Scaling a Digital Marketing Agency in the Home Services Niche

This is the 7 Figure Agency Podcast. Discover the strategies and techniques to grow a highly successful and profitable digital marketing agency with your host, Joshua Nelson.

Where we're interviewing highly successful digital marketing agencies from across the country on how they're growing their agencies, how they're landing clients, delivering world-class results, and scaling their businesses. I'm super excited to be joined today by Mandeep Bala from Grow Nearby. He's built a multiple 7-figure agency serving the plumbing, HVAC, and home services niche. If you're excited, you're gonna wanna watch this video. So, Manny, so much for being here.

Oh, thank you so much for inviting me here, Josh. I'm super excited to be here.

So for the, for the sake of a listener that doesn't know you yet, kind of give us a high-level overview where the agency sits today. How many clients, how much revenue? Like what's the lay of the land?

Sure. So our agency is like sitting right now between 75 to 80 clients across the country, like home service, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, garage door. Now, tree service. So all these like clients we have, and when it comes to MRR, we are sitting, I think, close to $185K to $190K.

So nice multiple 7-figure agency, fantastic work. Congratulations.

Thank you.

Of course, we always like to hear the journey, right? You didn't start there. And as I recall, a couple years back, you were at the Roadmap line, you were starting this thing. Kind of tell us a little bit about your journey over the years as you've grown the agency.

Yeah, absolutely. As I don't know if you know, like, you know, I born and raised in India, came to the US in 2015 with my wife and I was working at one of the agency as a VP of marketing and I figured out like, you know, I have to go above and beyond for home service industry. And I was just like, you know, I have to go all in. So right before COVID 2020, and no one had idea about like what is COVID, what's gonna happen. I went all in in my business, which is like Grow Nearby, and never looked back. And I was at your event that was Roadmap in March 2020. And that was a game changer for me when I joined you guys. Like I'm all about like, you know, relationships and vibe. And I always say your vibe attracts your tribe. And that's how I attracted you, Josh, and entire, you know, 7 Figure Agency family. And after that, like, you know, signed up with you guys. And obviously there are so many strategies that you can deploy to take your agency to the next level. And I've gone through with your all, like, you know, content, you know, thoroughly and started applying those strategies. And I would say the major thing was like, you know, from the beginning, I'm all about relationships and producing content. And I'm, by the way, I'm a big fan of Gary Vee. He was the one that was actually giving me boost to go on it virtually. Like, we connected. I met him like this year twice, but I got like motivated through his content. And I was actually riding a bike in Tampa and I was listening to his podcast and he said that if you want to do something, do it now, flip a coin. And I had that coin. I still have that coin in my wallet. Wallet. I flipped that coin and it was tails, and I went all into my business. And producing content at mass level, like in the form of text, videos, you have to, you have to provide value. It's not, it doesn't have to be like salesy content, right? You genuinely provide value that you care. And, and I think the love that I have got, like, from home service industry, like I'm part of the events, running podcast, by the way, you should check out Born for the Trades. The Home Service Podcast and, um, this part, this part of the community. And I think, uh, that's how we get like a lot of business, uh, home service industries, like owners that reach out without me reaching out to them. And because we all are connected on Facebook, and that, that is phenomenal. If you provide value and, uh, they see that, you know, you are genuine, authentic, they're gonna reach out to you. How beautiful.

Excellent. So, so great stuff. I look forward to digging into this, kind of how you're landing, what the delivery looks like. I'm taking one step back. You obviously focus on home services and you built the business in that. What made you decide home services and kind of a specialty around plumbing and HVAC?

That's a great question, Josh. So I was actually connecting dots, uh, I think a couple of years ago, and then I figured My dad was into trade. My dad was into doors and windows business, and I was helping him with his projects. I used to go out when I was 9 years old, and I think for several years, like, I supported him, uh, like, completing those projects, like, you know, just being there, managing the technicians, installers. So I think that's in my DNA. So I connect the dots that I am serving home service industry because of my dad. And then I look at that, my wife and I, we came to the US in 2015, and I was like part of like, you know, one of the companies, they were serving HVAC. But I saw value has to be, you know, given to home service industry by going a little bit beyond. And we started with HVAC, plumbing, and then we added electrical, and then garage door and pest control.

It's, I think it keeps adding, uh, so it kind of started with this, this experience with your dad and kind of knowing the trades and knowing the challenges that they face. Yes. And so when it's time to start the agency, hey, I know this industry, let me, let me serve them a really high level, right? So let's talk about the first couple of clients because, you know, a lot of our listeners are just trying to add that startup stability phase. Kind of put yourself back into that mode for a second. How did you win the first handful of clients in plumbing and HVAC?

Yeah, absolutely. So again, I was part of that roadmap that you had in March 2020, and I was going through with the content, like, you know, how to do, like, you know, cold email, cold calling. By the way, we never did cold calling, but yes, like, you know, reached out, reached out to, like, you know, potential, like, you know, prospects, home service industry owners. And this is like, you know, what we do. But not just like, you know, a lot. I think I reached out straight on like Facebook and they looked at like, you know, our, you know, what would we do, what we offer and what solutions look like. So that's how we got like, you know, initially from the connections. I mean, they knew me and I think they trusted, they trusted in my vision and my company. And that's how we got started. I'm still grateful we're still working with them. And, uh, I hope you guys are watching, but I'm always grateful for the first two clients that, uh, you know, we got.

So in your case, it wasn't just, you know, mass blast everybody you can get. It was reaching out in a very intentional way to a very specific group of ideal prospects, um, and forming those relationships. Kind of moved it up over time, got those clients, got some great results. Let's talk about how you're landing clients today. So if you think You know, now you've got 70+ clients, you've got a multiple 7-figure agency. What's working best with current clients? Because you made a big point that you don't like doing chase, you don't like doing, you know, outbound marketing. How are you getting the clients to come to you prepositioned?

That's a great question. So the way that we started with like, you know, a couple of clients and no one is like doing that, like traveling to the client, like, you know, location on their dime. So we are traveling on our dime. I looked at like, you know, 3 years ago, you know, what if I can just like, you know, go out and spend a couple of days with them, do media footage for them. And it's not about just the media, it's all about relationships. Relationships go like, you know, beyond. And obviously we can leverage that media on their website, social media. And we started with like a couple of visits and then now every month we go out and visit at least one client a month. If they are located in like, you know, multiple clients located in one state, so we do 2, couple of them. And the media that we get for the client, the relationship that we build, that is phenomenal. And on top of that, we get video testimonials. We don't have any script. It's all coming from our client's heart. We just put them on camera and we ask like, you know, a few questions and we get that video testimonial. And once we come back, we share that video testimonial with the other prospects. Or they look at it on social media. And you have to make sure that you put out that content where your audience, your customer audience is there. Facebook, I've got 5,000 friends and 70% of them are home service industry. So put that content in front of them and you don't have to reach out to them. If they like your content, your video testimonial is going to speak for itself. And that's the one thing. Second, Now I love home service industry. All the big players out there have got great relationship. My team and I, we go out and be part of the industry events. I speak at the events. Uh, Tommy Mello, Joe Crescetta, they have given a great path to just like, you know, present myself and my services. And I think right now that's the second thing that we're getting, you know, a lot of business from the events. Third is like always wanted to provide value from the podcast. So that was in my mind because it's a connection with my dad. Yes, I'm born in the trade and want to provide value. And it's all complete value. We never promote ourselves out there and we're bringing, you know, coaches. And I think that's the one that really helped us. It was totally uncomfortable doing it, being on camera, podcast, but you have to push yourself to to take it to the next level. You have to take yourself to the next level. And I think these 3 sources, we are getting, you know, decent amount of business.

I love it. So a couple takeaways there for you guys, right? I mean, a lot of us get these agency-based clients and we want to serve them from behind the scenes, right? We want to be on Zoom and kind of leave it at that.

What made people—

was he decided, I'll double down my personal investment for these clients. Traveling out to their site, spending a day shooting videos, creating content. And again, that has multiple touch points. First of all, probably most important, create good content for the client, like create content you can use your marketing. Second is it's creating more time and space with that client.

We're now—

Mandeep's face to face with the client, he's seeing their operation, he's understanding their challenges. Now they've got a tight relationship with Mandeep. Then he's getting video footage he can use to tell their story for himself, right? Hey, look, we helped this client, now they're ranking here, now these are the results they're getting, which is extremely powerful. And then just the social credibility, right? Because you're taking pictures of yourself after, right? And you're showing that you're doing this with the client. And so the industry is not seeing— wow, he's really invested and it's getting proven results, right?

And it's a lot, it's a lot, uh, to be very honest. But if you do just like, you know, once a month, right? Once a month or maybe once a quarter, that's totally fine. It's up to you. You have to plan out like your flights, hotels, like your content. And on top of that, like, you know, you're like— as, as the owner of the company, I'm going out with my account manager, video guy, with, with high-end equipment, flying drones. It's a lot. And on our dime, it's a lot. But at the end of the day, it really helps. Like you know, your client, yourself, and, uh, you have to do behind the scenes, right? Taking, making sure the pictures and all you're sharing with, with, uh, your audience right there. So it really helps. It's a lot, it's overwhelming, but at the end of the day, yeah, I think this is definitely— I love doing the most, and this makes me happy, and you're getting good results.

And I can say personally, we've did this for years as well, and yeah, you did that. It pays dividends having those relationships and spending that extra time Um, as it relates to the 5,000 connections on this part, you know, that you're not doing cold outreach, but you have developed all of these personal relationships, whether it's on Facebook or Instagram or LinkedIn. Um, was there an intentional strategy behind that, or was it just, you know, naturally those people connected with you?

That, that's a great question. So intentional and not intentional, both. So initially, like, you know, I was sending out, like, you know, requests to the company owners like HVAC, plumbing, electrical. In my free time, let's say if I'm having like coffee, and it automatically actually tells you if you are on Facebook, let's say you are serving landscape, and you might see like, you know, connections where you can add friends, like those are like landscaping owners, HVAC owners. Automatically, you know, Facebook is going to show you if you want to add, you can see mutual friends as well. So I did that. But now with the help of podcasts, with the help of events, they see the content. When I travel and meet everyone at the event, they just come for the selfies. They say that, "Mandeep, we see you all over. We don't even see President of the United States more, we see you." So that's a funny thing. But yes, I think it really helps. Putting out the content, and then they automatically send you. But in the last, like, I would say 6 or 8 months, I'm getting the request. But that's my personal— but if you have— if you talk about our Go Nearby, we don't have a lot of engagement there, but we are producing a lot of content there. But you have to— so Gary Vaynerchuk, Gary talks about his new book is coming to trade the attention. So if you have, like, you know, your audience is on here on Facebook, LinkedIn, wherever they are. Let's say if any of your niche, they consume a lot of emails, send out those emails, like, you know, providing valuable, you know, content to them. But for me, Facebook is a platform like, you know, that has been a game changer. Got us.

We got the clients, we went deep with them, spend the time, right? We actually get that FaceTime with the clients, connect on Facebook and where the clients are hanging out. And you mentioned something other, like, I think one of the most powerful plays you can do to do to make yourself magnetically attractive, which is to get involved in the industry events and associations, look for opportunities to speak. Stage time is money time. And then connect with those experts, those influencers, which you've done a masterful job at. Can you talk about like how you identify the groups to participate in and how you were able to land some of those speaking opportunities?

Yeah, absolutely. I would highly recommend if you agency owners, if you're looking forward to having like, you know, part of these like industry events, I highly recommend reaching out to the coaches and mentors. So if I were to talk about like, you know, the journey started with the events as Joe Christedda. He is the man when it comes to sales coaching. And it was like, you know, I was—

In the HVAC space, which you're in, right?

Yes, HVAC and other. And I was at the event and we become friends at that event. And the way you have to look at is maybe if you're running your podcast, invite them to your podcast. And again, it's all about relationship. Build those relationships, and I think the opportunities will create automatically. But you have to have like, you know, those relationships with the coaches, mentors, or whoever you think in your niche that's, that's something going to be good. And you can maybe do the podcast, right? It's gonna be great to provide value. And then send some maybe gift baskets or whatever you want to do, like, you know, just, just just to share with them and meet with them. It's not just like, you know, dollar exchange. I would say like relationships over anything, that really helps. And that's what I would say, like, you know, that's highly recommend in connecting with them. If you don't have like podcasts, that's totally fine. Just maybe have like a Zoom session, or if you are at the industry event, become friends. Today in our world, we have got, so when it comes to our employees, we have got 32 employees. Employees, and we have about 6 referral partners. And there are like a couple of referral partners we don't even exchange any dollar amount. They love us, they send, you know, clients our way. We love them, we send clients their way. There's no dollar amount exchange at all. But there are like, you know, referral partners that you can see that guy is really part of that industry. But if you can just talk to him and if they can just they send some business your way and there is no harm in giving them like, you know, good money. I would say you have to decide whatever, 10% of the deal, 20% of the deal, it all depends on you. But that is like, you know, more nurtured if, if they are actually sending— if any mentor or coach in the industry, they are very like, and they have got a very good reputation and they are sending your way, they are recommending Joshua Nelson That means that that's a big thing, and they're definitely going to talk to you, already pre-positioned to talk to you and learn more about your services.

Love it. Great, great insights there. So I think the big takeaway here, if you're listening and you're not active in the industry association, and there's events happening in your region across the, across the country every month, Mandeep's there, right? He's got his booth, he's looking for opportunities to speak. He's hanging out after hours, he's developing relationships with the key people, the coaches, the mentors that run these groups, and looking for joint venture opportunities. Whether that's just reciprocal, hey, I like you, you like me, or whether that's a financial relationship, we know that you're basically just one joint venture away from a 7-figure agency or adding another 7 figures to your revenue. So I think when you combine all of that with your podcast, which you've done an amazing job with—

Thank you.

Born for the Trades. Talk to us a little bit about the format, and kind of how you get guests on that show.

Sure. So again, like, you know, we started this podcast, I think in March 2023, this year, and we have got 38 episodes recorded. And what we do is we reach out, again, if you have those like relationship with your coaches, mentors, industry leaders, or the owners of the company, those who have taken their companies to next level, $10 million, $20 million, or even $2 million. Because there are guys who are starting their business in any niche, they want help step by step, how to take their company from scratch to maybe a million, because that's their goal. And I highly recommend getting in touch with your clients if they are okay to be on your podcast and provide value, because everyone is talking about the numbers, right? But no one talks about the journey. We actually talk, we actually discuss and ask questions like, what was your journey? Like some emotional questions as well, because at the end of the day, what matters the most is like the journey, right? That is missing. And people really want to hear the story. Everyone wants their like story, how, how Joshua Nelson, like, you know, got to this point. And if you share your story, people gonna actually connect on the podcast, on different platforms. And that's how we actually reach out. And sometimes now it's like a lot of people reach out to us, they want to be on our podcast, but I would say hit your list, not just like, you know, cold email or something, maybe just getting on a call with them, sending a message, is it okay if we can have you on our podcast? That will be amazing to have you. And most of them, they'll say yes, yes to it. And I highly recommend keeping it from like 30 minutes to 40 minutes. Earlier we have done like 60 minutes, but a lot of people, they want to actually listen while they're driving. Short, the best. I would say 30 minutes to is like ideal. People would listen. And our podcast distributed on all the platforms— Spotify, Google, uh, Apple. And if you were like searching for home service podcast, I think on Apple we are coming like second or third.

Nice.

And so, but yeah, I think keeping it like 30 to 40 minutes, that's ideal. And planning out in advance, a lot of, lot of work is done behind the scenes. It's, but if you have like framework, like Josh, you have like amazing framework step by step, how to run that podcast, what kind of gear, how to run it, how to stop it, and how to publish it. Like publishing is the main thing. You have to put that content. In front of your audience. So full format can go on audio platform and YouTube, but chop them into reels. Like, so my video guy, he is amazing. I don't have to tell him, he automatically like thinks that this, this part was like amazing, that can provide more value. And he dropped like 4 reels from one episode and we publish it on like, you know, different platforms.

Love it. So using the podcast as a mechanism to do a couple things. Number one, to get relationship. Like you mentioned at the beginning, how do you align with these influencers? Well, if you've got a podcast, you bring them on and you interview them and you get to know them a little bit. That gives you a relationship because you're actually adding value to them because you're putting them out into the universe and kind of putting them up on a pedestal. But then it also helps you create content, right? That you can have long form, short form, everything in between. Um, and then you can also feature your most successful clients, right? You can feature prospects that maybe have just done really well within the industry, right? Um, I think Ideally, in the Growth System, you do one webinar per month and you're gonna do at least one podcast episode per month. Sounds like you're doing a lot more than that. What's your frequency with your podcast right now?

So every Wednesday without fail, uh, knock on the wood, we have like, uh, consistency every week. We publish our podcast on Wednesday at 9 AM, uh, every Wednesday. And, uh, It's a lot of work. You have to plan out. Even if I'm traveling, I'm going anywhere, doesn't matter. If I'm traveling, I have my gear with me. If I have to do the remote podcast without my studio, so I do that. And I have done that to make sure that consistency is there because a lot of people now depend on— they look out for your— when is the next episode coming? And you don't want to disappoint them. And I made that public announcement like I think in Jan or Feb that we're launching our podcast in March. And I think that made me and my co-hosts like, you know, accountable to make sure that we qualify, we hunt for all those like, you know, guests. And so I think that is major accountability. Make sure that you post like every week on social media. And I think your audience will be addicted to it because they're getting value from it. 100%.

Is the format always an interview or is it sometimes you just teaching, or is it every time you're interviewing somebody asking a series of questions?

So we don't have, uh, we don't have any series of like, you know, same questions. Every podcast has different questions. Sometimes we have read books about the speakers, about the guests, and we have done a lot of research, and we don't want to ask the like repeated questions. So we come up with like, you know, different questions according to the guests, according to their journey. and it's a lot of work, but you can stick to like, you know, some format as well. There is no harm in that. You can ask those like repeated questions, but we do a lot of, uh, you know, background work.

So it's always an interview, it's not you teaching.

Excellent.

And so any tips, because you've got your special service where you can help convert a long-form piece of content into short form, any tips on how to chop that up, or if they want to learn more about having your remote real service?

Yeah, absolutely. So what I highly recommend is, first of all, start. Start now. Start your podcast. And like Josh said, maybe at least one webinar a month and one podcast a month. We do 4 a month. I know it's a lot, but get comfortable. Maybe start with your couple of clients and see how it works out. And then start producing long-form content on all those platforms. Hire— maybe you can hire a virtual assistant. There are, there are so many platforms available, like, you know, Fiverr, and maybe it's not Philippines, but I have, like, you know, my video guy here in the US and Florida. But you can definitely take these, this help, like, from these platforms, and they can edit it for you. But you have to write step-by-step SOP This is what you're looking for so that, you know, your video guy has expectations, right? That they have to chop, let's say, 4 reels or 6 reels from that video. And I think that will be a great start. And when you said about remote reels, we are offering remote reels to home service industry and agency owners as well. If you guys are running, let's say, podcast, you can send the files to us. And we can convert into short form, and we can edit the full long form as well. That's what we are doing for the home service industry. We are doing report reels because they don't have podcast. Or you, if you see the engagement versus photo versus reels, reels are like, for example, everyone is using these micro video platforms, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Facebook Reels, and Instagram Reels. And, and people, they, they want to actually watch less than 60 seconds. It has to be 30 to 60 seconds for real. Excellent.

And where would they learn more if they want to learn more about remote reps?

I would say grownearby.com. You guys can reach out, or I'm on like Facebook. You can reach out to me and I'll connect you with my video guy. This is what we are doing. I want to achieve his dream. So he's, he's doing a lot of work and I want to achieve his goals, his dreams. and, uh, he's doing most of the work. And, uh, reach out to me on Facebook or, you know, grownearby.com. Would love to help and we'll connect. Excellent.

So we talked about how you land clients, we talked a little bit about kind of the positioning work that you've done. Let's talk a little bit about the program and kind of what your service offering looks like when a plumbing HVAC service company hires you. What is the— what is the typical program look like?

Yeah, absolutely. So we have 4 solutions. Earlier we had like 3 solutions, now we have like 4 solutions: Scale, Grow, Dominate, and now we have another one, Conquer. And, and those solutions all are very strategically designed according to the annual revenue of the home service company. So Scale solution, we have— we are not right now, we are maxed out on pay-per-click. So we don't offer pay-per-click services and we don't offer Facebook ads. We are website and organic when it comes to LSA, website LSA, and organic GPT, social media. That's what we do. But we have like, you know, if scale— if the company is half million to 1 million, we offer scale solution so that they can afford for the website and for the monthly marketing. And then we have Grow. If the company is doing $1 million to $2 million, we have that Grow solution. Dominate companies which are in the range of $2 to $5 million. So we have, you know, services all organic. It's going to be good for the long term. That gives you compounding results over the time. And then conquer is the companies which are more than $5 million. And these are the 4 solutions we have, all organic.

Excellent. So all organic, getting them right. Tapping into the inbound search plus social media. Can you give us an idea of price range for these packages?

Yeah, absolutely. Our scale solution starts from $2,000 and Conquer starts from $7,500. $2,000, $3,000, and $5,000, and $7,500.

Excellent. I like how you have it broken down by size because it's like, hey, at this size, this is what you're going to need.

Yeah. This is what we're going to bring to the table, and it's more expensive because there's more delivery. Right, number of keywords, more like, you know, content. I think we write 50 pieces of content in Concur Solutions, so you can imagine the work that you have to put in to get you ranked in Google Maps and, you know, on Google platform SEO. So yeah, very cool.

Okay, so let's talk, let's talk about retention. So you kind of grow into this 70+, you've got multiple 7 figures in, in annualized revenue. What are some things you do in order to retain the clients and keep them on board? We know how tricky that can be in the home services space.

Right. That's a great question, Josh. Like, and, you know, in agency world, a lot of things going on. You have to take care of your clients, team, different requests, campaigns, a lot of stuff going on. My main goal from the beginning was to go above and beyond for our clients. And how can we do that? Like making sure that, you know, my account manager are always available, like via email, text, phone call, Zoom, and making sure that, you know, any request comes in, they fulfill it.

And our—

each account manager, by the way, we have changed our name account manager to CSM, Client Success Manager. And each CSM is taking up to 25 accounts, no more than that, because if you give more accounts, let's say you have like hired one account manager and you want that person to handle like 30 to 50 accounts, it's, it's not really— you gotta be realistic with the numbers because if they go, uh, beyond 25 clients, it's a lot of requests and they're gonna start dropping the balls, right? You have to make sure that, you know, you hire someone, train them pretty well with your vision that you have to go above and beyond for your clients and to get the results, and they have to be very, very strategic as well. What's working, keep doing more of it. What's not working, let's reallocate to something that is working and always learning the best practices. So no more than 25 accounts to the CSM, and that has been a game changer because our account managers, CSNs, they are laser-focused on the, like, potential results and the bond relationship. Yeah, that's pretty much Excellent. Great tip there.

And like, kind of in your world, the account manager is managing those relationships with the clients, keeping the client engaged, limiting it to 25 so they don't get overwhelmed. Yeah, they don't wind up having too much going on, right? Right.

Yeah, that, that's something, you know, I think, uh, worked out pretty well. Like, you know, from the beginning. Now we have 4 right now. We have hired like 2 at the same point to see like, you know, how this is going to roll out. I was part of like industry events and wanna make sure we have like a backup. And, uh, I know they are getting like accounts now, but it's, it's okay to invest in, in your CSMs in advance because you can see that this is coming and make sure you train them pretty well and track what they're doing and, uh, have like some, you know, pop quiz. We just started doing that. Mm-hmm. And, uh, our CSMs, they have scored pretty well, so I'm proud of uh, all of my CSMs to my team.

Very nice. And when it comes to retention, you kind of touched on all the key things, right? You're going to have a great onboarding process, then you've got to kind of report to them on a consistent basis, make sure that they're there, and then you've got to build a team. And you're in that place right now where you've built that client success management team underneath you, which is fantastic. Um, any tips on where you find good CSMs, or kind of what's worked for you to recruit that type of role?

Yeah, absolutely. Before that, I want to add one more thing, that in every company, your interpreter, or I would say implementer, like operations is the backbone. Without operations manager, yeah, nothing is going to happen. So I'm so proud of, you know, our operations manager, and she's going above and beyond making sure that all the departments are synced, whatever the work is being assigned gets done so that, you know, account managers, like, you know, they don't have to worry about the fulfillment, making sure the timeline deliverables are like, you know, are met on time. That's definitely— I highly recommend investing. If you, if you're wearing— I used to wear multiple hats, and, uh, I, I decided to, you know, bring one implementer. You have to, you have to hunt, you have to do a lot of interviews, you have to set the expectations. But if you get one Yeah, make sure you take care of that person. That's going to be a game changer for your agency. So yes, what was your question about CSM?

How do you recruit those types of talented people that could step in and do a great job to retain those clients?

Sure. Number one strategy, always there on my list, and I'm a huge fan of LinkedIn. So we have created all those like job descriptions for designers, developers, same for CSMs. And I want my CSNs to work and sit in my Tampa office. And we have like, you know, created that JD job description, and you just like interview, like a lot of people ask like questions in advance, maybe video, if they can send like, you know, what do you call, like, you know, the initial video, video ask, video ask, you can use that so that you can get to know, okay, this candidate looks good so that you can move forward with the round 1. And, uh, we have like, you know, 2 rounds, and then another final will be with the leadership. And then we have like, you know, uh, some tests, which is like, you know, Kobe Index, K-Index, and we have like a couple more index, uh, like, you know, I think we follow. But, but this is the like step-by-step. LinkedIn, huge fan of LinkedIn. You can spend, I think, $50 to $60 per day. Let's say if you are in Michigan, Tampa, wherever, It's worth it. You can run for 5 days and you have like 100 applications out there, and then you can screen them. And, uh, it's definitely a game changer, and for other roles as well. Excellent.

So some good tips there on how to attract account managers. Talk a little bit about scale. I think this is important. You know, you've gone to multiple 7 figures, you're doing a great job for your clients. Um, how did you think about the growth of the team? You mentioned that first role being that operations implementer, kind of what has the scale of the operation looked like for you and what positions did you hire and what were they?

So yeah, that's again an amazing question. I would say it's going to really help other agency owners. When I started, I had like one designer, one developer, and I would say like, you know, a couple of, you know, team members in SEO team. And we used to outsource content to the US writers. That's how I started. And then once you start getting more clients, you have to think about it. You cannot do all that work. And I think a lot of like, you know, they think they can do, they can run pay-per-click ads, they can do social media posts, but it's a lot. You won't be able to focus on scaling your business to the next level. And then you got stuck. Let's say if any client leaves and then, you know, it's going to be very challenging to bring another one and do the fulfillment by your own. I highly recommend investing in resources from day one and just scale it. If you think that, you know, you're getting like maybe 5 or 6 clients in 1 month or 2 months, plan in advance that you need, you need another designer, you need another developer. One thing that we had, like, you know, a lot of challenges with with the PM, project manager. And now we have got amazing project manager that is like good with the numbers, with the timelines, how many days it's going to take to do this project, and, uh, what design, how many designers it's going to take to complete, you know, these projects, how many developers. So it's all about math. You have— and this guy is a PMP certified project management professional, and you have to look for those people so that you don't have to dig into what's going on because they know how it works and they know how to manage the team. But start investing in the resources if you see that new business is coming. So keep adding those resources.

I think it's critical what he said there. You know, oftentimes it's the agency, we think, you know what, I can do the website, I can do the pay-per-click, I can do the Facebook. Um, and to really grow and scale to multiple seven figures in the time that someone like Mandeep has You can't think of yourself as the web person, right? You got to take off that web person hat and be the executive, the CEO in the business. And Mandeep's done a great job with this in that he figured out, okay, who do I need that can do this, starting with that project manager and then getting those positions filled. And so not only is Mandeep not writing the content or doing the SEO optimization, he's not managing that process either. He's got a project manager that's great at that, that he's placed in that role. Now, of course, he's bottom line responsible at the top to make sure it all gets done well, but Mandeep's not even managing it, right? And to grow and scale your agency, take yourself out of operations, then take yourself out of account management, then take yourself out of sales. Are you still selling on the phone or do you have a sales team as well?

I have like, you know, one salesperson and she's amazing. And what I do is I get on strategy sessions still, because that's the part that I love the most. And if I don't do that, what I'm gonna do? So I feel like, you know, I love creating roadmaps. And right now we have done so many roadmaps, like digital marketing roadmap for 2024 in advance. And my salesperson, she runs discovery calls and making sure you don't, Making sure that you land like, you know, good clients. When I say good clients means you have to, they have to, you know, match your vibe, right? So that we can work together, we can collaborate. If you land any client and all your team is just focusing on that project, it's a nightmare. And, uh, we do PITA score. Can I talk about that? Absolutely. Okay. So earlier we used to call, I used to call it mindset qualifier while, you know, doing the discovery calls and strategy sessions. Now we do PITA score. I don't know if you guys know about PITA, but yeah, pain in the ass, uh, scores. We do that, and if any prospect is out of 2, 2 out of, out of 2 from 5, we don't want to like, you know, work together because a lot of, lot of issues can come that I, I think we can feel, we have seen in the past. You have to make sure that they collaborate, they listen to your ideas, recommendations and they are patient. If they are not, yeah, because you can't have results overnight. A lot of work goes into websites, you know, Josh, like creating, designing, development, content, and then SEO kicks in after once we launch the website. So there's a lot of work. You have to make sure that you qualify your clients where they can collaborate and they have trust in you that you will deliver the results and make sure that you have case studies, video testimonies to showcase. So I highly recommend doing that.

So what he said, there's like a hidden trick here, right? On your— you're growing and scaling your agency, you get to choose who you work with.

Yeah, right.

And client selection will make or break your agency, right? Because if you're taking PETA clients, you know, like they're less than half a million dollars, they're paying the neck, they have these crazy expectations, they're not willing to invest in their marketing, and you build your business with PITA clients, you're going to fail, right? You're going to have clients that are constantly churning. Your account managers are going to get burned out. They're going to want to quit. And so really smart on your end to say, hey, look, this is the minimum threshold. We got to be at least 3 or higher on our PITA scale. And that's the kind of client that's going to appreciate you, that's going to stay long term, that's going to refer you to others, right? That will be a testimonial for you that your client account managers I have great relationships with, and I'd be like, I can't stand the people we've got to work with here. And so be intentional with who you let be a client, right?

Yeah, to be intentional about it, because otherwise your account managers, everyone is gonna suffer the most, and it's not worth it. It's always good to qualify in advance and ask those questions. And if you want, like, you know, I can share it, but it's, it's in our— it's in my head It's my sales, like, you know, she, she's running those discovery calls. She knows how, like, what, what questions we have to ask. And sometimes, you know, you can't figure out on the discovery call that maybe they can just, like, you know, say yes, like, you know, they want, they want to work with us. But you gotta qualify. Once you spend 1 hour, 1 and a half on the strategy session, you get to know about your prospects more into deeper by asking a lot of you know, micro questions, and then you can qualify. Maybe you might not qualify on the first discovery call. That's another tip that I would like to share.

Yeah, love it. I like that, you know, you've used the industry vernacular well. So in the industry, uh, in plumbing, HVAC, what do they call the person that answers the phone? CSR, right? So you've called your account managers, client success managers, or client success representatives. They kind of use that same lingo.

Yes, they're exactly using the same lingo. And you have to dial in and you have to give that experience, like world-class experience. Josh, you always talk about, you know, when you onboard any client, give them world-class experience, like, you know, for the next 2 to 4 weeks or 6 weeks, like give them all those updates, making sure your account managers are giving those updates. Though if there is no call scheduled, just like sending maybe emails, like your local listings are done, content is done, design is ready for— so all these things matter. And I think people buy from emotions, right? And they, they want to see like, you know, how your company is connecting. Are you really understanding what is their goal? Not just saying like, okay, give me $5,000 and we're gonna make it happen for you. But what's the strategy? Understand the goals. If they are— if they have any of your niche, any client has done $2 million, this— if they're facing $2 million, ask them what's their goal in 2024 for the next 12 months. They might say like $10 million. That's not realistic. So just ask those questions. What's your realistic goal? So $2.5, I would say yeah, that's doable. What are the strategies that are involved? And then you have your packages. So we call it solutions. Then you can say like growth solution is perfect. But Dominate is perfect because you are pacing 2 million right now. You should do Dominate solution because that has more activities, SEO keywords, content, social media. That's how you're going to achieve your 2.5 million goals. And I think that's really, really important to be very, very strategic when you talk to your prospect and understand the data and ask those related questions.

Love it. Great, great stuff. So we talked about why you chose the niche. We talked about how you position yourself to get clients to come to you. We talked about your program, kind of how you scaled the team, the operation. Um, if you have one last piece of wisdom for that agency owner, regardless of where they're at, they're at half a million dollars per year, they're trying to get to the next level, what would that, what would that piece of wisdom be?

Yeah, absolutely. I would say number one will be like, you know, I'm always about like, you know, your vibe attracts your tribe. Be part of the group. Be part of the community. And it's not just like, you know, you are just getting the information and you're just going to just like, you know, go through the content, implement. You have amazing people, and I'm so proud to be part of it, Josh. And I'm grateful, and I'm grateful from the beginning when I, when I met you at the roadmap. And, uh, there is a lot of content. Sometimes it's very difficult, but in your A-player, they can learn about like, you know, what content is planned out by Josh to take your company to the next level. And be part of the group, like-minded people. I still have my friends, and I've got amazing friends from 7 Figure Agency. So many. So I don't want to name it.

You don't want to leave anybody out, right?

Yeah. So many. You learn a lot. You hang out. I come 3 times a year. I try to. I missed last one. But definitely not going to miss next intensive, which is happening here in Miami, and hang out with the like-minded people where they at, where they are at in their agency, what exactly they— what kind of strategies they're doing. And they are ready to help each other, and that's the help. Chris Rodriguez from Tampa, like, you know, Tony and I visited their office with my A-players, and we got like a lot of stuff that you know, we were struggling with, and these guys have helped us. And that's what, like, you get from this kind of community. Be part of that 7 Figure Agency for sure. Joshua Nelson is a great, great, great human being.

Awesome, man. Well, hey, congratulations on your success. Thanks for traveling to Miami to be part of this. If they want to connect with you and kind of connect and get to know you better, what would be the best way?

Yeah, absolutely. You can connect on Facebook. Mandeep Singh Bala, or you can reach out to me mandeep@grownearby.com. And I would say that's the best platform. And I would love to help you guys with the media plan that we go out and what we do and any strategy like media, like I would say media content, start producing content today. You know, be real, be authentic, and I know it's going to be uncomfortable, but once you do 5, 7, 10 videos, It's a game changer. And start producing content today, especially video content. Awesome.

Well, great stuff, Mandeep. Thanks for being here.

Thank you. Thank you for inviting me.

Thanks for listening. If you've got follow-up questions, post them in the chat here. Mandeep and I will do our best to answer them as we get them. And be sure to tune in for the next episode of 7 Figure Agency.

Thank you, guys.

Thank you.