Agency Life

“Acta non verba - it’s all about actions and not words” this is a favourite quote from today’s guest, Ben Landers. Since 2008,  Ben has been building, growing, and leading Blue Corona, an agency specializing in analytics and tracking, where they help home service companies grow by providing measurable marketing solutions that increase sales, reduce costs, and differentiate brands online.

In this episode, Ben shares his experience working at DrinkMore Water as a VP of sales and marketing where he met his mentor, and where he learned the importance of analytics in marketing which later lead to the founding of Blue Corona.

You’ll hear some encouraging words from Ben in this episode, as he advises agency owners to trust in their own experiences, because, as he explains “every business goes through phases, and agencies are no different”.

Relevant links

Connect with Ben - https://www.linkedin.com/in/benlanders/
Blue Corona's Website - https://www.bluecorona.com/
Listen to Ben's podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/growth-stories-with-ben-landers/id1610118774
Bonus tips from Ben - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZJuu5mUyVE&ab_channel=BlueCorona

Aside from all her incredible certifications, Christina is the CEO of Content Ninjas and Sparkitive. She not only helps their clients get more sales but also helps other agencies grow with proven content production strategies.

 In our conversation today, we talk about how to differentiate yourself from other agencies, leveraging your network to get more sales, the many benefits and challenges related to remote work, and figuring out the path to growing your business.

 Don't miss the link to reach out to Christina and all the amazing tools mentioned in this episode:

https://sparkitive.com/about/christina-hooper/

https://www.partnerprograms.io/

https://www.focusmate.com/

https://knockhq.co/

Kierstin Payne is a HubSpot Platinum Partner & Certified Trainer, and Director of Digital Marketing & Sales Enablement at GO2 Partners, where she's now building their revenue growth branch, which is heavily focused on implementing and supporting all aspects of HubSpot, helping businesses to grow better.

We had a lovely chat today about the acquisition process, how they have really figured out some great business models in their agency and what she's looking forward to in the future.

You can reach out to Kierstin by email [email protected] or by connecting with her on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/kierstin-henson-payne/

In today's episode we have Nathan Reiche, CEO and Founder of Content Chemistry, a digital marketing agency based on Sydney and the #1 HubSpot Gold Partner in Australia, dedicated to help startups and scaling businesses to generate leads and do a complete 180 in their growth, sales and motivation.

We discussed the impact of COVID-19 in Australia, as Melbourne is one of the cities that faced the longest lockdown during these rough times. Luckily, Content Chemistry was already remote, and although working from home was business as usual, the company went through internal changes, plus managing the way to do marketing during the pandemic and learning how to diversify their clients was a big change for them.Keep listening to this episode to find out more about the marketing world in Content Chemistry, how they help their customers and more.https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanreiche/
https://www.contentchemistry.com.au/ 

In today's episode, we have Jan Beery, who after 25 years of experience in sales, marketing, and management experience, founded KBK Communications, a company dedicated to providing strategic, smart, and effective programs and marketing solutions to businesses in the healthcare industry for finding, growing and delighting their own customers.

We explore more about being an agency in the healthcare industry and how to innovate, as she has encountered many outdated systems and has optimized and changed her customer's businesses for the better.
 
Jan also shares the hardships he has faced as a woman in the healthcare industry, and how she has thrived and grown in it, helping her female colleagues along the way.

https://www.kbkcommunications.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/janbeery/
[email protected]

In today's episode, we have Rikki Lear, Managing Director at Digital 22, the largest 100% HubSpot agency in the UK, and Elite Partner.

Rikki shares with us how he went from quitting a job he didn't enjoy to starting his own agency and discovering 'our orange friends' (aka HubSpot, of course!). As Digital 22 was one of the first HubSpot agencies in the UK, how has he adapted to HubSpot's evolution over the course of 10 years? How did he handle the transition to HubSpot with his customers, and did it affect the agency in any way?

Keep listening to this episode to find out more about Digital 22's culture with Rikki Lear.

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/rikkilear
https://www.digital22.com/

In today's episode, we have Bob Ruffolo, the founder and CEO of IMPACT; a company focused on helping people find success with inbound marketing through education, events, and agency services. Bob joined Hubspot in 2011 to help clients grow better, and today IMPACT finds itself at the top of Hubspot's partner agencies.

Bob walks us through IMPACT's journey and how it has changed, grown, and revolutionized how inbound marketing is done. If you want to know what makes IMPACT's academy and coaching different, how does the 'They Ask, You Answer' methodology work, how to build a successful agency and hire the right team, and much more, have a listen to this amazing episode!

You can learn more about the They Ask, You Answer Certified Coach Program here

Join IMPACTPlus for free

Check out more about IMPACT on their website

In today's episode, we have Ranya Barakat. She and her partner Izzy founded IDS Agency. Ranya focuses on helping scale up to large-sized businesses make the most out of their Hubspot CRM investment through standard and custom onboardings, team adoption plans, data migrations, and integrations. We explored more about her agency's journey. The aha moments, how and why they excel at their services, how they transitioned from 27 employees to 10, and the importance of focusing on happiness and mental health in the workplace, because the happier the person, the better the service you will be able to offer to your customers.

https://www.ids.agency/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ranyabarakat/

Today we feature Tim Kilroy, Agency Coach, from Retriever.co

Tim has been in the Agency world since 2001. Since then he has founded and scaled three agencies, and thanks to a long journey full of experiences, mistakes, and growth. He became an Agency Coach in 2018. Tim has worked with over a hundred digital agencies, helping them generate more revenue, scale their sales, create account management structures, and much more. In 2021 he acquired Retriever.co, a company dedicated to lead generation and business development.

We talked about how to grow a management team, successful (and not so successful) stories, doing what you love, why is derisking a problem for agencies, and the repercussions of not letting control go as a CEO.

Resources mentioned:

https://timkilroy.com/

https://www.retriever.co/

https://pathfinderlearningcenter.org/

Today we feature Nilofar Nikju and Shaheem Alam from Five Rings Marketing. 

Nilofar went to school for marketing but later found her passion in negotiation and persuasion, which lead her to sales. As she excelled at her previous employments, she decided to spread her knowledge and skills amongst other companies by founding Five Rings Marketing. Shaheem joined along the way and partnered with her professionally as well as romantically, which makes them a great Agency Couple. They dedicate their business to lead generation, getting meetings with decision-makers, testing new markets, increasing brand awareness, and much more. 

We talked about the balance between their relationship and work, the value in systematization and automation for your business, running an outsourced sales team, and their journey growing their company in the middle of the pandemic.

https://fiveringsmarketing.com/