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He Built a $1.3M/yr SaaS in 2 Years Using This Hidden Method...(90% Automated) — Transcript

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0:00We were managing around a thousand
0:01Google business profiles for I think
0:03just shy of 100 agencies. It grew pretty
0:05quickly and over 90% of people use
0:07Google when looking for a local business
0:09and 74% of those people make a purchase
0:11within 24 hours. If you're not paying
0:12attention to Google, you're like turning
0:14your back to 9 out of 10 potential
0:16customers. So, he's making over a
0:17million bucks a year and he's less than
0:192 years in right now. Full-time high
0:20school teacher. He has multiple kids.
0:22And just start calling as he's driving.
0:24On his way home, he closes them. He has
0:26dozens of clients and he tells them,
0:28"How about you start introducing your
0:30thousands of customers to me as their
0:32marketing agency?" And he grew his
0:33agency, I'm not kidding, to over a
0:35thousand clients in year one. Like, I
0:37don't care how good your bot mailing
0:38list is. It's unheard of.
0:40>> How's it going everybody and welcome
0:41back to the latest segment on this
0:42channel called What's Working? Where we
0:44talk about what's working to sell
0:46marketing services right now in 2026.
0:49Now, this episode is with Justin
0:50Silverman who founded a software called
0:52Merchant. And what Merchant does is it's
0:54the world's best marketer for Google
0:57Maps optimization. Google Maps profiles
0:59are crucial for local businesses, home
1:01service businesses, anyone that relies
1:03on somebody typing something into
1:04Google. This is an indispensable part of
1:07their business. And you can build a
1:08sevenfigure business just off of a
1:10really good Google Maps profile. So, if
1:12you've been struggling to figure out
1:13what to sell or lead with and you want
1:15to create something that's actually
1:16super valuable for businesses, Merchant
1:18may just be the answer to that. What's
1:20awesome about it is people sell it for
1:22anywhere from a few hundred bucks a
1:23month all the way up to 1,200 bucks a
1:25month just for this one service and
1:26almost all of the fulfillment is taken
1:28care of by merchants AI agent. It will
1:31help you know when a customer is going
1:32to churn. It will reach out to your
1:33customer and ask for what it needs so
1:35that it can continue to optimize the
1:37Google Maps profile and the customer can
1:39do all of that stuff from their mobile
1:40device instead of having to log into the
1:42desktop which we know in certain
1:43industries is just not going to happen.
1:45Super excited to get this one out to
1:46you. If you want to sign up for merchant
1:48the link is down below. Let's get into
1:49the video. How's it going everybody and
1:50welcome back to another interview. I'm
1:53joined by Justin Silverman today.
1:54Justin, great to have you. And guys, if
1:57you're looking for something that's
1:58really simple to understand, simple to
2:01pitch, and simple to maintain when it
2:05comes to an offer that you can give to
2:07local businesses to help with their
2:09marketing. Justin is going to talk to us
2:11about all things Google Maps
2:13optimization today and how big of an
2:15impact that can have on local businesses
2:17and how simple it is to set up and sell
2:19as well. Uh his company is completely
2:22focused on this and he has over 1300
2:24agencies also reselling the platform.
2:27It's completely white labelable. You can
2:29add it to what you're doing. You can do
2:30it as your own like main offer. We're
2:33going to get into everything today.
2:34Justin, thanks for coming on, man.
2:35>> I'm stoked. I'm really looking forward
2:37to the conversation.
2:38>> Yeah. So, give us a little bit of
2:39background on you. How did uh you start
2:42merchant and what were you doing before
2:43that?
2:43>> My story is pretty similar to a lot of
2:46our now partners. I was working
2:47full-time for someone else and wasn't
2:50very fulfilled. So started thinking like
2:52how can I provide value out there on my
2:54own and um you know it started off kind
2:58of thinking like how can I help other
3:00people give local marketing tools or
3:03services to their customers because you
3:05know I was working full-time for someone
3:07else. So I couldn't really focus on
3:08selling during business hours. So I
3:10always knew that whatever it was I
3:11created I would need partners to really
3:13do the day-to-day sales and drive it
3:15forward. And so um I landed on
3:18reputation management software to start
3:20with. uh white label, you know, citation
3:22management, review management. Uh and
3:24that worked well for about two years.
3:26That was like the 2020 to 2022 time
3:28period. But then I kind of lost like
3:30faith in that that was actually helping
3:32business owners alone. And like I never
3:34want to do anything that I don't really
3:36believe in. And so it became kind of
3:38clear to me that uh GMBB, Google My
3:41Business, now known as Google Business
3:42Profiles, uh were going to be the next
3:45frontier when it came to local marketing
3:47for any small business because, you
3:49know, people just look on Google Maps
3:51when they're looking for something.
3:52There's really nothing like it and it's
3:54getting more and more important every
3:56day with AI. And anyway, so I landed on
3:59GMBB management as the white label
4:01service that would sell the agencies.
4:03And that was the first time that I
4:05really felt like momentum behind me
4:07because there was a lot of interest from
4:08SMBs, which hit agencies. And a lot of
4:11agencies didn't really know how to like
4:12fulfill this kind of thing. And so when
4:15I launched it, I did what everyone does
4:18when they're launching a marketing
4:20service. They find the cheapest person
4:22in the world who's willing to do it.
4:24That seems a little credible. Um, and
4:26people hated the service because like
4:28there was typos, missed deadlines, if
4:31they had questions, I couldn't answer
4:32them and I had to wait on someone in,
4:34you know, say India to get back to me.
4:36And I didn't want to run that business
4:38either because I was like,
4:39>> I don't want to be selling something
4:41people don't love.
4:42>> Uh, and actually going to shut it down.
4:44But that's when I realized that if I'm
4:46having such a hard time outsourcing a
4:48Google business profile management
4:50service overseas, then like every agency
4:52must have this. And so we went all in on
4:55figuring out how do we do this out of
4:56the US so that we solve all those
4:58issues. Um and like we really started to
5:01grow from there. And then AI came out um
5:04with you know the launch of ChachiBT.
5:07And it just became kind of clear to me
5:09that if I didn't build a tool that uh
5:12could automate everything that my team
5:13was already doing by hand that someone
5:16else would and it would kill the company
5:17that I had spent so much, you know, of
5:19my nights and weekends side hustling to
5:20grow. Uh, and I didn't want to see that
5:22happen. So, I went all in on on building
5:24out Page, which now automates like
5:27everything a local business would need
5:28from a marketing standpoint.
5:30>> And how many people did you have on the
5:32US-based white label Google business
5:34profile optimization service before you
5:37launched the AI?
5:38>> Yeah. So, at its peak, we were managing
5:40around a thousand Google business
5:41profiles for I think just shy of 100
5:43agencies. Um, so yeah, it was it grew
5:46pretty quickly.
5:47>> Okay. And what was it about the
5:50reputation management and just like just
5:52the two services that you were offering
5:54previously that made you feel like
5:56Google Maps profiles were the next big
5:58thing?
5:59>> Yeah, I well if it seemed like
6:01businesses were getting really good
6:02results, you know, years ago on just
6:04citations and getting reviews and then
6:06more and more I noticed like more
6:08support tickets in the inbox that were
6:10like, hey, why aren't I getting more
6:12customers? Why aren't I getting more
6:13customers? And that wasn't happening
6:14earlier on. And so I knew something was
6:16broken and the offer alone was not
6:18sufficient to help a business owner. Um
6:21and so it was really just some some
6:24thinking around okay like what can a
6:25business owner do to get customers and
6:28like all all signs were pointing to to
6:30Google Maps.
6:31>> So for those that have no idea why a
6:34Google Maps profile would be able to
6:36blow up an entire business and like
6:39actually have a big impact on their
6:41bottom line. What data have you seen in
6:43the thousands of profiles that you've
6:46seen and managed over the years that
6:49supports that idea and that people could
6:52use to go sell a service like Merchant?
6:54>> Yeah. So, well, a couple things. Um,
6:56one, over 90% of people use Google when
7:00looking for a local business and 74% of
7:02those people make a purchase within 24
7:03hours.
7:04>> Like, that's an insane number of people.
7:06If you're not paying attention to
7:07Google, you're like turning your back to
7:09nine out of 10 potential customers. Wow.
7:12>> So, you definitely can't do that. And
7:14then, you know, Google's Gemini is also
7:16relying extremely hard on that Google
7:18business profile data. If you're
7:21building a tool with, you know, any AI
7:23coder like, you know, Claude, it
7:25actually hits the Google uh maps API to
7:28pull business information. Uh so, like
7:31everything is kind of converging on this
7:34Google business profile data layer. Even
7:36Siri, you know, is powered by Gemini.
7:38And where do you think that business
7:39information is coming from?
7:41And so, you know, not just are like all
7:43these, you know, data points coming at
7:45us where we're realizing it is by far
7:47the most important marketing channel.
7:49Um, but also we hear it from our clients
7:52when they get really good results that,
7:53you know, they used to have three
7:55bookings a month and now they're
7:56oversold for three months.
7:58>> And so, like it's just you just see it
8:00like it's it's an amazing thing when a
8:02business goes from not ranking to in the
8:04top three on Google mass.
8:05>> Yeah. And the for those listening like
8:08the closer you can get to the sale the
8:11better. So if you're doing like let's
8:13say email copywriting for an online
8:15coach, you can charge $10,000 a month
8:19because you could write an email every
8:21day for that client and you're at the
8:23very end of the buying cycle. They've
8:24already made the content, made the ads,
8:27got the person to opt in, warmed them
8:29up, and then you're just saying, "Hey,
8:30go here, buy this thing." And Google
8:33Maps is not exactly the same. I didn't
8:35know that stat about 74% making a buying
8:37like a purchase decision the next day.
8:40Um that's that's like almost as good as
8:42as email for being as close to the sale
8:45as possible.
8:46>> Yeah. Well, I mean like think about the
8:47kinds of Google searches that you do.
8:48It's going to be like pizza slice, you
8:51know, near man, you're driving there.
8:53It's
8:55>> a mechanic because your car just broke
8:57down. You know, it's it's usually the
8:59thing that you're thinking about in that
9:00moment that you need.
9:01>> Hey guys, quick interruption here. I
9:03love what Justin is doing at merchant so
9:05much that I want to offer you a free
9:07pass into the highle guild my community
9:10if you sign up to merchant with my link
9:12okay and you will stay in here as long
9:14as you are a paying customer of merchant
9:16I respond to people directly in here I
9:18connect them with people in my network I
9:20answer their questions with loom videos
9:21and you've also got all of my best
9:23training here in the classroom that you
9:25can comb through plus group calls where
9:26you can ask me and other experts exactly
9:29what you would do in what situation I
9:31respond to people daily in here. Would
9:33love to have you inside. Just click the
9:35link below, sign up for merchant, and
9:36when you do, within two days, you'll get
9:38an invite to this school community where
9:40you can get all of those bonuses. Can't
9:41wait to see you inside. So, that version
9:44one of the AI software that you
9:46launched, which is called Page, by the
9:48way, if anyone's listening. Page
9:50Merchant, kind of the same thing. Page
9:52is the AI agent that actually does the
9:54work. um what was the core of that that
9:59helps these profiles actually rank so
10:02that the businesses get more calls and
10:04sales and reviews?
10:05>> Yeah. So, it all comes from our
10:07philosophy that the more you play with
10:09Google's toys, the more they reward you.
10:11Okay.
10:11>> And so, and and also they just want
10:14data, right? That's they're a data
10:16company. And so we kind of thought about
10:19like what was the hardest part of our
10:21managed service for us to do and it's
10:23the SEO research. It's the tear down of
10:26their existing profile and what changes
10:28need to be made. It's writing content
10:30like posts and uptime Q&As's um that you
10:34know use their target keywords and their
10:35target cities the right amount of time
10:37and engaging way. It's optimizing images
10:41with you know keywords and geo tagging.
10:43Um, I'm a believer that you should, you
10:45know, go that extra step and geotag. Not
10:47everyone does, but my thought again, the
10:49more things you do, the more data you
10:50give Google, the better they're going to
10:52reward you.
10:52>> If no one knows what geo tagging is, by
10:54the way, it's where you take, even if
10:56the image wasn't taken in the office of
10:59or the location of that business, you
11:01actually like put it in the metadata of
11:04the image, the latitude and longitude of
11:07that image, and put that into Google.
11:10And that's supposedly supposed to help
11:11with SEO. this is, you know, years of
11:14people doing this. There's some
11:16argument, but um, you know, just be on
11:18the safe side. Justin always does it.
11:20>> Yeah, that's exactly right. And that's
11:21my philosophy. If you can do something,
11:23you should do it.
11:24>> Yeah.
11:25>> And so, like, we collect so much data
11:28from the, you know, 17 or 18,000 Google
11:31business profiles that are using page
11:33now. And we know everything they're
11:34doing. Um, and, you know, their keyword
11:37strategy, what's working, what's not. uh
11:39and then we adjust all the settings and
11:41the writing styles and you know
11:42everything that page is doing to match
11:44whatever the best performing profiles
11:46are doing. So I mean to go back and
11:48answer your question what did page do
11:49initially it was Google business profile
11:52optimization but because we're using so
11:55much data analysis to figure out our
11:57strategy
11:58>> because we start getting those calls
11:59again like hey why is this not working?
12:01>> Yeah.
12:02>> Uh you know page now does a whole lot
12:04more like YouTube automation and other
12:06stuff for SMBs. Wow. Um because yeah, as
12:09Google gets smarter, you need to play
12:11everywhere that Google's looking.
12:13>> So what's the YouTube thing?
12:14>> Yeah, so we found a really cool way uh
12:16to take the images from a business,
12:18whether they're from the Google business
12:20profile or provided by the business
12:21owner directly. Uh, and then we, you
12:24know, use AI to analyze them, figure out
12:26what they're about, look at their
12:27ranking strategy, write a script, get a
12:30voiceover made for that script. Um, you
12:33know, lay out the images, put in like
12:35subtitles and overlay text and
12:37animations and effects on the images to
12:40basically make a slideshow video that
12:42looks like it was done by a human video
12:43editor, uh, and then get them published
12:45on the Google business profile and on
12:47their YouTube and socials. Um because we
12:50were just seeing in the data that
12:51businesses that had a video strategy and
12:53have videos on their Google profile were
12:55outranking those that didn't. And uh you
12:58know big philosophy here is you got to
13:00make everything as easy as possible for
13:01for SMBs. They're so busy. And so we
13:04found a way to automate all of it.
13:06>> And yeah, one of the things we talked
13:08like a couple weeks ago and the the big
13:11thing I asked you was like, can you
13:13manage this stuff from your phone? And
13:15you were like, absolutely. Because we
13:17have the roofer in mind. We have the,
13:19you know, landscaper in mind that isn't
13:22going to log in on a desktop app and
13:24make his Google My Business posts
13:27because that's the last thing on his
13:29mind. He doesn't understand why it
13:30matters, all that. So explain a little
13:33bit more about how like if I were to
13:34sell this to the tree trimmer that's
13:37coming to my house next week. How does
13:39he actually engage with Paige long term
13:43so that he knows so that some of the
13:46stuff that requires human approval can
13:47actually get approved?
13:48>> Yeah, it's a good question and you know
13:50part of the the philosophies in building
13:52the product were that we don't want to
13:54overly rely on business owners have to
13:56do anything
13:57>> to get results because like they're
13:59busy, right? They're on a ladder fixing
14:00something. they're not they're not in an
14:02office. And so whenever something is
14:04genuinely needed, we're going to send
14:06like a magic link that brings them just
14:09to the place that they need to go to
14:11complete whatever it is. And so, um, if
14:14they're like, you know what, you can
14:16publish posts without asking you for
14:18approval, but I want to approve all the
14:19videos first, no problem. you just
14:21configure the videos to get emailed to
14:23them, you know, via an approval link so
14:25that when something's required, they'll
14:27get emailed, they click the link, and
14:28then there's just one option basically,
14:29approve it. Um, and so we just make it
14:32super easy. And also, you know, these
14:35services in some way are only as good as
14:37the client. And so,
14:38>> yeah,
14:39>> it's it's, you know, very important to
14:41us that a user has all the alerts on so
14:43that let's say your client goes 10 days
14:45without a review, they're getting emails
14:47like, "Hey, it's been 10 days since your
14:49last review. you need to get them, you
14:51know,
14:51>> uh you can customize the messaging like
14:53let's hop on a call and automate it, you
14:54know, let's ask all your old customers,
14:56like whatever it is that you want to
14:57offer to them, but we can at least
14:59remind them whenever they need it.
15:01>> Same goes for if they stop uploading
15:03images. Let's say they upload 20 images
15:05when you sell them and now it's been 5
15:07weeks and we're down to like two images
15:09left. Page is going to message them and
15:11say, "Hey, we need more images." And
15:12just give them a very easy way to send
15:14the images to Paige
15:15>> in a white label way. So like they don't
15:17need a log in software. They're not
15:19going to call you and be like, "Hey, can
15:20you remind me like how do I log into
15:22your platform and upload it?" It's like
15:24none of that. You don't have to give
15:26software support for a page.
15:27>> So amazing. It's it's literally the most
15:29needed thing, especially in those like
15:31very on the-go businesses. I always tell
15:34like my students that are using High
15:36Level, if you're in home services, like
15:38make it so that the person can click a
15:41button and move the person through the
15:42pipeline instead of having to go to the
15:45desktop app and move the person through
15:46the pipeline. So, it's the same idea.
15:48And if anyone's listening and like what
15:50what are you talking about images? Like
15:52why do I need to upload images to Google
15:53Maps? This goes back to what Justin was
15:55saying about like playing with all the
15:56tools. Once you get into this world,
15:58you'll be like what what is what are
16:00they doing on this Google Maps profile?
16:02Like nobody's looking at the Google Maps
16:03posts surely. And you're kind of right,
16:06but they do have like billions and
16:07billions of users. So some people look
16:09at them, but also it's it's just like
16:12when Google says dance like a duck, you
16:14you start doing this because you're
16:17going to make more money if you do,
16:18[laughter] right?
16:21>> It's totally right. It's Google's world.
16:22You gota you got to play by the rules if
16:24you want to if you want to win.
16:26generally also to just keep in mind guys
16:29like SEO ranking at the top of search
16:33results no matter what the platform just
16:35has to do with like having the best most
16:39amount of content and the most recent
16:41content for your business. So that's
16:43like why the YouTube thing matters.
16:45That's why posting your Google business
16:46profile matters. That's why having an
16:49up-to-date website matters. Google reads
16:51all of these things. And um that reminds
16:54me, Justin, like let's say, you know,
16:57somebody signs up for merchant, they get
16:58an awesome result, six months down the
17:01line, their business is getting twice
17:03the amount of calls that it used to get,
17:04and they're like, "Cool, I think I'm
17:06good. I'm going to cancel this." How
17:08does that go? Like, what does that do to
17:10their ranking? And um how do you coach
17:13agencies to walk a business owner
17:15through that decision- making of like,
17:17am I going to turn this off or not?
17:18>> Yeah. Well, I I think expectation
17:20setting is like very important here, but
17:23um like it it's a constant activity, you
17:26know, game. You have to constantly be
17:28doing things whether it's providing
17:30images, publishing posts, creating new
17:32offers, uploading videos, whatever it
17:34is, replying to your reviews, getting
17:35reviews. And as soon as you stop doing
17:38that effort, you're, you know, Google
17:40will notice probably within 45 to 90
17:42days, and you're going to start to lose
17:44those rankings, right? Because you don't
17:45own them once you have them, right? it's
17:47always like a behind the people that are
17:49putting in, you know, the most effort.
17:51>> Um, and so yeah, it would just be an
17:54education thing to, you know, to your
17:55client that, hey, just so you know, the
17:57reason that you got, you know, from
17:58number 20 to number two in your entire
18:01area is because we've been doing all of
18:03this work, which, you know, shows up in
18:05the page report. So, it's not going to
18:06be a surprise to them. Um, but like as
18:09soon as you, you know, you turn us off,
18:11uh, you know, you're going to start to
18:13fall unless you do basically everything
18:15that we've been doing for you. So it's
18:16it's pretty sticky as well.
18:18>> Yeah, absolutely. But it comes to
18:19setting expectations, right? If you
18:20don't make that known in the sales
18:22process, you know, it gets harder later
18:23on. But it's I also want to mention, you
18:26know, there's a lot of like technical
18:27things that we're talking about. But I
18:28think that's also like why, you know,
18:31merchant exists in the form that we do.
18:34Like we take all of that technical
18:36knowledge requirement away from agency
18:38owners. I would imagine that it's
18:41probably north of 90% of the the like
18:44our our partners, our resellers, um that
18:46have never actually optimized a Google
18:48business profile on their own.
18:50>> And it's guys, when you actually get
18:51into the Google business interface, it's
18:53like if you ever tried to run Facebook
18:54ads, you're like, what? There's like a
18:56million buttons. I don't know what any
18:57of these do. And essentially what
18:59Justin's done with Merchant is like
19:01given you the the Tony Stark like Iron
19:04Man suit of Google business profile
19:07optimization where you just say do the
19:09you move your finger and you can set up
19:11all the automation so that you don't
19:12have to keep thinking about how to do
19:15all this stuff. And they're they're also
19:16doing the research of like what's
19:17actually going to move the needle for
19:18rankings so that you don't get people to
19:21cancel because they have so much data on
19:23it. So, it's a it's a true like sales
19:27guy friendly offer [laughter]
19:30because you can talk big picture with
19:32the client like, "Hey, you sign up with
19:33us, the phone rings more. Don't ask me
19:35more questions.
19:37You know, you're going to get a text
19:38every once in a while to upload a
19:39picture. Can you please help me with
19:40some real pictures?" Um, but yeah,
19:44anything to add to that, Justin?
19:46>> No, that that's spot on. You know, the
19:47way that I always like to explain who we
19:49are in this ecosystem is like we're your
19:52co-founder. You're starting a new
19:53agency. You focus on sales. We're going
19:55to handle everything else.
19:57>> Like team, we're your R&D team. We're
20:00your tech team. We're staying on trends.
20:02We're even going to manage your uh your
20:04clients for you with our like smart
20:06proactive account management alerts. So
20:08like
20:09>> yeah, if you don't really need to know
20:11how anything works, like we provide all
20:12those resources that will help you get
20:14the sale. Uh you just have to sell.
20:17That's that's like the beauty of it.
20:18>> Yeah. That's really cool. You were
20:20telling me a story about uh a couple
20:22guys that like burned down their old
20:24agency because of this, right?
20:26>> Yeah. Yeah. These two guys uh on the
20:28East Coast. Um they were working at an
20:32agency and it was a pretty large agency,
20:34like one of the largest ones. And and
20:35they thought like uh like we can do this
20:38better. They're treating their clients
20:39poorly. You know, they're not really
20:40really helping them. Their sales
20:42processes aren't great. And so they went
20:44out and they started their own agency
20:45and this was four years ago and they've
20:48been a partner of ours from when we were
20:50a managed service, you know, where we
20:52had humans doing all the work and then
20:53jumped over to Paige and they've helped
20:55over a thousand clients at this point.
20:57>> Um, and they're sales machines. Like
21:00that's all they focus on and then they
21:01let us do all the all the upside for
21:03them.
21:03>> Yeah. So you were saying like their
21:05philosophy is like you can't actually be
21:07a good agency owner if you're trying to
21:09be technical, right?
21:10>> That's mine. I think that there other
21:13guys for sure that we work with where
21:14they are super not techsavvy and and why
21:17they love us because they onboard the
21:19client
21:19>> and then they never have to log in
21:21again. Like it's just set up once.
21:23>> Dive into this more. So like
21:26why do you think that you can't run an
21:28agency if you're trying to focus on all
21:30of the like nuts and bolts of getting
21:32them the result?
21:33>> Yeah. I think that everyone needs to
21:35figure out the one thing they're going
21:36to be the best at and go all in on that.
21:40And so for me personally, it's I want to
21:43be the enabler for agencies to succeed.
21:45Like that is that is my mission and
21:47everything that I do is very focused on
21:49that. But if I also wanted to focus on
21:54>> um I don't know being making making like
21:56an SMB sales team and and doing a bunch
21:58of other stuff, all of my time is going
22:00to start to get split in all these
22:01different directions to where start to
22:03drop the ball on everything. And so like
22:08um like I I just think it's a it's a
22:11limited bandwidth thing and
22:12realistically you can't be great at
22:14everything. And so you know you can you
22:16can find if if you want to be the
22:18operationsminded person then you have to
22:21you have to partner with a salesperson
22:24because you
22:25>> get any customers if you're not actively
22:27selling. It's just not possible. You
22:29can't do it. Uh, and so and and if
22:32you're on the sales side, you don't want
22:34to get bogged down with like managing a
22:36VA to do the work and like that's not
22:39who you are, right? You'd rather just
22:40say, "Okay, I got the sale. Can you, you
22:42know, set them up once
22:44>> and then just get the the, you know,
22:45commission check basically every month."
22:47>> So, I think this should be a really
22:49welcome message. And if you're like
22:51listening to this and kind of fighting
22:53against it,
22:54most people when they sign up for High
22:56Level or they're trying to start a
22:58social media marketing agency running
23:00ads for local businesses, they're sold
23:03this dream, but they have literally 10
23:05hats that they're supposed to wear. And
23:07the minute I went from 10K a month to
23:1030K a month in just a few months was the
23:12second I partnered with a sales guy. I
23:14was decent. I was like, I don't really
23:16consider myself like totally an
23:17operations guy or totally a sales guy.
23:19like I I can kind of fly down the
23:21middle, but being able to just focus on
23:24getting our clients results and not have
23:27to focus on getting sales calls, closing
23:29sales calls, or doing anything else, we
23:31were able to explode. It's like 1 plus 1
23:33equals three. And
23:36the it's just like it's just the reality
23:39of the situation. This will allow you if
23:41you're bad at sales to just go actually
23:44learn how to get good at sales instead
23:47of trying to like I really think this is
23:50most the problem. I'm just realizing
23:51this as I talk to most like of my
23:54students every day. The ones that
23:56struggle and the ones that do well. The
23:58ones that struggle is because they're
23:59just they're simply trying to do too
24:01much. They have too much on their brain.
24:03They're like I need to figure out what
24:04to sell. I need to figure out who to
24:06sell it to, and then I have to go get
24:07all the meetings, and then once I get
24:08the meeting, make the sale, then I still
24:10have to figure out how to do all the
24:12fulfillment.
24:12>> Yeah, totally. You know, my my dad gave
24:14me really good advice years ago that I
24:16think really helped solidify this for
24:17me, which is uh you can't optimize your
24:19way to growth
24:21>> and like and like what do you like? So,
24:24so then you have to think about like
24:25what kind of business do you want to be?
24:26Do you want to be a very large business
24:27and profitable or do you want to have
24:29like a very small, very optimized
24:33business, but like
24:35I mean, I always want to go big and so,
24:38you know, waste time focusing on like
24:41tightening little screws when like I can
24:43focusing on a huge growth initiative.
24:45>> Yeah. Okay.
24:47Um meaning that the the optimization is
24:50at odds with the growth. If you're going
24:52to grow, things are going to be
24:53unoptimized and you just have to be
24:55happy with that because you're
24:57experiencing the growth and then you can
24:59optimize it a little bit later.
25:00>> Yeah. and and thinking like I only have
25:03you know let's say you're very uh good
25:05at working let's say 16 hours a day
25:07where you can work and when you're
25:08starting a startup you know you're
25:10either all in doing 16 or you're side
25:11hustling so you're doing your regular
25:13eight plus maybe another four to eight
25:15every day um your time can either go
25:18towards meaningless stuff that doesn't
25:20really m like you know it truly isn't
25:21going to help you get more clients
25:23>> uh or it can go towards sales and so
25:26>> yeah I think like and and it always
25:28kills me when when I'm working with like
25:29a new agency owner
25:31and they're talking about how yeah, I'm
25:32just waiting for my website to be done
25:34and getting my, you know, my LLC set up
25:37and uh I want to get my CRM organized
25:40and tested before I start making cold
25:42calls. And I'm like, these are all just
25:44excuses not just to pick up the phone
25:46and get your first client.
25:47>> Yeah.
25:47>> And and there's no point of creating
25:49these structures until you have a
25:51running agency and things are messy
25:53because then you're going to learn like
25:54what are the systems you even need.
25:56Yeah.
25:56>> Right. Otherwise, you're going to spend
25:57all this time not get clients and then
25:59the system you build probably won't even
26:00work for your workflows.
26:01>> Yeah. I got to have my SOPs dialed in,
26:03bro, because what if I close a client?
26:06[laughter] I got to be able to onboard
26:07them.
26:08>> Yeah.
26:09>> Um, so let's get into the like the brass
26:13tax of the offer itself. Like you're
26:16these guys that were have been with you
26:18like basically since the start. You
26:20mentioned they're essentially just a
26:22sales organization. and they outsource
26:23absolutely everything. Uh when it comes
26:26to fulfillment either to you or to a web
26:29designer who's doing the websites,
26:31what's their pitch and how do they book
26:34so many meetings and close so many
26:35meetings?
26:35>> Oh, a couple of my case studies you're
26:37going to see are like they pick a niche
26:39or an area or something to focus on. Um,
26:42and what they learned is home service
26:43providers, which I know is very common,
26:46but specifically then home service
26:48providers that are paying for Angie's
26:51uh, leads or Thumbtac leads, right?
26:53There are
26:54>> people that are probably feeling a
26:55little bit burned because they pay for a
26:57lead, then it goes to five other
26:58contractors and, you know, they're out a
27:00couple hundred bucks or a couple hundred
27:02bucks every time that they just get a
27:03lead that they don't close. Um, and so
27:06they know that pain very well. And so
27:08their whole sales script is driven
27:10around the pain of having to bid for
27:13leads that aren't exclusive and then you
27:14don't get them. Uh, versus building out
27:16a sales channel that like the business
27:18owns. like the Google business profile
27:20is an asset that you can invest into
27:22long term and get it bigger and bigger
27:24and then it basically becomes like a you
27:26know an almost an evergreen faucet of
27:29leads compared to paying for um paying
27:31for leads or paying for ads where as
27:33soon as you stop like literally that
27:35second that you hit pause
27:37>> like you're dry up gone.
27:39>> Yeah.
27:39>> Whereas every review that you get you
27:41know that lives with you forever when
27:42you go to sell your business that's an
27:44asset.
27:45>> Yeah. And so they really push hard on on
27:47like building out a like a marketing
27:50channel that they own.
27:51>> So instead of buying the leads, you you
27:54like and and you really scratch like if
27:56somebody's really growth minded, you
27:57say, "Hey, this will help your business
27:58sell for more someday." On the sales
28:00call, people eat that up.
28:02[clears throat]
28:03>> All of the HVAC systems are just a
28:04taking time bomb. All of the backyards,
28:06it's a it's a just a matter of time
28:08before the wife says, "Oh my gosh, I
28:10hate that. We have to change this." All
28:12of those. And then like you've got the
28:14blue chip like service companies where
28:15you see their trucks driving around
28:17everywhere, but like for every one of
28:19those, there's 25 other HVAC companies
28:23in the same town that are uh just
28:27wanting to do a bunch of other jobs and
28:29wanting to get more. So like that
28:31industry, no, it's so big that it
28:35doesn't matter that everybody recommends
28:37it. Yeah, they're getting a ton of
28:39outreach, but like it's there's so many
28:42they have so much opportunity to sell
28:44and there are so many businesses in that
28:46>> uh sector that it's it's such a smart
28:48place to go.
28:49>> Yeah, totally. It's an it's an endless
28:50sea and most I mean, you know, by like
28:55uh you know, just factually uh there can
28:57only be three businesses in the top
28:59three.
28:59>> So, everyone else not in the top three
29:01is actively trying to figure out how to
29:02get into the top three.
29:04>> Yes. And that's it's again it's not that
29:07of like every single one of these
29:08services is quote unquote saturated.
29:10There's tons of marketers. There's tons
29:11of 18-year-olds now using AI to cold
29:14email their way to millions and millions
29:15of dollars. They think they are anyway.
29:18Um so it's never been more crowded in
29:20terms of mass outreach to these
29:22companies, but it's also never been more
29:25important for them to rank in the top
29:27three. There's there's like you said,
29:29there's there's only three in the top
29:30three.
29:31>> Yeah. And you know, even though it's
29:32crowded, I think I forget the stat. I
29:34heard this years ago, but it was
29:35something like 70% of the sales just go
29:38to the first salesperson that got their
29:39attention after they realize they have
29:41the problem.
29:42>> And so it doesn't matter that, you know,
29:45a 100 people might have called them in
29:46the last week. If they pick up your
29:48phone call,
29:49>> bam, you're probably going to get the
29:50deal.
29:50>> And let's talk about pricing. Like what
29:52are most of the people pricing this at?
29:55How do you make sure you don't attract
29:57the uh bottom of the barrel clients that
29:59are likely to churn no matter what you
30:01do? Because contrary to what you may
30:03believe listening people listening to
30:05this, it's usually not up to you if
30:07people stay. It is in terms of you doing
30:09your best to be great customer service,
30:12great results for them, great
30:14expectation setting. But if you've
30:16checked those three boxes, there are
30:18still people that are completely
30:19addicted to failure and will not keep
30:23trying to grow their business or do the
30:25things that are best for them no matter
30:26how hard you try to convince them to.
30:28So, um, anyway, I know you mentioned
30:31that pricing kind of plays into how you
30:33attract and who you attract. Um, so if
30:36you could mention that, that'd be great.
30:38>> Yeah, sure. So, um, it typically gets
30:42priced based on the industry that you're
30:44selling into, but some agencies just
30:46focus on, you know, I want to try to go
30:48very cheap and get the most number of
30:50clients. Others are like, I'd rather
30:51work with fewer clients, but charge them
30:53a lot more. I'll tell you my thoughts in
30:55in a minute uh on that. But, um, but
30:58generally like people resell a page for
31:00500 a month. Uh, I think the actual
31:03average is 4.97, so a couple dollars shy
31:05of 500 a month.
31:06>> Yeah. Um, but it ranges typically from
31:09300 a month to 800 a month. And then
31:12there's always the the other sides which
31:14are like 200 a month or I know some
31:16agencies that charge, you know, 1,200 or
31:181,500 a month for what page literally
31:20just automating for them.
31:21>> And so, uh, it depends on the industry.
31:24If you're selling to like carpet
31:26cleaners or small cafes, you're probably
31:29in that like 200 to 350 range a month
31:32just because it's a much harder like
31:35ROI, right? right? Because they just
31:36make a lot less money per customer. Um
31:40whereas imagine now you're selling to a
31:42roofer. They'll make, you know, 8,000
31:45plus per job. And so it's it becomes
31:47very easy to tell them, hey, if I just
31:48get you one new job every five months,
31:51you more than pay off my marketing
31:52service, which is a,000 bucks a month,
31:54right? It just becomes like a
31:55no-brainer. Like, yes, this is not lose
31:57me money.
31:57>> And so like that's one of the reasons
31:59why home service is so favorable because
32:02the like the higher end
32:03>> the tickets are crazy. Yeah.
32:05>> Yeah. Um, you know, like personal
32:08trainers might be $400 a month. Um,
32:11upscale restaurants might be $800
32:13because it just takes one business meal
32:14to more than, you know, pay that off
32:16every month. Um,
32:18uh, med spas are in that 800 to,200 a
32:21month range. You just really have to
32:23think about like how much money do they
32:24make per customer visit. And then the
32:27more that is, the easier it is for them
32:29to justify let's say a,000 a month. And
32:31then if it's hard to justify that, you
32:32start working your way, you know,
32:34downward in price. But,
32:36>> you know, when it comes to
32:38uh pricing your agency, I think it's so
32:42tempting to be like, I want so many
32:44clients. Let me just charge nothing for
32:46this.
32:47>> Yeah.
32:48>> And I think that is a disaster idea
32:50because um one, you attract business
32:53owners that just aren't they're not
32:55valuing it. And if they're not valuing
32:57it, then they're it's just a matter of
32:58time until they cancel. It doesn't
32:59matter how good of a job you do.
33:01>> Yeah.
33:02>> And on top of that, you're going to be
33:03doing probably more work for the person
33:05that's only willing to spend $300 a
33:07month than the very busy business owner
33:09that has a very important, you know,
33:11growing big business to run that's
33:12paying you $1,000 a month. Yeah.
33:14>> Right. Because person that's not making
33:16as much has way more time to like sit
33:18and think about, you know, like whether
33:20they want to keep working with you than
33:22the business owner who has a large
33:23business and and can easily absorb your
33:25cost.
33:26>> Yeah. Um, the other thing is like being
33:28able to invest in your clients. Like
33:30let's say that you only charge $200 a
33:34month. That means that you can't really
33:35give them much because it just isn't
33:38economically viable for you. Whereas if
33:39you're charging them 1,200 a month, one,
33:42you only need like 10 clients to start
33:45making over $100,000 a year, which is
33:47amazing. Um, but then like you could
33:49also find other things to offer them or
33:52you could have like a proper account
33:53manager in time that can give them like
33:55amazing relationship building and help
33:58with other things. So like I'm I'm a big
34:00fan of pricing, you know, on the higher
34:02end because you're just going to attract
34:03better customers and and give your
34:05customers, you know, more attention.
34:07>> Yeah.
34:07>> Uh you know,
34:09>> I think it all depends your like how
34:10your sales mechanism works, too. like
34:12I'm going to get on a call for 30
34:15minutes and try to convince somebody to
34:16buy this. You better try to sell that
34:18for as much as you humanly possibly can
34:20because it's not worth your time to get
34:23on that call otherwise. If you figured
34:24out some sort of automated way to sell
34:27it and you'd rather never get on a call
34:29or talk to a business owner again
34:30because you hate that. I'm in that camp
34:33by the way. Then yes, you can sell it
34:35for less. just understand that the the
34:37relationship won't be there as much and
34:40you know you may attract lesser
34:42qualified clients. But it all comes with
34:45with a trade-off, right?
34:48>> Yeah. And you know it is it is common
34:49when you're starting to like okay my
34:51first client's going to be 250 a month
34:53and then you start working your way up
34:55as you get confidence feel like you know
34:57you're worth it. But imposttor syndrome
34:59is real. Don't let it don't let it uh
35:01make you underpric your services.
35:03>> Yeah. I'm so glad you said that because
35:06this is literally the pricing advice I
35:07give to almost every single person that
35:09asks me. They're like, "Well, I I
35:11mentioned this. I'm not sure if that's
35:12too low, whatever." I'm like, I
35:14literally don't care what you close your
35:15first client at. Could be $50 a month. I
35:18don't care if you're losing money. Just
35:20get somebody to take out their credit
35:22card and pay you. And then the next
35:24person, you can up that by 100 bucks.
35:27And then the next person you up it by
35:28100 bucks. And you're just like, this is
35:29how the human psyche works. When you try
35:31to jump from 500 to,500, you're going to
35:34be like, "They're definitely going to
35:35say no. Nobody would buy it for that."
35:37You're all in your head. But you go from
35:38500 to 550 or 500 to 600,
35:42you can sell that no problem. Like it's
35:44a nothing burger for that client. And
35:46then 6 months later, you're at the price
35:48that you really should be at. And um
35:51you've started to get more nos and so
35:53you kind of find that equilibrium where
35:55you're happiest.
35:57>> Um
35:57>> yeah, but
35:58>> you know, I I love that. And another way
36:00that it was put to me years ago was um
36:04because I also was in the camp of like
36:06let me just charge as little as I
36:07possibly can. But it was um it was kind
36:10of like pitched to me as like don't
36:12price the service for what you can
36:14afford to pay for it. Price it for what
36:16they can afford. And it's so true when
36:18you're starting out you're like 500 a
36:20month is so much money,
36:21>> right? Because like you don't have that
36:23money coming in but you have to remember
36:24oh this business probably make you know
36:26they're a big plumbing business. They
36:28probably make, you know, over half a
36:29million a year, over a million, over
36:31five million a year, whatever it is. 500
36:33a month to them is nothing.
36:34>> Yeah.
36:35>> You know, price for them, not for you.
36:37>> Yes. And I've had, speaking, going back
36:39to home services, I've had like the
36:41really big blue chip companies in my
36:43house. And I've had the not as premium
36:46companies for a couple of services just
36:49because of whoever popped up on Google
36:51Maps is who I called. Great case study
36:53for this podcast. And the guys that are
36:57scraping by, you know, this is kind of a
36:59side hustle, probably always will be a
37:00side hustle thing. They're not sitting
37:02me down doing a presentation, trying to
37:04close me there on the spot and like
37:06really building the value and like
37:08following all the sales best practices.
37:10But the the two company, one of them is
37:12like a concrete lifting company. So they
37:14lift up cool niche by the way, anyone
37:16listening. They lift up like cracked
37:17concrete or like my stairs were had
37:19fallen down in the front. So they were
37:21lifting that up a few. And like
37:25the thoughtfulness of the sales process
37:29allowed them to sell that for so much
37:30more to me. the fact they're going to
37:32come back every year and check on it and
37:34they yes, I paid more than I would for
37:36chucking a truck, but I wanted that
37:39because if that thing ever falls down
37:41again, then they're going to come help
37:43out. So, the
37:45the thing that a lot of beginners shoot
37:47themselves in the foot with is like,
37:48"Here it is. Uh, just just let me know.
37:50I I don't I'm not sure. You know, I'll
37:52text you this. Are you interested?"
37:54Blah, blah, blah. It's okay to really
37:56just sit in the uncomfortableness of
37:58like, "Yeah, I just dropped a really
37:59expensive price." I feel like is an
38:02expensive price. Maybe you don't.
38:04Whatever. Just say it. Let the business
38:06owner react how they react. If they're
38:08too small-minded to to pay 500 a month
38:11for something that's going to make them
38:12probably 60 to 100k minimum more per
38:14year, then they're probably not the
38:17person you want to work with anyway,
38:18right?
38:19>> Yeah. Yeah. I love that. So, what else
38:21are you seeing that's working in terms
38:23of the offer and the initial pitch to
38:26actually get that person on the phone
38:28and get them to pay for their first
38:30month?
38:30>> So, there's a couple things that you can
38:31do once you like get your foot in the
38:33door with a business owner. Um, if
38:36you're not ready to go for like the full
38:38sale, like, hey, for $800 a month, you
38:40know, I'm going to do X, Y, and Z and
38:42get you more leads, maybe you want to
38:43start with something that can like
38:44prove, you know, that you know what
38:46you're talking about and go for like a
38:47cheaper foot in the door service. That's
38:49super common. And two of the most common
38:51ones that I see uh are going to be let
38:53me show you how to get more reviews. Uh
38:56and in doing that, you're going to
38:58integrate with their CRM or their
39:00booking tool or point of sale, whatever
39:02it is, using like Zapier or whatever
39:04open source things there are. Um it's
39:07like super easy to do. uh as well as get
39:09an old customer list of theirs so that
39:12uh basically they sign up, they pay you,
39:14you know, a hundred bucks or 200 bucks
39:16uh to do this or you get them on a
39:17monthly, you know, small monthly
39:18retainer. Um and then just basically
39:21overnight you start getting them more
39:23Google reviews and Google reviews are
39:24like crack for any business owner. Uh I
39:27love them. Like every business owner
39:28loves seeing a fivestar review because
39:30like your business is your baby, right?
39:32And if you can if you can help someone
39:34get reviews for their baby, they're
39:36going to love you. Uh, so that's a very
39:37good way to kind of get your your foot
39:39in the door and do something that's like
39:41a quick turnaround. Um, for business
39:43owners, another thing that that's pretty
39:45popular is selling them on a one-time
39:48optimization.
39:49Um, because like sometimes the thought
39:52of like, oo, like $500 a month, that
39:54sounds like a lot. Sounds like a
39:55commitment, you know? But if you change
39:57that instead to, okay, I just want to do
39:59like a quick optimization of your
40:01profile. I'm going to go through every
40:02nook and cranny and tune it up, which by
40:04the way, Paige is doing that all for
40:05you. you don't need to know anything.
40:07>> Um, and then we're going to go and
40:09optimize it all and it's $500. Like like
40:12any real business can afford $500 to
40:14basically give their their Google
40:16business profile a little a little
40:17cleaning. Um, and then in the process of
40:20doing that with page, it actually
40:22creates like the review tools and a post
40:25and a video and like you can then show
40:28the client at the end of the
40:29optimization. by the way, if you won, I
40:31offer this this monthly service where I
40:34can do, you know, X, Y, and Z for you.
40:36Um, and it's only $500 a month. And then
40:39by then, you, you know, you show them
40:41that you optimize their profile, you
40:42know what you're doing, they enjoyed
40:44working with you. Hopefully, you know,
40:45you built a little bit of rapport, uh,
40:47and they're more willing to take the
40:48chance with you because, you know, you
40:50did something for them already. And so,
40:52at that point, you try to sell them on
40:53the monthly maintenance and then, you
40:54know, page is already set up, so you
40:56kind of just walk away and collect the
40:57payment. Um, so there's like the the top
41:00two that I would say. And then the third
41:03would be um just offering to do an audit
41:06uh of their profile and not mentioning
41:08any kind of like tuneup as part of it.
41:10Just hey, let me show you the situation
41:12like who are your competitors? How many
41:13people are looking for your service? Um
41:16how optimized is your Google profile or
41:17your website or whatever it might be
41:19that you're going to talk about. And
41:20again like our tools do it. There's a
41:22bunch of tools that can show you that.
41:23So, you don't need to be an expert on
41:25anything other than sales to to get
41:28through call.
41:29>> Um, and some agencies will offer this as
41:31like a free call. Others will charge
41:32like a $100
41:34>> um to to do this call just so that they
41:36have a little bit pot committed.
41:38>> Just means that you're much less likely
41:40to like waste your time on the call
41:41because this person already agreed to
41:43pay $100 for it.
41:45>> Um, and then of course you would upsell
41:47them to your monthly service. So, yeah,
41:49it's it's sometimes easier to get a foot
41:50in the door offering before you go for
41:52the for the larger ticket.
41:53>> Can I see what the audits look like?
41:56>> All right. So, so here's like a uh
41:58here's an audit for a physical therapy
42:00business. And so, here, you know,
42:02$18,000 a month because of the 720
42:04people that are looking for physical
42:05therapy in their area.
42:08Um, it'll show a report card of, you
42:10know, what they're doing well on, what
42:12they're not, and like why they're not.
42:13So, in this case, they failed because
42:15they didn't have enough images on their
42:16Google profile. So, it's letting them
42:18know, hey, you only have six. They
42:20haven't replied to all their Google
42:21reviews. They're only getting 0.92 new
42:23reviews each week. The goal is at least
42:24one and so on. So, like this gives them
42:27actual value. It's not just like it's
42:29not like you're terrible, right? It's
42:31it's specifically what needs to be
42:33fixed.
42:33>> Yeah.
42:34>> Shows who their competitors are.
42:37>> Uh and then it shows like here's your
42:39business description based on our data.
42:41You need to add more keywords to it. So,
42:43they wrote one, but it's not like
42:44actually mentioning the keywords they
42:46say are important.
42:47These are the services on their profile
42:49that um that they don't have
42:51descriptions for. And it's worth
42:52mentioning page like automatically
42:54writes all this stuff when you on board
42:55them or sell them that optimization the
42:57oneoff.
42:58>> Um here we're looking at their AI
43:00visibility. So it's not just Google
43:02profile stuff, right? It's it's also how
43:04are they ranking in AI? So they weren't
43:06found on Shacha BT Gro Llama Claw
43:09Plexity, but they were number five on
43:11Gemini.
43:11>> Oh, nice.
43:13>> And that's where the search term best
43:14physical therapy clinics in Franklin.
43:17And and merchant helps with all this
43:19like AEO stuff, AI, SEO.
43:22>> Yeah,
43:23>> totally. Yeah, I I view our mission like
43:25we need to help a local business get
43:27found wherever people are searching
43:28locally. So,
43:30>> and that's a that's a cool pitch that
43:32probably is a bit more sexy right now,
43:35guys, if you're selling this. Like, not
43:37hey, we'll get you found on Google Maps.
43:39Yeah, that's important, but hey, we'll
43:40get you found on chatbt.
43:42a lot of business owners will turn their
43:44head to that when they would probably
43:46ignore the the Google Maps thing.
43:49>> Yeah, it's a it's a very good point. Um,
43:52and then here we're showing their heat
43:53map ranked audits for uh their different
43:55keywords. So, one that this person
43:57looked up was physical therapy. Uh, and
44:00we're showing you you're number two
44:01here, but in this part of town, you're
44:03number five. And if you click on any of
44:05these audit areas, you can actually see
44:07the list of businesses that are ranking
44:09ahead of them, how many reviews they
44:10have, um, and so on. So you can get an
44:12idea of the competition.
44:14>> Nice.
44:14>> This will also show you that if you get
44:16to the number one spot, you know, you'll
44:18increase your customers for this keyword
44:20by, you know, 17fold, right? Like that's
44:22that's the difference between ranking um
44:26average, you know, whatever is uh, you
44:29know, seven to number one, right? like
44:31the PE like the number one ranked
44:33business will get 30% of clicks, number
44:35two 25% of clicks, number three 20, and
44:37that just falls off an absolute cliff.
44:39>> Wow.
44:40>> So, yeah, you you need to be in the top
44:4230 or at least the top five.
44:44>> Interesting.
44:44>> And so, we'll do this for a bunch of
44:46their up to three of their their target
44:48keywords. So, you can see here they're
44:49doing well for for balance therapy.
44:51>> Nice.
44:53Um, and then
44:55>> so yes, very popular way to try to sell
44:57because it really just like it leads
44:58with education and it builds trust and
45:00you're giving them value right out of
45:01the gate. Um, and it gives you some like
45:03clear talking points of what needs to be
45:05fixed.
45:05>> And I can actually have my like checkout
45:09page link to this. So when they hit
45:11start your trial, people just put their
45:13credit card in and it starts.
45:15>> Yeah, totally. You Well, well, you would
45:17have them go to, you know, whatever your
45:19next action is in your funnel. It
45:21wouldn't like kick off an integration,
45:22but it would probably go to your contact
45:23page or maybe a payment screen. For the
45:26white label uh side, there's a redirect
45:30um that you configure basically to say
45:31where you want this to go.
45:33>> Okay. So,
45:35>> let's say I did configure that to the
45:38payment screen. Can I have it
45:40automatically onboard that person or how
45:42does that work?
45:43>> No. So, that's a really important
45:46uh thing to touch on. So the best
45:48agencies will sell page as a service,
45:50not as a product,
45:52>> because the second that you sell it as a
45:53product, your ability to price it high
45:55goes out the window. It's why we charge
45:57like 10 to 20% as much as agencies
46:00charge for it.
46:01>> Yeah.
46:02>> Yeah. And so no, so you would have this
46:03go maybe to a payment screen or maybe to
46:05a contact page to then get on a call
46:07with them to talk it through if if you
46:08know they're doing this on their own
46:10first.
46:10>> Very interesting.
46:12>> Yeah. So you would you would collect
46:14payment and then you would onboard them
46:16to page. It takes about 5 minutes and
46:18then it's fully set and forget.
46:20>> Okay. So, tell me how that goes over
46:23differently on the sales call when you
46:26market it and sell it as a service
46:28versus as a software product.
46:31>> Yeah, totally. And it's it's 99% of
46:35agencies that sell it as a service. Um,
46:37and you're really just saying I'm going
46:39to do this or my team's going to do
46:40this. It's it's never like we have this
46:42platform.
46:43>> Yeah.
46:44>> That's going to automate this all for
46:45you. because again your ability to
46:46charge a lot just plummets the second
46:49they know that it's all automated. Um
46:52and so so yeah you definitely have to
46:53sell it as a service. Um and like pages
46:56designed around it being a service like
46:59all of the messaging is like I or we did
47:01this.
47:02>> Yeah.
47:02>> Um and it's it's kind of uh designed in
47:05a way so that clients can only see like
47:07the output. They can't see how it's
47:09created.
47:09>> I see. And the actual onboarding you
47:13said takes five minutes. What's included
47:15in that?
47:17>> Yeah, when you on board a client, it
47:18connects to the Google business profile,
47:20gets a really good understanding of the
47:21business. It also reads the website and
47:22starts to build this like really good
47:24knowledge center so that everything that
47:26it generates is hyper specific to the
47:28business. It's not like AI general
47:30nonsense. There's a bunch of things that
47:32we do to make it like hyper business
47:33specific and not just sounding like
47:35every AI platform out there.
47:37>> Um, so it'll suggest the best keywords
47:39to go after and then you just kind of
47:41like pick them. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We we
47:43do these things. let's go after these
47:44keywords. Um, you set where you want
47:46this the the audit that I showed to be
47:48centered and then it walks you through
47:50every nook and cranny of the Google
47:52profile and it's like, "Hey, this is
47:53your current setting. This is what we
47:54recommend. This is your current setting.
47:56This is what we recommend." And it
47:58basically uses AI to suggest like
48:00whatever the best SEO expert in the
48:01world would suggest. That way, you don't
48:03need to know anything. You're just
48:04basically there to click the button if
48:06if all looks good to you. Um, and then
48:09you go through the automation.
48:10>> Client's responsibility. It's just their
48:14like integration like hey just add me as
48:16a user on the Google Maps profile.
48:18>> Yep. And we even have a link that
48:19agencies have they can use to like make
48:21that even easier.
48:22>> Wow.
48:23>> Yeah. So um so yeah I mean ideally your
48:25client doesn't need to approve any
48:27content. If they do you can just have
48:28approvals go to them automatically. Um
48:30but then you set up the client in about
48:32five minutes and then you walk away
48:34unless you know tells you hey go look at
48:36them.
48:37>> Yeah that's wild. Yeah, we've even built
48:40in like churn prevention notices. So, if
48:42we see that a client is just ignoring
48:44all of the notifications and they're not
48:46doing what's needed to succeed, we'll
48:48email the agency and say, "Hey, you have
48:49to go check on, you know, Bob's
48:50plumbing."
48:52>> Give these guys a call. Like, here's
48:54your to-do list for the week.
48:56>> Basically, the only things a human can
48:58do.
48:59>> Yeah. Yeah.
48:59>> For now. Yeah. [laughter]
49:02>> So, let's go through some other case
49:04studies of like actual people you've
49:06seen start to sell this either from zero
49:09or added on to their existing services.
49:12Um, what yeah, what stories can you tell
49:15me that are really cool?
49:17>> Um, so I one cool story that I can think
49:20of is a guy who worked for um for one of
49:22the fang companies, you know, Facebook,
49:24Amazon. Um, I don't I can't say Google
49:27either.
49:28>> Yeah. uh and he started his agency about
49:31two years ago and he made a really smart
49:33decision which is to focus just on med
49:35spas because med spas make a lot of
49:37money. They're pretty competitive. You
49:39know, Botox is not cheap. Um and so he
49:42focused on just that one niche and he
49:44has 95 clients now and his price point
49:47is 1,200 and higher a month.
49:50>> Right? So he's making over a million
49:51bucks a year and he's I think less than
49:53two years in right now and they set up
49:56clients on page.
49:57>> That's it. are fully selling for the
49:591200.
50:00>> Oh yeah, that's right. There's nothing
50:01else that he's giving them. Yeah.
50:03>> Wow. And the You know what else I like
50:05about this is if you go after medical,
50:06you don't have to worry about uh PHI or
50:09HIPPA. Like there's not really like if
50:13you're collecting information for a
50:14Google reviews, yes. But if you're just
50:16optimizing the profile based on
50:19everything else, like this is very it's
50:22simultaneously very close to the sale
50:24and far away from a lot of the stuff
50:28that people get tripped up on like, oh,
50:29I don't want to share that information
50:30with you or whatever.
50:32>> Yeah, totally. The it's just the review
50:35part where a lot of people train there's
50:37this whole concept of training page to
50:38do things however you or your client
50:40wants it to do it.
50:41>> Um, some people do just train it how to
50:43be hippo compliant in that situation.
50:44But yeah, if you're not touching the
50:46review stuff, you there's nothing in
50:47there that would get someone in trouble.
50:50>> And um okay, what else? What other
50:52stories? [snorts]
50:53>> Um oh, this really cool one. Full-time
50:56high school teacher.
50:57>> He's he's like he's my inspiration. Uh
51:01basically wakes up early. He has he has
51:02multiple kids. Uh those of you with kids
51:04will will get how difficult this is. He
51:07uh he goes he gets in his car, you know,
51:117 a.m.ish every morning, and instead of
51:13picking a podcast to listen to, he'll
51:15pick a a vertical in a city, do a Google
51:18search, and just start calling uh as
51:21he's driving. If he gets a hold of one
51:23of them, uh he'll explain, "Okay, yeah,
51:26let me uh send you the audit when I get
51:27back to my desk, you know, I'm about to
51:29get to my office." And then at lunch,
51:31he'll go and, you know, use the audit
51:32tool, send them the audit and and uh
51:34make a little Boom video. And then uh on
51:37his way home he closes them.
51:39>> And so this is a guy who is squeezing
51:41every every minute of his day to create
51:44a secondary income source that now I'm
51:47guessing makes more than his his first
51:49because he has dozens of clients. And it
51:51was all built on just using a cell
51:53phone, using the free time in his car
51:55and grinding.
51:56>> Yeah.
51:57>> And like and and I'm fairly certain that
52:00Paige is the only offering that he gives
52:02his clients.
52:03>> This is a mutual friend of ours. If
52:05you're listening to this and it sounds
52:06familiar, it is Kevin Patrick. He won't
52:07mind um me saying his name here, I'm
52:10sure. He introduced me to Justin
52:11actually because he loves um what Paige
52:14is doing for him and his clients and the
52:16audit. It's so I love that cadence of
52:19like call in the morning, audit at
52:21lunch, close in the evening, and not it
52:24doesn't happen that cleanly every single
52:26time. But yeah, Kevin like really saw
52:29that he wanted to take financial control
52:31of his life like four years ago and just
52:33has like ground it to 20 25K a month
52:36now. It's so cool.
52:37>> Yeah, it's it's awesome. And like it is
52:39what it takes. Like
52:41>> you know, I was working my my nineto-5
52:43when I started this as a side hustle. I
52:45would wake up and I'm not a morning
52:46person so this trust me this is saying a
52:48lot.
52:48>> Yeah.
52:48>> I was waking up in the fives getting up
52:51my computer and like you know eyes
52:53barely open trying to get work done
52:55>> after work come home and and do another
52:57couple hours every night. I was missing
52:58plans on weekends to like get this thing
53:01off the ground. It it really is what it
53:03takes if you want to if you want to
53:04build something. And you I'm sure you
53:06had a similar you know story. It doesn't
53:08you know the the the harder I work the
53:10luckier I get. Right. [laughter] You got
53:12>> That's true. That's true. And before
53:14this call, I asked you like what are
53:16most people doing to get clients? And
53:18you said honestly the like your most
53:19successful ones, all of them are good at
53:22cold calling, right?
53:23>> Yeah. Everyone hates to hear that. I I
53:25was preparing for this call. So I was
53:27going through like our largest agency
53:29partners because I have I have a pretty
53:30good relationship with with most of
53:32them.
53:33>> Yeah.
53:33>> Uh and I was like thinking back to
53:36conversations we had and yeah, all of
53:37them are cold calling machines. they've
53:40either done it themselves or they hired
53:42people, but like they knew how to hire a
53:44manage a cold caller. Um, and like so
53:48often I hear from someone, oh, I just
53:50got access to this email list or I'm
53:52going to buy this list of contacts and
53:53then cold email them on whatever tool.
53:56And like it just never works out. I
53:59couldn't think of I couldn't find a
54:00single Yeah, I couldn't find like a
54:03single example of our successful
54:05agencies where they are doing uh cold
54:08email.
54:09>> That's insane. Everybody's obsessed with
54:11cold email right now.
54:13>> I've done cold email on and off over the
54:16last five or six years because it always
54:18is just so shiny that you're like, I got
54:21to imagine if this thing just gets, you
54:22know, 3% sign up rate.
54:24>> Yeah. But like none of those campaigns
54:26in the last let's call it you know half
54:28decade have have ever really had any
54:30meaningful outcome. And
54:32>> in the meantime you burn so much of your
54:33energy and emotion into like this one
54:36project and it has no no compounding
54:38wins.
54:39>> So it's not like you can really learn
54:41and improve and
54:43>> and like build off of it. It just I have
54:46no examples of an agency doing it
54:48successfully. Are there any people like
54:50getting an inbound stream of leads that
54:53they're selling this somehow? And if you
54:55were to sell this at scale, like
54:57obviously you've been very successful
55:00just marketing it online as a software,
55:02but if you were to do that differently
55:05as a more as a service and like selling
55:08it as an agency, how would you do that?
55:10Have you had any cool ideas that
55:12somebody should steal and implement?
55:13>> You know, there there's a handful of
55:14ways that that people do this. Um, one
55:17is you can always try running ads to
55:19like a lead capture page and then, you
55:21know, doing what we talked about
55:22earlier, giving them an audit, charging
55:24them for an audit. Um,
55:26>> nice,
55:27>> whatever it might be. And so, some some
55:28companies do that, but you need to have
55:31like the sales engine behind that and
55:32could call like sales closers to
55:34actually capitalize on that. Mhm.
55:36>> Um, aside from that, we have people that
55:38will go to local chamber of commerces
55:40and like they'll get in front of a large
55:42group of business owners and, you know,
55:44get a handful of business cards and
55:46signs them up. It's not my favorite
55:47because it's not like super scalable and
55:49also I'm introverted and
55:52>> standing in front of a bunch of people
55:53is not uh my idea of a fun afternoon.
55:56>> Uh, you know, something that's been very
55:58good for us, but it does take a long
56:00time and a lot of effort is a
56:02newsletter. We have a newsletter goes
56:03out every Wednesday
56:05>> and just done a really good job from
56:07like a brand awareness standpoint for
56:09for us. Um, and we haven't really put
56:11that much effort into it. But again,
56:12that takes a long time uh to start
56:15getting leads. The other uh the other
56:17methods that that I will see some people
56:19getting success from, although like you
56:21need to keep reinventing it over time,
56:23is uh putting out like helpful content
56:25in like Facebook groups, okay? you know,
56:28like solving people's problems that they
56:29talked about in the local marketing area
56:30and then like building up your
56:32authority, not as a not as a uh as a
56:34spammer, but as someone that helps and
56:36then you can actually get a lot of
56:38signups.
56:39>> Um, and then like the out of the box
56:40idea that I just haven't had an
56:42opportunity to do, but I think it's
56:44really cool. I met this guy from uh
56:47Wisconsin about three years ago and what
56:50he does is he goes to manufacturers of
56:52products
56:54um and he tells them hey your sales will
56:58skyrocket if your uh distribution
57:00partners you know the people that buy
57:02your product and implement it for
57:03consumers if they grow so how about you
57:05start introducing your all your
57:07thousands of customers to me as their
57:09marketing agency and I'll customers u
57:12I'll give them a good rate because you
57:14introduce them and then your sales are
57:15going to grow. And he found a
57:17manufacturer that just went all in on
57:20this idea and he grew his agency. I'm
57:22not kidding to over a thousand clients
57:23in year one.
57:24>> Wow.
57:25>> And like that is unheard of. Like I
57:26don't care how good your you know your
57:28bot mailing list is. It's unheard of.
57:30>> Yeah.
57:30>> Uh
57:31>> and I've just never had the time to do
57:33it. And it's also not really our model
57:34to go to uh SMBs.
57:36>> Yeah. But that's if if you know someone
57:38who makes a product that's used by uh
57:43consumers or businesses, um then yeah,
57:46then that's a really a really
57:47interesting way to to start your agency.
57:49>> I literally I have a podcast coming out.
57:51It'll be out before this one. This is
57:53their entire way of doing business.
57:55They'd never go to the person. So, they
57:57would never pick up the phone and cold
57:58call the HVAC company. they'd be like,
58:00"Okay, who is a step before the HVAC
58:03company or a step after the HVAC company
58:05that has a good relationship with them
58:07and let's go talk to them." So, like
58:10when I was working with orthodontists, I
58:12had a couple like bankers because
58:13orthodontists come out of school with
58:14like a million dollars in debt and then
58:16they got to take out two million more to
58:17start their practice. They're like,
58:19"Yeah, I'm talking to these guys every
58:20day. I know exactly their financial
58:22situation. Like, I just gave them $2
58:24million. Of course, he can spend on your
58:25marketing stuff." So, like, and he the
58:27banker like wanted to kick back. It
58:29wasn't as much like, hey, if if your
58:31business grows or if these businesses
58:33grow than yours grow. That's such a it's
58:35such a smart like you don't even need an
58:37affiliate fee because Yeah, obviously
58:40we're just going to make way more money
58:41if our distributors make money.
58:43>> Yeah, totally. And you know, applies for
58:46people selling uh credit card processing
58:48is you help your merchants, you know,
58:51sell more of whatever it is they're
58:52selling, you're going to make more in
58:54card processing. So, we have a handful
58:55of uh
58:56>> of those companies that also resell us.
58:58Yes. So smart. That's a That is There it
59:01is. That's literally it. [laughter]
59:03Talk to the credit card processors that
59:05have a book of a thousand small
59:07businesses and say, "Hey, do you want
59:09all these people to start processing
59:11double as much?" I'm sure you do.
59:13>> Yeah.
59:14>> Oh, so smart. Um, going back to the
59:16content one, I was going to bring this
59:18up because I'm I try to coach beginners
59:19on this every day and 99% of beginners
59:21will not make the content. It's too
59:24stressful. And that's why I love
59:26Facebook groups because it's this middle
59:28ground where it doesn't feel like you're
59:29creating like an Instagram reel and you
59:30have to have it perfect or a YouTube
59:32video. But let's say you were starting a
59:36an Instagram page for a merchant agency
59:40that's selling reselling these types of
59:42like Google business profile management
59:45services, optimization services. What
59:48type of content would you be making?
59:50because I just don't see something
59:51that's super technical like going
59:52through exactly what you do to optimize
59:55a business profile going viral. Um, how
59:59would you think about that? And like
1:00:00obviously you've attracted a ton of
1:00:02people to this type of offer. How would
1:00:04you create the content around that if
1:00:06you were to go that route?
1:00:07>> Yeah. Well, I think I think to your
1:00:09point you're right that would that
1:00:12wouldn't go viral.
1:00:13>> Yeah. Uh, I I think I instead I would
1:00:16niche down and all of my content would
1:00:19be like hyper specific about a best
1:00:21practice or a trend or something in that
1:00:24industry
1:00:24>> and like, you know, here are the top
1:00:26three ways to get new med spa patients,
1:00:29you know, and like make a an actually
1:00:31helpful video that someone running a med
1:00:33spa might find interesting or, you know,
1:00:35a roofer, whatever, whatever niche
1:00:37you're going to go for because you're
1:00:38going to have a lot more content you can
1:00:40make becoming this influencer in that
1:00:43face than you will if you're just trying
1:00:45to be like the Google Maps person,
1:00:46right? There's there's too many of them.
1:00:48>> Nice.
1:00:49>> And so, yeah, I would I would make
1:00:50interesting content that uh that you can
1:00:53have a bunch of individuals in a market
1:00:55talking about because we have some some
1:00:56of those guys on the platform as well.
1:00:58Uh and they do very well because they're
1:01:00the trusted source. A lot of plumbers
1:01:02follow plumbing influencer. Um and then
1:01:05when the plumber influencer talks about
1:01:07how they're growing their their
1:01:08business, you know, and they mention
1:01:10their own agency, bam, you know, tons of
1:01:12signups. surprise.
1:01:14Yeah, that's cool. All right, so we
1:01:16haven't talked about merchants pricing
1:01:18and um how that scales with you as an
1:01:22agency. So, I think it'd be good to end
1:01:23with that and any uh final words of
1:01:25advice you have there.
1:01:27>> So, um so merchants pricing is based on
1:01:29a per Google business profile level and
1:01:32it starts at $99 a month and again
1:01:34you're typically marking this up to 500
1:01:36a month, but it's handling all of the
1:01:38operational side, the account management
1:01:39side, right? like there's plenty of
1:01:41margin there and that price starts to
1:01:43shrink as you add more clients um
1:01:45typically in tiers. We're also working
1:01:47on like an alikart version because not
1:01:49every agency sells every single one of
1:01:51pages features and so we're working on
1:01:52ways to just bring the price down. If
1:01:54you're giving us some cost savings, we
1:01:56can give you some cost savings kind of
1:01:57thing.
1:01:58>> Um but yeah, the the margin that you
1:02:00should expect is, you know, as long as
1:02:02you're not pricing it
1:02:04>> at the floor level, you know, you should
1:02:06have well above, you know, 60 70%
1:02:08margin. So, let's say I get 50 to 100
1:02:12clients. How much am I paying on average
1:02:14per client?
1:02:15>> You know, I I stepped away from the
1:02:17commercial side of the business about a
1:02:19year ago. I actually don't know where
1:02:20our agency pricing falls in. But what
1:02:23I'll say is once you once like you're
1:02:25you're hitting whatever the scout tier
1:02:26is, you can expect it to be closer to
1:02:28like 50 bucks a month per location.
1:02:30>> Oh, great.
1:02:32>> Uh and then yeah, like I mentioned, ways
1:02:34to bring down that price even more
1:02:35coming soon.
1:02:36>> Very cool. Okay. Yeah, I think on the
1:02:39website I saw after 10 it starts to go
1:02:41down. So, yeah, 50 bucks. Like you
1:02:45literally can 10x markup this and it it
1:02:48is like your account manager, not just
1:02:51the the person that clicks the buttons.
1:02:53It actually follows up with the client,
1:02:54does everything for you. So,
1:02:56>> oh yeah, this is this is software that
1:02:58you log into and do stuff. This is
1:03:00software that you set up and then it
1:03:02does stuff.
1:03:02>> So, the link to sign up for merchant
1:03:04will be below, guys. Justin, any final
1:03:07words of advice on like what they should
1:03:08sign up for exactly when they get to
1:03:10that page?
1:03:11>> Yeah, for sure. So, if you're a brand
1:03:13new agency, you're you're just trying to
1:03:15figure out if this is for you and you
1:03:16can sell it, then before you create your
1:03:18page account, I would actually suggest
1:03:20looking at our agency partner program.
1:03:22It's basically our uh community where we
1:03:25share like tons of resources around like
1:03:27sales scripts. Um, you know, you get
1:03:30part of, um, like our weekly sales
1:03:32coaching calls where we have an agency
1:03:33sales trainer come in. We sponsor it and
1:03:36they can tear apart your sales script
1:03:38and make sure that it's it's good. They
1:03:39can go over their own examples. You get
1:03:41access to that uh, white label Google
1:03:43business profile audit tool that we
1:03:45talked about you sell. Like this this
1:03:48program is designed so that we can like
1:03:50invest in new agencies success to get
1:03:53them off the ground. And you also get
1:03:54access to our SAM platform which we
1:03:57made. It's uh it's purpose-built to help
1:03:59agencies cold call leads. So, every day
1:04:02when you log in, you'll get 40 new leads
1:04:04that are like pre- research, so you know
1:04:07they're ranking, where they're located,
1:04:08the market opportunity, and so on. How
1:04:10many reviews they have, as well as like
1:04:12proven to work calling scripts, uh so
1:04:15that you don't need to go and buy lead
1:04:16lists or like learn how to build out a
1:04:18CRM. You really every day, hit the call
1:04:20button, you know, call and then tell it
1:04:22what the outcome was and then call the
1:04:24next one. Um, and that's a $100 a month.
1:04:27Uh, it's month-to-month. Like, if you
1:04:29don't find value in it, you know, no
1:04:31worries at all.
1:04:32>> That's incredibly cheap.
1:04:33>> Well, yeah. I mean, if it works well and
1:04:34the agency uses them, uh, they're going
1:04:37to grow and we're going to grow. Like,
1:04:38they're they're truly our partners. Um,
1:04:40and so, um, then yeah, and as soon as
1:04:43you land your first client, that's when
1:04:44you set up your page account and and
1:04:46then you're up and running. But, yeah,
1:04:47if if you don't have clients yet, no
1:04:48worries. That's what our agency partner
1:04:50program is there for, to really help you
1:04:51get going.
1:04:52>> Cool. And a bonus guys, if you sign up
1:04:54for the agency partner program and you
1:04:57email me, I'll also give you access to
1:04:58my community um for the duration of the
1:05:02time you're paying for that or page
1:05:04merchant. So cool. Super excited. Super
1:05:06grateful to have had you on, Justin.
1:05:08Appreciate you, man.
1:05:09>> Thanks, Ken. Really appreciate it.
1:05:11Toxin.

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