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Course Module: 1. AAU Agency/Module 6 - Client Mgmt . Outsourcing 8
Lesson: 4. The Client Conversations
Duration: 11:29
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[00:00 -> 00:08] Alright, so when those clients do schedule those calls with you, I want to give you kind of an idea of how some of those conversations are going to go.
[00:08 -> 00:16] But if you have listened and you follow this training, a lot of those conversations should be set up to be very constructive.
[00:16 -> 00:22] Because we are putting the client in the situation that we're like, listen, here's our calendar.
[00:22 -> 00:25] You schedule with us when it's convenient for you.
[00:25 -> 00:31] I always leave it open to let them contact me and make sure they understand they can contact me anytime.
[00:31 -> 00:34] The calendar is simply a reminder.
[00:34 -> 00:43] And you're giving them the opportunity to give you feedback and let you know what's going on in their business when it comes to your marketing.
[00:43 -> 00:48] Because if the leads are coming in and they're poor leads, we need to find out why.
[00:48 -> 00:50] Are we targeting the wrong people?
[00:50 -> 00:55] Do you not want to do those services? Because clients change their minds constantly.
[00:55 -> 01:00] And it's not necessarily that they don't want to tell you, it's just that they don't think about it.
[01:00 -> 01:04] They're going a million miles an hour in different directions.
[01:04 -> 01:10] So if they decide that all of a sudden they don't want to do a certain service anymore, they forget to call and tell you about that.
[01:10 -> 01:16] Okay, so some of the things that you're going to hear are, you know what, things are going great.
[01:16 -> 01:19] Yep, the leads are coming in and that's obviously what we want to hear.
[01:19 -> 01:26] We want to hear that the leads are coming in that they love what we're doing and things couldn't be better.
[01:26 -> 01:29] Unfortunately, you're talking to business owners.
[01:29 -> 01:33] They're professional firefighters, right? They're putting fires out.
[01:33 -> 01:41] They're employees not showing up and payroll issues and a million things going wrong at any one time.
[01:41 -> 01:47] So while you love the conversation, things are going great, it's not always what you're going to hear.
[01:47 -> 01:51] Now, I don't want this to scare you. I just want to let you know what to expect.
[01:51 -> 01:57] So a lot of times you might hear, you know what, we're getting a lot of bad calls or bad leads.
[01:57 -> 02:02] And you're going to say, okay, from what? And they're going to give you an idea.
[02:02 -> 02:09] Well, they're calling from this location or there's a lot of hang ups or whatever it might be or they're calling for our competitors.
[02:09 -> 02:13] That's a big one that you could hear. And this is the way that you approach that.
[02:13 -> 02:17] They complain to you and you say, great. All right.
[02:17 -> 02:21] So they say, you know what? We've had a lot of calls for our competitors.
[02:21 -> 02:27] Okay, which one specifically? And they're going to say ABC company. You're like, awesome.
[02:27 -> 02:32] That's the kind of feedback I need to hear because I can go make a change.
[02:32 -> 02:38] And, you know, we do block your competitors, but we can't block every single one because, you know, new ones pop up all the time
[02:38 -> 02:41] and we're constantly adding them. But that's a great point.
[02:41 -> 02:47] I will make sure that we block them right now. That's awesome. That's why we have these calls.
[02:47 -> 02:53] Oh, okay. Awesome. You know that you let them know, hey, they're complaining to you and you're like, that's great.
[02:53 -> 02:58] Complain away. We can make changes here and keep this going forward.
[02:58 -> 03:02] They might say, you know what? We're getting a lot of hang ups.
[03:02 -> 03:06] You know, our people are calling for a different service and say, okay, you know what?
[03:06 -> 03:15] I'm going to go check in the call tracking and see what I can find out and see in some of the searches and see what I can figure out from that.
[03:15 -> 03:20] But I'll check on that. And they're like, all right, awesome.
[03:20 -> 03:26] Or, you know, we're getting leads from a bad area. We don't want to service that area. Okay, no problem.
[03:26 -> 03:32] I'm looking at your locations here. When we set these up, you had us actually going out over to that area.
[03:32 -> 03:37] Do you want me to block that area from now or exclude it? And they're going to be like, yeah, no problem.
[03:37 -> 03:43] It's taken care of. So what you're doing is you're just taking their objections, fixing their problems right away.
[03:43 -> 03:48] And you're one of the few people that can do this, right? We can make changes to these campaigns very quickly.
[03:48 -> 03:54] Another thing, not enough leads. Okay, you know what? This is working, but I'm just not getting enough leads.
[03:54 -> 04:00] Now, if they're in that first 60 to 90 day time frame with you, you just say, listen.
[04:00 -> 04:09] All right, Mr. Customer, I hear what you're saying. This is one of those reasons why we need 60 to 90 days to really dial this in.
[04:09 -> 04:19] You know what? Sometimes these campaigns start out faster, sometimes slower, but we have to get enough statistics to make the right kinds of changes.
[04:19 -> 04:25] And that's why we give you that time frame and what to expect because it sometimes can take that long.
[04:25 -> 04:30] You know, we're working as fast and as hard as we can to make that happen sooner.
[04:30 -> 04:35] But once we make changes, we have to give the system time to catch up with those changes.
[04:35 -> 04:42] We can't go in and make a thousand changes to your campaign because we have a specific process that we have to follow.
[04:42 -> 04:48] And we're not sure which one worked if we make that many. So we have to make some changes, let it work, make some changes, let it work.
[04:48 -> 04:52] And then when you explain it to them like that, they're like, oh, okay, you know, I get it.
[04:52 -> 04:58] We did talk about that 60 to 90 days. You set these clients expectations up front the right way.
[04:58 -> 05:06] And, you know what? There's really nowhere for them to go because we have everything coming up to these conversations.
[05:06 -> 05:12] We have already talked to them about 60 to 90 days. We're constantly making changes, right? All of these different things.
[05:12 -> 05:16] How can we do more? They're going to be like, all right, this is going great.
[05:16 -> 05:20] How can we, you know, can we just double the budget? What do we need to do?
[05:20 -> 05:25] And you will get those conversations and you need to set their expectations again.
[05:25 -> 05:31] All right, Mr. Client, yes, we can definitely up your budget, but we have to do it in increments.
[05:31 -> 05:38] The Google algorithm is kind of goofy. And if you just say, okay, I'm spending $1,000 a month and we're getting some great results,
[05:38 -> 05:43] you can't just give it $2,000 a month to make that change and expect it to happen the same way.
[05:43 -> 05:49] You have to do it in increments. So what we can do is we can increase it about 15 to 20%.
[05:49 -> 05:55] Today, so if you're spending $1,000 now, we would increase it to, you know, maybe $1,200.
[05:55 -> 06:02] We would let that run for about two, three days. And then at that point, we would increase it another 20%.
[06:02 -> 06:07] Let it run for two or three days, another 20%. And we'd have to do it in increments.
[06:07 -> 06:11] That's going to be the best way to do this. And they're going to be like, awesome. Let's get started.
[06:11 -> 06:15] Stratford Cash, you will hear this a lot. Once again, these are business owners.
[06:15 -> 06:20] They have a ton of money coming in and going out at all times.
[06:20 -> 06:25] And they're going to be like, well, I just don't know how much longer I can afford to do this.
[06:25 -> 06:31] Because maybe they're having a bad day. Maybe the leads are up and down. And right now they're down.
[06:31 -> 06:36] And I will say, I completely understand. You know, this is a roller coaster. We talked about that.
[06:36 -> 06:41] You know, some months are going to be great. Other months are going to be a little bit lower depending on your seasons or your industry.
[06:42 -> 06:49] But our goal is to keep it moving forward. And even on the lower months, still show you that return on investment, right?
[06:49 -> 06:54] I think we've done that. And he's going to be like, well, yeah, you know, it's just, it's expensive.
[06:54 -> 07:02] And I'm like, yep, I completely understand. It isn't expensive service, but you're also putting your ads in front of people when they're looking for you.
[07:02 -> 07:07] And as far as marketing goes, it's one of the most effective kinds. I just leave it at that.
[07:07 -> 07:13] And they're usually like, yeah, yeah, yeah. When they're saying they're strapped for cash, that means they have an ear.
[07:13 -> 07:22] They have your ear and they just need to vent. Okay. Some of these business owners are going to vent in big bad ways.
[07:22 -> 07:29] I've had them literally yelling and screaming at me just because maybe they had an argument with an employee and they're pissed off and they're like,
[07:29 -> 07:36] this isn't working anymore as soon as they get me on the phone. And I'm going to be like, okay, but when I sent you that email and you schedule the call,
[07:36 -> 07:42] everything was going great. So walk me through what you're seeing on your end. And usually by the end of the call, they were just venting.
[07:42 -> 07:49] You know, they're just, they're the business owner. They think they're the big bad boss and they can sometimes take it out on you.
[07:49 -> 07:55] And I've had conversations with clients and said, Mr. Client, listen, I understand you're upset.
[07:55 -> 08:01] Number one, I'm not sure why because we have been doing our job and showing you that consistent return on investment.
[08:01 -> 08:14] But I don't appreciate being talked to or spoken down to like a child. And if that's how you want this relationship to be, then I'm afraid I'm going to need to change this relationship.
[08:14 -> 08:23] And right there, everything goes quiet. You know, I didn't get mad. I'm not in a screaming match with them, but I'm not going to let them treat me like an employee,
[08:24 -> 08:30] even though they do pay us, but we're a partner with them, right? I'm not going to let them treat me or talk down to me like that.
[08:30 -> 08:43] I handled it very calmly and I handled exactly how I just told you. I've never lost a client doing that. I have fired several and said, and they will continue to go off.
[08:43 -> 08:51] And I'd be like, you know what, Mr. Client, I understand you're upset, but I think this is a relationship that we need to take in a different direction.
[08:51 -> 09:01] So I do greatly appreciate your business. We will refund, you know, your monthly charge for the rest of the month because obviously we're not going to be working together anymore.
[09:01 -> 09:09] And, you know, I wish you nothing but the best of luck in the future. That's it. I've said that to clients and I have fired them.
[09:09 -> 09:18] This is your agency. This is your business. You do not have to be, you know, a punching bag. And sometimes you will be.
[09:18 -> 09:26] But if you handle it, just like I did, you're going to be just fine. Sometimes, like I said, they want an ear. They're going to complain about other parts of their business.
[09:26 -> 09:38] They're going to complain about other marketing tactics they have that's not working. They might be saying, well, do you, you know, we've been doing some SEO and we haven't been getting any traction of it for a while or whatever.
[09:39 -> 09:48] And, you know, I just try to stay out of those conversations. I will give them my advice because I've got a lot of experience in a lot of different marketing areas when it comes to this.
[09:48 -> 09:58] But for the most part to say, you know, I hear that from a lot of business owners. Okay. Just kind of giving you some ideas of what you're going to come up to.
[09:58 -> 10:05] So what you should be having and if you approach it the right way is that you should be having constructive conversations.
[10:05 -> 10:18] Right. We send those emails out to those clients to let them know we want to talk to them. And if they are pissed, which if you would call them up and just be trying, some people would say, well, why don't you reach out to the clients?
[10:18 -> 10:24] Because I want to be reached out to them when they're ready to talk and when they are not emotional.
[10:24 -> 10:34] If I call them and they're having a bad day, it's going to be a bad conversation. But if I send that email out and they're thinking about it and they're like, oh, I need to come up with a call.
[10:34 -> 10:45] I need to talk to Mike. I'm going to schedule this call. If they're upset by the time that call comes around, they've had time to chill out. Okay.
[10:45 -> 10:55] If they are angry about maybe they've had some bad leads because somebody's looking for a competitor or whatever might be, you know, you're not catching them in that moment.
[10:55 -> 11:05] A lot of times, like I said, my clients will schedule conversations and by the time we get to them, they're like, well, I was seeing this, but now I'm not. I think we're all good.
[11:05 -> 11:14] Literally, I have 30 second conversation. Great. You let me know what I can do differently or what you're seeing. If you're seeing any problems, but if you're seeing those patterns, right?
[11:14 -> 11:23] Don't wait. Let me know as soon as you can. You know, that's it. I just wanted to give you an idea of some things to expect, what you're going to run into.
[11:23 -> 11:28] And some of the conversations that you are going to be having on a regular basis. All right. See you in the next training.

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--- FULL TRANSCRIPT ---
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Alright, so when those clients do schedule those calls with you, I want to give you kind of an idea of how some of those conversations are going to go. But if you have listened and you follow this training, a lot of those conversations should be set up to be very constructive. Because we are putting the client in the situation that we're like, listen, here's our calendar. You schedule with us when it's convenient for you. I always leave it open to let them contact me and make sure they understand they can contact me anytime. The calendar is simply a reminder. And you're giving them the opportunity to give you feedback and let you know what's going on in their business when it comes to your marketing. Because if the leads are coming in and they're poor leads, we need to find out why. Are we targeting the wrong people? Do you not want to do those services? Because clients change their minds constantly. And it's not necessarily that they don't want to tell you, it's just that they don't think about it. They're going a million miles an hour in different directions. So if they decide that all of a sudden they don't want to do a certain service anymore, they forget to call and tell you about that. Okay, so some of the things that you're going to hear are, you know what, things are going great. Yep, the leads are coming in and that's obviously what we want to hear. We want to hear that the leads are coming in that they love what we're doing and things couldn't be better. Unfortunately, you're talking to business owners. They're professional firefighters, right? They're putting fires out. They're employees not showing up and payroll issues and a million things going wrong at any one time. So while you love the conversation, things are going great, it's not always what you're going to hear. Now, I don't want this to scare you. I just want to let you know what to expect. So a lot of times you might hear, you know what, we're getting a lot of bad calls or bad leads. And you're going to say, okay, from what? And they're going to give you an idea. Well, they're calling from this location or there's a lot of hang ups or whatever it might be or they're calling for our competitors. That's a big one that you could hear. And this is the way that you approach that. They complain to you and you say, great. All right. So they say, you know what? We've had a lot of calls for our competitors. Okay, which one specifically? And they're going to say ABC company. You're like, awesome. That's the kind of feedback I need to hear because I can go make a change. And, you know, we do block your competitors, but we can't block every single one because, you know, new ones pop up all the time and we're constantly adding them. But that's a great point. I will make sure that we block them right now. That's awesome. That's why we have these calls. Oh, okay. Awesome. You know that you let them know, hey, they're complaining to you and you're like, that's great. Complain away. We can make changes here and keep this going forward. They might say, you know what? We're getting a lot of hang ups. You know, our people are calling for a different service and say, okay, you know what? I'm going to go check in the call tracking and see what I can find out and see in some of the searches and see what I can figure out from that. But I'll check on that. And they're like, all right, awesome. Or, you know, we're getting leads from a bad area. We don't want to service that area. Okay, no problem. I'm looking at your locations here. When we set these up, you had us actually going out over to that area. Do you want me to block that area from now or exclude it? And they're going to be like, yeah, no problem. It's taken care of. So what you're doing is you're just taking their objections, fixing their problems right away. And you're one of the few people that can do this, right? We can make changes to these campaigns very quickly. Another thing, not enough leads. Okay, you know what? This is working, but I'm just not getting enough leads. Now, if they're in that first 60 to 90 day time frame with you, you just say, listen. All right, Mr. Customer, I hear what you're saying. This is one of those reasons why we need 60 to 90 days to really dial this in. You know what? Sometimes these campaigns start out faster, sometimes slower, but we have to get enough statistics to make the right kinds of changes. And that's why we give you that time frame and what to expect because it sometimes can take that long. You know, we're working as fast and as hard as we can to make that happen sooner. But once we make changes, we have to give the system time to catch up with those changes. We can't go in and make a thousand changes to your campaign because we have a specific process that we have to follow. And we're not sure which one worked if we make that many. So we have to make some changes, let it work, make some changes, let it work. And then when you explain it to them like that, they're like, oh, okay, you know, I get it. We did talk about that 60 to 90 days. You set these clients expectations up front the right way. And, you know what? There's really nowhere for them to go because we have everything coming up to these conversations. We have already talked to them about 60 to 90 days. We're constantly making changes, right? All of these different things. How can we do more? They're going to be like, all right, this is going great. How can we, you know, can we just double the budget? What do we need to do? And you will get those conversations and you need to set their expectations again. All right, Mr. Client, yes, we can definitely up your budget, but we have to do it in increments. The Google algorithm is kind of goofy. And if you just say, okay, I'm spending $1,000 a month and we're getting some great results, you can't just give it $2,000 a month to make that change and expect it to happen the same way. You have to do it in increments. So what we can do is we can increase it about 15 to 20%. Today, so if you're spending $1,000 now, we would increase it to, you know, maybe $1,200. We would let that run for about two, three days. And then at that point, we would increase it another 20%. Let it run for two or three days, another 20%. And we'd have to do it in increments. That's going to be the best way to do this. And they're going to be like, awesome. Let's get started. Stratford Cash, you will hear this a lot. Once again, these are business owners. They have a ton of money coming in and going out at all times. And they're going to be like, well, I just don't know how much longer I can afford to do this. Because maybe they're having a bad day. Maybe the leads are up and down. And right now they're down. And I will say, I completely understand. You know, this is a roller coaster. We talked about that. You know, some months are going to be great. Other months are going to be a little bit lower depending on your seasons or your industry. But our goal is to keep it moving forward. And even on the lower months, still show you that return on investment, right? I think we've done that. And he's going to be like, well, yeah, you know, it's just, it's expensive. And I'm like, yep, I completely understand. It isn't expensive service, but you're also putting your ads in front of people when they're looking for you. And as far as marketing goes, it's one of the most effective kinds. I just leave it at that. And they're usually like, yeah, yeah, yeah. When they're saying they're strapped for cash, that means they have an ear. They have your ear and they just need to vent. Okay. Some of these business owners are going to vent in big bad ways. I've had them literally yelling and screaming at me just because maybe they had an argument with an employee and they're pissed off and they're like, this isn't working anymore as soon as they get me on the phone. And I'm going to be like, okay, but when I sent you that email and you schedule the call, everything was going great. So walk me through what you're seeing on your end. And usually by the end of the call, they were just venting. You know, they're just, they're the business owner. They think they're the big bad boss and they can sometimes take it out on you. And I've had conversations with clients and said, Mr. Client, listen, I understand you're upset. Number one, I'm not sure why because we have been doing our job and showing you that consistent return on investment. But I don't appreciate being talked to or spoken down to like a child. And if that's how you want this relationship to be, then I'm afraid I'm going to need to change this relationship. And right there, everything goes quiet. You know, I didn't get mad. I'm not in a screaming match with them, but I'm not going to let them treat me like an employee, even though they do pay us, but we're a partner with them, right? I'm not going to let them treat me or talk down to me like that. I handled it very calmly and I handled exactly how I just told you. I've never lost a client doing that. I have fired several and said, and they will continue to go off. And I'd be like, you know what, Mr. Client, I understand you're upset, but I think this is a relationship that we need to take in a different direction. So I do greatly appreciate your business. We will refund, you know, your monthly charge for the rest of the month because obviously we're not going to be working together anymore. And, you know, I wish you nothing but the best of luck in the future. That's it. I've said that to clients and I have fired them. This is your agency. This is your business. You do not have to be, you know, a punching bag. And sometimes you will be. But if you handle it, just like I did, you're going to be just fine. Sometimes, like I said, they want an ear. They're going to complain about other parts of their business. They're going to complain about other marketing tactics they have that's not working. They might be saying, well, do you, you know, we've been doing some SEO and we haven't been getting any traction of it for a while or whatever. And, you know, I just try to stay out of those conversations. I will give them my advice because I've got a lot of experience in a lot of different marketing areas when it comes to this. But for the most part to say, you know, I hear that from a lot of business owners. Okay. Just kind of giving you some ideas of what you're going to come up to. So what you should be having and if you approach it the right way is that you should be having constructive conversations. Right. We send those emails out to those clients to let them know we want to talk to them. And if they are pissed, which if you would call them up and just be trying, some people would say, well, why don't you reach out to the clients? Because I want to be reached out to them when they're ready to talk and when they are not emotional. If I call them and they're having a bad day, it's going to be a bad conversation. But if I send that email out and they're thinking about it and they're like, oh, I need to come up with a call. I need to talk to Mike. I'm going to schedule this call. If they're upset by the time that call comes around, they've had time to chill out. Okay. If they are angry about maybe they've had some bad leads because somebody's looking for a competitor or whatever might be, you know, you're not catching them in that moment. A lot of times, like I said, my clients will schedule conversations and by the time we get to them, they're like, well, I was seeing this, but now I'm not. I think we're all good. Literally, I have 30 second conversation. Great. You let me know what I can do differently or what you're seeing. If you're seeing any problems, but if you're seeing those patterns, right? Don't wait. Let me know as soon as you can. You know, that's it. I just wanted to give you an idea of some things to expect, what you're going to run into. And some of the conversations that you are going to be having on a regular basis. All right. See you in the next training.

