The Deep Specialization Podcast Corey Quinn

"The average small business uses over three dozen different pieces of software to run different aspects of their business."  – Jeff Tomlin, Co-Founder & CMO of Vendasta

If you had to summarize Vendasta’s marketplace for small and medium sized agencies, it would be, in Jeff’s words, “Business in a box”. 

Vendasta gives 80k+ agencies a full-stack platform to rebrand and resell online services to local business clients, granting them the scalability of a SaaS recurring revenue model. Simplifying operations, the company lets agencies acquire, retain, expand and manage clients all in one place, removing many of the pain points agencies face as they’re looking to grow their business.

Jeff joins The Deep Specialization Podcast to share his 17-year founder journey, going from building solutions for the media vertical and reputation management software to shaping up what Vendasta is known for today: a central online growth hub for agencies.

Jeff and Corey dive into topics like finding product fit, building Vendasta, successes and failures, as well as invaluable leadership lessons accumulated along the way.

Here’s what we cover in this episode:


Vendasta’s 17-year journey and Jeff’s background.
Typical inefficiencies in running a small business tech stack at an agency.
The audacious goal Jeff’s team is working towards.
Differentiation and positioning.

Here are some actionable key takeaways for agency founders:


If you’re offering solutions, building a suite can 3x retention rates.
As you grow, be mindful of your growing tech stack and how to manage it.
Embrace agility as a young organization, and don’t be afraid to fail.
Don’t get caught up in the minutia of operations, build workflows with tech, instead.

The resources mentioned in this episode are:


Connect with Jeff on LinkedIn Here
Check out Vendasta Here

👍If you liked this episode, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, and be sure to hit the subscribe button! 🔔

😡Frustrated with a lack of results from outbound? I'd like to give you my free 6-day email course that will transform your outbound program from broken to consistently driving new sales opportunities.Sign up here: GetOutboundROI.com.

 

Episode: 7
Chapter Seven of Anyone, Not Everyone advises on the importance of understanding your competition in the chosen vertical market, with 90% of marketers reporting positive outcomes from such research. It suggests balancing competitive analysis with a focus on clients, emphasizing that overconcentration on competitors may lead to reactive, non-client-focused decisions.

This chapter guides readers through a three-step process to identify, research, and document findings on competitors to better position and market their agency services effectively. Reminder that this is a chapter in Corey Quinn’s book, Anyone, Not Everyone. Over the next few weeks, we'll be releasing a few chapters at a time so that you can escape founder-led sales.

If you want to read or listen to the entire book today, then visit www.AnyoneNotEveryone.com and pick up a copy.

"The higher that gross margin is, the more optionality you have to make deliberate decisions about your agency."  – Marcel Petitpas, Co-Founder & CEO of Parakeeto

Agency founders are often incredible visionaries when it comes to their core competency, but financials are rarely something they enjoy or excel at (pun intended). Between billable hours, shifting client scopes, clients scaling up or down, time-tracking, and pass-through costs, it’s no easy feat, either.

In that vein, today’s guest has seen seven-figure agencies being run fully out of spreadsheets (and he’s here to change that). Marcel Petitpas, agency financials guru (and Co-founder of Parakeeto) is here to break down the ABCs of agency profitability. 

Marcel’s shop, Parakeeto, is a consultancy and SaaS company that comes in to help agencies pass the next growth threshold at the point where they need more structured data operations to run financials and profitability, but aren’t quite at the level where they can buy enterprise software or hire internal teams to manage all of it.

Corey and Marcel sit down to break down what a profitable agency is made out of. Agency founders, if there is one episode to earmark for invaluable financial planning advice, this one’s it. 

Here’s what we cover in this episode:


Marcel’s agency growth services from consulting to technology solutions.
Typical financial and growth challenges agency owners face and how to solve for them.
Why agency founders feel like there’s no profit even if they’re busier than ever.
Using data and metrics as a guide to answer the important questions as a founder.

Here are some actionable key takeaways for agency founders:


You need a tighter feedback loop on company financials so you can course correct quicker.
Even custom in-house financial tools can end up costing agencies six figures to maintain; be careful of hidden costs.
When you control your profitability, you can become a lot more deliberate about growing your agency.
Why productizing services is good for the financial health of an agency.

The resources mentioned in this episode are:


Connect with Marcel on LinkedIn Here
Check out Parakeeto & their free resources Here 

👍If you liked this episode, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, and be sure to hit the subscribe button! 🔔

😡Frustrated with a lack of results from outbound? I'd like to give you my free 6-day email course that will transform your outbound program from broken to consistently driving new sales opportunities. Sign up here: GetOutboundROI.com.

Episode: 6
 

Chapter Six of Anyone, Not Everyone stresses the significance of deeply understanding the needs, desires, and fears of your target vertical market to create marketing that resonates and stands out amidst the noise. It guides readers on conducting buyer journey client interviews, a method superior to assumptions or surface-level market research, for crafting highly relevant and impactful marketing messages that echo the specific context and challenges of the vertical buyers.

Reminder that this is a chapter in Corey Quinn’s book, Anyone, Not Everyone. Over the next few weeks, we'll be releasing a few chapters at a time so that you can escape founder-led sales. 

If you want to read or listen to the entire book today, then visit www.AnyoneNotEveryone.com and pick up a copy.

"The two challenges that we see with most agencies are that they don't have a clear growth strategy nor the resources to execute it. "  – Eric Brown, Co-Founder at Blood Sweat & Tears

Most agencies initially grow through founder-led sales and tapping into leads in your network, but what is the next step? Where do agencies typically get stuck and how can they break through?

There are no better people to answer these questions than today’s guests Nora DiNuzzo and Eric Brown, Co-Founders of the agency growth consultancy Blood Sweat & Tears. Between the two, Nora and Eric have decades of experience in agency business development as well as in-house growth roles. Now, they run a successful shop helping agency leaders set and implement growth strategies.

Nora and Eric join the show to discuss their approach to agency growth, and how all agency leaders should set foundational growth strategies to inform their tactics. Perhaps counterintuitively, boiling down growth is much less about your lead generation approach and more about who you are as an agency, how you show up, and whether your audience perceives you to be an authentic player in the space.

But how do you actually take what you learn from theory into practice? Listen in to learn just how. 

Here’s what we cover in this episode:


The Blood Sweat & Tears approach to agency growth.
Hair-on-fire growth challenges agencies face.
The surprising thing weighing down agencies. Hint: It’s not the clients!
How your brand and persona comes into play when driving growth.

Here are some actionable key takeaways for agency founders:


Selling to your network will dry out eventually, you need a growth strategy for the next phase.
Foundational strategies always triumph over tactical growth initiatives.
When you’ve figured out who you are, growth becomes natural.
Get outside perspective when you’re stuck on growth.

The resources mentioned in this episode are:


Connect with Nora on Linkedin Here
Connect with Eric on Linkedin Here
Check out Blood Sweat & Tears Here

👍If you liked this episode, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, and be sure to hit the subscribe button! 🔔

😡Frustrated with a lack of results from outbound? I'd like to give you my free 6-day email course that will transform your outbound program from broken to consistently driving new sales opportunities. Sign up here: GetOutboundROI.com.

Episode: 5
 

Chapter Five of Anyone, Not Everyone introduces a four-step process for selecting the ideal vertical market for your agency, including gathering client data, identifying potential verticals, scoring them based on qualitative and quantitative factors, and finally, validating the market to ensure it can meet your business growth goals.

This systematic approach serves as both an investment and insurance policy against the costly error of choosing an unsuitable vertical, emphasizing that your personal enjoyment of the vertical and alignment with your agency’s vision are crucial for success.

Reminder that this is a chapter in Corey Quinn’s book, Anyone, Not Everyone. Over the next few weeks, we'll be releasing a few chapters at a time so that you can escape founder-led sales. 

If you want to read or listen to the entire book today, then visit www.AnyoneNotEveryone.com and pick up a copy.

This episode was produced by Reignite Media.