got into sales. I like to talk a lot. I like to connect with people and it just kind of made sense. It was just kind of work with my personality, I guess. And then I'm also kind of a geek by trade in the sense that I like building things. I originally was going to divide Institute Technology, you know about that? Because it's in Calgary. Sure do. I went to that one to be a game software developer, actually. Yeah. So that was kind of like I've always been into that stuff and love building websites and I don't know, it makes sense, I guess. And I feel like you got to love what you do. And so every time I wake up in the morning, I'm excited. Well, I shouldn't say every time there are days, right? But it makes it worth it, right? So you wake up in the morning, you're just like, okay, I got my day ready to go. And it's like, you just want to just do this all the time. I'm like, I'm getting paid playing video games. That's what it feels like sometimes. What was your first job? Maybe walk us through your work history and how you finally led up to starting out your agency. Well, how far back you want to go? Because that's as far as you want, man. I started out with mine. My first job, I don't even remember, but one of the first jobs I did was during my summer job going to Minnesota State. Was hauling company or a moving company. And I learned so much from that. Travel all over the place. And I think of every job, even if it was our job, it's still a stepping stone to where we end up. So I want to kind of see where Rudy started out. Well, comically, the first job I got, I got fired from because I worked as a stock boy at co op and me and my buddies were horsing around in the back and he was throwing up stuff to me. I was up at the top shelf and he threw some flour up at me in the bag. And so I just decided to crack it open on his head. And then he started whipping syrup at me. So we're up supervisor came on, what is going on? He's losing his mind. And so that was probably my last day. You guys went all out there? We went all out. We were covered in flour and Maple syrup. How old were you then, Rudy? Oh, Jeez, I was like 1615. So I've always been working, right? I've always been working. And I will say that I built a pretty strong work ethic. I've got that a lot from my father. He worked till his last breath. He always worked hard. He instilled in us a lot of that and to be responsible and to hold yourself accountable to the things that you do in your life, specifically when it comes to work, like show up on time, be there 1015 minutes early, do what you're supposed to do, do what you promise. Right. And so he kind of did. So that in me at a young age when he heard I was fired. Boy, was I scared to go home that day. Right. So that kind of stuff. But what led into this was it just kind of just happened. It was, I think, a culmination of all of my choices and skills that just led into just realizing that, you know, what I'm capable of doing this. I think this is something I really want to do. But throughout time, like I said, I worked at Vision Electronics for a few years, got into sales. A B sound. That's some hardcore sales experience right there, man. Let me stop you right there. Because for people who don't know Canada, Visions Electronics Future Shop, these were the two big electronics retailers. Best Buy took over, Future Shop. But I wanted to mention Future Shop was because envision as well, that we were paid on commissions. Right. Like, there was a really low base salary, but if you wanted to make a bigger paycheck, you had to make good commissions, sell those warranties and stuff like that. So how did you do that at that job? I did really good the first two years, and then I got burnt out. I got really tired. I got kind of tired of it. Right. But it wasn't of the sales process. It was I felt like there was a better way, because the way their process is like if anybody comes in through that door, you got closed on no matter what that pressure, man, walking into that store. Yeah. No matter what happens, as long as it's above cost, it goes out. Right. They're coming in for a TV. They better come walking out with a ten times bigger TV and a sound system. Right. And it was just the way they did it because there was all the options available as financing. There was no reason not to buy. They're in here for a reason. So I learned a lot of that sales kind of experience, and it really applies well for my agency, of course. But I never really liked that hardcore hard close. I just felt uncomfortable with it. So I just got burnt out from it because it was going against my inner core belief. I don't know why. It just there was something rubbing me the wrong way about it. And so I ended up getting into corporate sales for cell phones. So MTS is like a Manitoba cell phone company at the time. Now it's Bell. But I worked for a dealer there and was in corporate sales for quite a few years before I ended up changing my whole life up. Just I got burnt out from sales, decided to go traveling the world. So I went backpacking for quite a few years, ended up after that because I had to sell everything and get rid of all my stuff. I had no return. I had no home to come home to except my parents house. So here I am in my late 30s, mid 30s, stay in the basement of my parents house. Yes, that's actually a true story. That was back in Manitoba or Red Deer. It was actually just outside of Red Deer in Rockingham House. Right. So I stayed there, worked in the oil patch for a couple of years. And I'll tell you, that is some serious work ethic, some serious hardcore work right there. So I learned a lot on that. I learned to never go there again, never do that ever again. Anyway, so I ended up leaving there, going back to Winnipeg, and started a service business. It was a window cleaning pressure washing company. And that's when I started to be my own boss. I got tired of trying to do everything for everyone else. They're making all the money, they're doing all the stuff I'm putting in, all the sweat, and I'm getting nothing out of it but stress and unhappiness. Right. So I really just got tired of it. So I think that, like I say, the culmination of all my skills ended up to the point where I realized I'm building the service business. I have no money. Right. Because if you remember, I just got back from traveling with the whole patch of it. So window cleaning was a little barrier of entry. It didn't cost a lot of money to start up. And I built the website and stuff myself. And I started doing the marketing myself and realized that as I'm doing trying to grow a window cleaning business, and I'm still out on roofs and cleaning windows, and I'm putting myself at risk and I'm trying to hire people, and it's really difficult to do that. It's hard to get people to want to go up on roots and ladders and stuff. And hiring is an issue. It's seriously as an issue for service businesses. So really got a really good sense of that. And so just kind of like all of that culminated into this. I'm like, I'm going to do digital marketing for service businesses. That's how it started. So I started a company called Primal Web. So I was really just going to build websites. It was only going to be like$500 and then $150 a month. I believe in the recurring model right from the beginning. That's how I was going to do it. I was going to do $150 a month. It includes hosting. I don't know what else included. I just didn't really know what I was doing, to be honest. Right. When was this, Rudy? In 2017. Okay. I started doing that, and then I was actually working for a guy kind of part time, a little bit to kind of understand. He has a small digital marketing agency. I won't mention his name. So I worked for him for the winter, and then that didn't really work out very well. Like, still now I'm back working for someone, right? And so from there, I just kind of decided to do my own thing and then run a web. Came out of that. And then I realized, hey, I could do Google Ads. So I started working on that. I learned Google Ads. I got certified through Google and everything else, to be honest. How it really took off was I went to a window cleaning pressure washing convention called a huge convention. And I met a guy named Kevin Trout. He has a winner cleaning business here, local to me. And we became really good friends. And then I told him, I'm getting rid of my window cleaning business. I'm going to sell it, and I want to do marketing. Can I build you a new website? So he's like, yeah, man, for sure. He had to talk to his wife, and she's like, do it. He's a nice guy. He's a great guy. I like him. I think you should just do it. So the first website I built was like, horrible. Better than what you had, but it was horrible. It was like a one page website. It was like window cleaning, gutter cleaning, pressure washing, roof cleaning, all these sections going all the way down, right? I had no idea that it was, like, totally all against SEO and how all that works. Yeah, we're doing okay, but we're not ranking anywhere. So now I'm like, okay, now I have to learn SEO because I need to help him, right? So rebuild, completely rebuild his actually, the website still exists today, and we just obviously keep optimizing and changing things to make it more current. And he's crushing it. And I'm like, okay, so I'm good at SEO. Awesome. And then I was like, okay, now Facebook ads, let's get into that. And this is kind of how it all built up. And so I started getting referrals and started getting different people coming in. I got some buddies that I'm still doing their marketing for. Then they refer me. So I was able to get enough clients to keep myself afloat. I don't know. It's such an amazing story. You're starting out, building out that work ethic, getting fired from that first job at co op. But then your journey, it's so enticing to me and the importance, really, of having a strong work ethic. I so agree with that, man. And as a Canadian and in the US as well, I've seen that by the time you're out of College or University, you already have eight to ten years of work ethic built out. If you start early on, like you did at 15 or 16, you have time to fool around a little bit and kind of learn from your mistakes. But in some cultures happen sometimes in Pakistan is that people, your parents kind of want to keep you so close to you and provide everything to you and they don't let you do anything until you finish your education. But the backdrop, the drawback of that is that by the time you're finishing school, you really don't work a day in your life. Now you only have a few years of building out that work ethic. So I really admire I think that's a big reason that the Western countries are where they are because the work ethic starts building out way sooner compared to some of the other countries that are out there. That's an amazing story. I'll hit you back on that backpacking that you did. We'll pass on that right now. I want to talk to you about that some other time, but tell me this. So you kind of started out your web development business in 2017, and you had a pressure washing business, window cleaning and pressure washing business. But then when you chose a niche for floor coating marketing, I'm trying to understand why would you not stick with the window cleaning or the pressure washing niche that you already were familiar with? And how did the floor coating marketing niche came out? Sure, no problem. So knowing that, I already know kind of the average ticket of a window cleaning gut or cleaning job. Right. Honestly, the real truth of the matter is it's such a low ticket item and the lead cost for any service businesses across the board is fairly stable. So whether it's landscaping, concrete coating, or pressure washing business, really the lead costs are very close. And so the cost per acquisition on a window cleaning lead is relatively high. So I did have some window cleaning clients, and it didn't work out very well. They'd lasted for a while, then they quit because it was just so expensive to them. Right. But they didn't understand the value of lifetime, like the customer life cycle, like the lifetime value of a customer. Sorry. And not only that, but add ons, like, why are you not adding on other services while you're there? Take advantage of it. So there was just a lot of also coaching them on how to do it properly to that was really kind of frustrating. So I just never really wanted to go down that road. And there was just a lot of low revenue. There wasn't enough to really kind of grow an agency, to be honest. There are some people in our group, too, that do it and they do a great job. They have it figured out. But for me, I just felt like it wasn't what I wanted. I just felt like I was going to be running against the green quite a bit or having to charge a low amount, which wouldn't be very profitable. So I didn't really feel like that was the choice for me. I did try the landscaping for a while, as you remember, and it was kind of the same scenario. And so concrete coating, I started with that because I ended up getting a referral from one of my clients. Right. And he was in concrete coding, and I never even knew it existed until I had him. I was like, what is this? So I had to really buckle down and figure out what this industry is all about to learn so that I could build him a proper website. Right. And so I did a lot of research on it. And as I was doing this research, I'm realizing that there is a lot of potential in this niche. Is that how they say in the States? I say niche. I say niche, too. And everyone's like, what are you saying? I was just like, there's a lot of opportunity. A lot of potential. I see that their tickets are usually anywhere from 2000 $3,000. I was like, there's a lot of potential here. There's a lot of residential customers that don't know this stuff even exists. I never even knew it existed. Right. And so I felt like there was an opportunity to help these businesses, and there was a lot of people coming from the pressure washing or service businesses into this niche. Right. That see potential as well. So I think it's an industry that's really taking off. And so I felt like there was a lot of room in there that I could just hop in and help these guys out. And so far it's been excellent. It was a really good decision. Nice. How important do you think is somebody who's wanting to start out their digital marketing agency? How important do you think is for them to stick with a niche or niche, like you said? Is it like, can somebody be a generalist agency and service any type of business? What would your recommendation be? Yeah, I was a generalist agency, and most of them are that come into the seven figure agency. And as you know, Josh Nelson really promotes the one niche. Right. And I bought into that because it was like, totally makes sense because all your procedures are going to be the same. All your advertising and content is going to be the same and tested. You know, it works. All your dedicated landing pages that you're going to be sending traffic to work, all the websites you build, they're all the same keywords. Google Ads, all the same keywords. Everything just makes sense. So you can bring in team members and train them out like this. Right. So it's going to be a lot easier for them to be able to understand one industry, as opposed to a plumber than a lawyer, an electrician drone service, solar power, whatever. That's a lot of work. I know, because I did it. Right. Yeah. It's not scalable. It really isn't. Some can do it, but all the power to you. But I don't feel like it's. No, I can definitely relate to you on that one. I still have my generalist agency running on autopilot right now in Calgary. And as soon as I got this idea of focusing on one niche, it was like an eye opening thing for me. I'm like, why did I not think of this for the last 13 years? It did come to me here and there, but I really never did go and execute it. But seeing you seeing so many of our clients focusing on one niche and just crushing it, it's just the proof, man, that you just pick one niche and everything that you said is true. And then the other thing is that all of a sudden you open up an entire market. North American market is open to you. You can work in every single city in the United States and Canada, and you can start servicing them with the same one model that you can do within your local city. So I wouldn't do a digital marketing agency if I had to restart it. It would only be a niche space for sure. Well, and think about all of your own marketing, too, right? Think about all your content that you got to put out on social media. Think about all your emails that you got to send out. Think about if you do Holly follow up or you want to do direct mail. The messaging is a lot more targeted. They're going to understand it. Like, I just did a discovery call, literally before this podcast. And he's like, I really like what you're doing. I like your videos. I like what you're putting out there because I understand it. What does that tell me right there? They're already 80% sold on my service, and I just talked to him for 15 minutes. Nice. I saw it pretty evident, right? And then there was another discovery, a call I had this morning. I talked to him, same thing. He's like, I've been watching your videos. I really like what you're saying. It totally makes sense. You can't do that in a generalist agency, right? Yeah, in a generalist agency. I don't even remember having a discovery call, man. It was just like running after clients and trying to close whatever I can get my hands on. I don't want to go there right now. But now that you've mentioned the discovery call, let's dive into actually, I know you're doing a great job for your clients. You're crushing it for the service package that you put together. But for the digital marketing agency who is just starting out, I want to talk about how you got your marketing set up, what's your sales process like really quickly, and then how you're retaining your clients using account management. So let's start with the marketing. Like, how are you getting these discovery calls, people booking appointments and things like that. What's the marketing Department for your own agency look like right now. So when I was originally doing the landscaping, I actually didn't really have a whole lot of money to invest in Facebook ads and stuff. So I did start doing the cold outreach and stuff, and it just wasn't really working. And maybe I didn't give it enough chance. And I think that was where I went wrong, was I wasn't consistent enough and I wasn't continually pushing it through and just like putting that sweat equity into it. Right. But then when I pivoted into concrete coating, I already knew because there's a few other members that do it. Facebook ads is a really good way to do it. But before I went into that, I knew I needed to build out some authority first, because I can't go to a coup. If I'm talking to somebody in Discovery Call, I can't tell them what you should be doing well on your social media before you do Facebook ads. And I'm not doing it right. And not only that, I also knew that that's kind of where my audience was already. So I see them posting all their pictures of all their work. So I just went crazy and just created a really good social media omnipresence, like what Jimmy talks about. And it's been a while still. And only now am I getting Discovery calls coming in automatically without even spending any money on ads. Right. So here's one thing I did, and maybe you guys can use it. And then I use GoHigh level, right. I call it Lead Crusher. But what I've done is I created a page. It looks like a link tree, but I just don't have to pay for it. I just made my own buttons and then social links at the bottom. And so when I use that, it's a link on my Instagram, right. So they click that link. They like any of the stuff that they see. They click that link, they go and look at my link tree. They see 2022 plan webinar. They see download the checklist, go check out the website. Here's the podcast. It's a whole list of things that they can choose from. Well, people are clicking on this stuff because I get the trigger link notification, right. And they're clicking on this stuff and they're downloading checklists. And then you got your shortcut to the Discovery call. So I'm getting discovery calls from them, downloading the checklist from my Instagram page. And I'm not paying for it. It's coming in organically. One thing that everyone needs to realize is that it's not about the likes. And it took me a long time to learn this. And I tell my clients this, just because they don't like your stuff doesn't mean they're not looking at your stuff. Right. A lot of times, how many times have you seen a video and you're scrolling and you never even touched it or liked it, but you're still watching the video or you're still reading it? So then what they do is they'll go to your profile, they'll go click the link, or they'll go into Google and search you, right. And so once I realized that I was like, this is a game changer for me. That's the number one thing I need to do now. So that's what I did. So me and my VA that I got from you guys, right? She's my left arm, I should say my right arm because I am right handed. But without her, it's just like, all right, she's been gone on final exams this week, and I'm lost. I'm just like, hold it together, buddy. She's back on Monday. You can do this, right? And she's been helping me build this out, and it's been amazing. And now because of this, the results are coming in. Now I run ads. Guess what? You're going to see the Instagram channel. They're going to see the Facebook profile, and it's going to be just like, completely loaded up with amazing content that provides massive value. Why wouldn't they book a discovery call? And that's exactly what's happening. So I'm not spending very much right now, but I can tell you, I already got ten discovery calls booked this month, and I'm probably spending $30 a day right now, which will go up, but I'm only spending a day. That's awesome, man. Congratulations, dude. I think what Josh Nelson talks about is that having that magic number of 15 discovery calls a month and you're not even halfway there right now and you're already at ten. So that's amazing. And spending this little on ads, that's amazing, man. You got something going on there. And then also, Rudy, sorry to cut you off there. I'm assuming if somebody does click on your links, you are doing some sort of retargeting and showing ads on different platforms or things like that, or is that something you're not doing right now? It's kind of sort of retargeting already, right? Like we're using that as a different audience but still hitting them with the discovery call ad. Right. Okay, so, yeah, it is. Right? But yeah, no, I was going to say just this strategy alone. That's the only thing that I'm doing right now. Obviously, there's going to be more stuff, but that strategy alone. I got a new client this month already. We have two in the books. It's just a matter of them signing it up. One is already looking into my references. That's another thing. If you guys aren't doing this, have a short reference list with a nice header at the top of it, like a graphic header. Just have a nice short reference list that they can refer to you anytime you're done the discovery call. Here's a reference list. And obviously, even before they ask for it, you just have that ready to go all the confidence in the world that you have what it takes, obviously, because you're giving them those are some amazing ideas, man. Having that landing page on your Instagram with a linktreet, if you don't have you're just starting out. You don't have a big budget for doing paid ads or anything like that those are some amazing have by just being a little smart and having all your content on one page, giving them something of value that they can click on. And once they've clicked on something, they eventually drive towards booking a discovery call. And Rudy spend like 30 or $50 a day right now. And if you can afford that, you're on your way to starting a digital marketing and agency with your marketing now, Loading up. Now it's time to start closing these deals. So talk to me about that. Like, what's going on there on the sales process? Like, is it one step, two step, three step sales process? Who's closing the deals and how's that working out? Right. Well, before that, I will say I also have a podcast that I'm doing as well. And these discovery calls that I've talked to, they're listening. So if you don't think they're listening, what's the name of the podcast? Rudy, the Real Concrete Coding and Talk Pod. Awesome. I love that name. Real Concrete Coating. Talk Pod or Pod Talk. Oh, man. It's about to say that three times. Amazing. All right. They're listening to those podcasts and then they're again coming back to you because they're getting value out of it and they're organically booking discovery calls. Yes. So a lot of the guys that are booking these discovery calls, they're not necessarily established. Like I said, there's a lot of guys coming into the industry. Covet has changed a lot of people's decisions on what they want to do in their lives. And every time I ask them, like, what made you want to book this call today? They always say it while COVID bring up COVID I lost my job or whatever, and then they've come into this. So a lot of these guys have only been pushing concrete coding for about maybe a year, sometimes two years. Right. And they're just having a hard time figuring out a way to get leads. That's it. That's really what it boils down to. So my process is a little bit different than what is recommended in the seven figure agency. I'm not saying I don't do it because I do. I have a full out strategy session plan already figured out. It depends on what level they're at, because my strategy sessions are more based on the full service package. Right. But a lot of times I'll just kind of qualify them to see if they're a good fit. I will bring on guys who are just starting out because that's just the way this industry is working. As long as they're willing to put in the work and they're willing to invest a little bit, then we'll grow with them. We'll start adding doing add on services as they grow. Right. And so that's kind of my strategy on that. It's a little bit different. I don't know if it's a good idea or not, but I feel like it's working, man. In this industry, it's working. Right. So a lot of times it just ends up being the same. Like, I just would start out recommending Facebook ads. I'll talk to them for a while, but I'll use the discovery call and I will try to close them on that call. I tell them it's usually about ten to 15 minutes. I set the expectation 1015 minutes, but it can go as long as you want, depending on how. And I always say if I see that there's synergy here with us and maybe that's a sign that it's a good fit. If it's not, I don't want you to feel like you wasted your time. So I will point you in the right direction to make sure that you get something out of this call today. Sound good or pumped? Oh, yeah, let's do this. Right. And so these calls end up being 30 to 45 minutes and some of them over the price. Right. About the price. Do you mind telling us how your packages are set up or what price range is there in? So I charge 997 a month for Facebook ads, but I do more. I don't know if I want to share that just yet, but I do a lot more with it as well. Have you ever used better proposals? No, I don't think we have, but I know of it. We have a document that we use, but I think it's a little different than that. Right. It's basically a web based proposal system. Right. So they just basically click a link in there. They can go and see your proposal online. Well, I just built that in pressure. I built that using CSS. I have a Sidebar and everything. So it moves along the Sidebar stays the same on mobile. I got like a menu button. They click and it opens up. So I send them this amazing proposal which has everything the company profile reviews, testimonials how everything works, just kind of like put in place there. So they're blown away by it. That's right after the discovery call. Yeah. In fact, after this podcast, I got to send one off to the one that I just talked to before you. He's pumped. He wants to go. He's eight out of ten. Well, this proposal is going to make it ten out of ten. Right. And also the follow up. Right. So I know the two call close is typically a good game changer for a lot, but in this case, I think I'm comfortable with talking about the price we talk about. What I do is I turn that around into an investment. So I don't just be like, oh yeah, it's $1,000 a month. I wait until all the questions are answered and they are still yes on everything. And I talk about how it's going to change their life and how we'll grow with you. We will add on things as you go. We basically build out an entire strategy. And I'm talking to these guys on the phone and all I can hear is, yeah, I love it when I hear that. Why wouldn't I tell them? So this is what the next step is. Let's do it. So if you're ready to move forward, this is how much it's going to cost, right? They don't ever want to make necessarily decision right away. So I will send them that proposal. And it's usually does that include ad spend as well, Rudy. So how much would a typical ad spend be on top of that?$1,000. Honestly, the sweet spot for coffee coating companies, if they really want to scale, they need to be spending 50 to 80 a day. But not everyone is there. So the calculations I have this key numbers sheet that I created. So I'll ask them, out of ten leads, how many do you think you can close? And I have all the prices of all the leads that I've got, the data that I've calculated, and I tell them on the low end, your leads are going to cost this. On the high end, it's this when it's like Christmas time and all these slow periods, you're going to see it's this. And so based on all that, I'll just tell them, like the minimum that you're ever going to get any good results with Facebook is $30. I will not do it if it's any lower than that. And I said, but the sweet spot to get going to get enough data to get the algorithm working is 40, because that's the average lead is between as seen as those 25. But typically it seems like 30, 32 is a nice number. And so that's in peak season. So as you get into the quiet times now, it starts to creep up because now you're competing with others like ecommerce stores and stuff like that for like Black Fridays and Cyber Mondays and Christmas. Right. All the ads go up 45% the lead cost. Sorry. Nice. I just set the expectation and tell them that's the strategy. But I just say, where do you want to see yourself if you can launch yourself twelve months from now, where do you see it? This is the goal. Okay, well, this is how much you need to spend to get it. If you can give me one dollars and I give you ten back, is that not an investment? Is that not worth it? And they're like, yes. Okay, so let's do this. So what you're doing different here from most of the guests that I've had. They've had a two step closing process. So they'll go on the discovery call first, then they'll go into a strategy session and then try to close the deal on that second call. But I think you got something going over here because we're doing something similar as well. We have this discovery call and usually once we get a yes from our clients to move forward with the process, we have 83. We just looked at our numbers yesterday or day before. Once we get a yes from our client to tell us to go and start shortlisting a person for them, we have an 83% close ratio where we know that this person is going to be our client. So we have a similar process. Like you, it's pretty much a one step process. And if you can make it work, man, it's less hassle, less calls, less follow ups. I was originally doing the two step close when I first started it, but I had to learn to read the room. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. If they're saying yes and they're giving me the signals that they're onto this, you don't need that second call, man. Why waste their time most of the damn deal now? Well, and the thing is, I'm like, okay, but I see that you're saying yes, but just to confirm, I just want to make sure that we're going to go through this on a presentation. They ghost me, I lose them. So I was losing them because these guys, at this level, they're out in the field, they're doing the work. They're out grinding the concrete or answering phone calls, and they're busy. So they're not going to go all the way home during the day on my time right in front of a laptop and trying to figure out how to use Zoom, it's just not going to happen. But the guys who are like the 1 million or 500,000, even 750, they're not near as much out in the field. They're more the ones doing. They're building out their systems. They know how to do it. They're comfortable with being in front of a laptop, and they're used to that. Now that's different. I can read it. If we're talking about building a website, doing SEO, and it's a lot more of a thorough situation, like where we have to bring on more services to help them. It definitely needs to have a second call. We definitely need to go through it all, because you can't do it on a phone. You just can't. But if I'm telling them you just need Facebook ads, they're like, yeah, you're right, we do. Why would I move on to a second call? Right? That's awesome, man. That's great. I was just talking to a friend before this call, and he was asking me about some set up of his remote teams and things like that. He's like, It's never been done in the industry because they're charging $$50 to $60 an hour to their clients for placing a software engineer. And they're like, we have to have a system or a machine that we have to give them. Our clients are asking for MacBooks, and it's just eating away at profits and stuff like that. I'm like, Give them an allowance, ask the person software engineer, because if he's a software engineer, he's got to have a machine and instead of you putting in that money. Ask the person, would you rather have an allowance or would you want a machine from me? And in most cases, that's what we've seen on our side, that most people would go for the higher pay because they usually already have a machine that they're using. So the point I'm trying to make is that sometimes you think that you have to do things a certain way, but within the field that you're in, unless and until you challenge things or try to do what you did like, read the room with your type of people, you found a better way of doing it. Closing deals faster, and kudos to you, man. That's awesome. Now you got the deal closed, you got the client saying yes to you, and these guys are out there working. You start generating results for them. How are you retaining these clients? You want to make sure, obviously, that these clients get results and they stay with you for as long as possible. You continue to add on to that $1,000 a month retainer that you're charging them, maybe add web development, Google Ads and things like that. So what does that process look like? Are you using any account managers right now, or is it you who's doing the account management? How's that process looking like so at the level of my agency right now, I'm doing the account management. Although Ramshaw, she's been promoted to account management, but she's in training, right? So only because we still have more SOPs to build out before we can really let her take the rein on that. But in terms of retaining these clients, honestly, one of the biggest things that I'm proud of is our turnover. I'm an implementer. I don't put things on hold. Sometimes I'll be writing it down. I'm like, I'll just do it right now, right? Because I'm here. I might as well just do it. It takes me five minutes. Why put it as my list of things to do? It's overwhelming. That's how I think. So I implement very quickly, and I respond very fast in most cases to my clients as well. That might change as I grow my business, and it's getting to that point. But honestly, we do have a support email that we have, and I'm just kind of building that out right now, implementing that. But everything is either by my email or messenger, and I respond as soon as I get it. If I'm not on the call, like, with you right now, obviously, I make sure that I'm setting the expectation. Okay? Yeah. Just give me until Friday. We'll get this done for you. No problem. And so having that clear communication with my clients and being able to let them know that we are here to take care of them. And actions speak louder than words, right? Everybody can get sold even though they don't like it. But now I'm delivering on my promises. We know you can sell with the experience from visions and corporate sales and everything, but if you don't deliver, these people would be out the door right away. So now I think you're already starting to work on that, building out your SRP so that your account manager can come in and take over some of these responsibilities and you've already set the benchmark for them where this is what good looks like when you're doing account management that you want to be on top of things. Like if a question comes in, you want to be able to reply to them, you want to be able to set expectations, but you're already as you grow your agency. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're already thinking of stepping back from managing clients on a day to day basis. Is that the plan in the future? Yes, probably within the next six months. Nice. So that's kind of the goal. And honestly, if anybody hasn't read Clockwork Yet by Mike Mccallowitz, I highly recommend it. But he talks about, he talks about the Queen Bee role, and you need to find that in your business and what that is. And it's basically everything revolves around that role. So you have to figure out what that is in order to make your business really function well. And my Queen B role is mine first. So if I'm sending tasks to my VAS and I'm saying blah, blah, blah, we got to get some stuff done for us. Like for, let's say for coding, marketers internally, right? Oh, can you go redo this PDF for me, whatever it might be? Yes, we'll get that done right away. Hold on. What you got going on today? Well, I actually got to do this new blog post for this one. Client. That's number one, because that's the client. So do that first, us last, right. Whatever happens, no matter what, it's always client first, client first. That enables us to have fast turnarounds so we don't get bottlenecked with all this extra work that we're trying to get done for our clients. And then they're frustrated because they're not seeing results. If they're not seeing results, they're going to leave. So my QPR and my DA's MOA is client first no matter what. Yeah. If you don't have them, there won't be a business to stick around to. So, yeah, that's an awesome strategy, man. So my last question, Rudy, for you is and I think you kind of touched upon it earlier on is why did you start a digital marketing agency or what's the why behind it? Like, what's the real core reason? What are you trying to get out of this business and what's the reason? Yes, for sure, man. So obviously when I first started the agency, it was to have a laptop lifestyle because I was a backpacker, love traveling. I could do both. Never ended up happening because at first I was like, if I could just make 50 grand a year. 50 grand a year. I'll be good, right? And I was like, then I've not passed it. And I'm like, I don't need. Oh, wait, what's going on? Okay, well, I guess I'm growing to seven figures. Okay, let's go. But the reality is, like, my why? And I write it down every day. It's part of my time blocking that I do every single day. I do time blocking, and I write down in my Journal, I write it down, and I say my wife is. I want to have a nice piece of property outside of the city with the luxuries that I enjoy. Not luxuries, but luxuries I enjoy. Like, I want to have a nice professional recording studio in the basement because I'm a musician. I was in a band for years, and I love it. I miss that part of my life, and I want to do that. I want to have a nice house. I still want to travel, but in style. I want to come and visit you guys out in Pakistan and just hang out there for a while and still have the affordability. Right. Just to be able to leave for, like, six months to go somewhere, come back to my nice little place I have out in Bush. You know what I mean? Yeah. But the biggest thing, too, is really help take care of my family. My mom's getting older, right? My dad's passed away, so I want to make sure that she's going to be okay. And she got some stuff. She got some money when he passed away, but it really wasn't enough. All that hard work that he did really wasn't enough to keep her till whenever she goes. Right. So not to make this morbid or anything, I'm just trying to say that's kind of like, really, it's really important to me, and I think that's the driver. And also, I don't like giving up. Yeah, I can talk to that for sure, man. I've seen your journey first hand, and it's been incredible. And I've seen you during their times where you were struggling with the previous niche you're in, and you're there asking all the questions. But one thing that I can vote on is that every single day, you're out there with more questions than yesterday until you figured it out. Right? And now it looks like things are moving in the right direction. This is amazing, man. And your wife, it really touched my heart, man. This is like you came from a point of real honesty and truth, and I really appreciate it. Taking care of your mom, wanting a little piece of your own heaven outside of the city and being able to travel. And until you make your way out over to Pakistan, maybe what I'd like to do is that I'd like you. We have these coffee breaks that we do with our associates every two weeks, and hopefully in the next one, two, three, months if you're up for it. We'd like to invite you over to our coffee break. Maybe. I don't know if you like the guitar or something like that, but if you come on there and I'm sure your associate will be on that call as well, we'll make sure that we make her part of this as well. But it will be a great pleasure, man, to have a client come on and connect with the rest of the team. It's 170 plus people now, and not everybody's on there, but we have reruns and things like that. But you get to connect with so many more people, and you'll see some of the culture on this side. And we'd love to ask you some questions and things like that, too. It's a really fun filled activity. Usually last between half an hour to 1 hour. And I really appreciate it if you can make some time for that. Not right away, but maybe in the next two to three months. Sure, man. Sounds good. I'll practice up. My Mary had a little lamb, as you say, in Canada. Yes. Or maybe old Canada. Yeah, exactly. Old Canada. Well, Rudy, this has been amazing, man. It's been a lot of fun. I really enjoyed talking to you. I knew that this was going to be an amazing podcast. I know there's going to be a ton of value bombs that you dropped today. We're going to be publishing those out. This podcast is going to be up real soon on our podcast channel as well. And I can't thank you enough for doing this for us, man. Really no problem, man. You know what? I'm going to just say it right now, too. I'm super impressed with your agency and what you've done in the way that you handle bringing VAS to agencies like mine. Because honestly, man, and this isn't part of the podcast, by the way, this is coming off my head. And I've seen your growth. I've seen the growth of your company, and it is outstanding what you've done. And I'm on my second VA now. He's been working with me for the week. He's amazing. He's going to be a great fit. But if I was to be venturing out on my own to figure out how to find guys like that, I would be pulling my hair out. It would take me so much energy and resources and time to be able to find that kind of person that I'm looking for. And you guys just handle it, and you guys just take care of it. I have a problem. You take care of it. What else do I want? That's what I do for my clients. That's what my clients do for their customers. So it's it just makes sense. And so for that, I just want to say thank you for that, because it's really I really appreciate that, Rudy. And I think that's where you and I are very much alike. Where everything that we're doing is for the clients, right? Like you said, that the QB for us is the client as well. But on our side, the second QB is associated as well. Because if we don't have that right person for the right client, then it might be the right client. But if we get and we've got it wrong, man, I'll be honest that there's been times, especially early on when we're just starting this journey out, and we've been lucky enough to have a huge amount of demand right from the get go. And we were so bogged down with this demand that we were just trying to fill. And early on, we made a lot of mistakes where we were placing the wrong people with the right clients or sometimes the wrong clients and the wrong people. So we had to kind of continually do things. And we're very much like Jeff Fisher as well. He's our growth coach now, and he brings us up time to time from us. He's like, the reason I'm working with you guys is because you guys just get stuff done. I know you do the same thing. Instead of just writing, you just get on there and get it done right. And that's the advantage we have. And that's the advantage you have right now in this day and age where people will just procrastinate, they'll say, let's follow the corporate model and stuff like that. But the type of clients we have and they don't have time, they don't have money to waste and things like that, why should we, right? So deliver results, deliver honest results. And when you mess up, be honest and upfront with them. And I think that's been a core. And how we've been able to grow is that just executing it really fast, but also owning up, if we screw up, we own up to it, and then we fix that situation as well. So I think any small business, any agency is growing, you're going to run into challenges. There's going to be times where you'll maybe mess up a Facebook ad or something like that. And if you do, just be honest and upfront about it and just move past it. I think people appreciate that honesty aspect. And talking to you, it just comes across, man, like where you come from, being grounded and talking about your journey all the way to the why behind your agency. I really appreciate everything. I really enjoyed it. I hope everybody who's listening to this, they enjoy it as well, and they find a way to connect to the story that you have, man. I appreciate it. I'll post a link to your podcast and your website as well. And if you, Rudy, want to reach out to us, you know where to find me. Just a Facebook Messenger away 100%, man. Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it. All right, dude. Thank you very much. All right, man talk soon, buddy. This has been the virtual assistant the agency growth Machine podcast by Azar Sadiqi Cofounder at repstack if you liked today's episode, you can find more and subscribe at rep stack co thank you for listening.