Unlocking Sales Success by Becoming Your Own Client with Jim Huffman | Ep# 716

Smart Agency Masterclass with Jason Swenk: Podcast for Digital Marketing Agencies

Are you seeking the best approach to train your sales team? Have you considered implementing a foot-in-the-door offer? Today’s featured guest reflects on past mistakes made while attempting to step away from sales, and shares a recent success could lead to a complete overhaul of the sales funnel, resulting in a tenfold increase in the closing rate. Tune in to hear about the journey from startup life to agency ownership and the creative acquisition strategy he’s using to become his own client and create the ultimate success story.

Jim Huffman is the CEO and founder of Growth Hit, a customer-centric growth marketing agency that specializes in technical marketing. He shares his journey of becoming an accidental agency owner, some lessons learned about building a sales team, and his careful approach to crafting a foot-in-the-door offer that could boost his agency’s sales funnel.

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

• Lessons in crafting a successful agency team.

• The Power of the Foot-in-the-Door Offer.

• How to become your own client and create the ultimate success story.

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At the start of his career, Jim juggled marketing, creative, and sales for a couple of successful startups while also teaching marketing at General Assembly. As his reputation for delivering top-notch classes grew, so did the number of requests for his marketing expertise. This led him to take on freelance marketing projects, which eventually flourished into a full-fledged business.

Like many entrepreneurs, Jim faced the challenge of pricing his services when the freelance work started pouring in. Initially, he quoted a modest $500, thinking it was a great price. However, as he sat down to do the work and calculated the amount of hours it took, he realized he could have made more working at Dunkin Donuts. That was his first lesson in raising agency prices.

An Agency Owner’s Journey from Salesman to Strategic Leader

The realization that he needed to fire himself from sales was a pivotal moment in Jim’s entrepreneurial journey. After getting a taste of what it was to work on the business instead of in the business, he recognized the need to step back from certain roles to focus on higher-level strategic tasks that would drive the growth of the business.

Around this time, Jim's current partner interviewed for a junior role. Although he was overqualified for the position, he expressed his willingness to discuss other ways he could bring value to the agency, which eventually led to his appointment as COO. By hiring a COO specializing in conversion rate optimization, Jim saw the value of bringing in experts to take his agency to the next level. He quickly recognized the importance of not getting in the way and using that time to focus on other aspects of the business.

The process of firing yourself from various roles within the business can be challenging and uncomfortable. It requires letting go of control, trusting others to handle important aspects of the business, and investing time and resources into training and development. In Jim’s experience, once he started he quickly began looking for other roles where he could replace himself. He says the trick is to start small and work yourself up to what you feel will be most difficult to delegate, which in his case was sales. The key is to keep in mind you’re working to build a business where you’re not just another cog in the machine.

Missteps and Lessons in Crafting a Successful Agency Sales Team

A key aspect of success in firing himself from sales was Jim’s focus on building a strong sales team. However, it was not a seamless process and he acknowledges there were a few mistakes along the way. One notable misstep was hiring a salesperson without ensuring there was enough lead volume to support them. In hindsight, Jim recognizes this as a glaring oversight on his part as the business owner.

Additionally, he still didn’t understand the differences between different roles in the sales team, like what a hunter does versus a closer. He also hired people and provided them with the agency’s CRM, processes, and automation, instead of focusing on getting a solid sales script and making sure his new hires could close.

One specific challenge Jim has found while training his sales team to replace him is customers who want to have an in-depth conversation about aspects of their services that not every salesperson would understand.

In these cases, you don’t necessarily have to have a specialist. Instead, build these types of scenarios into your training. Some valuable strategies agency owners can implement include creating a repository of success stories that your sales team can reference during sales calls and offering a foot-in-the-door. This way, they’ll have valuable examples of past successes to demonstrate the agency's ability and get a little bit more into detail regarding how your agency would approach their particular challenge.

The Power of the Foot-in-the-Door Offer

Jim recently saw an encouraging success that has made him reconsider his entire pricing model to incorporate a foot-in-the-door strategy. His current sales funnel typically involves two calls, a conversion optimization assessment, and a monthly package priced at 10k. This process usually takes about 30 days to close.

However, Jim recently had a conversation with a potential client and, sensing their specific needs, he spontaneously offered a foot-in-the-door and managed to sell a smaller package within just 72 hours, a huge jump. Thus far, it is a one-case-only success, but the results are encouraging and worth exploring.

To create an effective a foot-in-the-door you should consider the following:

1. What’s the perceived value to the client?

2. Is it easy to create for the agency?

3. Does it lead to the logical next step?

4. Is it being co-created with the prospect?

Think about things you’re already doing and that you can slice off your core service and go through each of these items to come up with a valuable offer. Finally, remember the prospect is going through their own struggles and by providing a foot-in-the-door you are offering prospects the opportunity to address these questions with a smaller commitment, making the final decision a no-brainer for them.

Becoming Your Own Client and Crafting the Ultimate Success Story

One innovative strategy Jim has been testing recently was leveraging profits from his agency to buy a B2C company that he could use as a model for approaching potential clients in the same industry. This unique approach allows agency owners to not only diversify their portfolio but also gain valuable insights and experience that can be applied to their core business.

This can provide a new revenue stream, access to a different customer base, and opportunities for cross-promotion and collaboration. In Jim's case, he identified an opportunity to acquire 50% of a client's company, enabling his agency to handle the marketing side and become their own client. This strategic move has doubled their thought leadership content, as they now create content around the newly acquired B2C company in addition to their existing content.

Acquiring a B2C company can be a great opportunity for agencies to gain valuable insights into customer behavior, marketing strategies, and product development, which can be applied to its offerings. Moreover, by showcasing the success and growth of the acquired company, agency owners can demonstrate their expertise and capabilities to potential clients, making it easier to secure new business. This strategy can also open up new opportunities for partnerships, collaborations, and joint ventures with other businesses in the industry.

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