Ep 36: Surviving Crisis and Coming Out Stronger with Guest Chris Brewer of OMG Commerce

Summary:

In today’s episode, we talk with Chris Brewer about the challenges his agency has faced since March of 2020. Chris breaks down the steps he and his team took to gain stable financial footing early on, the way that their team culture and mindset has impacted their client relationships throughout the pandemic, and the value that comes from creating loyalty with your team and clients in hard times.

 

Top 3  Curtain Pulls in this episode: 

Don’t do business with jerks! Bring clients (and team members) on board that you know are aligned with your philosophies- this is for the benefit of your team as well as the quality of work that you’re putting out.  Transparency with your team will only help to build up confidence in your decision making- this builds a team culture that will support you even in the worst crisis.  Embracing a hybrid model of working from home/ from the office/ remotely will empower your team- you may even see productivity increase!

 

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About Our Guest: 

Chris Brewer is the co-founder of OMG Commerce. He is a 10 year Agency veteran out of St Louis with experience building 7-figure businesses. OMG Commerce has the honor of being a Premier Google Partner- something that only 3% of Google Partner businesses attain. OMG delivers online/offline marketing expertise, advice, and education to ecommerce businesses and brands worldwide.

Chris on LinkedIn OMG Commerce Website twitter.com/momarketer

 

About The Guys: 

Bob Hutchins: Founder of BuzzPlant, a digital agency that he ran from from 2000 -2017. He is also the author of 3 books. More on Bob: 

Bob on LinkedIn twitter.com/BobHutchins instagram.com/bwhutchins Bob on Facebook

Brad Ayres: Founder of Anthem Republic, an award-winning ad agency. Brad’s knowledge has led some of the biggest brands in the world. Originally from Detroit, Brad is an OG in the ad agency world and has the wisdom and scars to prove it. Currently that knowledge is being applied to his boutique agency. More on Brad:

Brad on LinkedIn Anthem Republic twitter.com/bradayres instagram.com/therealbradayres facebook.com/Bradayres

Ken Ott: Co-Founder and Chief Growth Rebel of Metacake, an Ecommerce Growth Team for some of the world’s most influential brands with a mission to Grow Brands That Matter. Ken is also an author, speaker, and was nominated for an Emmy for his acting on the Metacake Youtube Channel (not really). More on Ken: 

Ken on LinkedIn Metacake - An Ecommerce Growth Team Growth Rebel TV twitter.com/iamKenOtt instagram.com/iamKenOtt facebook.com/iamKenOtt

 

Show Notes:

[4:09] Ken introduces Chris Brewer, founder of OMG Commerce. “His company has risen to a level that less than 3% of all Google Partner Agencies worldwide attain- the rank of premier partner… this company delivers online/offline marketing expertise, advise, and education to ecommerce businesses and brands worldwide. Chris has a history of building 7-figure businesses. In addition to the incredible growth and success with OMG, his entrepreneurial accomplishments have included an outdoor advertising firm and a publishing company.” 

[4:58] Bob asks Chris about how Covid-19 has impacted their business. “Has it really brought a whole new level of business for you?”
[5:15] Chris responds that the first couple weeks of March were scary and unstable, and leads just stopped coming in. They applied for PPE loans out of a sense of urgency and then wound up having to hire more individuals for the team. He talks about having survivors guilt once the pandemic is over, as he’s aware that it’s been devastating for many. 

[6:17] Bob asks who Chris’ typical client is. 

[6:23] Chris responds: For Amazon clients, having at least a million in annual revenue is necessary- for the Google clients they must be spending at least 5K a month over the last 90 days. 

He talks about limiting the number of new clients they take on, so as to keep their employees afloat and not overworked and also to keep their quality of work high.  They don’t do business with people who are jerks- people who are not in it for the long-term and those who treat people in a disrespectful way. 

[7:42] Bob asks how they filter those people.

[7:48] Chris responds that he collaborates with his business partner and they both call attention to potential red flags for themselves. 

They want to work with brands who have past success, who are willing to take chances and come into the relationship with an education about how things work. Taking on a smaller/newer company means more guidance, more room for scope creep and more room for error- often they send smaller leads or leads that wouldn’t usually be a great fit to other Google Agencies, purely because it would be better in the long run for the client.  If you know a client has a lot of learning curves and that your costs would be unfair to them, don’t take them on as clients! Refer them to other agencies with costs that suit their needs more appropriately. 

[12:30] Ken asks what Coroniavirus looked like for OMG commerce- layoffs, shakeups? 

[12:54] Chris talks about his 10 years of experience in the business, the punches he’s already taken and recovered from over the years and how the fear that Covid brought was nothing like any of those past experiences. 

He shares that his wife actually asked him what his plan was before anyone else- and he eventually called attention to the virus with his business partners so they could begin planning for the possibility of a global pandemic.  They had a nice sum in money market accounts that they quickly pulled out- several months worth of operations gave some comfort.  Their team has always had a 100% clear view of their finances, every month employees get a review of their numbers. So they shared all this with their employees, there was 100% transparency. 

[19:30] Chris shares that they wound up being profitable at the end of Q2, which was surprising. Their bonus structure program was based on quarterly numbers, and they made the decision to go ahead and hand out those bonuses at the height of the pandemic. They made that decision and it blew their employees away- which has in turn strengthened their culture and work ethic and grown the business in more ways than just financially. 

[23:00] Ken talks about how great that decision was- stressing that it creates a loyalty that is incredibly valuable on the team side. 

Metacake takes a Dave Ramsey approach to savings- they try to have a years worth of operations costs saved up for emergencies. 

[23:36] Chris: “It took a pandemic for us to realize that if we’re doing the right things for our clients (and employees) as an agency, it would have to be very dark times in the US for us to lose enough clients to put us out of business.” 

[25:09] Bob asks about how Chris communicated with his team during this early Covid phase. 

[25:23] Chris responds: There were a lot of discussions about what people were and weren’t comfortable with. They kept a skeleton crew of people at the office for as long as they could, but as soon as someone asked if they could work from home, they let everyone know that it was an option. Allowing people the option to feel safe, heard, and cared for resulted in more productivity and actual growth for the company overall. 

[30:00] Ken asks Chris about the necessity of working in an office at all anymore- will they ever go to a full remote model? 

Chris says that a hybrid model is what they’ll lean into- they’ve realized that their workers can be trusted to work and get things done, even from home. 

[33:00] Ken shares that a hybrid working model is better suited for the reality of life and how humans function- the freedom of blending home life with work life helps to create a healthy balance that results in more productivity and happier individuals. 

[35:00] The Guys chat with Chris about how well this hybrid model has worked for them so far. They speak on the empathy that has been extended in many directions, as we are seeing one another through a more human lens. Not necessarily informality, but a more realistic look at how we all function in our lives. Just being on video calls has made this more applicable than ever. 

[40:00] Ken asks Chris about OMG differentiates themselves in an oversaturated market. 

[41:45] Chris says that by shining a light on your team and your culture, you can create a name for yourself, a reputation that spreads in a positive way about what you’re doing. 

OMG stands for Online Marketing Giant- at the time they were considered a local agency but wanted to aim higher and bigger, because his partner saw where ecommerce was going.  They position themselves to be “experts” in their industry, and do an incredible job of getting themselves in the spotlight on popular platforms in that way- Shopify for example. They create content that educates and positions them in that knowledge leadership position as well. 

[46:32] Chris: “I would say to other agencies- if you’ve got a great blog or you have a certain skillset that you can turn into a guide, just get it done, find someone to get that done for you…” Start with someone who’s willing to publish your content- SEO it and put legs underneath it!

[47:30] Bob asks Chris about his plans for the future. 

[47:37] Chris: They’re looking into ways to go full service on Amazon, as they’ve had a couple clients who left out of necessity. 

Message for smaller agencies: “Be patient. We’ve been at this 10 years and we’re just now getting the levels that we kind of dreamed of seven years ago… if you try to push the envelope or try to skip steps to building a culture, building your processes… you’re never gonna make it.” 

[53:07] Bob thanks Chris for his transparency and honesty, saying that it’s encouraging as an agency owner to hear others that are further along talk about their experience and the hard lessons they’ve learned. 

[55:00] Ken asks Chris where we can find him online- social plugs! Fun fact: If you live chat OMG Commerce, Chris is likely the one that will respond to you! You can also find him on Twitter, Instagram, etc. Check him out!