Trent Dyrsmid went from agency owner to a software company co-owner and his unique story offers a perspective we can all learn from. We know the importance of delegating out work within our agencies and SOPs and templates are the best ways to do that. 

An SOP is a set of instructions, like a checklist, that lists out the step-by-step actions needed to complete a task. They are great for tasks that are routine with little deviation from that. This week, episode 119 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about setting up your processes for success! 

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Trent is sharing the importance of creating SOPs for his agency which allowed him to step out of the business after just 12 months. We also cover actionable steps you can take right now to figure out what can be templated for you and how to create those.

Trent Dyrsmid is a serial entrepreneur, husband, and father. Originally from Vancouver, BC, he and his family now reside in Boise, ID. He is the founder of BrightIdeas.co, Flowster.app and a 7 figure eCommerce business.

In this episode, Trent and I discuss the following:

• The start of Trent’s entrepreneurial journey.
• Trent’s desire to own a business that would allow him to have freedom and flexibility in his life. 
• The mindset issue that most new entrepreneurs struggle with can keep them from having the success they desire.
• The key differences between a project management system and a process management system, and why Flowster is unique and necessary. 

If you can create and implement processes and systems within your business, you will be able to allow yourself to focus on things that are a better use of your skills and time.

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH Trent Dyrsmid:

Twitter

LinkedIn

Youtube

Website: Bright Ideas

Website: Flowster

CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema

LINKS MENTIONED:

Atomic Habits by James Clear

The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber

Have you ever been curious if the grass is greener on the other side of the fence of your agency? Taylor Trusty did. Turns out for him that grass was a software company, the fence was selling his agency, and the grass was greener on the other side. Taylor Trusty sold his agency a while after he’d already checked out of it mentally, and he walks us through some of the things he sees in hindsight that could have swung the buyout process more in his favor. Episode 118 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about a vulnerable look at growing and selling an agency! 

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Taylor Trusty is sharing the importance of keeping your ego in check and actionable steps you can take right now to make the buyout process easier and more profitable as the seller. 

Taylor Trusty is co-founder at Signal Insights, a better way of tracking competitors used by Crayola, Nasdaq, Logitech, and Toyota Material Handling. Previously, he co-founded Blackstone Media, a digital marketing agency acquired in 2018.

In this episode, Taylor Trusty and I discuss the following:

• How Taylor’s ego stood in the way of his first company’s collapse, and what he wishes he’d done differently when he ran out of money. 
• Taylor’s original thought process around price, and the magic he learned from a mentor that completely changed the game for his sales processes.
• Why Taylor disagrees with the idea that you can separate yourself from your service-based agency and it’ll naturally grow on it’s own.
• Things your agency can get beat down in price for during selling, such as the profitability of the current engagements.

This is a very vulnerable and enlightening episode, as we dive deep into some of Taylor Trusty’s learned mistakes and reflections on how things could be different.

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH Taylor Trusty:

Instagram

LinkedIn

Website

CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema

When we think of artificial intelligence, we either think of the Hollywood stuff, or we think it’s not relevant to me so I don’t have an application for it - I think this episode will change your mind. Episode 117 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about artificial intelligence with Paul Roetzer! 

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Paul Roetzer is sharing the importance of Artificial Intelligence in future business efficiency and actionable steps you can take right now to start implementing AI in your business. 

Paul Roetzer is the founder and CEO of PR 20/20 and Marketing Artificial Intelligence Institute; author of The Marketing Performance Blueprint (Wiley, 2014) and The Marketing Agency Blueprint (Wiley, 2012); and creator of the Marketing Artificial Intelligence Conference (MAICON) and the AI Academy for Marketers. As a speaker, Roetzer is focused on making artificial intelligence approachable and actionable, and helping change agents drive transformation through marketing talent, technology and strategy.

In this episode, Paul Roetzer and I discuss the following:

• How Paul naturally fell into the AI space, and why he’s so passionate about implementing it and utilizing it to make his business more efficient. 
• What AI is and how we are already using AI every day in such mundane things like Facial Recognition technology in phones and Netflix algorithms. 
• Ways AI is programmed to understand both the positive and potential negative implications of the technology, as well as how AI learns through humans.
• How to get started implementing AI in your business today.

Did this episode change your mind or confirm some ideas around AI for you? Let us know by sending us a message.

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH Paul Roetzer:

LinkedIn

website

CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema

I first heard Robert Rose speak at a conference I attended a few months ago and I liked his concept around the buyer as an attribute instead of a singular person, as well as his idea about how you can create scarcity in a world that seems to lack true scarcity at all. I knew after I heard him speak that I had to have him on the show. That’s why episode 116 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about Trust, Disruption, and Agency Transformation with Robert Rose.

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Robert Rose is sharing the importance of trust and disruption through your marketing strategy and actionable steps you can take right now to be a thought leader in your industry. 

Robert Rose is a sought-after consultant, best-selling author, keynote speaker, and one of the world’s most recognized experts in digital content strategy and marketing. Over the last ten years, Robert and his firm The Content Advisory have worked with more than 500 companies, including 15 of the Fortune 100. Robert is the author of three best-selling books on marketing and content strategy, and the co-host of the popular marketing podcast PNR’s This Old Marketing, which has been downloaded more than two million times in 150 countries. 

In this episode, Robert Rose and I discuss the following:

• How to best position your agency to avoid the commodity trap
• The importance of first-party data in content creation to strengthen your relationship with potential buys.
• The term “buyer”; why it’s an attribute instead of a person and what that means for your sales efforts.
• How you can develop real genuine scarcity these days without being spammy.
• The myth of the empowered buyer.

I know through this episode you were inspired to look deeper at what’s been missing in your market and how best to start something worth building a community around, as well as how best to become the thought leader in your space.

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH ROBERT ROSE:

Website

Website

LinkedIn

CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema

Jordan Scheltgen has witnessed many agency team members be inadequate in communication, which he believes creates misguided ideas on the value of the service being provided, decreasing retention. He’s learned how best to prevent that issue and today he’s going to share with us how he’s used communication strategies to start a podcast, get over 70% guest pitch agreement, keep his client retention, and more. That’s why episode 115 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about the power of communication with Jordan Scheltgen! 

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Jordan Scheltgen is sharing the importance of communication within and beyond your team and actionable steps you can take right now to increase retention of clients as well as find new clients through communicative actions. 

Jordan is the founder of Cave, a social media first agency based out of Los Angeles. He also hosts the podcast, Mind Your Marketing. 

In this episode, Jordan and I discuss the following:

• How Jordan has crafted a successful podcast show based on what he would have wanted to listen to when he was 25, and how that’s shaped the success of the show.
• How to position yourself as a profit center to assure your value is articulated correctly for the clients you work for.
• Why Jordan believes communication is the key to retention within your agency and how to strengthen that connection with your clients even when you hear crickets.
• How Jordan’s focus on scaling the team has helped scale the company, and why he finds it rewarding to look at it from the income-driven perspective rather than nitpicking the system of communication with clients.

Jordan Scheltgen has a fantastic perspective on communication and growth within the dynamic of your team, and his powerful strategies for meeting people where they are at has helped him scale his agency - and could help you too! 

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH Jordan:

Cave Social

Mind Your Marketing Podcast

LinkedIn

Instagram

Twitter

CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema

It can be challenging to determine if niching down and building a more specialized practice in your agency is the right move. Today, Brent is sharing why you should niche down and get specialized. Episode 114 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about the importance of specializing and getting rich in the deep end! 

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Brent Weaver is sharing the importance of specialization and actionable steps you can take right now to niche down. 

Brent Weaver is on a mission to help 10,000 digital agency owners achieve freedom in business and life by helping them own their market. Brent is the founder and CEO of UGURUS, a business training and education company dedicated to this mission. He also hosts one of the leading podcasts in the business niche—The Digital Agency Show. Brent is in partnership with UnlimitedWP—a scalable white label WordPress development team to help digital agencies grow without all the headaches of hiring and managing people. He is also a Brand Ambassador for Cloudways, a WordPress hosting company, helping them evangelize their platform.

In this episode, Brent Weaver and I discuss the following:

• How much easier Brent believes it would be to have agency success now vs. back when he started his agency in High School to pay for his hobby of building websites.
• Why Brent believes niching down could save your agency or business in the long run
• How to know when and what to niche down to as times change through looking at your existing clientele and marketing channels.
• Brent’s suggestions around launching multiple business models at a time, or trying to diversify your agency through multiple business models at a time, and though it worked for him, why he doesn’t recommend it for others.

Niching down is far better, and far more lucrative, than remaining generalistic in your business model practices, and even pandemic statistics will prove that to be true. 

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH Brent Weaver:

Website

Email: [email protected] for field guide and additional resources for listeners

CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema

You all really enjoyed our previous episode with Jon Tsourakis last year; you can listen to his episode here. We decided to bring him back and discuss the different ways our businesses have grown this year, adapted to the trends, hired team members and more. That’s why episode 113 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about the agency's new business year in review with Special Guest Job Tsourakis! 

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Jon Tsourakis and I are sharing the importance of learning valuable lessons, even if they are more expensive processes to learn, and actionable steps you can take right now to improve your team dynamic to increase profit and happiness in the workplace. 

Jon Tsourakis is the President of Oyova, a web app and digital marketing agency, recently featured on INC 5000's fastest-growing companies list. He also hosts a podcast, The Climb, produced by the Digital Mastermind, a mastermind group of digital agencies from around the world.

In this episode, Jon and I discuss the following:

• Each of our year-in-reviews and how we feel we’ve succeeded in 2021.
• Our hiring processes, how we went about hiring new team members, and where we felt like we learned a few lessons on agency team membership growth.
• The power of strategic partnerships for referral sources and business acquisition. 
• What Jon has planned for 2022 and how his agency plans on utilizing the lessons learned in 2021 to accomplish that.

The more team you have involved in the sales process, the better the return on said project, and the more involved team members are, the better the situation is for everyone. So embrace that collaboration and design element in the team dynamic.

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH JON TSOURAKIS:

LinkedIn

Digital Mastermind community group: send an email to [email protected]

CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema

LINKS MENTIONED:

Hard-Hitting Interview Questions

We interview a lot of inbound marketing agencies and it’s funny how few of them actually do it themselves. Today we are talking to someone who’s implemented really advanced inbound marketing processes. Episode 112 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about inbound marketing services that build community and relationships! 

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Jay Hunt is sharing the importance of connecting to community and actionable steps you can take right now to grow relationships with potential clients so you can focus on inbound vs outbound sales. 

Jason is one of the co-founders at Merged Media. In a former life, Jason was ‘big in Japan’ as the frontman of a rock n roll band. Fast forward to 2016 and Jason founded Fresh Crowd, a local social media agency. Jason merged Fresh Crowd with CASEO in 2019 to form Merged Media. When not speaking at marketing conferences around the globe he is spending time with his wife and three kids.

In this episode, Jay Hunt and I discuss the following:

• How Jay Hunt got the passion for digital marketing through his band touring Japan with his Rock n Roll band, and why he started in social media marketing but soon merged with an SEO company.
• The importance of a lead magnet to build a know-like-trust relationship with the business to attract your ideal customer, even before they know they have a problem that you can solve.
• The power in collaborations in community and even client relations to build SEO, traction, lead generations, and more, through the lens of Jay Hunt’s new collaboration with a digital real estate magazine.
• How and when to invest in equity in your client’s companies to not only help them succeed but utilize relationships between clients and who they know to build and scale as well. 

Jay Hunt has been through all the sales tiers; from selling social media strategy door to door before social media was a tapped market, to now utilizing relationships between clients and communities to grow and scale not only them, but his own companies as well. 

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH Jay Hunt:

Instagram

Website

Podcast

CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema

I attended the Build a Better Agency Summit in Chicago and had the privilege of hearing David speak. David has a very interesting background and his experience really helps craft an insightful conversation for this episode. That’s why episode 111 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about answering the question: How can you sell your agency from a position of strength? 

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, David Tobin is sharing the importance of knowing your agency value and actionable steps you can take right now to sell your agency from a position of strength. 

David Tobin is the founder and managing partner of Tobin Leff; an M&A advisory firm that specializes in helping owners of marketing services and digital agencies build and monetize business value. Over the past decade, Tobin Leff has helped more than 140 agency owners craft exit plans and complete M&A transactions with strategic buyers and private equity groups.

In this episode, David and I discuss the following:

• The unrealistic expectations agencies have around their business and their exit strategy.
• How David recommends agencies structure these deals in different situations.
• How agency owners can prepare and what they can do for these types of deals later on, through a series of questions you should be prepared to answer.
• Key components to your vision that you may think are special but are actually not uniquely yours for the purpose of selling your agency.
• Good plan B’s David has witnessed, and the importance of Plan B’s in this type of scenario to remain emotionally grounded.

No matter how far off or near you think the conversation around selling your agency is, it’s important to understand these topics and what will come up when the time is right. 

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH David Tobin:

Website

LinkedIn

CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema

Living in a world run by content marketing, it is time we start looking at more diversified, different, and arguably better ways to solve the problem at hand than just offering a service. That’s why episode 110 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about content marketing! 

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, my guest Joe Pulizzi shares the importance of diversifying your product portfolio and actionable steps you can take right now to build a roadmap towards these launches that are in alignment with where your business is. 

Joe Pulizzi is founder of multiple startups including content creator education site, The Tilt, and is the best selling author of seven books including Content Inc. and Epic Content Marketing, which was named a “Must-Read Business Book” by Fortune Magazine. Joe is best known for his work in content marketing, first using the term in 2001, then launching Content Marketing Institute and the Content Marketing World event. In 2014, he received the "Lifetime Achievement Award" by the Content Council. He successfully exited CMI in 2016 and consequently wrote an award-winning mystery novel, The Will to Die.

In this episode, Joe and I discuss the following:

• Deconstructing what it takes to run an agency and exploring more diversified ways to solve problems with the new technology at hand. 
• Goal setting and getting into the routine of reviewing them on a daily basis to keep them in alignment. 
• Becoming the best at one thing vs. diversifying your offering. 
• How you can still have a diverse offering while also being the leading expert in a specific niche.
• Starting with one thing and building upon it as you learn, launching as you go. 

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH JOE PULIZZI:

Thetilt.com

JoePulizzi.com

Content Inc. Book

The Will to Die Book

Twitter

Linkedin

Facebook

CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema

LINKS MENTIONED:

rally.io