Rooted In Revenue

Susan Finch & Lany Sullivan
  • 5.0 (2)
  • Marketing
  • Biweekly

Revenue and sales are built on a solid operational foundation that allows marketing to thrive in an ever-changing environment with technology. Brought to you by speaker, branding strategist, producer Susan Finch, and Lany Sullivan, Fractional COO, and Strategic Consultant. This show is part of Funnel Media Group’s monthly line-up of podcasts.

  1. 4d ago

    Your PDF Passed the Accessibility Check and Still Fails Your Readers

    Susan Finch was asked to quote a document accessibility project for a state agency. She went through every file, found more than the request covered, and sent back a list of questions. She admits she brought those questions too soon. In this solo episode, Susan talks about where the real work hides in making a report accessible, why charts and tables matter so much, and why printed pieces need attention too. She also shares how the agency answered and what she would change about how she asked. If you quote, buy, or publish reports, brochures, or PDFs, this episode will help you decide what to raise before you price a job, what to put in writing, and what can wait until you are hired. The companion quoting checklist is on the blog here.    Key points The text is easy. The real hours in accessibility work go to charts, tables, and image descriptions. Describe the finding. Alt text that repeats a chart title tells a screen reader user nothing about what the chart shows. Never guess the numbers. When charts are flat pictures, ask for the source data instead of estimating values. Print needs care too. Type size, paper finish, and color shifts decide whether a printed piece can be read. Disclose without stalling. Put risks and costs in the quote as written assumptions instead of open questions. Good questions build trust. A job that does not happen right now can still leave the door open.

  2. Oct 19

    Why Your Church Newsletter Doesn't Belong in Your Business Inbox

    A client opened an email from his church asking for help. He clicked the link, filled out a form, and reset his password. Ten minutes later, a second email warned him it was fake. In this solo episode, Susan Finch walks through what happened next, what could have happened, and the one setup decision that kept it from reaching the rest of his firm. She talks about why church, school, shopping, and subscription sign-ups don't belong in a business inbox, why forwarding work email to a personal account causes trouble, and why outdated email programs need to go. She also makes the case for a written email policy that staff talk through, sign, and revisit once or twice a year. Listeners can download a free starter policy template with discussion questions built in. Key Points Trusted senders get spoofed. The fake email used the name and look of his own church, which is exactly why he clicked. One login opens everything. In Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, the email password also opens Drive, OneDrive, shared folders, and client files. Separate admin account matters. The firm's admin login was a different account, so the compromised inbox couldn't reach every other user. Keep personal sign-ups out. Church, school, shopping, and subscriptions each keep a list that can leak your work address and who you trust. No forwarding, no mixing. Forwarding to personal Gmail, or pulling one system into another, puts company mail where nobody controls it. Write it, sign it, review it. A policy only works if staff understand it, sign it, and see it updated once or twice a year.

  3. Oct 7

    The Subscriptions You Forgot and the Domains You Don't Control

    Q4 is a good time to find out where your money is going. In this solo episode of Rooted in Revenue, Susan Finch walks through a year-end cleanup most business owners skip. She starts with the subscriptions that renew quietly every month or once a year, from CRMs, MLS fees, and AI tools to the Amazon subscriptions that come back after you cancel them. She also covers domains, which is where a forgotten renewal gets expensive. Five of her clients lost their websites in the last three months because a former marketing company registered their domains under its own name and credit card. Susan talks through what belongs on your list, who should be getting renewal notices, and why checking your own website regularly matters more than most people think. If your business runs on tools and domains you haven't looked at in a while, start here.

  4. Aug 26

    Your Company Name is NOT the Place to DIY

    Naming your company is not a job for a Friday night and a six pack. On this episode, Susan breaks down the naming mistakes she runs into constantly with DIY clients, names nobody can spell, names so long the URL wraps around a football jersey, and taglines that are just template filler nobody bothered to replace. She walks through real examples, including a flower shop called Petallica and a fish and chips stand called Frying Nemo, plus a client who brought in a domain without checking who already owned the .com. Susan covers what to check before you fall in love with a name, trademarks, state business licenses, WhoIs lookups, and why your tagline needs to come from a mission statement, not a mood. If you have not locked in your name yet, listen before you print anything. 6 Key Points Spell it out loud test If someone can't spell your company name after hearing it once, you've already lost them. Length kills the URL A name so long it barely fits a domain is a name people will never type correctly. Check before you fall in love Trademarks, state business licenses, and WhoIs lookups all happen before you commit, not after. Vague names say nothing A name that could belong to any industry does the opposite of what a name is supposed to do. Domains carry hidden risk Not checking who owns the .com can land you next to content you never wanted your brand near. Taglines need a mission first A real tagline gets derived from a mission statement, not pulled from a template.

  5. Jun 23

    Stop Building Pages That Dead End. Start Earning the Next Conversation

    Two unrelated client projects landed in Susan Finch's lap the same week — a document hub for Dan Pflugshaupt (Gallery of Homes, CSSE, NRBA) and FAQ content built for AI answer engines for Michele Scherger on Florida's Treasure Coast. Different clients, different states, same underlying problem: ads and content that dump people on a homepage instead of giving them a real answer. Susan walks through what changes when every page has to stand completely on its own, why Corey Frank and Chris Beall's "earn the next conversation, not the close" philosophy from Market Dominance Guys applies far beyond sales calls, and how a resource hub organized by real-world sequence beats a folder full of files every time. Includes a practical homework list anyone can run on their own site this week.   00:00 — Cold open: two different client projects, same underlying problem 01:15 — The wasted click: ads that dump people on a homepage 02:00 — The test: would this page help someone who never buys from you? 02:51 — Corey Frank and Chris Beall: earn the next conversation, not the close 03:37 — Dan Pflugshaupt's document hub as the working example 04:28 — Why it's a landing page with a request-it CTA, not a shared drive 05:09 — Organizing by situation and transaction sequence, not alphabetically 07:44 — Don't gate everything behind a form too early 08:00 — The naming convention nobody wants to talk about 08:49 — Pivot to Michele Scherger's FAQ project and the answer engine angle 09:18 — Why AI answer engines reward clear, complete answers 10:29 — Dan's six-category hub structure, sequenced by real transaction flow 11:09 — Walk beside your site visitors, don't rush the close 12:02 — Homework: audit your last three ad campaigns 13:18 — What analytics can't tell you — ask your team 13:42 — The Binky Patrol example: people couldn't find what was obvious to Susan 14:49 — Teach your team how to use the hub you already built 15:33 — The offer: ask for an independent review, Austin tells you the truth 16:17 — Close: earning the next conversation, credit to Corey and Chris

  6. May 12

    The Real Reason Your Agency Keeps Getting Stuck

    When agency owners hit a wall, the first instinct is usually to add a new tool — a new Slack channel, a project management upgrade, maybe an AI feature. Melissa Morris, founder of Agency Authority, says that is almost never the fix. In this episode, Susan Finch and Melissa dig into why communication overload and workflow chaos are not tool problems — they are clarity problems. Before any tool can work, the workflow has to be documented, the offer has to be defined, and the team has to be part of the conversation. Melissa's track and field analogy makes the whole thing click: if the hurdles are too close together, new tracksuits will not help. You need to spread them out. Find out what she asks clients before she ever touches a tool — and why the answers are always in the room. Find more at rootedinrevenue.com. About Melissa Morris: As the founder of Agency Authority, an operations consultancy for agency owners, she uses her 10 years agency experience to help business owners maximize their team, increase their productivity, and grow their profits. Firmly committed to breaking the ‘long hours and bad pay’ stigma that plagues the agency world, she and her team help business owners and their team members do the work they love without sacrificing client satisfaction, the bottom line, or their own sanity. Free offer For anyone resonating with our chat and is looking to get more support or connecting with Melissa they can go to youragencyauthority.com/learnmore.  Connect with Melissa: www.youragencyauthority.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissavmorris/ https://www.instagram.com/youragencyauthority/ https://www.facebook.com/agencyauthority

  7. May 6

    What Actually Keeps a Podcast Going Past Episode Three

    Most podcasts don't die because the host runs out of things to say. They die because nobody wrote anything down. In this solo episode, Susan Finch walks through the operational framework Funnel Media Group uses to keep shows running — even when teams shift, guests go quiet, or life gets in the way. She covers the non-negotiables: documented SOPs for every step from guest outreach to post-production, numbered episode folders, a shared master tracking spreadsheet, templates for audio, video, and clips, a link to your branding guide, and a boost package strategy that actually gets your guests to share the episode. Short, practical, worth bookmarking. If your show has started and stalled, or you want to set it up right from the beginning, this is where to start.

  8. Apr 22

    Getting It Out of Their Heads and Into Your Business

    You did your homework from Key Man Part 1. You know who your key people are. Now what? Susan Finch and Lany Sullivan are back — still in the same room, still making the most of Lany's four-hour drive to tackle the part most business owners skip: how to actually approach your team about documentation without triggering a panic spiral. Someone's going to feel like their job is on the line. Someone's going to get squirrely. That's normal. Lany and Susan walk you through how to handle the egos, frame the conversation, and make documentation something your team actually gets behind. Plus: why your money is really in your operations, the authenticator PSA you didn't know you needed, why you never put employee names in an SOP, and how to make the whole thing a little bit fun. Part 2 of the Key Person series — don't skip Part 1.

See All (100)

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

Revenue and sales are built on a solid operational foundation that allows marketing to thrive in an ever-changing environment with technology. Brought to you by speaker, branding strategist, producer Susan Finch, and Lany Sullivan, Fractional COO, and Strategic Consultant. This show is part of Funnel Media Group’s monthly line-up of podcasts.

Information

  • Creator
    Susan Finch & Lany Sullivan
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2026
  • Episodes
    100
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 All rights reserved. Produced by Susan Finch and Lany Sullivan
  • Show Website
    Rooted In Revenue