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Explore every episode of the podcast The Digital Agency Growth Podcast

Dive into the complete episode list for The Digital Agency Growth Podcast . Each episode is cataloged with detailed descriptions, making it easy to find and explore specific topics. Keep track of all episodes from your favorite podcast and never miss a moment of insightful content.

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TitlePub. DateDuration
Why Most Agencies Lose Q1 (And How You Won't)10 Dec 202500:35:22

What if the agencies that crush Q1 aren't working harder in January, they're making one  or two critical decisions right now, in December?

In this solo episode, Dan reveals why Q1 consistently catches agencies off-guard and what separates those who stumble into the new year from those who hit the ground running. The secret isn't about working through the holidays or setting ambitious goals—it's about installing a systematic referral system during Q4's quieter moments. 

What You'll Leave With:

  • Why trust, not awareness, became the scarce resource after 2020 and how it changes your approach
  • The four stages agencies move through and how to identify which phase you're stuck in
  • The "high school gym vs. NFL stadium" test for choosing the right lead generation strategy based on market size
  • How to structure connector calls to get 2-5 quality referrals from a single conversation
  • The simple human emotion that makes people actually follow through on promised introductions
  • A two-pronged outreach system that keeps your pipeline full even when you're buried in client work
  • Why making it easier for people to help you eliminates the awkwardness of asking for referrals
  • The one free data tool you need to get started without expensive SaaS platforms

Timestamps:

  • [00:00] Introduction: The strange Q4 gap period and what's coming
  • [02:33] The Cobbler's children phase and why most agencies get stuck there
  • [05:00] The four stages of agency growth and how they're detached from revenue
  • [09:15] The 2020 trust recession and why cold outreach stopped working
  • [12:30] High school gym vs. NFL stadium: Choosing the right strategy for your market
  • [16:45] The systematic referral framework: How to generate warm intros weekly
  • [21:20] Structuring connector calls to get 2-5 referrals per conversation
  • [24:10] The emotional game changer that makes introductions actually happen
  • [27:17] Common objections: "This seems like too much work" and "I'm worried about asking for help"
  • [29:35] How this scales beyond your initial network (sprint, jog, run phases)
  • [31:54] The Referral Engine Program and Referral Network Diagnostic offer

Quotes: 

"A lot of agencies end up in level two, which we call the Cobbler's children phase. They have a track record, they've produced results for clients, but new business is very reactive—it's very much catch as catch can." — Dan Englander

"After 2020, we saw a massive shift. Trust became the scarce resource, not awareness. Everyone's inbox is full, everyone's LinkedIn is saturated, and people have gotten really good at tuning out anything that feels like cold outreach." — Dan Englander

"If you're getting on a call a day—like an apple a day keeps the doctor away—or five calls a week, that is usually more than enough to hit 99% of sales goals." — Dan Englander

The Data You Need BEFORE You Build Your 2026 Biz Dev Plan (with Nick Petroski)03 Dec 202500:39:07

If you’re planning your 2026 biz dev strategy without real market data, you’re guessing. In this episode, I talk with friend of the show Nicholas Petroski, founder of Promethean Research and creator of the Digital Agency Referral Playbook, about what the numbers actually say—and how top agencies are using referrals, account growth, and GTM clarity to build next year’s plan. This is the clearest look you’ll get at what’s really moving the needle heading into 2026.

🧭 What You’ll Learn

  • The referral trends shaping 2026 pipeline planning
  • Why most agencies misread pipeline health
  • What data actually predicts account growth
  • The role of referrals in a tighter 2026 GTM
  • Who should really own the referral process
  • How to identify your most valuable connectors
  • Why “good work” isn’t enough to drive intros
  • What the best shops are fixing before January

🕒 Timestamps

00:00 – Why 2026 planning requires real data
 01:02 – Nick’s new research & why referrals matter now
 03:11 – From Random to Repeatable: core findings
 05:45 – Why agencies still handle referrals passively
 07:29 – The shrinking TAM + rising skepticism problem
 09:22 – Who should own referrals (and who shouldn’t)
 12:40 – Cross-sell models that actually grow accounts
 14:36 – Pipeline health vs conversion vs system health
 18:07 – How to operationalize intros without friction
 23:59 – The risk of relying on 1–2 referral sources
 27:26 – Why referrals must be part of your GTM
 29:15 – The mindset shift from “salesy” to consultative
 33:00 – What the data says agencies must fix for 2026

🔑 Key Quotes

“Referrals work—if you treat them like a system, not a hope.” — Nick Petroski


Agencies don’t have a lead problem. They have a clarity problem.” — Nick Petroski


📢 Links and Resources 

From Random to Repeatable: How Agencies Turn Referrals into a Reliable Growth Engine

If you want a repeatable referral system heading into 2026, grab my book 📘 Relationship Sales at Scale

Scaling Past 50 Employees: How seoplus+ Built a Global Agency01 Oct 202500:38:32

In this episode of the Digital Agency Growth Podcast, I’m joined by Brock Murray, co-founder of seoplus+, a digital marketing agency he launched back in 2012 that has grown into a 50+ person team serving clients across North America and beyond.

Brock shares the arc of his journey, from launching his first web hosting business at 14, to building seoplus+ with his partner Eddie, to scaling through multiple growth stages while navigating the challenges of delegation, client specialization, and leadership layers.

If you’re running an agency, this episode is a playbook on scaling without losing touch, adapting to seismic industry shifts like AI search, and building a growth engine that lasts.

⏱️ Timestamps

0:00 – Intro & Brock’s early start in web hosting at age 14

1:00 – Founding seoplus+ in 2012 and partnering with Eddie

2:00 – Growth stages: from the first hire to 10, 25, and 50 employees

3:30 – The challenge of scaling culture and building management layers

5:00 – Hybrid account management and the role of AMs in sales

7:00 – Upsells, long-term relationships, and winning bigger accounts

9:30 – Balancing farming existing clients vs. chasing new ones

12:00 – Building a partner program: from 20 informal partners to 80+ active ones

15:00 – Partnerships vs. web leads vs. outbound

16:00 – Scaling from meetups to AI-focused community events

18:00 – Outbound experiments: Apollo, coffee chats, and free AI brand audits

20:00 – Structuring partnerships transparently and acquiring a partner’s business

23:00 – Fractional CMOs (VCMOs) as high-value partners

24:00 – How Brock got out of the sales seat and what made it possible

27:00 – Building trust and reach through events—local vs. national scale

30:00 – Fewer clicks from Google, more searches on ChatGPT & Gemini

32:00 – Launching Generative Engine Optimization and building AI tools internally

34:00 – Why agencies can now afford to build internal products

35:00 – The future of SEO: rebrand or double down?

37:00 – Where to connect with Brock online


🔑 What You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • How Brock scaled seoplus+ from two partners to a 50+ person global agency.
  • The “resistance line” at 50 employees and how to push through.
  • Why hybrid account management can be both a strength and a bottleneck.
  • How to use events as a serious new business channel (without getting stuck locally).
  • Why partnerships with VCMOs and boutique agencies can lead to acquisitions.
  • How outbound campaigns, coffee chats, and case studies fuel growth.
  • Why clicks from Google are dropping and what Generative Engine Optimization means for agencies.
  • How to leverage AI tools internally to save hundreds of hours and increase ROI.
  • The looming question: does SEO need a rebrand in the age of AI?

🔗 Links & Resources

Joe Ardeeser on How to Build Agency Proposals Lightning-Fast and Let Prospects Upsell Themselves14 Jun 202300:42:17

Proposals can be a big reason your sales funnel slows down. Especially right now, as we’re seeing recession tendencies, the trend is that leads are still coming in, but closing deals takes a LOT longer. So what can you do to speed up the process and sign more clients? 

Today, Jore Ardeeser is here to talk about his passion for proposals and how you can create them more quickly and easily than ever before. This week, episode 186 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about how to build agency proposals lightning-fast and let prospects upsell themselves!

Are you leaving money on the table with your proposals? Introducing Smart Pricing Table, the ultimate agency proposal software with built-in upsell features. Maximize your revenue potential today. Download our Sponsor’s free guide, the Profitable Proposal Blueprint, today. 

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Joe Ardeeser shares the importance of knowing when your prospects open and reviewing your proposals and actionable steps you can take right now to upsell your clients on larger packages quickly and easily!

Joe Ardeeser is a former digital agency owner of 12 years who has worked with notable brands such as T-mobile, Bluetooth, and Scantron. His newest venture is Smart Pricing Table: interactive proposal software for agencies and professional service providers.

In this episode, Dan and Joe discuss the following:

  • Why you should think about proposals like a brochure.
  • The power of not making assumptions about your client’s needs.
  • How to slice and dice a current offer so the base items are more affordable, but you still make your upselling items appealing.
  • Tactics for managing scope creep in your contracts.


Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/


CONNECT WITH JOE ARDEESER:

LinkedIn

Smart Pricing Table website

Free Guide


CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema

Brenton Thomas on Growing a Boutique Agency with Marketing Automation07 Jun 202300:29:20

Marketing is one of the biggest factors in whether or not an agency is successful. But for the new agency, with limited time and resources, marketing takes up the valuable time in which you should be making discovery calls and signing contracts. Automation can help you find qualified leads without adding an additional 40 hours to your work week. This week, episode 185 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about growing a boutique agency with marketing automation!

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Brenton Thomas shares the importance of creating a low barrier of entry for your clients and actionable steps you can take right now to automate your marketing to whatever level your agency requires. 

Brenton Thomas has 7+ years of paid search, paid social, organic social media, and SEO experience in both corporate and agency roles. He is the founder of Twibi, a digital marketing agency that has worked with businesses valued at over $1 billion dollars to bootstrapped startups. He also has an MBA in International Marketing from Saint Mary's College of California. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with friends and family.

In this episode, Dan and Brenton discuss the following:

  • Brenton’s journey that led him to create Twibi.
  • Specializing and niching down in a crowded market.
  • Effective upselling strategies for both new and existing clients.
  • How to automate your marketing to save time and energy that can be put back into your business.


Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/


CONNECT WITH BRENTON THOMAS:

Linkedin

Twibi


CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema

Raul Hernandez-Ochoa on Building a High-Profit Agency31 May 202300:47:29

In this wide business world, there are many ways to build a high-profit agency. Different strategies and tactics will work for different people, and there are consultants everywhere that are trying to sell you on their proprietary “secrets”. So how DO you build a high-profit agency in a sustainable way? And how do the concerns vary as you increase your revenue? Raul Hernandez-Ochoa is here today to talk about all that and more. This week, episode 184 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about building a high-profit agency!

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Raul Hernandez-Ochoa shares the importance of creating ‘stickiness’ to keep your clients from leaving and actionable steps you can take right now to position your agency for exponential growth. 

Raul Hernandez-Ochoa is the founder of Do Good Work, a digital growth consulting practice that helps bootstrapped digital marketing agencies design profitable growth & operations to scale their impact. He has also helped design marketing and sales teams that have produced millions in revenue, designed revenue teams that produced $50M in sales, and been responsible for over $25M in direct response ad spend and led teams across 12+ time zones.

In this episode, Dan and Raul discuss the following:

  • J-curve growth versus staircase growth.
  • The steps of scaling sustainably as your agency grows.
  • What is productizing and how it can help you streamline your sales funnel.
  • Predictions on how AI can help the agency leader as a co-pilot consultant.

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/


CONNECT WITH RAUL HERNANDEZ-OCHOA:

LinkedIn

Do Good Work

Twitter


CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema

Ron Story Jr. on Sales, Acquisition, and Relationship Building24 May 202300:40:08

If you're in sales, you know that building strong relationships is key to success. But there are lots of other factors to consider as well, including whether to acquire a business or start it from scratch and how much AI to incorporate into your process. This week, episode 183 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about sales, acquisition, and relationship building!

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Ron Story Jr. shares the importance of crafting your message for your specific audience and actionable steps you can take right now to turn your list of email addresses into relationships to avoid cold-emailing people. 

Ron Story Jr. helps entrepreneurs get booked on podcasts and speaking gigs with PitchDB.com and book sales appointments at FiveContacts.com. A speaker, writer, and mentor, Ron has over 20 years of entrepreneurial experience in  Print/Digital Media Publishing, Real Estate Property Management, OTR Trucking, Income Tax Preparation, Financial Services, and more.

In this episode, Dan and Ron discuss the following:

  • The value of podcasting for business owners and entrepreneurs.
  • What AI looks like right now as a sales tool.
  • The current state of the tech industry.
  • Buying a business versus starting one from scratch.

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/


CONNECT WITH RON STORY JR.

LinkedIn

Facebook

Instagram

PitchDB.com




CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema

Sam Jacobs on Reciprocity, Recession, and Building Pavilion17 May 202300:48:59

The tech world is constantly changing, and sales executives often feel the brunt of the changes. Finding a community of others in the same position as you can be all the more helpful when navigating job searches, personnel shifts, and more. 

Today, Sam Jacobs is here to discuss how his peer group Pavilion connects people in the sales world. This week, episode 182 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about reciprocity, recession, and building Pavilion!

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Sam Jacobs shares the importance of knowing your professional strengths and actionable steps you can take right now to find new professionals in your field to add to your network. 

Sam Jacobs is the Founder & CEO of Pavilion and the author of Wall Street Journal Best Seller Kind Folks Finish First. He launched Pavilion as Revenue Collective in 2016 and bootstrapped the company to $10M in ARR before taking on a $25M growth financing round in early 2021, led by Elephant Ventures and GTM Fund.

In this episode, Dan and Sam discuss the following:

  • What it’s like to grow and scale a massive peer group like Pavilion.
  • The importance of personal values and what they mean for your career.
  • The unbalanced structure of the tech industry and what it means for the workforce.
  • What AI will do to change the workforce and technology landscape.


To check out Sam’s book Kind Folks Finish First, head to the Amazon page!

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/


CONNECT WITH SAM JACOBS:

LinkedIn

Twitter

Pavilion

CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema

Dan Andrews on Remote Hiring, Podcasting, and Creating a Community of Entrepreneurs10 May 202300:55:02

Working remotely, though common now, was not well received or often considered in the past decade or so. With the rise of remote work, hiring anyone from anywhere around the world is easier now. But what was the process like back when the idea started to emerge? Today, Dan Andrews is here to talk about all that and more. This week, episode 181 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about remote hiring, podcasting, and creating a community of entrepreneurs! 

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Dan Andrews shares the importance of podcasting for agency owners and actionable steps you can take right now to find networking opportunities when abroad. 

Dan Andrews started the Tropical MBA blog as a job advertisement for a paid intern to join him as he traveled the world building his business with his business partner, Ian Schoen. It has since evolved into a place that location-independent entrepreneurs and folks starting their own businesses turn to for frank disclosures on the inner workings of their own million-dollar eCommerce company, tips and hacks for ex-pat living and travel, and witty commentary on the realities of building your own business to create personal freedom and opportunities.

In this episode, Dan Andrews and Dan Englander discuss the following:

  • What being a digital nomad entrepreneur was like circa 2016.
  • The big trends Dan is seeing in remote hiring given the last few months.
  • Comparing being an agency owner to being a track and field athlete.
  • How AI and technological developments will shape life 10 years from now.


Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/


CONNECT WITH DAN ANDREWS:

LinkedIn

Instagram

Tropical MBA

The Dynamite Circle

CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema

Joe Ardeeser on Optimizing Your Agency’s Proposals and Upsells03 May 202300:38:10

Proposals are the heart of making sales and attracting new clients to your agency. But many agencies are approaching creating, sharing, and closing proposals in a way that hurts business: copying and pasting, chucking it over the fence in hopes that it sticks and sending too many follow-up emails. 

Joe Ardeeser is here to tell us the right, more productive way to create proposals and sign deals. This week, episode 180 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about optimizing your agency’s proposals and upsells!

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Joe Ardeeser shares the importance of proposal review meetings and actionable steps you can take right now to streamline your proposal creation. 

Joe Ardeeser is a former digital agency owner of 12 years who has worked with notable brands such as T-mobile, Bluetooth, and Scantron. His newest venture is Smart Pricing Table: interactive proposal software for agencies and professional service providers.

Free giveaway from Joe at Smart Pricing Table: Wish Your Projects Were More Profitable? Download the Free Guide: The Profitable Proposal Blueprint -Learn the 5 powerful principles that can take your proposals to the next level.

In this episode, Dan and Joe discuss the following:

  • Google Docs and Microsoft Word aren’t built for proposals.
  • How most agencies get pricing tables and proposals wrong. 
  • The value of interactive proposals and proposal review meetings.
  • Asking the right questions will keep prospective clients engaged in the sale - and bring them back if they’ve gone silent.


Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!


Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/


CONNECT WITH JOE ARDEESER:

LinkedIn

Smart Pricing Table website

Free Guide


CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema

Simon Severino on Doubling Your Agency’s Sales Through Sprints26 Apr 202300:38:40

Sales cycles, especially in the B2B space, are often long and arduous. Building trust takes time, and finding the perfect balance of engagement with potential clients takes time to master. Simon Severino is here this week to talk about his tried-and-true methods for shortening your sales cycles and scaling your agency with sprints. This week, episode 179 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about doubling your agency’s sales through sprints!

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Simon Severino shares the importance of mentally preparing to niche down and actionable steps you can take right now to close your sales with any type of buyer. 

Simon Severino is the author of the book Strategy Sprints and the CEO and founder of the consulting firm of the same name. He has helped thousands of entrepreneurs reach financial freedom by scaling their firms to run without being dependent on the owners. Simon is an established speaker, having spoken with TEDX and the highly-acclaimed podcast Entrepreneurs on Fire.

In this episode, Dan and Simon discuss the following:

  • Shortening your sales cycle with a 90-day sprint.
  • How to emotionally prepare to niche down your agency.
  • Allowing early successes before asking an agency to niche down builds confidence.
  • The four different types of buyers you will encounter and how to sell each one.


Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/


CONNECT WITH SIMON SEVERINO:

LinkedIn

Strategy Sprints website

YouTube


CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema

David Rush on Building a Software-Empowered Referral Engine19 Apr 202300:37:23

Sales cycles are getting shorter, and with that comes more strain to get more leads in the pipeline. Referrals and professional introductions are one of the best ways to do this, and can make the difference between closing the deal and an unread email. 

Today’s guest, David Rush, is here to talk about his referral engine SmallWorld and how nurturing your professional relationships makes all the difference. This week, episode 178 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about building a software-empowered referral engine!

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, David Rush shares the importance of building trust in business relationships and actionable steps you can take right now to start making introductions and connections for stronger lead generation.

David Rush is the founder and CEO of SmallWorld, a relationship activation platform that fuels the entire relationship life cycle to unlock more successful introductions and referrals. An experienced entrepreneur and SaaS go-to-market leader, David has built and led growth teams to successful exits multiple times throughout his career. Previously, he was the founder and CEO of Earshot, a social media listening platform for major enterprise brands. David also served as CRO of DialogTech where he led a team of 80+ sales, customer success, channel, and service professionals to drive commercial growth and retention.

In this episode, Dan and David discuss the following:

  • The compression of the sales cycle and what that means for an agency’s selling approach.
  • Streamlining and organizing the referrals and relationships in a company’s network.
  • How SmallWorld adapts to your comfort level of sharing professional contacts.
  • What you should prepare when asking someone else to make an introduction for you.


Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/


CONNECT WITH DAVID RUSH

LinkedIn

SmallWorld.ai

CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema

Kelly Campbell on Selling an Agency to Scaling Dozens of Them [Replay]12 Apr 202300:40:47

Selling an agency doesn’t happen overnight. Neither does figuring out what happens after the sale. Today, Kelly Campbell takes us through their journey of selling their agency and helping many other agencies scale their own. This week, episode 177 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about the journey from selling an agency to scaling dozens of them!

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Kelly Campbell shares the importance of positioning your agency and actionable steps you can take right now to sustainably scale your agency. 

Kelly Campbell is an inspiring speaker on trauma, leadership and consciousness. She is a Conscious Leadership Coach to high-impact leaders. Their holistic approach draws on two decades of experience as the empathetic founder of a cause marketing agency, as an ICF certified trauma-informed coach, and studies in Buddhist psychology, contemplative science, and inner child / shadow work. They are a wise curator, deep connector, and the founder of Consciousness Leaders.

In this episode, Dan and Kelly discuss the following:

  • Doing your due diligence, even during a quick acquisition process.
  • Selling your agency might not bring you immediate happiness.
  • When to hire in-house versus when to work with a partner for certain services.
  • Kelly’s insight on when to scale your agency. 

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/


CONNECT WITH KELLY CAMPBELL:

LinkedIn

Website


CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema

How We Built an Irrigation System for Agency Referrals24 Sep 202500:30:05

Most agencies live and die by referrals.

But here’s the catch:

  • They usually happen randomly.
  • When you do ask for intros, it feels like giving people homework.
  • And even if you’re consistent, it’s hard to know where the real opportunities actually are.

In this solo episode, I share my journey from the “analog networking” days of wandering trade shows… to running hundreds of cold campaigns during the trust recession… to finally cracking the code on how to make referrals systematic, scalable, and predictable.

You’ll learn:

  • Why SaaS-style sales playbooks fail for agencies
  • How to map your connectors against your market to uncover hidden paths into targeted accounts
  • Why reducing friction, not persuasion, makes referrals stick
  • The simple weekly cadence that can turn referrals from “rain dance” to irrigation system


Georg Dauterman on How IT Can Optimize Your Organization05 Apr 202300:50:48

IT services are often an afterthought for agency owners, especially small to medium organizations. But having reliable, professional IT is for more than just fixing a broken laptop or resetting a password. Good IT can also keep your organization running smoothly and looking professional to clients and potential employees. This week, episode 176 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about how IT can optimize your organization!

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Georg Dauterman shares the importance of reliable IT services and actionable steps you can take right now to protect your agency’s data from cyber attacks.

Georg Dauterman is the founder and president of Valiant Technology in New York City. Georg has been working in IT for over 20 years, emphasizing creative organizations such as PR firms and ad agencies. He aims to assist organizations in leveraging technology to accomplish their mission while providing guidance on cybersecurity and technology risk management.

In this episode, Dan and Georg discuss the following:

  • ChatGPT and its role as a tool after the hype has dissipated.
  • The importance of critical thinking and how creative people often make the best technologists.
  • How optimized IT and technology make your agency run more efficiently and appeal to clients and employees alike.
  • Minimizing the risk of a cyber attack with good IT support and protocols.


As Georg mentions in the episode, cyber security is as important to your agency as an attorney or an accountant. Investing in IT is investing in the future of your business!

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/


CONNECT WITH GEORG DAUTERMAN:

Valiant Technology

LinkedIn

YouTube


CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema

Konrad Sanders on Content, ChatGPT, and What it Means for Your Agency29 Mar 202300:57:59

ChatGPT recently took the world by storm, and it seems to be popping up everywhere. With so many tools now available, how is the wide availability of AI generated content going to change the agency space?  This week, episode 175 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about content, ChatGPT, and what it means for your agency!


Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale


In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Konrad Sanders shares the importance of having a unified brand voice through all of your agency’s copy, and actionable steps you can take right now to start learning about AI tools.


Konrad Sanders runs a charming team of strategic word-slingers, known as The Creative Copywriter. They’re a fast-growing content strategy and copywriting agency that blend art with science to help bold brands sell more stuff. His mission? To break the boundaries of corporate dullness. And help companies pierce through the noise with ‘real talk’, ‘word science’ and calculated creativity. 


In this episode, Dan and Konrad discuss the following:

  • Building an agency based on keyword research.
  • The Creative Copywriter’s 13 Lenses framework.
  • How copywriting has changed over time, and what elements have stayed the same.
  • ChatGPT isn’t going to take over copywriting, but could make a good companion tool


Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!


Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/


CONNECT WITH KONRAD SANDERS:

LinkedIn

Website


CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema

LINKS MENTIONED:

Wordtune Spices

Writer

Using Commonality-Based Outreach to Fill Your Agency's Pipeline [Quickmail Webinar]22 Mar 202300:53:50

Outbound marketing strategies change more quickly than we can keep track of. Here at Sales Schema, we have found that a commonality-based, personalized outreach repeatedly works across our whole client base. Dan recently spoke about this strategy (and his book), Relationship Sales at Scale, and the use of compelling commonalities to reach out to prospects in a Quickmail webinar that we’re sharing with you now. This week, episode 174 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about relationship sales at scale!

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Dan Englander shares the importance of keeping consistent in your outreach.

In this episode, Dan discusses the following:

  • A framework for keeping your agency’s pipeline full without burning through your addressable market.
  • Use compelling commonalities to contact prospects likely to build a relationship with you.
  • The ‘third path’ for de-risking conversations and generating long-term opportunities
  • The scale to personalization Goldilocks Zone for staying consistent and avoiding an empty pipeline.


To apply for our Targeted Outreach Training, head over to salesschema.com/training

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/


CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema


LINKS MENTIONED:

QuickMail Webinars

Watch the Replay of Dan’s Webinar

Colin Bryar on Working Backwards15 Mar 202300:51:44

Amazon is a massive success in part because of its principle of ‘working backwards’. Starting with the customer and working backwards to the technology has been Amazon’s core belief since the beginning, and is key to how the company operates. This week, episode 173 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about working backwards: both the methodology and the book written by Colin and his co-author Bill Carr.

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Colin Bryar shares the importance of not being afraid to fail to innovate and actionable steps you can take right now to improve your hiring process based on your leadership principles. 

Colin Bryar co-authored Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon, a first-person account of how Amazon created and implemented the principles and processes that have made it successful. Colin spent 12 years at Amazon where he earned the moniker “Jeff’s Shadow”, after working alongside Bezos attending meetings, traveling with, and discussing work and life as his Technical Advisor. Colin has served as COO of IMDb and RedMart, and is co-founder of Working Backwards, LLC where we help companies learn how to work backwards. 

In this episode, Dan and Colin discuss the following:

  • Single-threaded leadership and what that means.
  • The bar-raiser process for hiring, how it worked at Amazon, and how it can work for your agency.
  • The importance of measuring inputs, not outputs.
  • What really makes Jeff Bezos different than anyone who has worked alongside him.


Don’t forget to check out Working Backward: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon and let us know your thoughts on the book.

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/


CONNECT WITH COLIN:

Working Backwards

LinkedIn

Twitter

CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema

Lindsay Shearer on Pinterest, Niche-Driven Growth, and Your Agency's Brand Architecture08 Mar 202300:43:54

There's no doubt that having a strong brand is essential for any agency. But what's often overlooked is the importance of having a well-thought-out brand architecture. In this episode, we'll explore what brand architecture is and why it's so important. We'll also provide some tips on how to create an effective brand architecture for your agency.

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Lindsay Shearer shares the importance of niching down to be noticed and actionable steps you can take right now to utilize Pinterest to the fullest extent for your business. 

Lindsay Shearer is the CEO of Pins 4 Profit + BrandRanx Media + Bankable Digital Agency. Lindsay’s team focus is on running large volume of Pinterest Ads + Organic & mixed with a cross channel SEO strategy for ecom brands. With a background in using digital marketing for mergers & acquisitions & private equity, Lindsay’s team has helped hundreds of brands reach massive growth & scale. Each year she is spending over $35M+ profitably for clients and addicted to the results!

In this episode, Dan and Lindsay discuss the following:

  • Building the brand architecture of your agency.
  • How Pinterest is still a mostly untapped market for brand advertising.
  • Defining recurring revenue and how recurring revenue looks different for every agency.
  • Looking at client retention for the ecommerce brand.

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/


CONNECT WITH LINDSAY:

Website

Instagram

Pinterest

LinkedIn


CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema


Jon Tsourakis on AI, The Recession, and Becoming a Sales-Driven Agency01 Mar 202300:52:51

Becoming a sales-driven agency is about so much more than just client- or customer-centric. It’s about continually looking for all the different things that can be sold within a company and organizing your team for success. This week, episode 171 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about AI, the recession, and becoming a sales-driven agency.

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Dan Englander and Jon Tsourakis cover various topics, from the importance of introducing your team to your clients early in the process to actionable steps you can take right now to elevate your sales hiring practices. 

Jon Tsourakis is the President of Oyova, a web app and digital marketing agency, recently featured on INC 5000's fastest-growing companies list. He also hosts a podcast, The Climb, produced by the Digital Mastermind, a mastermind group of digital agencies from around the world.

In this episode, Dan Jon discuss the following:

  • The recession and what it means for agencies and B2B sales companies.
  • The future of sales in regards to developing technologies like AI.
  • Shifting to a sales-driven agency model: what it is, what that looks like, and how Jon has done it.
  • Critical thinking tests and other tactics for hiring the best salespeople you can find.


Let us know what you think about today’s episode format! Did you like the more relaxed setup? And thanks again to Jon for being a longtime friend of the show and coming on to talk with us again!

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH JON:

LinkedIn

Digital Mastermind

CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema

Rachel Johnson Greer on the Early Days at Amazon, Building and Selling an Agency, and the Murky World of Amazon CRO22 Feb 202300:56:57

There’s no questioning that Amazon is a rapidly growing force to be reckoned with, and today’s guest shares insight on the past, present, and future of the company and how her experience working there shaped her to advance in her current role. This week, episode 170 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about the early days at Amazon, building and selling an agency, and the murky world of Amazon CRO. 

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, guest Rachel Johnson Greer shares her experience being part of Amazon during a phase of massive growth for the company and how she used this experience and earned skills to grow and sell her next venture ultimately ending up working in her zone of genius. 

Rachel Johnson Greer is a global Amazon Marketplace strategist specializing in conversion rate optimization and brand awareness. Rachel has founded companies that reached both multi-six-figure and multi-seven-figure growth in under three years. Cascadia Seller Solutions, the Amazon full-service agency Rachel founded in 2015, was acquired by Avenue7Media in 2022. Rachel is frequently sought out by the media and has appeared on the Today Show, CNBC, Business Insider, The Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg.

In this episode, Dan and Rachel discuss the following:

  • How taking the leap into challenging roles shaped how Rachel approached every problem in her life. 
  • The two factors that set Amazon apart from similar companies. 
  • Using your network to make your next career pivot. 
  • How Rachel managed to grow (& sell) her next venture quickly. 
  • Amazon’s fast-paced environment proves to be both a benefit and a hindrance to its employees. 
  • How Amazon is changing the marketing game for brands selling on their platform. 

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH RACHEL JOHNSON GREER:

Website

LinkedIn

Stay tuned for the release of her book!

CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema

How To Keep Your Agency's Pipeline Full Without Cold Calling Or Burnout15 Feb 202300:46:58

A proactive approach to sales makes a world of difference in keeping your sales pipeline full of leads and prospective clients. And the good news: we have a training course for that!  This week, episode 169 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about target outreach for agencies and B2B service companies!! 


For more information and to sign up to receive updates and be notified when enrollment opens, go to sales-schema.teachable.com/p/targeted-outreach 


In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Dan Englander shares the importance of having a consistent sales system that goes outside of organic referrals and actionable steps you can take right now to implement relationship sales at scale. 


In this episode, Dan discusses the following:

  • The 3 types of proactive approaches to sales.
  • Why outbound marketing should be part of your sales system.
  • The principles that make outreach highly effective.
  • Example campaigns you can take and run with right away.


Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!


CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema

Deanna Shimota on B2B Demand Generation08 Feb 202300:49:59

A unique point of view is essential to hooking your audience and getting new clients. This week, episode 168 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about B2B Demand Generation.

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Deanna Shimota shares the importance of finding your definitive point of view and actionable steps you can take right now to develop a demand generation strategy tailored to your B2B business. 

Deanna Shimota is the CEO of GrowthMode Marketing. Deanna has made it her mission to know everything about B2B marketing. She’s on top of every tech trend and social media modulation. And while she skates on the cutting edge of marketing innovation, Deanna stays grounded in a foundation of solid marketing principles. She’s used her skills and expertise to catapult multiple technology companies into high growth mode.

In this episode, Dan Deanna discuss the following:

  • The benefit of an agency leader with both the corporate AND agency perspective.
  • The definition of demand generation and how it differs from lead generation.
  • Where to focus your marketing time and money in demand generation.
  • How developing technologies may change the marketing game – and what to be skeptical about.

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH DEANNA:

LinkedIn

The Demand Gen Fix podcast

GrowthMode Website


CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema



Phillip McMillan on The 15-Year Journey to Becoming a Specialized Agency01 Feb 202300:48:14

It takes intention to grow your agency into a specialized business. Our guest has spent the last 15 years tweaking and shifting his agency to be the powerhouse that it is today. This week, episode 167 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about the journey to becoming a specialized agency!

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Dan Englander and Phillip McMillan shares the importance of building the identity of a business and actionable steps you can take right now to build and grow your business around the people in it. 

Phillip McMillan is the Managing Director at CS Brand Group. With over 20 years of experience in sales and marketing strategy development, Phillip has spent the last 15 years focused on building valuable brands for private equity funds and their portfolio companies. Phillip's processes and experience help clients through platform development, acquisition integration, growth marketing, and exit communications — maximizing value and providing scalable execution through the hold. He is frequently called upon by CEOs and operating partners to evaluate and recommend branding plans for complex buy-and-build strategies. His experience spans B2B and B2C audiences in multiple verticals, including software, industrial, retail, technology, and multisite healthcare.

In this episode, Dan and Phillip discuss the following:

  • The advantages of work experience before starting your own business.
  • What it means to build a business around the people.
  • Honing in on one or two key services and why it’s worth it.
  • What it’s like to balance the idiosyncrasies of a niche with the timeless strategies that work for everyone.

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH PHILLIP:

LinkedIn

Work with CS Brand Group! 

CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema

LINKS MENTIONED:

CS Brand Group Website




Trust Over Tactics: The Agency Growth Lever You’re Overlooking (Dan on The Small But Mighty Agency Podcast with Audrey Kwan) 17 Sep 202500:37:01

In this episode, I talk with @Audrey Kwan in the Small But Mighty Agency, to tackle one of the most misunderstood growth levers in agency land: referrals. Together, they unpack how trust is the new currency in a cold-lead-saturated market—and how smart agencies are building systems around referrals, not just hoping they happen.

⏱️ Timestamps

0:00 – Why cold outreach is failing and trust is everything

2:10 – The rise of trust-based selling in the agency world

5:40 – Why personalization alone isn’t enough in 2025

7:30 – How to ask for referrals the right way

9:45 – Building “circles of trust” and systems around relationships

13:00 – Using LinkedIn as a referral engine

16:00 – Why referrals still require consistency and structure

18:00 – The real reason most agency sales systems break

20:00 – Direct vs. indirect control: a smarter way to plan sales activity

22:30 – Metrics and referral math: how to reverse engineer deal flow

25:00 – Specialization as a sales advantage (and trust shortcut)

27:30 – Strategic partnerships beyond client referrals

29:00 – What kind of agencies thrive with Dan’s model

31:00 – What needs to be in place before handing off sales

33:00 – Dan’s biggest mindset shift about agency growth

34:00 – Where to learn more about Dan’s process


🔑 What You’ll Learn in This Episode

Why cold outreach is widening the trust gap—and what to do instead

How to turn random referrals into a repeatable, systemized sales engine

Why agency founders need to own sales before they delegate it

The one sales hire mistake that can cost you six months (and how to avoid it)

How specialization accelerates trust—and shortens your sales cycle

John Azoni on Building a B2B Content Subscription Model25 Jan 202300:38:52

Usually, we chat with agencies that have been around for a decade or more. Still, today’s guest has some really insightful information about how he’s been able to create a business that works for him and can provide the services his clients are looking for. This week, episode 166 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about building a B2B Content Subscription Model! 

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Dan Englander and John Azoni share the importance of creating an offer that takes more off the client’s plate rather than adding more for them to manage. 

John Azoni is a content creator and video producer working specifically with colleges and universities to automate their video storytelling through student testimonial subscriptions. He believes that staying in front of your audience regularly, if not daily, is crucial to getting results from your digital marketing efforts. And yet, it’s something that so few colleges do well because they’re short on time, staff, and resources to create a steady flow of engaging video content throughout the year. His company, UNVEILD, solves this problem and helps higher ed marketing leaders fill their content calendars with compelling stories and engaging video content - every month, on autopilot, anywhere in the world, for a flat monthly fee.

In this episode, Dan and John Azoni discuss the following:

  • Deconstructing a large-scale video project into a subscription model.
  • Lessons learned growing an agency in the pandemic.
  • The benefits of a subscription model over a retainer model.
  • How to find the right talent to grow your business.

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH JOHN AZONI:

LinkedIn

Website

Book

CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema



A Year in Review {2022}18 Jan 202301:08:49

This week, episode 165 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast reviews the lessons we learned on the podcast this year! 

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

The major lessons learned:

  • The power of going from reactive to proactive new business practices
  • Your agency as a launch pad for almost anything 
  • The challenges and opportunities of a remote world
  • Ordinary things are done well produce extraordinary results
  • Gaining a sober outlook on technology 

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!


CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema




Mike Sullivan on Building a Challenger Brand Agency Over 22 Years11 Jan 202300:37:27

Building rapport with someone is the most important thing you can do to grow your agency in 2023. Ultimately, people buy from those that they trust. There’s no substitute for trust. This week, episode 164 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast with Mike Sullivan is about building a challenger brand agency over 22 years! 

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Dan Englander and Mike Sullivan share the importance of having what you need to land an RFP effectively and efficiently. They also discuss actionable steps you can take right now to create a narrative that potential clients can hold on to during a pitch. 

Mike began his career with formal training in strategic planning while at J. Walter Thompson, before going on to amass considerable experience guiding strategic efforts for a wide variety of clients across a broad spectrum of industries. Before coming to LOOMIS in 2001, Mike led successful agencies, one earning ADWEEK Magazine recognition as “The Hottest Shop in the Southwest” for two consecutive years. Today, he oversees all agency disciplines at LOOMIS, which was honored in 2016 as “Small Agency of the Year” by Crain’s ADVERTISING AGE Magazine. As a leader, Mike focuses on building the kind of company that delivers peak career experiences for his talented team. LOOMIS has earned a spot on The Dallas Morning News and Dallas Business Journal “Best Places to Work” lists for multiple years.

In this episode, Dan and Mike Sullivan discuss the following:

  • Starting an agency by partnering with someone who recorded music and starting with a sound studio.
  • The benefits of starting with a foundation in sales and how that guided the business.
  • The exact checklist Mike and his team use to determine the viability of an RFP.
  • How capabilities are not a sustainable advantage and what to do instead.


Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH MIKE SULLIVAN:

LinkedIn

Loomis

CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema





Kevin Lee on Acquiring 11 Agencies and Being a Marketing Mad Scientist04 Jan 202300:45:16

Our guest this week has built his marketing firm by acquiring other agencies so that his firm can be a one-stop shop for serving their clients. This approach is different from most of our guests, but with almost 30 years under their belt, it’s working for them! This week, episode 163 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast with Kevin Lee is about acquiring eleven agencies and being a marketing mad scientist! 

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Dan Englander and Kevin Lee shares the importance of understanding your client roster so that you can make better long-term decisions. 

Kevin Lee Co-Founded Didit, a leading digital-first marketing firm, in 1996. He also founded GivingForward.org, a cause-marketing nonprofit focused on generating revenues for other nonprofits. Previously to Giving Forward, Kevin founded We-Care, a cause marketing platform that generated over $8 million for nonprofits, becoming the “inspiration” for Amazon SMILE ($350 million in donations). Kevin is also the CEO of the eMarketing Association. Kevin invents marketing technology solutions for Didit clients and has written 4 books, spoken at more than 500 events, and published 700+ articles on marketing.

In this episode, Dan and Kevin Lee discuss the following:

  • What someone looks for in an acquisition and things that make for a great one.
  • Big mistakes Kevin has made and how you can learn from them.
  • The importance of diversifying your client base and getting beyond big client problems.
  • The process of having fun and finding your superpower. 


Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate, and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH KEVIN LEE: 

LinkedIn

Didit

CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema


Brent Weaver on Getting Rich in the Deep End {REPLAY}28 Dec 202200:48:45

It can be challenging to determine if niching down and building a more specialized practice in your agency is the right move. Today, Brent is sharing why you should niche down and get specialized. Episode 162 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about the importance of specializing and getting rich in the deep end! 

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Brent Weaver is sharing the importance of specialization and actionable steps you can take right now to niche down. 

Brent Weaver is on a mission to help 10,000 digital agency owners achieve freedom in business and life by helping them own their market. Brent is the founder and CEO of UGURUS, a business training and education company dedicated to this mission. He also hosts one of the leading podcasts in the business niche—The Digital Agency Show. Brent is in partnership with UnlimitedWP—a scalable white-label WordPress development team to help digital agencies grow without all the headaches of hiring and managing people. He is also a Brand Ambassador for Cloudways, a WordPress hosting company, helping them evangelize their platform.

In this episode, Brent Weaver and Dan Englander discuss the following:

  • How much easier Brent believes it would be to have agency success now vs. back when he started his agency in High School to pay for his hobby of building websites.
  • Why Brent believes niching down could save your agency or business in the long run
  • How to know when and what to niche down to as times change through looking at your existing clientele and marketing channels.
  • Brent’s suggestions around launching multiple business models at a time, or trying to diversify your agency through multiple business models at a time, and though it worked for him, why he doesn’t recommend it for others.

Niching down is far better, and far more lucrative, than remaining a generalist in your business model practices, and even pandemic statistics will prove that to be true. 

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH Brent Weaver:

Website

Email: brent@ugurus.com for field guide and additional resources for listeners

CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema




Jim Heininger on Rebranding the Largest Companies on Earth21 Dec 202200:40:08

With over 30 years of experience in branding, our guest today has seen it all, and this episode covers all the reasons a company might need a rebrand and how to get all parties to buy into a rebrand.  Even if you are not involved in the branding space, you can still get something from this episode that you can use with your own clients. This week, episode 161 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about rebranding the largest companies on earth! 

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Dan Englander and Jim Heininger share the importance of upfront education with potential clients so they become stakeholders in the full process. They also discuss actionable steps you can take right now to navigate how much information to share during the initial assessment and what to save for the consulting period. 

Jim Heininger is the Rebrand Man. He leads the efforts of The Rebranding Experts, which he founded in 2017 after 30 years of business and brand strategy experience for P&G, McDonald’s, Anheuser-Busch and others. Jim has designed the methodology used by the firm and merged the many disciplines necessary for successful rebranding. Jim coaches CEOs through the rebranding process, aligning their executive team, and helping to execute complete name changes and new customer promises. 

In this episode, Dan and Jim Heininger discuss the following:

  • What actually encompasses a rebrand during planning, implementation, and launch
  • How to effectively communicate the many moving parts to clients who think what you do is “easy”.
  • Reasons why a company might need a rebrand or why it should be focusing its efforts elsewhere.
  • Strategically placing your agency in a box and how that can actually boost your credibility.
  • Using thought leadership content to draw in potential clients who are searching for your services.


Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH JIM HEININGER:

LinkedIn

Twitter

Website

CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema





Jeff Rosenblum on Agency Growth and Culture Over 20 Years14 Dec 202200:50:42

People are looking for more from brands than interruptions and superficial messages. They are looking for brands to move people’s lives forward, one small step at a time. Everybody wakes up in the morning wanting one thing: they want to be better than they were the day before. It’s at the heart of the human experience. So when brands seek to empower people, they are drafting off of millions of years of evolution. This week, episode 160 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast with Jeff Rosenblum is about agency growth and culture over 20 years! 

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Dan Englander and Jeff Rosenblum share the importance of redefining advertising. We also discuss actionable steps you can take right now to find leverage all along the customer journey to connect and convert with your marketing beyond paid advertising. 

Jeff Rosenblum is a Co-founder of Questus, a digital advertising agency that has worked with many of the world’s most influential brands, including Apple, Capital One, Disney, The NFL, Samsung, Starbucks, Universal, Wyndham, and Verizon. Jeff is the author of Exponential, which discusses how to transform brands through empowerment over interruptions. He is also the creator of a documentary about the advertising revolution called The Naked Brand and the groundbreaking book Friction, which explained how passion brands are built. Jeff has lectured at some of the top universities in the world, including Yale, Cornell, Columbia, and London Business School. He has won some of the ad world’s most prestigious awards and presented at many of the industry’s largest conferences.

In this episode, Dan and Jeff Rosenblum discuss the following:

  • Building an agency over the course of 20 years.
  • Why everything revolves around culture and how that can serve your agency
  • The importance of risk in building an agency.
  • Using empowerment instead of an interruption to transform brands.

Figure out what people are looking for. Identify their unmet needs both emotionally and functionally. Then create content that moves them down the funnel.

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate, and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH JEFF ROSENBLUM:

LinkedIn

Twitter

Instagram

Questus

CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema

LINKS MENTIONED:

Who by Geoff Smart (Amazon)

Friction by Jeff Rosenblum (Amazon)

Exponential by Jeff Rosenblum (Amazon)

Hunter Lowder On What Got You Here Won't Get You There07 Dec 202200:44:35

Once you hit a certain revenue level, things tend to plateau. What worked to get you to this point won’t necessarily get you to the next level. If your goal is to get to that next level, you’ll need to shift the way you view your business and start stepping into the CEO role of your company. This week, episode 159 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast with Hunter Lowder is about how what got you here won’t get you there! 

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

Hunter Lowder is co-owner of Tortoise & The Bear, a business strategy, operations, and mindset coaching company that supports visionaries in bringing their wild and crazy dreams to life. Coupling her past business experience as CEO of a multi-million dollar company with mindful coaching approaches, Hunter helps service-based business owners create and prioritize a strategic plan to grow their impact and move their business forward in a sustainable way.

After suffering severe burnout as a CEO, Hunter is passionate about building a business in alignment with her values. When she’s not helping clients fine-tune their operations, she’s likely dancing and singing karaoke with her husband, feeding her son’s football team, or hanging out at the beach with her fur babies.

In this episode, Dan and Hunter discuss the following:

  • Balancing the extremes of either being too tactical or too woo when it comes to changing yourself as a leader. 
  • What it takes to step into the CEO leadership role and the different factors that have to be considered. 
  • The number one area in the client journey that people tend to forget about and how to understand cues that a prospect is ready to buy.
  • Signals that you might be on the brink of burnout and how to avoid burning out as business owners.

Hunter would love to share her FREE customer journey audit with your audience.  She’ll review listeners' current customer journey and record a personalized video in 3-5 business days to get them on the right path to creating a customer journey for consistent leads and sales.  The link for that customer audit will be https://www.tortoiseandthebear.com/podcast 

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate, and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH HUNTER LOWDER:

Facebook

Instagram

LinkedIn

Website

Free Gift

CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema






Joe Pulizzi on Diversified Content Marketing (THROWBACK)30 Nov 202200:51:05

Living in a world run by content marketing, it is time we start looking at more diversified, different, and arguably better ways to solve the problem at hand than just offering a service. This week, episode 158 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about diversified content marketing! 

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Joe Pulizzi shares the importance of diversifying your product portfolio and actionable steps you can take right now to build a roadmap towards these launches that are in alignment with where your business is. 

Joe Pulizzi is the founder of multiple startups, including content creator education site, The Tilt, and is the best-selling author of seven books, including Content Inc. and Epic Content Marketing, which was named a “Must-Read Business Book” by Fortune Magazine. Joe is best known for his work in content marketing, first using the term in 2001, then launching Content Marketing Institute and the Content Marketing World event. In 2014, he received the "Lifetime Achievement Award" by the Content Council. He successfully exited CMI in 2016 and consequently wrote an award-winning mystery novel, The Will to Die.

In this episode, Joe and Dan discuss the following:

  • Deconstructing what it takes to run an agency and exploring more diversified ways to solve problems with the new technology at hand. 
  • Goal setting and getting into the routine of reviewing them on a daily basis to keep them in alignment. 
  • Becoming the best at one thing vs. diversifying your offering. 
  • How you can still have a diverse offering while also being the leading expert in a specific niche.
  • Starting with one thing and building upon it as you learn, launching as you go. 


Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH JOE PULIZZI:

Thetilt.com

JoePulizzi.com

Content Inc. Book

The Will to Die Book

Twitter

Linkedin

Facebook


CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema


LINKS MENTIONED:

rally.io

Michael F. Schein on the Power of Hype23 Nov 202200:53:39

How can you stand out from the competition in your industry? This is a question we’re all trying to answer through our marketing. We want a dedicated following of people who love our products and services, but how can we achieve that? This week, episode 157 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast with Michael F. Schein is about the power of creating hype for your business! 

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Dan Englander and Michael F. Schein share the importance of understanding the mass psychology principle and then playing with it. They also chat about actionable steps you can take right now to stand out in your industry using hype. 

Michael F. Schein is the Head Hype Artist at MicroFame Media, a company that specializes in idea-driven businesses famous. Some of his clients have included eBay, Magento, The Medici Group, University of Pennsylvania, Gordon College, University of California Irvine, United Methodist Publishing House, PopUp, Pugpig, LinkedIn, and Citrix. His writing has appeared in Fortune, Forbes, Inc., Psychology Today, and Huffington Post, and he is a speaker for international audiences spanning from the northeastern United States to the southeastern coast of China. His book The Hype Handbook: 12 Indispensable Success Secrets From the World’s Greatest Propagandists, Self-Promoters, Cult Leaders, Mischief Makers, and Boundary Breakers, published by McGraw Hill, appears where books are sold.

In this episode, Dan and Michael discuss the following:

  • Attracting attention from the people that matter on a macro level.
  • Ethically harnessing the power of human emotion to create hype and cause people to take action.
  • Powerful ideas on how to make war, not love so that you build up the right attention.
  • Creating useful content that gets attention and can be replicated to get results.
  • How ad fatigue and industry evolution can impact how we use hype.


Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH MICHAEL F. SCHEIN:

Twitter

LinkedIn

Facebook

Michael Schein

MicroFame Media

CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema


How Eric Baum Turned Plumbing Ads Into a Multi 7-Figure Agency10 Sep 202500:34:24

In this episode of the Digital Agency Growth Podcast, I’m joined by Eric Baum, founder and CEO of Blue Leads—one of the top HubSpot Solutions Partners globally.

Eric shares the full arc of his journey, from accidentally starting an agency after hacking Yellow Pages spend for his plumbing business, to scaling a team of 40+, to building one of the most successful HubSpot implementations agencies in the world.

We dig into what it actually takes to get out of the sales seat, build second-layer leadership, and scale without losing your mind.

If you're running an agency, this is a masterclass in letting go, thinking bigger, and staying relevant in a fast-changing market.


⏱️ Timestamps

0:00 – Intro & Eric’s journey from plumbing franchises to marketing

2:30 – How $25K Yellow Pages spend turned into Blue Leads

4:00 – Betting on HubSpot before anyone cared

6:00 – From accidental agency to structured growth

9:00 – Discovering EOS and transforming the business

13:00 – Cash flow traps and scaling mistakes

16:00 – Why most agencies grow like a jigsaw puzzle

18:00 – “Inbound is broken” – what’s working now

21:00 – Strategic partnerships & the Crossbeam approach

23:30 – AI hype vs. actual implementation: where to invest

26:00 – Building your second layer of leadership

30:00 – Letting go of the vine – how to replace yourself

34:00 – What tools and platforms Eric would bet on today

37:00 – If he had to start over, here’s what he’d do

39:00 – The sales team you should’ve hired

42:00 – Where to find Eric online (and why he loves war stories)


🔑 What You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • How Eric scaled Blue Leads into a top 5 global HubSpot partner.
  • Why inbound is dying—and what’s replacing it
  • The leadership move that separates scaling from stalling
  • The #1 mistake agency owners make when hiring their first salesperson.
  • What happened when their traffic dropped from 300K to 10K/month.
  • How partnerships and AI agents are generating leads faster than cold outreach.
  • The secret to staying relevant when your clients.
  • Why agency growth looks like a jigsaw, not a hockey stick
Michael Gansl on Sales Training and Entrepreneurship Over Decades16 Nov 202200:53:05

Most people have an issue with thinking of themselves as a salesperson. Yet, every one of us is a salesperson. We are always marketing and selling ourselves. You make friendships, you network with people. You sell your passion and personage through conversation. That is you. But if you are someone who now has to sell a product or service, you need to come to terms that you are a salesperson, and that’s not a bad thing. This week, episode 156 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about sales training and entrepreneurship over decades! 

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Dan Englander and Michael share the importance of practicing different methods of selling to become an expert in the science of selling.

Michael Gansl is a hands-on entrepreneur and "The Seasoned Voice of Reason℠" specializing in working with “The Accidental Business Owner ℠” and with teams of individual contributors to implement business development and revenue growth opportunities. With over 30 years of experience, Michael is an expert in growing companies, problem-solving across marketing, sales, and operations, and understanding what business owners need to do to achieve success.

In this episode, Dan and Michael Gansl discuss the following:

  • The most important quality to look for in sales talent.
  • What building a sales team looked like historically, and what can be learned from that experience.
  • How to think about sales KPIs and quotas that inspire the team to move in the right direction. 
  • Effectively communicating with the individuals you sell to and being confident in that.


Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH MICHAEL GANSL:

LinkedIn

Voice of Reason Consulting

Mind Your Own Business Video Podcast

CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema

LINKS MENTIONED:

The Lean Methodology (book)




Dave Fink on Day One at Dollar Shave Club and Digitizing Direct Mail09 Nov 202200:41:19

In a world where social and search are dominated by platforms that don’t always make our lives easy, our guest has looked for a way to bring those marketing tools into a more analog channel like direct mail. This week, episode 155 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about digitizing direct mail and the power of being mission-driven! 

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Dan Englander and Dave Fink share the importance of storytelling, brand development, quality product and services, and understanding your customers when you are marketing, no matter if it’s using Facebook ads or sending direct mail.

Dave Fink thinks the best-kept secret in marketing is hiding where you least expect it — your mailbox. Over a 20-year career, he’s generated hundreds of millions of dollars in ad revenue, powered viral sensations like Dollar Shave Club, and helped launch celebrity startups for Jessica Simpson, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, and Kate Bosworth. Now, as founder and CEO of Postie, he’s out to reinvent direct mail marketing for a digital world.

In this episode, Dan and Dave Fink discuss the following:

  • The pros of using direct mail over running ads on platforms that underperform.
  • Being an early-stage partner with Dollar Shave Club.
  • The value and meaning of building a mission-based business.
  • Virality and what it meant 10+ years ago, what it means now, and what it can mean for your clients.


Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH DAVE FINK:

LinkedIn

Postie

CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema

LINKS MENTIONED:

Working Backwards



Andrea MacKenzie on Building an Employee Pipeline02 Nov 202200:40:14

Vetting, interviewing, and hiring new employees is a ton of work. It’s important that you find someone who not only fits your company culture but also works well with the tasks and working environment you’ll be placing them in. Finding the right people to fill open roles is the key. This week, episode 154 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about building an employee pipeline! 

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Dan Englander and Andrea MacKenzie share the importance of having a pipeline of potential employees and actionable steps you can take right now to make sure future employees align with your company and values. 

Andrea MacKenzie helps companies to hire, build, and lead teams so they can improve their business growth and workplace well-being through her company Lead With Harmony. She works with growth-oriented small business owners along with executives to achieve higher performance and stronger leadership while lowering stress. She combines her 20+ years experience in corporate roles and consulting with her unique approach to serve her clients, which span from small businesses to Fortune 500s across almost every business function. 

In this episode, Dan and Andrea discuss the following:

  • The Kolby process to understand a new employee’s working personality. 
  • Common mistakes business owners make during the hiring process.
  • The value of gut feeling and where it should live 
  • What to do to build a candidate pipeline and get rid of the urgency bias that tanks effective hiring.

Don’t forget to check the show notes for access to your FREE Delegation Visualization Guided Audio to help you unlock what’s possible when you stop managing and start delegating!  Use this guided audio and the companion worksheets to tap into your desire to let go, get back your time, and grow... through delegation!

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH ANDREA MACKENZIE:

LinkedIn

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

Lead With Harmony

Team Success Bi-Monthy Blog

FREE with Special Code ($37 Value) Delegation Visualization Guided Audio - use promo code SALESSCHEMA

FREE Job Advertisement Checklist

CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema

LINKS MENTIONED:

Working Backwards Book



Rachel Gertz on How to Train Effective Project Managers26 Oct 202200:53:46

Project management ties into many different parts of running a business, such as sales, operations, pricing, capacity, and more. If a project is not clearly outlined or systematized, it can be problematic for everyone involved. It ends up taking more time than anticipated and costing revenue. This week, episode 153 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about how to train effective project managers! 

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Dan Englander and Rachel Gertz share the importance of project management in managing expectations for different teams. They also discuss actionable steps you can take right now toward democratic project management. 

Rachel Gertz is CEO and Dig­i­tal PM Train­er at Loud­er Than Ten. She trains tech work­ers how to trans­form their com­pa­nies through demo­c­ra­t­ic project man­age­ment. Rachel helps com­pa­nies track project num­bers that real­ly mat­ter and how to turn blocks into oppor­tu­ni­ties to build strong rela­tion­ships with their teams, cus­tomers, and clients. Her mis­sion at Loud­er Than Ten is to give back pow­er to the peo­ple lead­ing their projects so they can end hustle culture.

In this episode, Dan and Rachel discuss the following:

  • The human element of project management that tends to be overlooked.
  • How to incentivize the best performance and retain employees longer.
  • The evolution of digital project management and what the future will hold.
  • Over-optimizing for one metric at the expense of another and how that can hurt us.
  • Bridging the gap to understanding the necessity of a project manager.

Don’t forget to listen in for Rachel’s live reactions and strategies for current project management issues Dan’s seeing right now.

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH RACHEL GERTZ:

Website

Twitter

Instagram

LinkedIn

Louder Than Ten

CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema

LINKS MENTIONED:

Episode with Nancy Lyons



Dan Morris on Scale, Sales Process, and Growing During a Recession19 Oct 202200:49:35

Generally, the value of someone’s network ends up being around $2-3 Million. Once they get to that point, they’ve typically tapped out everyone they know and who those people might know. They’ve reached the point where their revenue isn’t going any further unless they build a commercialized sales team. Of course, there are exceptions, but that’s what our guest this week has generally seen. This week, episode 152 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about scale, sales process, and growing during a recession! 

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Dan Englander and Dan Morris share the importance of knowing when you are the bottleneck of your business and how to visualize what it would look like with you not involved every day. They also chat about actionable steps you can take right now to gather data to ensure you are making the best decisions for your business. 

Dan Morris is an investor, advisor, and B2B growth expert with a mission to leverage his experience to impact 1000 businesses positively by 2025. Helping companies to succeed in volatile markets, increasing profitability from existing strategies, and helping CEOs take positive steps forward to grow their business is where Dan’s expertise is focused.

Following his early agency experiences, he built and ran a second content marketing agency serving SMBs, and grew it to 60+ team members and multi-million dollar top-line revenue as CEO, before starting Mindracer Consulting. As Managing Partner at Mindracer Consulting. He and his team of collective partners work with B2B CEOs in services and SaaS companies to help with their Go To Market, Making Processes Repeatable, and Growth strategies. 

In this episode, Dan and Dan Morris discuss the following:

  • Building a sales team and the importance of effective sales training.
  • A prioritization matrix for determining the vertices and areas you want to go after.
  • How you can succeed during a recession and how that can affect your positioning (if it does at all).
  • Understanding where your business fits in the lifecycle of another business. 

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate, and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH DAN MORRIS:

LinkedIn

Mindracer Consulting

CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema


Jason Kramer on Lead Nurturing that Actually Works12 Oct 202200:35:38

Lead nurturing can be anything from creating a podcast to writing blog articles. In the case of our guest today, there’s more of a constraint on lead nurturing using software, which results in sales.  This week, episode 151 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about lead nurturing that actually works! 

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Dan Englander and Jason Kramer share the importance of finding a process for effectively nurturing prospective buyers into customers. They also discuss some actionable steps you can take right now to connect the dots between marketing and sales.

Jason Kramer, founder of Cultivize started his marketing career as a designer working with agencies in NYC in the early 2000s. He started his first company in 2002 and helped hundreds of small businesses get on the map with his branding and web development expertise. In 2018, he formed his 2nd company, Cultivize to help established B2B organizations leverage lead nurturing strategy and technology to convert leads into paying customers. His direct clients and agency consulting clients, call him the Yoda of CRM strategy, especially when it comes to harnessing the power of the integrated CRM, Marketing Automation, and Sales Platform, called SharpSpring. Jason lives in the Hudson Valley, NY has been married for 15 years, and has 2 children with a passion for music, theater, kickboxing, and anything Disney.

In this episode, Dan and Jason discuss the following:

  • Connecting the dots between marketing and sales.
  • The process of planning and strategizing the use of automation on the sales and marketing sides of the business.
  • What SharpSpring is and the pros and cons of the tool.
  • Ways for you to improve your lead nurture, so you don’t miss out on the sale. 
  • How lead nurturing takes the lead generating a step further in getting results for your clients as marketing agencies. 
  • The importance of human interaction when nurturing your leads.

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH JASON KRAMER:

LinkedIn

Cultivize

Playbook

Email Analysis (Limited Free Offer)

Email Analysis - $150 Offer 

CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema



Jeremy Miner on Selling to Skeptical Buyers05 Oct 202200:49:16

The old way of selling just doesn’t cut it anymore. People are more skeptical, and it can be harder to determine what to say to move the sale forward. This week’s guest has a unique perspective that shakes up what you know about sales. Episode 150 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about selling to skeptical buyers! 

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Dan Englander and Jeremy Miner share the importance of setting up sales calls correctly and actionable steps you can take right now to disarm the skeptical buyer. 

Jeremy Miner is the Chairman of 7th Level, a Global Sales Training company that was ranked #1,232 of the fastest growing companies in the United States by INC magazine’s list of the top 5000 companies in 2021.  He is also a contributor for INC magazine and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Entrepreneur magazine, and a host of other publications.

For Jeremy Miner, the embodiment of this philosophy has made him one of the wealthiest sales professionals on the planet. During his 17-year sales career, Jeremy was recognized by the Direct Selling Association as the 45th highest earning producer out of more than 100 million salespeople - selling anything worldwide! His earnings as a commission-only salesperson were in the multiple 7-figures EVERY year.

Jeremy’s unique brand of sales training pioneers the use of behavioral science and human psychology, reflective of his deep studies in the subject from Utah Valley University. Jeremy is the host of the podcast, Closers are Losers, and his new book, The New Model of Selling Selling to an Unsellable Generation— co-authored by Jerry Acuff —CEO of Delta Point, is being published Fall of 2022.

In this episode, Dan and Jeremy Miner discuss the following:

  • Learning to work with human behavior rather than triggering sales resistance. 
  • The three forms of persuasion and how they can impact your sales ability.
  • The ABD’s of Selling and why that works best in B2B sales
  • When you have a tried and true sales process, you’re more likely to land the sale.
  • Resistance to sales training at large and why it tends to happen.

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate, and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH JEREMY MINER:

LinkedIn

YouTube

Instagram

Website

Podcast

Sales Revolution Pro

CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema


Andrew Morgans on Building a 37-Person Amazon Agency28 Sep 202200:54:23

As agency owners, it’s easy to attribute our personality traits to how we grew up and the decisions we made along our career paths. Those things influence how we show up as leaders for our team and the work our companies do. This week’s guest attributes a lot of his success as an agency owner to his childhood and a deep desire to have flexibility and freedom in his life. This week, episode 149 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about how Andrew Morgans built a 37-person Amazon agency! 

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Dan Englander and Andrew Morgans share the evolution of eCommerce on platforms like Amazon and eBay. 

Andrew is the Founder and CEO of Marknology, Landlocked Clothing, AKCO Properties, and Co-owns waggedy®. Marknology is a full-service Amazon Brand Accelerator with a proven selling system for launching products on all eCommerce platforms with remarkable results. Marknology has managed over 200 Million in sales on Amazon alone.

In this episode, Dan and Drew discuss the following:

  • How growing up with missionary parents prepared Drew for becoming an entrepreneur.
  • The past, present, and future of eCommerce.
  • Why finding an Amazon specialist isn’t the best course of action and what to do instead.
  • The shift in dropshipping and why brands have moved away from that.
  • What it takes to train your team from scratch when they don’t have prior experience.
  • Where the Amazon space is headed and where agencies fit into that.

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH ANDREW MORGANS:

LinkedIn

Instagram

Marknology

CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema

LINKS MENTIONED:

Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuk

The Body Keeps the Score

Extreme Ownership



Merrick Calmer on Ramping Up New Salespeople21 Sep 202200:40:08

It seems like there’s a missed alignment of the level of sophistication needed at the top of the sales funnel, especially when you are talking about complex and competitive industries. Your sales team is there to support that, but hiring and training the right person can feel daunting. This week, episode 148 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about ramping up new salespeople! 

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Dan Englander and Merrick Calmer share the importance of hiring and training your sales team intentionally. We also chat about how you can very practically set up the members of your sales team for succes s. 

Merrick is the Co-Founder of HireTraining, a Sales & Recruiting Bootcamp. The mission is to find and train people seeking an entry-level sales or recruiting position. While they are learning the skills they need to succeed in their career, HireTraining will be finding their first opportunity for them. Merrick is also the Chief Revenue Officer for NBGS USA, which operates an FDA Registered Facility and is a contract manufacturer, labeler, and supplier of medical products and personal care products.

In this episode, Dan and  discuss the following:

  • The foundational viability of sales as a long-term career. 
  • Why things are getting more difficult at the top of the sales funnel and why SDRs should be paid more
  • The reason why most sales training doesn’t focus enough on the ideal customer profiles (ICP).
  • What metrics we should be looking at as agency leaders and holding our team to them. 

Even if you are training a mid-career salesperson or you yourself are the closer, there’s still a lot of value you can get from this conversation. 

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH  MERRICK CALMER:

LinkedIn

HireTraining

CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema


Shelby Janner on Landing B2B Podcast Placements14 Sep 202200:43:52

Podcasts are just a really great way for someone who wants to get more earned media but maybe cannot get into a Forbes or Fast Company. It's lower pressure and conversational. This week's episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about landing B2B podcast placements! 

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Dan Englander and Shelby Janner share the importance of getting visible through podcast guesting and actionable steps you can take right now to pitch to be on B2B podcasts that make sense for your goals and brand. 

Shelby Janner is a public relations expert and strategic communicator recently stepping into an executive role at Zilker Media, an Austin-based agency focused on building people-driven brands. Shelby supervises all client activities in the publicity department to ensure delivery and success for the desired business objectives and ROI. Utilizing her expertise in strategy and vision, Shelby is passionate about ensuring clients understand the importance and value of publicity as it pertains to their current and future marketing goals.

In this episode, Dan and Shelby Janner discuss the following:

  • Harnessing the power of podcasts to boost your influence and raise the visibility of your organization.
  • Podcasting as a bigger place to get media placements
  • How podcasting is networking, content, and helpful in creating strategic partnerships.
  • Practical steps on how to DIY your own publicity through pitching yourself to be a guest on podcasts.

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH SHELBY JANNER:

Twitter

LinkedIn

Zilker Media

CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema

Turn Proposals Into a Q4 Growth Engine: How Agencies Can Unlock Upsells & Faster Closes03 Sep 202500:44:21

Proposals can make or break your agency’s Q4 pipeline. Too vague, and prospects don’t see the value. Too detailed, and they get stuck in analysis paralysis. In this episode, Dan is joined by Joe Ardeeser, founder of Smart Pricing Table, to talk about how agencies can strike the right balance, upsell strategically, and close deals faster as the year wraps up.

Whether you’re facing slow proposals, scope creep, or undercharging, this conversation gives you practical steps to turn proposals into a growth engine for your agency.

🔑 What You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • How to avoid the two biggest proposal mistakes: being too vague or too detailed.
  • A simple framework for including upsells and add-ons without overwhelming prospects.
  • Why proposals should be viewed as sales tools, not just paperwork.
  • How to use clarity and transparency to build trust with brand decision-makers.
  • The proposal strategies agencies can use right now to finish Q4 stronger.

This framing ties the conversation directly to timely biz dev priorities (Q4 closing, pipeline health), makes Joe’s expertise clear, and positions the episode as a tactical resource for agencies.

Links & Resources:

Corey Quinn on Building an Agency from $20-150M07 Sep 202200:45:20

You are probably at a point where you’re thinking about leveraging technology and scaling your agency. Usually, it starts with those small vertical jumps that help you grow with inbound, but we know that there’s going to be a natural progression where inbounds dry up. That’s where outbound marketing is so important. This week, episode 146 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about building an agency from $20-150M! 

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Dan Englander and Corey Quinn shares the importance of having clarity around the market you serve so that you can speak directly to their problems. They also give actionable steps you can take right now to land more outbound deals. 

Corey Quinn is the ex-CMO of Scorpion, where in 6 years, he helped grow the agency from $20-$150. Today he helps $2M+ SaaS and Agency B2B Founder CEOs identify, grow and scale profitable niches and customer segments.

In this episode, Dan and Corey discuss the following:

  • First developing a streaming media business right before the dot com crash
  • The value of having an MBA
  • Stepping into a $20 Million agency that had capped out on inbound
  • The three key lesson learned in building an agency from $20 to $150 Million
  • How you can identify your top three most profitable niches that you can focus on even if your agency might feel all over the place. 

Remember to look at both the qualitative and quantitative data to make those decisions when scaling you agency. 

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH COREY QUINN:

LinkedIn

Instagram

Website

Join Corey’s Newsletter

CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema




Linc Kroeger on How to Fill the Tech Labor Gap31 Aug 202200:42:33

On one hand, we hear a lot about technology and the leverage it can give us and the things that it can do for our businesses. Still, as today's guests will talk about, the talent shortage in the technology space is a gap that's been widening and is perhaps wider than it's been in decades. Finding affordable tech talent is really, really hard. To get a seasoned developer, you might very well be going to India, Eastern Europe, the Philippines, et cetera, to find talent. There are a lot of people that would argue that the United States has dropped the ball. We don't have the infrastructure. We don't have the planning, leadership, or forethought to train technological talent. 

As today's guest will talk about, it's not necessarily just developers. This is the bleeding edge. This is the trenches of the labor shortage. This is where things can potentially get turned around. And today's guest is at the forefront of that, and we really enjoyed our conversation with him. This week, episode 145 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about how to fill the tech labor gap! 

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

Linc Kroeger is a social innovator with 35 years of experience in innovation and enterprise technology. He served three years on the Technology Association of Iowa board; was assigned by Governor Kim Reynolds to her Empower Rural Iowa Task Force; identified as “the most innovative leader on bringing tech jobs to rural in the nation” by U.S. Congressmember Ro Khanna representing Silicon Valley; recognized as “Top National Rural Influencer” by The Ruralist.

In this episode, Dan and Linc Kroeger discuss the following:

  • Why there’s a drop-off of interest in a career in tech if someone doesn’t start by the time they are about 18.
  • What goes into training the next generation of tech talent.
  • How a national strategy in filling tech infrastructure puts other nations ahead due to the gap in the United States.
  • Why the labor shortage is happening, and how Linc’s organization is working to shift that in the tech space. 

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH LINC KROEGER:

LinkedIn

Knight Moves

CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema




Donna Peterson on 30+ Years of B2B Marketing Insights24 Aug 202200:38:58

Even within the B2B space, it can feel like we are all driving around blind. Relationships are extremely important in the B2B industry, so when you focus on providing value for your ideal customers. The barrier to creating those meaningful relationships is trust. So how do we break through and create that trust with our B2B customers?

Relationships are about offering true educational value to your audience, not just plummeting them with sales messages. There are tons of marketing sources out there right now, but they’re not all good. You have to be able to navigate through that. This week, episode 144 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about over 30 years of B2B marketing insights! 

Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-Scale

In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Dan Englander and Donna Peterson share the importance of using commonalities as leverage when connecting with others and the most timeless strategy that has worked in building relationships. 

As a CEO, Marketing Consultant, and Leadership Strategist, Donna Anne Peterson has a personalized approach to helping individuals and businesses reach the next level. Each individual and company is unique and must be treated uniquely. Donna dives deep into understanding the mission, why, and goals to ensure everything goes down the right path. Bombarding people with promotions or asking employees to do more is not a sustainable way to grow a business. Instead, show people that you understand their situation and honestly care to increase productivity and sales. 

In this episode, Donna Peterson discusses the following:

  • What are quality client relationships and how to effectively build them.
  • The first lesson Donna had to learn when it came to working in a diverse industry. 
  • Hidden tips for learning the language of your ideal customers.
  • How to stand out and show people that you truly know what you’re doing.
  • Using relationships and commonalities as leverage when creating campaigns.
  • Industry changes in the B2B marketing space over the last 30+ years.
  • Tools that are actually helpful in B2B marketing.

Don't forget that when searching for the right marketing tools, it’s important that you consider your business needs and the tool as a whole in your decision. 

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH DONNA PETERSON:

LinkedIn

Instagram

World Innovators

B2B Excellency Podcast

YouTube

CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:

LinkedIn

Sales Schema

LINKS MENTIONED:

Dan’s episode on B2B Marketing Excellency



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