Firing My Share Of Marketing Managers
Kelly’s story…
Kelly McQueen and Lorin Barnes, Opti-Vise IT
Founded by my father and brother, Opti-Vise IT has been serving Eaton, Ohio, and the surrounding area for 15 years. As our director of sales and marketing for 10 years, I got Robin’s Toolkit years ago (though it sat on the shelf for far too long) and have worked to implement many of her operational business processes over the years.
While I wanted to implement much of Robin’s marketing, we needed to first build the structure and sales process to better support a marketing effort. Otherwise, any leads would die on the vine.
For years, I knew I needed help with marketing execution. But two different times we hired marketing managers…and then quickly fired them. The first girl I hired had a marketing degree. And while we had the Toolkit, we didn’t go through Robin’s Rapid Implementation Workshop with her. Plus, we didn’t have the MAP CRM Keap. But she did NOTHING. Produced NOTHING. So, we let her go and went back to practically no marketing.
My next “marketing manager” was actually an engineering student. Guess I should have known how that would end. She was terrified of making follow-up phone calls. I literally covered her monitor with supportive messages on Post-it Notes, like: “You can do this!” and “Just make the calls!” Didn’t work, and she became my next victim.
Finally Finding My Perfect Marketing Manager!
Lorin Barnes is a family friend. She posted on LinkedIn that she was in her last year of college as a strategic communications major and was looking for opportunities. So, I reached out and asked if she was interested in an internship to help us with our new website. She said YES!
Baptism by fire, Lorin’s first week on the job had her flying to Orlando to spend Boot Camp with me and Robin. Next, we jumped right into Rapid Implementation, where we could both get a full introduction into sales and marketing. This time, I was going to arm my marketing manager with all the tools to help make her role successful: Done-For-You Newsletter – check! Done-For-You Website – got it! Keap, Accelerators Club support, everything.
‘Knowledge In Order’ Before Execution
Just like my previous marketing manager, who had Post-it Notes covering her monitor, I keep a big and bold note on my own monitor. It reads, “Knowledge In Order,” to remind me daily that things need to be executed in a strategic order. Knowledge means nothing if you don’t know how to put it to work.
With Robin’s marketing process, there’s so much information – you need to know what you must understand and apply today so all of that can turn into something great. Sure, I had the Toolkit before. Yes, I went through Rapid Implementation before. But without knowledge in order (and Lorin), we couldn’t make it work.
See the marketing examples here!
Doubling And Tripling Client Contracts,
We Surpassed $100K In MRR!
We have 70 contracted clients on three- and five-year plans, and several of our larger clients were coming up for renewal. In years past, asking for just a 5% increase in MRR was like pulling teeth.
But after bringing on Lorin, going through Rapid and executing more marketing than we’ve ever done, it was the perfect storm of opportunity for us. These clients were now getting regular e-mails from us. They were seeing our new and improved website. They were responding to our social media posts. Our professionalism and credibility shot through the roof as we LOOKED and ACTED like a multimillion-dollar MSP.
We were surprised at how easy it was to upsell during our quarterly business reviews. Clients who were once hesitant were DOUBLING and TRIPLING their contracts! Not only were we upselling new cyber security services, we were upselling our agreement level. And EASILY! Many of them renewed at significantly higher MRR. In 15+ years, this had never before happened for us.
We upsold $1,080,190 in new contracted revenue, bringing our monthly MRR to well over $100,000 – a 29% INCREASE! Plus, we booked $97,170 in project work.
In Just 3 Months,
Our New Marketing Manager Increased Our Website Users By 139.7%!
Lorin here…
While I studied marketing and communications in college, I knew nothing about the IT industry. Instead of a curse, that was actually a blessing because I came in fresh, just like our prospects do. To get up to speed, I watched a ton of Robin’s webinars and videos on the Dashboard. Plus, I combed through every minute of her Digital Marketing Blueprint.
Kelly’s top need was for me to rewrite the Opti-Vise IT website. It was severely outdated and needed to better reflect how we stood apart from other Ohio MSPs. I took on that massive project from my dorm while finishing my college degree.
Yes, I rewrote our ENTIRE website, including our home page, Top Reasons Why Opti-Vise Should Support Your Computer Network and all our services. It WORKED! During Rapid Implementation, our website users increased 139.7%, and we had 1,900 unique visitors in that three-month period.
Boosting Our Credibility With 42+ Social Media Posts
Before getting hired, Opti-Vise IT’s social media exposure was nonexistent. My goal was twofold: first, to add credibility with the amount of content we were putting out on a regular basis, and second, to point traffic to our website and boost SEO. Since the beginning of the Rapid Implementation Workshop, we have had over 42 custom social media posts on both Facebook and LinkedIn, and now I’m using Hootsuite to schedule a post for every business day.
As a strategic communications major, I have always been very intentional about what we post. I dive into the analytics to learn what gets viewed, liked and shared. It’s clear that our audience likes to see the faces of the people they’ve worked with. In addition, I post testimonials, as well as Robin’s resources, with a call to action for a free report or discovery call.
My First Ever Webinar – 18 Attendees And Lots Of Upsells!
While at Boot Camp, we partnered with a new cyber security vendor. We figured a webinar was the best way we could promote our cyber security capabilities. There was just one problem: I had never done a webinar before.
So, I taught myself how to do a webinar, created a new cyber security e-mail campaign and sent it out to our clients through Keap. Before we had even left the Rapid Implementation Workshop, we got eight responses! Eighteen clients sat for the webinar and several of them bought the cyber security package.
Scoring 22 New Testimonials In Just 48 Hours
Transformed Our SEO!
Being new to Technology Marketing Toolkit’s MAP CRM program, I wanted to start small. Therefore, I ran an e-mail broadcast through Keap for our Google review campaign.
Kelly and I were shocked by the results. In just two days, we received 22 new five-star Google reviews, which gave us quality testimonials we can use throughout our marketing. Plus, all those new reviews helped our SEO immensely, bumping us from the bottom of the search page to the TOP in just 24 hours!
Want More Local Prospects To FIND YOU?
It’s Just 3 Little Words
Before working at Opti-Vise IT, I didn’t even know Google My Business (GMB) was a thing. But it’s been a game changer for us. I took time to optimize our GMB profile before requesting our Google reviews. Plus, I’ve started posting on GMB to give us additional SEO juice so more insurance companies, CPAs and financial firms in the Greater Dayton, Ohio, area can find us.
Making Our Shock-And-Awe Box Even More Shocking
Before starting with Robin’s Aspirin campaign, we made sure we could deliver an over-the-top first impression. We accomplished this by completing our Shock-And-Awe box, which now contains copies of our Done-For-You Newsletter, Client Bill Of Rights, 21 Questions Report and, most importantly, a printed booklet of 43 solid client testimonials. With every first-time appointment, Kelly and I send out this impressive box to help seal the deal!
Finally Ready To Send Out Some Aspirin!
After completely overhauling our website, our next major goal was to launch the Aspirin campaign. We worked with our Sherpas to make sure we were doing it right by including the e-mail and LinkedIn follow-up, as well as the phone calls. We tweaked the copy to target insurance agencies and sent to qualified agencies within an hour radius. Plus, we added testimonials from insurance agencies to the back of the letter.
Then, on the eighth call, PAY DIRT! I called an insurance company with 15 seats that will be booking a call with us soon. Since the start of this campaign, we have booked one discovery call and sat four new appointments!
Check out the EXACT marketing examples here!
Lorin’s Advice: Everything Feeds Into Everything Else
Want to know our secret for maximizing exposure while minimizing time? We repurpose EVERYTHING! For example, not only did our new Google reviews boost our SEO, it gave us more testimonials, which we put on our website, promote on Google My Business, continuously highlight on social media and even put on the back of our sales letters!
Kelly’s Advice: You Can’t Do It All By Yourself
My advice is to get someone on your team to help with execution. I wish I had found Lorin 10 years ago… But then, she would have been like 11. Also, I’ve gone through Rapid Implementation twice now, but I could probably go through it five more times and still get something out of it. It really does take hearing these concepts and strategies over and over again for them to finally stick.
We Added Over $1M In Upsells Alone In Just 3 Months!
We have applied the knowledge we’ve gained from Robin, developing internal processes that will support the major growth we know will result from this strategic marketing effort. Now we have a website that converts, ongoing SEO, prospecting campaigns, webinars under our belt, a super successful internal QBR process, plenty of industry events scheduled and clarity on our USP and target market. Our new and improved processes and campaigns have given us new confidence that will help us grow at a RAPID pace.
By adding $1,080,190 in upsells, we have increased our MRR by 29% – the fastest growth we’ve had in our 15-year history! We also booked $97,170 in project work and added one new client worth $17,316 in revenue. If this dynamic duo can accomplish this in just three months, watch out, 2022!
