Full Episode Here - https://youtu.be/eOZ9DQhM7LE

Christian Banach (Principal and Chief Growth Officer at Christian Banach) helps agencies, B2B companies, small to large, across marketing disciplines, land 6- and 7-figure opportunities predictably through consulting, training, and outsourced lead generation services.More than 20 years ago, Christian started his career by throwing small social events that grew into parties featuring superstars like Lady Gaga, T-Pain and Pitbull. As those grew, he started working with brands that were looking to sponsor events as part of their overall marketing strategy. During the pandemic Christian started his current venture. He saw a lot of agencies struggling to keep the lights on, so starting his own consulting firm was the next logical move. Now they help over a dozen clients break into enterprise accounts and close 6-7 figure contracts.What makes breaking into enterprise accounts so incredibly difficult is that everyone is trying to get their attention through the same means. Christian recommends that you really do some original research about their audience and book that first meeting by showing that you already know what improvements would drive real outcomes for their business.Tune into the full episode to learn how to close enterprise contracts!HIGHLIGHTS:0:00 Intro0:53 Generating millions for clients2:06 How Christian grew his first business5:04 Original research matters!9:35 The Christian Banach Playbook14:25 Embrace Warm Outbound SalesConnect with Christian - https://www.linkedin.com/in/christianbanach/Connect with Mikael - www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/Check out Christian’s Newsletter - https://christianbanach.com/

Jeff Meade (President of MEADE) is an expert in agency positioning. He managed to grow his agency beyond $20 million in revenue prior to moving into agency coaching. An agency wasn’t the initial vision. At first, Jeff and his co-founders were trying to operate as a consultancy. They quickly learned that a team of 20-somethings simply don’t have the domain expertise to sell consulting services to a Gen Y audience, so they pivoted to an agency model instead. After growing their agency to 8 figures, they wanted to go international. While they had good conversations with potential partners, they fumbled the offers due to inexperience. They took it as a learning experience and Jeff moved on to coach agencies on how to nail their positioning.The real battle when trying to settle on your position in the market is really understanding who are the folks you can help and why should they believe in your ability to perform. When people come to Jeff, typically they have a loose position and aren’t at a stage where going all-in on lead generation makes sense. To identify your focus point, you need to stop looking at your previous clients as your north star and really figure out the right profile outside of your existing rolodex.Tune into the full episode to learn how to differentiate your agency!HIGHLIGHTS:0:00 Intro3:58 Getting to $20+ Million7:31 The impact of packaging the right offer 10:47 How Jeff moved into coaching13:03 How to think about positioning21:24 Grow via thought leadership Connect with Jeff - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffmeade/ Connect with Mikael - www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/

Andy Crestodina (Co-Founder and CMO at Orbit Media) is an expert at SEO, Analytics, AI, Content Strategy and Website Optimization. He’s gathered a huge following consisting of 100k+ LinkedIn followers and newsletter subscribers. He’s been publishing since 2007, and nowadays speaks on 100+ stages per year. These efforts have enabled his team to generate $8 Million in yearly revenue with no outbound motion and 0 ad spend.To say that content marketing has evolved over the last 20 years would be an understatement. One tactic that has always worked and still works today is to publish on other, established platforms when you’re new and need to generate initial traction.Video is all the rage right now, but unless you’re selling something super transactional with widespread appeal, you need a solid strategy to make it into a real revenue generator. As an agency, you should utilize the tactic of BOFU content to help build trust with those who have been burned by other service providers.Tune into the full episode to learn more insights from a true content marketing master!HIGHLIGHTS:0:00 Intro4:02 The evolution of content marketing7:03 Is video worth the investment?10:10 Invest in owned media 13:15 AI for content - hype or the real deal?20:07 How good can AI really get?22:44 Grow through variated content Connect with Andy - https://www.linkedin.com/in/andycrestodina/Connect with Mikael - www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/

Full Episode Here - https://youtu.be/b3ea3C6x9_A

Galen Low (Co-Founder at The Digital Project Manager) helps agency owners completely transition out of project management work by leveling up their project managers and enabling them to be self-sufficient. Their training program has certified over 700 agency professionals to date, and helped alleviate 50-75% of project management costs for owners.Their program's first goal is helping PM’s understand the full business picture of what they do and why it’s important. Second is getting rid of the notion that projects run smoothly all the time, and teaching them what to do when issues arise. SEO is a touchy subject right now. The rise of AI and the rapidly changing Google algorithm has left this field in a state of disarray. SEO did magic for the growth of The Digital Project Manager and even the recent changes haven't affected their traffic. Galen attributes this to the fact that their SEO strategy was never about SEO - but simply about creating high value content that people actually want to read.Tune into the full episode to learn how to transition out of operations?HIGHLIGHTS:0:00 Intro2:35 Early course mistakes8:51 Practitioner to teacher 12:17 Common operational problems15:28 How to level up your PM’s20:51 Winning SEO approach in 2024Connect with Galen - https://www.linkedin.com/in/galen-low-digital-transformation-advisor/Connect with Mikael - www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/

Gray MacKenzie (Founder of ZenPilot) saves agencies from constantly hopping between project management tools such as Asana, Monday, ClickUp, Notion, Teamwork, Wrike, Basecamp, Trello etc. They’ve led over 3000 teams to tighten their operations through ClickUp.Before becoming a full-time operations consultancy, Gray ran a separate business that offered a project management platform. When they were sunsetting, they took their existing clients and helped them transition to ClickUp, which is how they landed their initial wins. Their next step to grow to 3000+ clients was content creation around the different use cases that ClickUp offers. Achieving operational excellence comes down to 3 pieces - tools, processes and habits. The toughest part of it all is habits, because unless your team knows they’re being held accountable for their side of the process, everything will quickly fall apart. Gray recommends daily spot checks, as well as scheduled, routine meetings to look at the data and figure out your weakest links.Tune into the full episode to learn how to master ClickUp for your agency!HIGHLIGHTS:0:00 Intro4:30 Growing to 3000 clients5:32 From SaaS to Service 8:34 How to achieve operational success12:01 Some founders HATE project management16:38 Owners shouldn’t work on delivering 20:42 Content-led Growth Connect with Gray - https://www.linkedin.com/in/graymackenzie/Connect with Mikael - www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/

Karl Sakas (Agency Consultant & Executive Coach at Sakas & Company) helps agency owners work less and earn more, while rewarding their best team members. So far he’s worked with over 600 agencies across the globe.It’s safe to say that working less and earning more is a very common goal. Karl adapted this messaging and even wrote a book - Work Less, Earn More - on this particular subject, as it has universal appeal beyond the agency space.Not every agency owner wants an exit. Often we see agency owners wanting to scale to a place where the agency does its own work, instead of them working for the agency all the time. Karl believes that agency owners aren’t necessarily either building a lifestyle agency or an equity agency, and instead have shifting priorities that steer them towards one or the other. Both need help to work less and earn more, as an agency that’s fully dependent on the owner is a tough sell, and an agency that requires constant input doesn’t exactly warrant a great lifestyle.Tune into the full episode to learn how to work less AND earn more!HIGHLIGHTS:0:00 Intro 2:48 Ex boss becomes first client5:17 Work Less, Earn More7:07 Lifestyle agency or equity agency?10:55 Make yourself optional16:08 Proactive prep for an exit 18:46 Clarity is key 21:42 Split the 2 brandsConnect with Mikael - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/Connect with Karl - https://www.linkedin.com/in/karlsakas/

Full Episode Here - https://youtu.be/85hOIwCkTN4

Jordan Daniel Bell (Founder/CEO of Agency Bell) has managed $100+ Million in ad spend and currently helps companies get more customers with AI-powered advertising. Jordan has been running agencies for 10+ years. During this time he came to the conclusion that the ads space desperately needs to make better targeting decisions and a way to gather and dissect that data. They found that the data sets were very scattered and it was truly difficult to make the right data-driven decisions. They started focusing on attribution data, which led them to build their own automations.His favorite piece of tech was always Zapier, and he dedicated a significant amount of time  mastering the platform and all the benefits it brings. The biggest value add from the get go was seamlessly getting information into CRM. This proved to be no easy task, as the statuses can vary heavily and CRM hygiene is difficult to maintain. Tune into the full episode to learn how to automate your advertising flow!HIGHLIGHTS:0:00 Intro4:20 Make better targeting decisions8:21 The right ad tech stack12:29 Data-driven ad campaigns21:35 Spend more time talking to customers Connect with Mikael - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/Connect with Jordan - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordanbell/

Robin Waite (Founder of CourseApp and Fearless Business) helps agency owners stop leaving money on the table, fix their pricing and start growing their businesses to it’s true potential.When Robin was running his web design agency he noticed that there was a ton of friction in their overall process, with deals taking up to 3 months to finalize and ultimately closing without profit. Frustrated with the status quo, he came up with a 1 day branding workshop flow that quickly became a huge success. This made him realize that speed of delivery was the ultimate profit hack and got him 40 new, profitable clients.The answer to your agency's profit problems is almost always productization. Productizing your service isn’t a new concept, but it’s one that many agencies struggle to implement. Robin has identified that the main issue is that agency owners often base their rates according to their own internal value system, which typically isn’t a reflection of your clients value system. When implementing productization, you absolutely need to have a clear understanding of the timeline in which you can deliver - and that number should be as low as possible. Tune into the full episode to learn how to stop leaving money on the table!HIGHLIGHTS:0:00 Intro4:09 Speed of delivery matters 9:25 12x deal size opportunity 16:17 The key to pricing right19:32 “it depends” does it really?23:31 Grow through partnerships Connect with Mikael - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/Connect with Robin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/robinmwaite/

Tune into the full episode here - https://youtu.be/DQfOaRXV0rw

Marquis Murray (Founder & CEO of Cirface) specializes in elevating the operational efficiency of Marketing & eCommerce teams by streamlining their processes and maximizing technology utilization. He’s also an Asana partner and helps clients get the most out of their platform.With his background in corporate operations, Marquis quickly realized that marketing agencies aren’t typically super efficient when it comes to systems. One of his freelance clients brought him in-house, where he learned that he can fully deliver for their clients. Naturally this led to Marquis starting his own agency. He knew that scrupulous documentation was his best chance at gaining a competitive advantage, so he started getting serious about organization and delegation.When Marquis starts working with a new client, he uses a specific playbook to turn teams from silos into true operators. He calls it the 4 D Framework - Discovery, Design, Deployment and Documentation. This requires a lot of communication, experimentation and teamwork to figure out what makes sense and what needs to stop. Once the workflows look good and everybody agrees, then they document everything and provide ongoing support to make sure things are working.Tune into the full episode to learn how to improve your agency's operations!HIGHLIGHTS:0:00 Intro3:55 From freelancer to agency owner8:41 Eliminate burnout = eliminate friction11:53 the 4 D Framework15:49 Deployment is key 20:39 Start a YouTube channelConnect with Mikael - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/Connect with Marquis - https://www.linkedin.com/in/marquisamurray/

Check out the full conversation here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbRQg0wjlS8

Paul Boag (Founding Partner of Boagworks) is a CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization) expert whose goal is to help companies better understand the new generation of connected consumers. Over the last 30 years he’s worked with hundreds of clients, including huge names such as Puma and Shell.Many of today's marketers had a social media account by the time they were in middle school. Paul started working in marketing back when the internet was a completely new concept. During those super early days he got obsessed with user experience and the concept of optimizing the way we serve our potential buyers. What really attracted Paul to UX was the opportunity to decrease friction for users and ultimately lead to more sales. While the rest of the market was trying to be deceptive and entice FOMO, Paul was always focused on serving the user - which is a great way to stand out.CRO and UX are essentially the same thing. Paul likes to challenge the traditional thinking of prioritizing the businesses goals over the users experience, as a great user experience will ultimately drive outcomes either way - and with a smiling buyer on the other end of the transaction.Tune into the full episode to learn how to master UX & CRO!HIGHLIGHTS:0:00 Intro2:53 Marketing before the internet5:03 The beginnings of UX7:55 Truly serving the user11:01 CRO vs UX20:29 Decrease their cognitive load Connect with Mikael - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/Connect with Paul - https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulboag/

Shaun Clark (Co-Founder of HighLevel [GoHighLevel]) has helped countless agencies grow their revenue through white-label software and service solutions.Agencies can get hesitant when thinking of implementing new technology for their clients, as with the software evolving they can take over the clients needs fully and make the agency redundant. Shaun heard the market when they encountered this issue, which is why he became heavily invested in white-labeling. The platform that Shaun and his team built really took off as more agencies saw the value behind a mediator between them and software platforms. Their go-to-market motion was kind of an afterthought at first, as they realized that hiring the level of creativity it takes to stand out through an internal marketing effort would be extremely difficult. Word-of-mouth and affiliates have ultimately carried their marketing effort to this day.Tune into the full episode to learn the journey of GoHighLevel!HIGHLIGHTS:0:00 Intro4:23 SaaS stealing agency clients? 6:30 How HighLevel took off9:00 Word-of-mouth and affiliate mastery 11:16 The new CRM world14:39 GoHighLevel exits17:10 Grow through one-to-manyConnect with Mikael - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/Connect with Shaun - https://www.gohighlevel.com/main-page

Melanie Chandruang (Founder of WeConsult) is a financial nerd, an operations whiz, and an expert integrator all rolled into one charming, no-nonsense package. She makes agencies more profitable, sellable, and run like well oiled machines by optimizing their operations.For the last 6 years, Melanie has been serving agencies with operations consulting or fractional ops work, helping them scale all the way to exits. Agency owners typically come to Melanie with very specific needs, revolving around their inability to consistently service clients due to the fact that the owner is too involved in the day to day delivery. Melanie’s agency journey started when she founded a devshop, which is where she discovered that her true passion lies in operations. Soon enough she learned that her role was very complimentary to the creative work that was being done by her team members. It took a few years for her to fully understand exactly how valuable her skills are in the agency world, and after seeing multiple managers fail to truly advocate for their teams and add real value she created her own unique approach that really bridged the gaps she experienced first hand.Tune into the full episode to learn more on how to handle operational problems!HIGHLIGHTS:0:00 Intro1:07 Scale operations to exit4:47 The real problem with agency operations6:57 How Melanie found operations 9:57 Owners struggle most12:02 What type of agencies Melanie works with14:05 The Million Dollar Problem17:57 Look beyond the numbers Connect with Mikael - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/Connect with Melanie - https://www.linkedin.com/in/melaniechandruang/

Troy Dean (Founder of Agency Mavericks) helps agency owners expand, get more time, and sometimes even leave their businesses successfully. The work they do generates between $50 - $100 Million per year for their clients. He’s also one of the founding members of Funnelytics.Agency owners are often the most busy and stressed out entrepreneurs you’ll find, although it doesn’t have to be that way. Troy has identified that a lack of structure, processes and confidence is what leads to agency owners feeling stuck and unhappy, and all of that can be built out to help owners reclaim their time and energy.Troy realized that agencies have a huge structural problem back when he was growing his own. When he started delegating work to his VA, he noticed that without proper documentation it was almost impossible to have them work autonomously. He started by creating videos, which would then be turned into workflow documents - and it worked great. Troy then started sharing these workflows with the Wordpress community, which is how he started gaining traction with his next ideal client profile. Tune into the full episode to learn more on how to master documentation and reclaim your time!HIGHLIGHTS:0:00 Intro2:35 $50 - $100 Million/Year5:00 How Agency Mavericks began 7:22 Scale with confidence  10:44 The real reason most agencies fail14:08 Preventing distractions is key16:42 You don’t need more leads20:28 The paid discovery method24:27 How much should you charge?Connect with Mikael - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/Connect with Troy - https://www.linkedin.com/in/troydean/

Anthony Gindin (Founder & CEO of Agency Different™) helps agency principals with strategic planning, business model design, brand positioning, service productization, client acquisition, and enhancing profitability through growth.Anthony started his first agency at the age of 17 and sold it within 5 years. Then at 24, he sold his second agency that had scaled up to 45+ employees. In total, he’s founded 6 companies, sold 4 and taken 2 public on the Canadian Stock Exchange.The key to success for an agency lies in differentiation. Every agency is unique, but they often look the same from outside  because they follow the market instead of focusing on building a unique brand with a high perceived value. Anthony suggests you improve your perceived value through market specificity, a deep understanding of the results you bring and unique methods for delivering those results.Tune into the full episode to learn more on how to increase your agency's win rate!HIGHLIGHTS:0:00 Intro0:53 Founding 6 companies3:35 The Agency Secret5:56 Differentiation is key7:55 Increasing your perceived value10:41 The move to client side 14:27 The move back to agency lifeConnect with Mikael - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/Connect with Anthony - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthonygindin/

This is a snippet from the last episode of the Funnel Vision Show with Kara Redman (Founder and CEO of Backroom), who has helped founders launch startups, build brands and secure venture capital for the last 10 years.For the full episode check out the previous episode!

Kara Redman (Founder and CEO of Backroom) has helped founders launch startups, build brands and secure venture capital for the last 10 years. From finding their first investors to making global expansions, Kara has helped startups reach their dreams - without ever niching down.Kara’s journey is one that very many agency owners can relate to. She didn’t go the academic route or inherit a company. Instead, she took on the entrepreneurial path as a young, single mother. She worked at an agency prior to starting her own, which is where she realized that marketing was an avenue she seriously wanted to pursue.Backroom has always been about positive change. Kara didn’t abide by the standards of old, stuffy, controlling and toxic corporate culture. Instead, she built out a successful business that puts their people first, which wasn’t nearly as trendy back in 2014. Her people-first approach isn’t a gated secret - part of her business now is to help others achieve the same organizational structure while remaining operationally excellent.Founder-led growth is a concept that Kara truly embraced last year. She started out with around 3000 followers, never really looking at herself as a social media content creator. Once she began posting though, the feedback was overwhelming. Over the last year and a half, she’s grown to over 50,000 followers and has gone viral multiple times while generating revenue along the way.Tune into the full episode to learn more of Kara Redman’s journey leading Backroom!HIGHLIGHTS:0:00 Intro2:20 Going against the grain4:14 The vision for Backroom7:03 Becoming people-first9:14 Building the right culture10:51 3k -> 50k LinkedIn Followers in 1.5 years15:21 Incremental growth is painful 17:58 Founder-led is a growth hackConnect with Mikael - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/Connect with Kara - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kararedman/

This is a snippet from our podcast episode with Jhana Li. For the full conversation, tune in to the last episode of Funnel Vision!

Jhana Li (Founder of Spyglass Ops) is a wizard of operations who helps scale businesses through efficient and autonomous processes, enabling founders to take a step back from being involved in every single part of the day-to-day..Jhana got into operations while doing vanlife through North & South America. Her boyfriend at the time was running a digital marketing agency, and during that time she got a good glimpse of how archaic and disorganized agencies can be. A bit later on a team member left the agency and Jhana took over operations as they searched for a replacement. In the end no replacement was needed as Jhana ended up their next COO.Many parts of the business succeed because they are built through a founder's lens. Operations are NOT included in that list. Following the pattern for success requires a visionary who drives the business forward through growth stages and someone who can steer the day-to-day, fix leaky buckets and make sure things get done in time.Spyglass Ops wasn’t a planned decision. Jhana was between roles when she took on her first consulting client. This scaled pretty quick, with her ending up in a position where she could no longer take on more clients as a solopreneur. Tune into the full episode to learn more on how operations can change your business!HIGHLIGHTS:0:00 Intro2:43 How Jhana got into operations5:17 Why most founders struggle with operations9:01 From COO to Entrepreneur11:10 How to improve your operations15:45 The real value of operations20:06 Traits of a great operator23:13 The ultimate growth hackConnect with Jhana - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jhana-li/Connect with Mikael - www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/

This is a snippet from our podcast episode with Tim Kilroy. For the full conversation, tune into the last episode of The Funnel Vision Show!

Tim Kilroy (CEO of Retriever and eComAllies & Agency Coach, Consultant & Advisor at TimKilroy.com) joins Mikael to talk about how agency owners can build a better business model that actually fits their goals and personality.Tim has launched 3 agencies. One crashed, while the other two ended up being sold. His current consulting/coaching tagline is “more revenue = more profit = more happy”, which at first glance might seem like a service that increases your agency's profit, thus increasing your happiness level, while in reality something completely different. His approach boils down to optimizing revenue and profits so that agency owners can enjoy life, instead of being constantly miserable due to the amount of work and stress that agency ownership often comes with.There is no right or wrong way to run an agency. Tim advises that you let go of the processes that you’re simply not consistent at, and stop trying to model your agency based on other people’s ideas. One of his clients had lost up to 400k in 2 years by trying to run his agency based on guidelines provided by outsiders. This is where a lot of agency owners end up with the wrong coaches, as they buy into a business model adjustment that simply doesn’t fit their personality and actively works against their strengths.Tune into the full episode to learn more on how to run your agency in a way that fits you!HIGHLIGHTS:0:00 Intro1:30 revenue = profit = happy?6:09 Choosing the right coach7:40 Journey into coaching11:14 Building your agency the right way14:39 Increasing your pricing is a must16:35 The ultimate growth tactic19:39 Leadership is a must22:42 What first time CEO’s get wrongConnect with Tim - https://www.linkedin.com/in/timkilroy/Connect with Mikael - www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/

Joshua Tiernan (Founder of No Code Founders, Tiny Empires and Chief Growth Officer Network) is a no-code development expert who’s built and sold 4 companies. He joins Mikael Dia to discuss..A no-code business is hard to define. Most of these businesses fall under the SaaS category, and are typically built using platforms such as Webflow and Bubble which don’t require the level of technical expertise needed to build software from scratch. It can also be used to describe communities, newsletters and blogs that aren’t attached as part of an individual businesses marketing strategy, but instead exist as independent beings.Before discovering no-code, Joshua had tried to launch a few businesses, all of which didn’t succeed. With time he learned how to hack together different software tools to craft new solutions, which is a type of no-code development. Bubble was a real gamechanger, allowing him to build his first business that was acquired only 6 months later.Joshua’s community has been active for 5 years and has gathered over 20,000 members. He hasn’t been intentional about marketing, but that being said he’s been consistent on organic social media channels. His first few thousand members found out about the community through Joshua interviewing other community members. He then started partnering with no-code platforms that helped spread awareness and started building out user generated content, which spread the word even quicker and got them to the 20,000 mark. Tune into the full episode to learn what it takes to build a 20,000 member no-code community!HIGHLIGHTS:0:00 Intro1:56 What is no-code business?4:03 Who should consider no-code?5:41 Joshua’s first exit6:59 How Agencies work with Joshua9:18 Growing the no-code community12:19 How to keep your community engaged 13:45 The biggest selling point of communities Connect with Joshua - https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuatiernan/Connect with Mikael - www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/

This episode is a snippet from a podcast with Liana Ling - the Lead Gen Queen and CEO of AdSkills -  an expert of Meta Ads specializing in helping coaches and info product sellers drive down their Cost Per Lead (CPL).For the full conversation, check out the previous episode of the Funnel Vision Show!

Liana Ling - the Lead Gen Queen and CEO of AdSkills -  is an expert of Meta Ads specializing in helping coaches and info product sellers drive down their Cost Per Lead (CPL).Her path to AdSkills was one that many marketers unknowingly take. She was seeing great results with her approach, which led to her getting international recognition for sharing her insights in front of larger communities. Her peers saw her outperform standard methods, which increased her thought leadership in front of broader audiences and ultimately landed her the CEO role at AdSkills.Marketers come from various backgrounds, but a lawyer turned marketer isn’t something you see every day. Liana’s transition from legal to lead gen started during her legal career, as she worked for a boutique firm that required everyone to wear many hats. This led her to the conclusion that she needed to be her own boss, as working for someone else was driving her crazy. Her true entrepreneurial beginning was when she bought a digital marketing franchise,  which ended up being the right move, as with a franchise you inherit their existing systems and structures - things that are highly time consuming to build from scratch.Finding her niche in Meta Ads was quite the journey. She started out doing a lot of work with many platforms, until figuring out a winning advantage in Meta by truly understanding the inner workings of the platform. This became a hot topic soon, as getting ROI from social media is notoriously difficult when selling B2B - especially outside of the LinkedIn ethos. When entering a new market, Liana suggests that you find the top performers within that vertical and make it your mission to talk to them. Whether that means grabbing a coffee, meeting over Zoom or producing a podcast episode together, the network and knowledge you’ll gain will do wonders in making you the easy choice for your potential buyers.Tune in to the full episode to hear more on how Liana Ling became the Lead Gen Queen!HIGHLIGHTS:0:00 Intro1:12 From $30 to $5 CPL4:34 How Liana became CEO8:21 Lawyer to Lead Gen Queen15:23 Up your pricing and find your gimmick19:33 Should your business use Meta?24:59 What works on Facebook in 2024Connect with Liana - https://www.linkedin.com/in/lianaling/Connect with Mikael - www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/

Mate Prgin (Founder & CEO of Enzuzo) is a data privacy expert, joining Mikael to help marketers transition out of the world of readily available, private customer data. Now that regulations no longer allow you to track everything that your ideal client profile does on the web, the industry specialists need to rapidly adjust or risk becoming completely ineffective almost overnight.With the loss of third-party cookies, you should start prioritizing first-party data strategies, have better privacy measures, and ensure compliance. Europe is getting hit first - with Google Consent Mode driving a loss between 30% - 90% of their funnel visibility. Enzuzo is enabling agencies with a new source of revenue, derived from complying with the new rules.Investing in compliance is a scary thought. No matter how well you do it, you’ll lose a bit of visibility at first. Mate suggests that you really think about the placement and content of your opt-in banner and optimize to drive people to hit “yes”. If they choose to click “no”, that data is still important to help you adjust further. The behavioural model doesn’t serve smaller websites well, as in order for it to kick in, you need at least 100k visitors per month.Tune into the full episode to learn how to thrive in this new world of marketing data!HIGHLIGHTS: 01:10 There’s a problem with data…02:12 Mate’s story03:50 How Google is killing your visibility08:48 Optimize your banner10:36 What happens when they click “no”13:31 The future of marketing data 16:25 Are data scrapers doomed?Connect with Mate - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mate-prgin-680498/Connect with Mikael - www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/

This episode is a snippet from a podcast with Jason Swenk, who built and sold an 8-figure agency and then moved on to coaching agency owners on how to scale to 7-8+ Figures with life balance in mind. For the full conversation, check out the previous episode of the Funnel Vision Show!

Jason Swenk built and sold an 8-figure agency and moved on to coaching agency owners on how to scale to 7-8+ Figures with life balance in mind. 10 Years ago he started the Smart Agency Masterclass podcast, which is now ranked at the top 1% of marketing podcasts, helping his business reach and help over 20,000 agency owners. 3 years ago his newest venture started buying agencies and now they’ve grown to over $30 million in revenue.As an agency grows, so does your ability to close more lucrative deals. When Jason started, he was selling websites for $500 with no real science behind the pricing. Over the years he went upmarket and secured website deals as large as $1,000,000 for a website for LegalZoom - a single contract value that many agencies don’t even dream of.There’s a good reason why most people don’t actually want to run an agency - the insane amount of stress. In the early days, your job as an agency owner is to do literally everything, which makes running your agency into an insufferable job that you hate 80% of the time. When Jason was going through that phase, he was very very close to quitting. He took a job interview with NASCAR, during which they asked him a simple question - what is it that you truly enjoy doing? This led him to rethink the way he approached his agency's structure and build out a model that works for him, unlocking a business model that could scale to 8 figures.Scaling past the 7 figure mark requires a huge shift in your organizational structure. Jason  looked at two things - who do I need to hire and who do I need to become. Transitioning from the Founder role to the CEO role is a journey that ultimately unlocks scale, but it also is incredibly difficult to let go from controlling every task and deliverable. It’s even normal to feel a bit depressed when you realize that your team is steering the boat by themselves, and your input is no longer needed on every single decision. Once the adjustment period passes though, your life turns around and you’ll finally feel like an agency owner, not an overworked agency employee.Tune into the full episode to learn the Jason Swenk journey!HIGHLIGHTS: 01:21 Jason’s journey from exit to coaching02:48 Selling a million dollar webpage06:31 Stop hating your own agency09:48 How to scale past 7 figures16:50 Making that first big hire21:34 The 8 systems to agency growthConnect with Jason - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonswenk/Connect with Mikael - www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/Check out Jason's resources & coaching - https://www.agencymastery360.com/

This episode is a snippet from a podcast with Alex Glenn (CEO of Partnerhub®). For the full conversation, check out the previous episode of the Funnel Vision Show!

Alex Glenn (CEO of Partnerhub®) has worn many hats during his career. Started out as an agency owner, moved into SaaS, pivoted to consulting, and then he started a partnerships community where a member of the group expressed their operational pains that ultimately led to the inception of Partnerhub®. Now they’ve scaled to 3000+ companies with no signs of stopping any time soon.The value of partnerships is similar to what a client referral brings - you’re starting sales conversations with people who trust you by proxy. It’s what 80% of users value Partnerhub® for, as the standard handshake partnership is typically not very fruitful due to a misalignment of goals and a lack of an action plan. Alex’s company solves this by vetting their clients, matching the right companies and activating partnerships instead of letting them dwindle.The movement of adding Partnerships to your go-to-market strategy was largely pioneered by the tech industry. In fact, the term “Channel Partner” was coined by hardware providers to help them expand into foreign markets. SaaS adopted this approach, but with the intention of partnering with other software vendors to help solve large problems by building out infrastructures together. Agencies often build their services on top of these infrastructures, which means reselling and extra enablement become worthwhile activities. The purpose of Partnerhub® isn’t just to connect resellers - their goal is to create true partnerships through strategic matchmaking and ongoing guidance that helps their clients turn relationships into outcomes. One of their clients has over 3000 partners in their network (300 active) which is impossible to manage without a sophisticated system in place, and becomes a true pain in case a partner manager leaves their role. Tune into the full episode to learn more on how to build fruitful partnerships!HIGHLIGHTS: 01:13 What led Alex to found Partnerhub®03:27 Do you really need a partner platform?06:16 Different types of partnerships 12:30 The Partnerhub® Journey17:12 Partner Directory & Partner CRM19:21 How to build fruitful partnerships Connect with Alex - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-glenn/Connect with Mikael - www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/

This is a snippet from the Kyle Vamvouris episode of Funnel Vision. For the full scoop, check out the last episode!Meet Shawna Tregunna, CEO and Chief Strategist of Acclivity - a B2B marketing agency specializing in Account-Based Marketing, Content Marketing, Earned Media and Virtual Marketing. Their focus market consists of manufacturers, IoT providers, and innovative technologies.

Today’s episode welcomes Shawna Tregunna, CEO and Chief Strategist of Acclivity - a B2B marketing agency specializing in Account-Based Marketing, Content Marketing, Earned Media and Virtual Marketing. Their focus market consists of manufacturers, IoT providers, and innovative technologies.Acclivity has been active for almost 4 years, but it’s not Shawnas first agency venture. Her first agency came to be due to the explosion of Twitter back in the day. She was an early adopter, making noise on the platform and experimenting with a variety of formats until she was approached by an investor that saw an early opportunity in social media and chose Shawna to pioneer the SMMA movement. She ran that agency for 7 years up until a client decided to buy the agency, giving Shawna her first exit.Her current agency started during COVID, when the world went fully virtual and social media became an even bigger part of how brands get their message to potential clients. Shawna couldn’t idly stand by while businesses that have close to 0 social media expertise were now thrown into a new world, so she started Acclivity to put her years of experience to great use. They’ve now expanded their service offering to include account based marketing, which is one of the hottest marketing strategies in B2B.The first ideal client profile that Shawna pursued was other agencies that were looking to add social to their marketing offering. This helped her grow tremendously, as her clients book of business would also become her book of business, allowing for a huge increase in their overall reach and industry knowledge. She also approached clients as partnerships, helping increase her nearbound circle and organically grow her referral network.Going viral shouldn’t always be the goal, but that’s a tough sell as an SMMA. Shawna’s first challenges arose when clients would expect a huge dose of vanity metrics across the board with every engagement, which led to a lot of misalignment between her agency and clients. Nowadays, most B2B companies understand that virality isn’t the best metric to gauge the success of an SMMA engagement, but there’s still many that expect likes and comments to be the North Star, which simply doesn’t make sense when selling into technical folks that aren’t chronically online.Tune into the full episode to learn more on how Shawna pioneered the SMMA movement and transitioned into ABM!HIGHLIGHTS: 01:16 First Agency to exit03:31 The birth of Acclivity06:04 How Shawna grew her agency09:01 The challenges of growing an SMMA12:31 Thriving in a data-driven world16:40 Tips for selling your agency18:31 Grow through ABMConnect with Shawna - https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnaactually/Connect with Mikael - www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/

This is a snippet from the Kyle Vamvouris episode of Funnel Vision. For the full scoop, check out the last episode!Meet Kyle Vamvouris, CEO of Vouris. They help B2B SaaS and service companies build their SDR and AE teams. Vouris uses a data-first approach to structure teams, optimize performance, and to ultimately develop a repeatable sales process. Kyle has worked with over 70 B2B companies, generated $100m+ in sales, helped raise over $280m in venture capital and written 3 sales books.

Today’s episode welcomes Kyle Vamvouris, CEO of Vouris. They help B2B SaaS and service companies build their SDR and AE teams. Vouris uses a data-first approach to structure teams, optimize performance, and to ultimately develop a repeatable sales process. Kyle has worked with over 70 B2B companies, generated $100m+ in sales, helped raise over $280m in venture capital and written 3 sales books.Improving your sales through tactical means can only get you so far. When consulting startups, Kyle has noticed that many sales organizations fail to become data-driven and end up building unnecessary bottlenecks by focusing on the wrong growth paths. After a career of selling everything from transactional products to B2B software, Kyle went out on his own and started Vouris. At the time he had 2 small kids and he was the sole financial provider for his family. Even when he secured his first 2 clients, he still couldn’t afford to pay himself a salary. As he kept investing back into the business, a year later he was quickly hit with the opposite problem - spending 39 hours/week on client calls alone. Once you’re past the stage where you can sustainably service all your clients alone, the logical next step is to start hiring. Kyle initially wanted his new team to take over client deliverables, but it quickly backfired. When you’re hiring someone to deliver on your behalf, you can’t expect them to take over what you’re doing without proper guidelines, systems and operational procedures. In a service based business, you should focus on hiring those who can fill in the gaps between the business functions that you’re best at. Kyle’s agency journey improved significantly after he finally filled the operational part of his business and got to focus on sales and marketing. Tune into the full episode to learn how to build an agency from 0!HIGHLIGHTS: 01:58 Should sellers be data-driven? 03:42 Kyle’s sales journey 06:39 Building a sales agency08:33 The challenges of building a team09:44 How to make the right hires11:34 The value of experience 17:24 Talk to your customers!Connect with Kyle - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kylevamvouris/Connect with Mikael - www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/

Today’s episode welcomes John Jantsch, Founder and CEO of Duct Tape Marketing - a consultancy that helps Small & Local Business Owners, Professional Services providers and Consultants streamline their marketing approach, increase revenue and scale strategically by providing a proven, practical and simple system called Duct Tape Marketing.Big businesses have the resources to craft bespoke and intricate strategies, while SMB’s often need to rely on tactics and do a ton of guesswork. John knew that this needed to change, so he built a repeatable strategic framework that would help small businesses approach their marketing efforts strategically. This change has led his clients to dramatic growth and allowed them to transition out of the founder-led go-to-market stage.Strategy is a difficult concept to sell. Instead of relying on output metrics and deliverables, a strategic engagement requires experimentation, adaptability and effort from both sides of the table. John suggests taking a consultative approach, where you outline how their pain is impacted by deeper problems than just tactical misalignment or the lack of a new tool.If you’re looking to earn the trust of big businesses, simply sending out email campaigns without a strong brand strategy won’t cut it. In order to succeed, you have to be able to build trust autonomously - either through strategic partnerships or events/content collaboration where you can display your expertise without turning it into a sales pitch.Tune into the full episode to learn more on why strategic marketing always prevails! HIGHLIGHTS:02:24 How to approach working with SMB’s04:12 You should lead with strategy06:07 Why fractional marketing?08:50 How to become a strategy-driven agency10:05 Why small businesses matter11:50 Teaching strategy to small businesses15:04 Close big deals when you’re small18:11 Standing out in a crowded marketConnect with John - www.linkedin.com/in/ducttapemarketing/Connect with Mikael - www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/

Today’s episode welcomes Chris DuBois, Founder of Dynamic Agency OS and Leading For Effect. At Leading for Effect, they reignite your organization's purpose through leadership coaching and business consulting that delivers extraordinary results.At Dynamic Agency OS, they help agencies build world-class teams so they can improve operational efficiency, leading to higher revenue and profit.Before becoming a founder, Chris spent 5 years at Lean Labs, a growth agency for B2B SaaS. In 3 years time he climbed up the ranks and became CEO. He initially joined in an operations position, helping the company become more profitable. They grew from 10 - 25 team members during his tenure. It wasn’t all smooth from the beginning - one of the biggest lessons learned when scaling Lean Labs was how to recruit and retain the right people.The biggest problem that agency owners and CEOs face is the inability to let go. The more involved you are in every process, the less valuable your agency will be, as without a trusted team in place that can run the day to day you’ll be very limited with the amount of quality work you can produce and the level of clients you can take on and retain.With the recent development in AI tech and the overabundance of tactical practitioners, the best way to make yourself irreplaceable as an agency is to build a strategic offer. You need to identify what niche you can become the best in the world at and find the missing pieces that can get you there. Then, you restructure from strictly providing deliverables to providing outcomes.Tune into the full episode to learn how to become an irreplaceable agency! HIGHLIGHTS:03:30 Lean Labs growth challenges05:32 How to transition from ops to CEO08:32 Successful transition into CEO10:35 Growing as an agency owner14:01 Becoming an irreplaceable marketing agency18:31 Prove your value through strategy22:01 How to niche down as an agency29:22 Chris’ best growth tactic Connect with Chris - https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherrduboisConnect with Mikael - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/

Today’s episode welcomes Graeme Barlow, CEO of Iversoft - a software development company that provides expert mobile app and web development services for organizations looking to elevate their business and adapt to the digital world.Graeme’s background is nothing short of spectacular. He’s a serial entrepreneur with 25+ years of experience who has built, scaled and sold multiple companies. He started out with a digital currency company in the early 2000’s, then moved on to a game development studio, spent 3+ years in venture capital investing in SaaS, then went on to co-found his own SaaS company, and now he’s joined Iversoft and helped them hit their growth spurt going from humble beginnings to a team of 50+.Agencies are notoriously difficult to scale past a certain point - which is typically below the 8 figure mark. When Graeme joined Iversoft, he immediately requested a seat at the table. Before he joined, the agency had done a lot of relatively small revenue projects, with no single customer bringing in more than $100k. Here’s the kicker - they had worked with big brands on small deals. Brands like Audi and Michael Bublé had entrusted their app development process to Iversoft, but there weren’t any real enterprise-level deals to show for it. Graeme leveraged these projects to do some serious brand building for the first time in the company's history, and through that process they got the right opportunities to go upmarket. One of the biggest pivots that helped them double their headcount was going from project billing to retainers. To take this step, Graeme first audited their historic projects and realized that half of their project based work weren’t bringing in any profit, while the other half were wildly profitable due to an incorrect scope. Looking at the data they realized that their profitable projects were already being approached as retainers - they just didn’t have the right model set from the get go.Tune into the full episode to learn more on how to scale an agency to 8 figures!HIGHLIGHTS:00:54 Graeme’s background03:26 How to build an 8-figure agency brand06:45 What’s really stopping your growth10:02 Going from project billing to retainer16:56 Iversoft scaling challenges 22:09 Investing vs burning money Connect with Graeme - https://www.linkedin.com/in/graemebarlow/Connect with Mikael - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikaeldia/