COVID-19 Agency Battle Plan with Rob Warner Part 4 – Partnerships and Customer Retention

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In this 4th and final installment of the COVID-19 Agency Battle Plan series, Joe and his business partner at Invisible PPC, Rob Warner, will be focusing on these all-important subjects – Partnerships and Customer Retention. 

Listen to the entire series and learn about the best practices that have led to substantial wins for Joe and Rob’s agencies despite the effects of COVID-19 on the current market.

Show Notes

  • Partnering up with the right services {00:51}
  • Quick wins with retargeting {2:57}
  • Retaining customers {3:33}
  • Conveying your strategy for COVID-19 to your customers {5:02}
  • Leading with integrity and value for your clients {7:23}
  • The importance of marketing during COVID-19 {8:56}
  • Pausing instead of canceling {10:18)
  • Finding a different perspective {12:09}
  • Degrees of consequence {12:23}
  • PPC in this down market {13:40}
  • Winning with communication {15:24}

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Joe Troyer

Alright, partnering up, think about this too if your services not the best fit for a potential prospect or client right now partner up with somebody whose service is the right fit. Okay, so Rob actually came up with this angle. Rob, you want to talk about what you were thinking here?

Rob Warner

Yeah. So right now, let's say you're an SEO guy. If SEO is your thing, then fantastic problems often with SEO is it takes time to see outcomes. For some business owners in certain markets right now they haven't got time. They just need fast leads coming through their door. Either because they're struggling, or because there is an opportunity there if they're in one of the thriving markets, and they want to take advantage of it. But while SEO will be a perfectly good long term play for them, ain't going to solve that problem tomorrow. So if you don't do PPC, then find somebody who does. Similarly, we've had exactly the opposite conversation with someone today where we said, You know what, you're not ready to run a PPC campaign. You haven't got the budget in your market to do it. But if we start small with an SEO campaign, first, we can then build a PPC campaign on the back of it.

And instantly, we don't do SEO. So we've now gone to solve that problem. So we've got an SEO offer. So think creatively, if somebody's reputation sucks partner with somebody and solve the reputation problem, you know, if any map visibility on Google Maps, help them with that partner with somebody who does that service. So my point is, if if only there is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. And right now, if they're not a nail, then you're in trouble. So find the people who've got things refer amongst each other, set up some deals, brainstorm what's good for markets, what's working well today and share those ideas and you know everybody wins as a result of that.

Joe Troyer

Hundred percent good stuff. I think too, you know everybody needs every local business needs quick wins right now. Right if you're not good at let's say retargeting, you don't do paid media retargeting is an easy way to get quick wins right now right? And we all know retargeting is super powerful, it's super cheap. So look for somebody that you can partner up with that does retargeting and add that to your offer right now for existing clients or for new clients so that you can get them quick wins, right so that you can help them build their business back up to what it was. So just a little another idea on potentially partnering up. So next up I want to talk to you guys about retaining customers.

I'm seeing way too many people just canceling billing and canceling contracts without ever even talking with their local customer, right with their actual customer. Understand that, for the most part, it's in your clients best interest not to cancel. And for the most part, it's in your clients best interest to not pause, right to not stop their business, stopping their marketing means stopping their cash flow. We should be doing everything possible. businesses should be doing everything possible to not stop their cash flow, right? Give me a zero if that makes sense to everybody. Right? It should seem obvious, but in today's market and climate it's not. And so if you get a call or an email from a prospect, and all that they say is hey Chantay Hey, Frankie, hey Bill, please cancel my agreement with your please cancel my billing.

I'm going to be really bold and say something Right now you're doing your client a disservice if you just take it at face value and cancel their billing. They need to know that strategically that you have their back and what you're doing to help them now, how you are adapting to COVID. And how you are adapting their marketing that they're paying you for for COVID-19. Right now is when most of the market is taking their foot off the gas. Right now is the time to make up for lost opportunity. So earlier Rob was talking about how SEO takes a long time, right? Take 90, a 120 days  to see real quantifiable return on investment. So if you're selling SEO right now, most of your competition in a marketplace right, let's talk about dentals Talking about dental. Most dental competitors are stopping SEO right now.

Okay, if I was talking with a local dentist, that was my customer and I've been doing SEO for three months, I'd really be talking about how we, together their dental practice and us and my relationship with them how we can't afford to stop. Right that we're still three to six months behind the top competitors, and that we need to continue to push now so that we can overtake them, right. And as the market is coming back, we can be in prime position for reopening for when COVID-19 is over. Does that make sense? Give me a nine if that makes sense. So if you're an SEO right now, you guys can steal that exact language right? Use it please save some business for yourself and save some business right for the end customer that really needs you right now.

Rob Warner

Yeah, it just, it just had such I mean, it strikes me know, if someone just says we're canceling. You know, we're drowning right now it's like turning off the oxygen. It's like what you're drowning. So you'd like the oxygen stopping as well. Awesome, good decision.

Joe Troyer

So cash flow is light and you just want to stop the marketing. You want to stop the cash from coming in. Okay?

Rob Warner

So why do you lock the door while you're at it? lights up until nobody in and then see what happens. Call the

Joe Troyer

power company and just say we're done.

Rob Warner

It's really it's that though, isn't it? But I think as agency owners too often we kind of have that mindset of the client said no, therefore it's No. You have to sometimes stand up and it's got back to authenticity and being leading with value and integrity here. It has to be the right thing for the client. Don't just say cancel, you know, keep paying me because I'm awesome and I need the money. Okay, this bits of problem to you today, because it's costing $2,000 a month, maybe there is a core thing that we can do that will make your cash flow situation more comfortable.

That will still give you some of the most important results that you need. Maybe we can change the payment terms, maybe we could do a PayPal credit thing, for example. So think about how you don't turn the lights off when you help them before they cancel. It's much better if you go to them and get on the front foot rather than wait for them to make the decision. And cancell cuz then you got to change around their mind. go first. Lead it

Joe Troyer

100%... in an amazing market, right where everything's going great. Unemployment rates are down stock market's going up. Everything's perfect right? in an amazing market. You need to be marketing right. Otherwise, how are you going to get your word out there? How are you going to take advantage of an amazing market? But in a down market, you need to be marketing as well. And I would argue that it's even more important to market than ever. Shantay Wolf in the in the chat says,

What is the response when a prospect says I can't afford to keep marketing? Right in all reality, they can't afford not to keep marketing. And so shantay I wouldn't come off with an attitude or come off as entitled. But they really need to understand the the cause and effect of what's going to happen if they quote unquote, stop marketing. And if they keep having this mindset that they can't afford to market and there will be some people folks that like, cashflow is so bad that this even with how short it's been that the COVID-19 And in the current conditions in the market will cause companies to go bankrupt. Right? But at any cost possible people should keep marketing or they've quite literally they've signed the death threat like it's over.

So one thing too is just when a client says that they want to cancel, right, don't build me this month, I can't afford it or whatever. Another thing is just to take control of the situation, right to show your leadership and just ask them or propose to them to pause for 30 days, instead of canceling. Even that is huge, right? And you could say mister business owner, I'll even check in with you before that right I'll check in on day 29 to ensure that you're good to go and things are back on track before we actually Bill you a paucse even if you have to perpetuate it and go from one month, pause to two month pause, you still retaining that client for the long term is frickin huge.

So think about just the subtle difference between accepting a client's request to cancel and then moving them to a pause that will have a dramatic dramatic effect cash flow wise on your business when this is all done and when this is all over. But just some other examples and things.

Rob Warner

A couple of comments as well when you get to appropriate point. Oh, it's circling back to something we said earlier about people's mental state and decision making during anxiety. We all know when we're stressed who thinks they're just give me give me a one in the chat if you think your decision making quality improves when you interrupt when you're in a high state of stress. When they're stressed out negative one. Exactly. We don't. So my comment right at the start of this was about, speak to somebody about your problems, talk them through together, particularly if they've got a different perspective. That's what I was advising everybody on this call to do. Think about your clients shoes,

you are that other person with a different perspective. Now, here's the thing. People are often very good at seeing what are called first degree consequences. First Degree consequences is stopping my marketing is I keep money in my bank account. That's the first degree consequence. Unfortunately, first degree consequences if I can say it, often the least important consequence, it's what happens, the knock on effects, the ripples of that decision that have often a far bigger impact, the natural first degree so you look at second degree and third degree consequences. Let's think about it. What's the third The consequences of stopping your PPC campaign, you have more money, great. second degree consequence, the phone stopped ringing, inquiry flows dries up. Third Degree consequence in six weeks time when all those jobs and inquiries would have turned into cash, your cash flow is now taking a bigger hole. Because that that $2,000 ad spend was driving $20,000 of business a month. The third degree consequences you're now in a bigger hole than you would have been had you found $2,000. But people don't think about that, particularly when they're under stress. So our responsibility is to help them think a better quality and make the rightness make still the right decision for them. But make it knowing all the consequences of the decision that they're making. So that's why you want to get out there.

Joe Troyer

Very, very well soon. Very, very well said a couple things here on this slide before we move on and we got to keep things moving. I know that we're at the top of the hour. So one of the cool things If you've sold a client PPC, and they're wanting to cancel, just kind of some things to think about, right, you're only paying for clicks, you're only paying for people that are looking for your local client. So if there's not a want, there's not a need for the business, there's no cost. So for most of you guys that have PPC campaigns, there's probably not a whole lot to do. Meaning they can kind of run as is unless the client is completely closed for business, then they just should be paused. Right? If a business is really concerned, and they're taking business and you've sold them, PPC, they're still open that right if they want, right, dial back the business if they want, right, put the budget down, okay, but at the end of the day, what I'm seeing is the ones that can take business and are still advertising, they want lots more.

Okay. They realize that is the opportunity they realize what's happening in the marketplace, and if anything they're wanting to up their budget. Alright, so for paused clients, obviously, if you go this route, I highly, highly suggest you do for anybody that tries to cancel is to continue to communicate with them, right? Share Market updates, as you see them happening, as you see wins in a market, as you see wins with your clients even during this outbreak. Talk about it. Right, don't be silent. Okay, think about right how you could take somebody that's paused and you could reactivate them by communicating a win on a different account with them.

Okay, be valuable, even when you're not providing the service, right, and be in the position to restart right. So when the client is ready, that they're going to come back to you think about this as a retention plan, and what can you do to really retain these customers versus them falling off for a lot of you guys in your agencies, you know, three or four clients canceling versus pausing would cause a dramatic dramatic night and day difference in the cash flow of your agency. So these are just some good best practices to think about what we've been thinking about inside of our own agency.

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