The AltAgency Show
136 episodes - English - Latest episode: almost 3 years ago - ★★★★★ - 18 ratingsWelcome to the AltAgency Show. Join Greg Hickman, founder of AltAgency, and learn how to grow and scale your agency without working nights and weekends. Greg transformed his marketing automation and funnel building agency into a Hybrid Agency where most of the revenue now comes from group coaching and consulting programs. In the AltAgency Show Greg shares the latest strategies, systems to create more leverage in your business. He also shares behind the scenes stories from his journey escaping from a full-service, done-for-you agency into leveraged online programs and training.
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Episodes
You Are The Marketer In Your Agency
June 18, 2020 11:00 - 3 minutes - 3.65 MBHave you found yourself saying that to yourself, %FIRSTNAME%? Week in and week out I talk to agency owners who would actually be growing if they just did for themselves what they do for their clients… But, they never “get around to it”. It’s the classic story of the Cobbler's kids have no shoes. Well, here’s some tough love for ya in today’s video. If you are the business owner, you MUST become a MARKETER. To become a marketer you have to become a PRODUCER. If you’re not creatin...
Have you fallen out of love with your work?
June 16, 2020 16:12 - 11 minutes - 9.37 MBIF designed incorrectly you can easily find yourself feeling like an employee with as many bosses as you have clients. If you’ve been there, you may be in a spot where you’ve thought of closing the doors, getting a job, or doing something entirely different. We’ve had many clients that came to us on the brink of shutting the doors or going back to corporate because they just fell out of love with what they did for clients. But, they USED to love everything about what they did. What g...
How to narrow down your avatar
June 04, 2020 11:00 - 16 minutes - 13.7 MBOur client Seth joined our program and as a full-service web design agency, he has always had a hard time zeroing in on who he served. He’s had clients in all markets, industries, you name it. If this sounds familiar, you’re probably like Seth… In a spot where the only way of getting new clients was from referral or word of mouth and even then your existing clients didn’t know how to explain what he did. There’s a good chance that many of the other problems you’re facing all stem b...
Don't Do Paid Discovery It's A Temporary Fix For Your Agency
May 28, 2020 11:00 - 8 minutes - 7.65 MBAsk most gurus and they will tell you to “sell your thinking” which is brilliant. But when they share the “how” and that = selling “paid discovery sessions” or “audits”... watch out. If you were giving way the strategy before this is totally a step in the right direction but it falls short for so many reasons that I break down in todays video. Giving strategy away for free = bad. Paid discovery / audits = a step in the right direction But, you’ll quickly run into the REAL issue yet...
The Truth About Retainers For Agencies
May 21, 2020 11:00 - 11 minutes - 9.91 MBWell, monthly recurring revenue is often claimed as “the holy grail” for agencies. The problem? Most agencies don’t do them correctly and worse...the people teaching and selling how to have a successful agency via introducing MRR….haven’t figured out how to deal with the client churn. Believe me, I’ve fallen victim to this in my agency. It’s great to start when you want to get a quick $10k or even $25k/month but when it comes time to grow... the wheels fall off. If you do retainers...
Design Your Agency For Any Economy
May 14, 2020 11:00 - 11 minutes - 9.84 MBThis idea sounds good in theory, especially in the early startup phases of your business. But, very quickly this can backfire… And it’s not just because the economy is good or bad. That wouldn’t matter. I’ll break down how to design your agency the right way to survive the long game.
Full-Service Agency vs. Specialist
May 07, 2020 11:00 - 8 minutes - 7.03 MBThink about this… If you need brain surgery are you going to see a general surgeon or a brain surgeon? Seems obvious right? When your prospect has a problem, they will be more willing to pay a premium for a specialist. It will give them the confidence they’ll get exactly what they need. I want to debunk the myth that being full-service is actually a good thing for you and your clients when it’s the very thing holding you back.
New Client Onboarding For Consulting Agencies
April 30, 2020 11:00 - 14 minutes - 12.1 MBMainly because it’s inefficient. Too many calls. Clients aren’t ready when they show up. Well, guess what? That’s your fault. Your onboarding experience should be choreographed like you were trying out for American Idol and this is your one shot at making it to the next stage. I put together this free training for you breaking down how you should onboard clients in a way that gets them into momentum while also saving you time - cuz, you’re not as involved. And, if you want to f...
2 Systems To Get Time Back In Your Agency
April 23, 2020 11:00 - 12 minutes - 10.8 MBAs an agency owner, the thing that will get you your most time back is well… Systemizing the areas where you spend the most time. I know, 🚀science, right? In this video, I break down the FIRST two spots you should install systems and automation in your business. Sales and Fulfillment.
Growing Your Consulting Business Comes with Trade Offs
April 16, 2020 11:00 - 16 minutes - 13.3 MBThere is always going to be a trade-off and you won’t have all 3. Which 2 will you choose? When you have a problem you’re trying to solve, again you have to make a trade-off to get the solution you’re looking for. You can solve it with: Your Money Your Time Your Energy/Effort In this video, I break down how you should think and approach the trade-offs with growing your business.
Whether Business Is Good or Bad, It's Because Of These 3 Areas
April 09, 2020 11:00 - 17 minutes - 14.2 MB“If I work more and harder it will get better”. That has me working nights and weekends and robbing my family of time I should have been for them. Yet, when things were good...I’d say things like… “Man, I don’t want this to ever stop so I better double down” And. again...I’d put the business over everything else. I found that when I faced challenges in the business, the fix was actually one layer ABOVE the business in my relationships. Fix that and business improved. In this vid...
Make decisions based on metrics vs feelings
April 02, 2020 11:00 - 10 minutes - 8.97 MBThe problem is - if you make decisions based on feelings you can easily make things worse and put yourself into one of those downward mental spirals. I’ve had those before and let me tell you they can really set you back. I don’t want that to happen to you. So, in today's video, I want to share a story about how a client of ours had some things going on her personal life and without even realizing it - projected those feelings onto the success of her business. Yet, when she looked at...
Getting Through Hard Times In Your Marketing Agency
March 26, 2020 11:00 - 18 minutes - 15.2 MBAs an agency owner, this is not a time to pull back. I've spoken to a few folks that are so afraid that they are essentially putting their business on hold... ...mind you they are "holding" in a position they are already not satisfied with. I don't mean to make light of the situation, cuz it's serious...but what's more serious is how you act during this time. Pulling back and "hoping" clients don't cancel with you is guaranteed failure. Pulling back and hoping you make it through is not...
How To Grow Your Agency In A Recession
March 19, 2020 11:00 - 44 minutes - 36.4 MBWhile there is a lot of uncertainty with the market and all that, sitting back and “hoping” things all figure themself out is not a great strategy. I put together a training that I did inside our free Facebook group the other day breaking down how you can grow your agency during this down economy and period of uncertainty. The agency owners that survive and thrive in this time are going to be the ones that are prepared and can adapt. Watch and discover some strategies you can implement...
My Facebook Live Setup
March 12, 2020 11:00 - 10 minutes - 8.81 MB“Greg, what’s your camera setup cuz your videos look awesome?”. If you’re curious I put together a walkthrough with a list of everything I personally use. Note: Don’t let this be a distraction from you creating content for your audience. All you really need is a phone. You’ve been warned. :)
How We Coach Our Clients (Our Promise)
March 05, 2020 12:00 - 19 minutes - 16.7 MBSome people hire coaches and think that by the action of hiring the coach their life will be different. Then they don’t implement and complain about their lack of results. Investing in a coaching and mentorship program involves two parties. I get people all the time that say “well what sort of guarantee can you give me that i’ll get XYZ result”. My response is “what sort of guarantee will you give me that you’ll do the work that matters?” Tip - Anyone that says is likely going to be...
Top 13 Insights From 2019
February 27, 2020 12:00 - 47 minutes - 39.3 MBI know we have about 30 days left in Q1 and all but when you learn valuable lessons you want to carry them with you so you don’t make the same mistakes twice. In this episode, I wanted to share my top lessons (lucky number 13!) that are guiding how I execute the rest of this year. A wise man once said… “It’s better to know why you failed and pinpoint exactly why you didn’t succeed than being successful and not knowing why you won” Here are 13 lessons of mine in hopes that you can elimin...
The Hybrid Agency Model
February 20, 2020 12:00 - 28 minutes - 24.2 MBIf your agency has turned into you pumping out work on your client’s dime and fielding request after request - well...you got yourself the traditional agency. And you only make revenue one way. Labor. I want to introduce what we call the Hybrid Agency. I wanted to do a walkthrough to show you how we go from your ONE revenue source agency to a multi-revenue stream agency. While many of our clients long to replace and surpass their DFY revenue with something more scalable and time leve...
Operate Based On Your Core Values
February 13, 2020 12:00 - 10 minutes - 9.73 MBYou’ve probably even created some for your business that only you as the owner know cuz you haven’t woven them into the fabric of your company. I was the same for a while until I realized that my life would get easier if I operated my business based on our core values and made sure they were a part of HOW we went to work every day. Whether it’s in our marketing, sales, fulfillment or internal operations...we can move faster as a team and create better results for ourselves and our client...
My Clients Won't Want Done-With-You
February 06, 2020 12:00 - 13 minutes - 12.1 MBIf you think that ALL of your prospects will only EVER want done-for-you services, you need to watch this. In short video, I’m going to break down why this is 100% NOT True and just an excuse you’re telling yourself to keep doing things the hard and unscalable way.
How To Stand Out From Other Digital Agencies
January 30, 2020 12:00 - 14 minutes - 12.9 MBReal Talk - most agencies have positioned themselves as a commodity, competing against a global marketplace that will almost always be able to do it “cheaper”. So stop competing on price. I’ve found that there are 3 things that you can do to stand out from the competition and win more business while making your business more enjoyable and predictable. I’ve put together a quick video walking you through each of these strategies.
Do The Unsexy Work In Your Agency
January 23, 2020 12:00 - 8 minutes - 8.13 MBI believe we can achieve all the goals we set for ourselves and our businesses if we just focus on the fundamentals. So why don’t we? Well, it’s hard. We live in an “on-demand” world where we want everything RIGHT NOW and it’s led many to believe that there are these magical silver bullets that lead to success… Or some magical tool will get us the results we want. Thinking that the answer is some software tool or tactic is wayyyyy easier. The reality is… Growth is hard. It requ...
When Things Aren't Going Your Way, It Might Be Time To Re-Invent Yourself
January 16, 2020 12:00 - 15 minutes - 14.1 MBIf you’ve felt stuck, unhappy and unsure of where to go next todays video is for you. In the past, I’ve said, the old must die in order for the new to grow. For you, the way you do business, the people you serve, the things you sell and how you deliver it might need a refresh in order to get to where you want to go. If you’re like me, as time passes you get clearler on what you want from life and business as well as what you don’t want. But, many of us never take the time to remove ...
You are not an Agency...
January 09, 2020 12:00 - 6 minutes - 6.9 MBIn my last email I invited you to be a part of a small group of clients that work directly with us following our step-by-step process to launch a group coaching program in your agency, Those that took us up on that offer think differently about themselves… They understand they can deliver more value to their clients vs just being a glorified employee. They are not satisfied with having to add more team just to add more employees. They know they can have a bigger impact if they could se...
How To Structure A 2 Day Workshop For Your Digital Agency
January 02, 2020 12:00 - 15 minutes - 14 MBThat’s why we host quarterly 2-day intensives for our elite coaching clients. We get to spend 2 solid days heads down working ON the business. I’ve gotten a lot of questions around “how” to organize a 2-day workshop and we follow a simple process. The most powerful part is that we show our clients a process to map their entire service roadmap onto a one page document. We call it The Signature Service. Once you have a Signature Service mapped out it's pretty plug and play how you can ...
Key Hires For Building and Growing A Coaching Program Inside Of Your Digital Agency
December 26, 2019 12:00 - 20 minutes - 17.5 MBBut… You pay them more than you pay yourself Managing them is complicated Scope of work is always changing so you’re always hunting for the right help The list can go on… The reality is that most agency owners and service providers I know have far too many contractors or team members for how much revenue they are pulling in. And, as the owner, they are still hardly making any money. All that headache and for what? The fastest way to optimize your team is to optimize what you offer. ...
I Spent $24k On A Coach And Revenue Went Backwards
December 19, 2019 12:00 - 15 minutes - 14 MB*Opens kimono* So, I spent $24k on a coach and my business went backward… Yup, I said it. Revenue went backward. It’s not for reasons you might be thinking though... In today’s episode I break down what happened and what you should do and not do when hiring a coach.
You Can't Fix What You Can't See
December 12, 2019 12:00 - 14 minutes - 12.7 MBHappy Thanksgiving! I hope you’re enjoying time with your fam, friends and loved ones. In between prepping that turkey or before you crush desert… I got a brand new episode for you to marinate on (get it?) For a lot of us, we’re operating in our business without any key metrics. And we try to fix problems without knowing these specific metrics… And that doesn’t help us assure we’re going in the right direction… Or the activities we’re spending our time on our helping our hurting… ...
10 Lessons From The Trenches (Part 3 of 3)
December 05, 2019 12:00 - 23 minutes - 20 MBToday is the final part of the 3 part mini series we’ve been sharing over the past few days. We’ve been sharing the 10 biggest lessons, mistakes and things we’ve learned as a team/individuals over the course of the last 90 days. We took you behind the scenes of our two day intensive for our coaching clients and today is the final part that we’re sharing. If you haven’t watched/listened to the two previous episodes, go back and watch them so you can hear all 10. Here is Part 1. Here...
10 Lessons From The Trenches (Part 2 of 3)
November 28, 2019 12:00 - 26 minutes - 22.4 MBIf you watched/listened to Tuesday’s episode, then you know that we’re sharing some behind the scenes action from one of our 2-day client intensives. Here is part 1. In part 2 we continue sharing our personal lessons and principles for success. Let’s get to it. Have questions? Don't hesitate to reach out to me & the team here: [email protected] For the full transcript, please visit the blog here: https://system.ly/ten-lessons-from-the-trenches-part-2 🚀 Want to grow faster? Schedule a ...
10 Lessons From The Trenches (Part 1 of 3)
November 21, 2019 12:00 - 20 minutes - 17.7 MBOur clients are in town for the next two days so I wanted to give you something special. We hold these events 3 times a year (4 next year). The next 3 episodes are going to be videos taken directly from one of our clients favorite sessions of the two days. In fact, this is a 3 part series that will be released over the next week or so.... It’s called “The Fireside Chat” and I share... Our biggest lessons... Our own mistakes… Learnings from our previous 90 day sprint. And...princ...
How To Design Your First Group Coaching and Consulting Program In Your Digital Agency
November 14, 2019 12:00 - 15 minutes - 13.6 MBToday I’d like to share with you exactly how you can package up your agency expertise… Your agency skill sets… Your agency services… AND launch your first group coaching or consulting program. This is what will allow you to go from 1:1 done-for-you custom projects to 1:many done-with-you. This is what our clients want to escape, the glorified freelancer status in their business, to create some real freedom and predictability in their business. So if that’s something you’re interested...
Launching Group Coaching or Group Consulting In Your Digital Agency
November 12, 2019 12:00 - 14 minutes - 13.1 MBEver feel like you’re only moving forward because of brute force? Do all of your leads and sales come from word of mouth or referrals? Are you the key bottleneck in the business? If you’re nodding yes, then you’ve likely never escaped the first stage of growth. First, know that it’s ok. Even veteran agency owners are often stuck in this phase. Second, not escaping the first phase is the very reason why you’re so dependent on word of mouth and referrals to get new clients. This is what...
The End of System.ly (We're Changing Our Name!)
November 07, 2019 12:00 - 18 minutes - 15.9 MBWe’ve been serving digital agencies for almost 3 years now. Helping them solve the same problems. Get more freedom in their business by helping them get the most out of automation. By giving them more leverage by helping them replace and surpass the done-for-you service revenue with highly profitable streams of revenue like training, and mentorship. As you continue to work on the same things over and over and over… ...you get better. As you get better, you get clearer. We’ve neve...
Create A Great Client Experience For Your Digital Agency
November 05, 2019 12:00 - 9 minutes - 9.21 MBI was recently in a Lyft (it’s like Uber if you’re not familiar with it) and while I normally would just browse on my phone or listen to a podcast, this driver did something different... First, he had a clipboard of recommendations of things to do around the city. This list was curated by other passengers. So anyone coming into the city could see what the locals were recommending to do and see. Second, he had a photo album of pictures to look at from around the city that I could look at in...
Don't Package Your Digital Agency Services This Way
October 31, 2019 11:00 - 9 minutes - 14 MBI want to talk about a strategy… ...a strategy that is being taught by a lot of people, but in reality, it’s just a band-aid. Which is SCARY. (and not just because it’s halloween). When you peel back this band-aid of a strategy… ...you’ll expose the REAL problems in your agency. I see this holding so many agencies back because it actually makes your REAL PROBLEM even worse. Like pouring gasoline on the fire in a bad way kinda worse. The band-aid? Selling an audit as your first of...
Unlock Your Sales Potential
October 29, 2019 11:00 - 15 minutes - 14 MBSales. It’s the lifeblood of our business. If you hate selling you’re either not going to make it or you’re doing something wrong. Personally, I’ve been constantly working on it for a while and I’ve noticed a difference in the way I handle my sales calls now than I did before. It’s been a lot of iteration, trial and error, conversations, and hiring sales coaches and trainers… But if there is one “hack” that has changed how I sell for the better it’s what I talk about in today's vid...
The Cost of Fulfillment In Your Online Business
October 24, 2019 11:00 - 18 minutes - 16 MBLet’s talk about fulfillment. “But, Greg, what does fulfillment of my programs/services have to do with raising my rates?” Well, to be honest...everything! When you ask yourself… “Am I charging enough for my services?” You need to think about more than just your time and how much YOU are going to get paid. I recorded today’s episode for you after we went through an exercise we recently did internally because there are a few things we’re changing up in regards to our programs. Lis...
Be The Client You Want To Have
October 22, 2019 11:00 - 15 minutes - 13.6 MBIn today’s episode, I’m dropping some #realtalk I often hear agency owners complain saying things like... “My prospects and clients are cheap”... “My sales call didn’t go well because they didn’t want to spend what I’m worth”... And I sit there and think to myself… When was the last time YOU invested in the growth of YOUR business? When was the last time you spent what you ask your clients to spend on your own growth? When was the last time you paid to get the right help like you wan...
What Does Success Look Like For You
October 17, 2019 11:00 - 10 minutes - 9.64 MBComing at you with something a little different today… It’s something I’ve been working on with the team and it’s made me seriously think. How often do you sit down and truly think about what success looks like to you? I know I didn’t give it enough thought. I’ve been pouring everything into sitting down and truly figuring out what I want For the business… For my family… For myself… For my team… And it's given me a clear vision of why I’m doing what I’m doing. I think it’s impor...
How To Retain Clients At A Digital Agency (An Unconventional and Profitable Approach)
October 15, 2019 11:00 - 14 minutes - 12.7 MBSo I'm talking to my friend and he has a small boutique agency doing email marketing for e-comm companies. They go in, they deploy some specific campaigns and messaging strategies that yield a lot of sales. If you look at what they pay him vs. the money he makes them... it's an amazing ROI. Since he’s delivered such value he's continued to test raising his prices. It’s not like he wasn’t profitable at his original, lower price points, he was testing his market to see what prospects actua...
4 Things Every Agency Owner Needs To Take A Real Vacation
October 10, 2019 11:00 - 20 minutes - 17.9 MBWhen’s the last time you took a vacation? And I mean a true vacation… Away from your phone. Away from your computer. Not taking meetings. Not going back and forth with your team. If it’s been a while for you, then that probably means YOU are the business and you’re the bottleneck. Here are the 4 things you need to do within your business in order to take a real vacation. Have questions? Don't hesitate to reach out to me & the team here: [email protected] For the full transcript, pleas...
(Leaked Coaching Call) Selling DFY vs DWY
October 08, 2019 11:00 - 8 minutes - 8.31 MBComing at you with a short and sweet episode today… It’s actually a little sneak peek behind the scenes from a coaching call I had with one of our clients. Many of our clients are making the transition from done-for-you services where they are the labor to done-with-you where they have more leverage without sacrificing the client results. One of our clients has found it hard to sell done-with-you mainly because she found selling done-for-you to be “easier”. So, when she’s on a sales call...
My Biggest Takeaways From our 2-Day Client Intensive
October 03, 2019 11:00 - 30 minutes - 25.6 MB3 times a year our Leverage coaching clients come into town for a 2-day intensive. It’s one of my favorite parts of the business. I’ve always learned that the biggest breakthroughs don’t happen on a computer. They happen on paper, in a room working on your business with no tech to distract you. In our Leverage program, our clients bring their teams (more specifically their #2) and it was an awesome experience to see their ah-ha's and breakthrough moments. In today’s episode, I wanted to...
2 Lessons From Interviewing My Client
October 01, 2019 11:00 - 16 minutes - 14.9 MBI wanted to give you a “behind-the-scenes” look at some things I’ve been thinking about in my business... Whenever I’m thinking about making a change or enhancement in a specific area of the business I like to interview my clients. There is no better way to figure out if you’re doing a good job or a bad job until you really just talk to your clients. Instead of “guessing” what they need and missing the mark OR copying what some other Guru is doing cuz it sounds cool… I just ask my client...
The 2 Biggest Mistakes Digital Agencies Make That Prevent Growth
September 26, 2019 11:00 - 15 minutes - 14.2 MBThese 2 things are guaranteed to keep you either broke, stuck or struggling… I know, cuz I’ve ignored these 2 things in the past myself so I’ve seen it firsthand. Believe me, it’s lethal. About a month ago I got to spend 3 days on a houseboat with some awesome entrepreneurs and we each had time on the “hotseat”. For 60-90 minutes we each got insight, advice, and ideas from the group on our biggest and most pressing issues. It’s events like these where you don’t hear people talking about...
Identify And Fix The Bottlenecks - A Process To Consistently Grow Your Agency
September 24, 2019 11:00 - 20 minutes - 17.5 MBFor some reason, people choose to make their business complicated. I’d much prefer to keep things simple. And shockingly it’s the people that keep things simple that grow quickly. Simple doesn’t mean easy. In fact, keeping things simple is often really difficult. There are always new shiny objects that present themselves that we’ll want to play with. (I love new toys too, don’t get me wrong) Almost all of these “shiny objects” get introduced to us as if they are an “easy button” and if...
How We Run Our Weekly Team Meeting
September 19, 2019 11:00 - 16 minutes - 14.4 MBAs your team grows you’ll need to meet with them regularly to keep things moving forward smoothly. Hate meetings? Believe me, I get it. I’ve gone from having too many meetings with my team to canceling them all and back again. I’ve tried all the formats and it took us a while to figure out what worked for us. Now it’s something we train our high-level coaching clients in our Leverage program. Just the other day my friend asked me about the format of our meetings so I thought I’d share ...
Grow Your Agency By Doing Less
September 17, 2019 11:00 - 13 minutes - 12.6 MBWhen I started System.ly I hired someone to help me with fulfillment from day zero. It was only a few hours a week. But, those few hours allowed me to go out and get more business while NOT having all of the delivery rely on me. What seemed obvious to me in the beginning, the very thing that I see most agency owners and freelancers struggling with. They get a handful of clients and they are responsible for all of the fulfillment/delivery... Very quickly things get hard. New client come...
Kill The Old To Welcome The New
September 12, 2019 11:00 - 13 minutes - 12.2 MBA lot of the times when we’re stuck in our businesses… And we’re not growing... We think that we need to make some big, radical change to get those gears moving. And the reality is, you don’t. I tell our clients, one of the most powerful skills is that of perspective. If you’re like most agency owners I chat with, you’re so stuck in your clients business you’re barely spending time thinking about your own. It’s kinda like walking through a crowded city with your head down looking at yo...