It’s been a rough week for your humble narrator:
My lead gen agency (who will remain nameless, but if you spend any time on so-called “Money Twitter” there’s a good chance you follow some of these doofuses) decided that it’s time to part ways.
Why?
Well, they’ve failed at creating any meaningful results from me for months. So it was hardly a one-sided decision. But their utter lack of being on “Team Client” (which is one of my “Cowboy Codes” that I have yet to release) left an awful taste in my mouth.
For example:
1. My email manager (whose job it was to respond to interested leads and book a call) frequently got my name wrong. This should’ve been a red flag, and it made me cause a bunch of fuss in the Slack DMs, but it was a red flag that I ignored for far too long.
2. Despite my complaints that unqualified leads kept booking meetings, they told me that “what’s working right now” (lol) is firing without aiming and landing as many meetings as possible to weed out the good from the bad.
(No thanks, this is a complete waste of time… and another boneheaded red flag I ignored.)
3. When I asked them how they were going to rectify my account and justify the moolah I was paying them, I was told they’d have an internal meeting to discuss next steps.
I highly doubt they ever had such a meeting, they were simply leading me on like a schoolgirl.
4. While they’re producing the most lackluster results, they’re also on Twitter tweeting about how great of a business they run. Well, they at least used to produce results. And while the investment still generated a positive ROI for me, it wasn’t because of them. It’s because I know how to retain clients—something that would behoove them to learn.
(Again, another red flag.)
5. They look up to Gary Vee.
This is perhaps the biggest red flag, and I knew it from a mile away.
I can’t stand Gary Vee. And the only thing worse than Gary Vee is Gary Vee doofuses.
What do I mean by that?
Well, Gary preaches about “giving value” all day long. If you’re a business owner, in Gary Vee’s world, you exist solely to “give value.”
Problem is, giving value to Gary Vee is posting retarded short videos and dedicating every second of your life to creating content.
The even bigger problem is that Gary Vee has taught all his Gary Vee doofuses that creating content is more important than actually serving your client.
If you can’t serve your clients, they won’t stick around. Meanwhile you’ll fool every sucker on social media that you’re the shit and the toilet too.
And you know what?
This is something that I know affects business owners of all shapes and sizes too. An agency dupes them, they get a bad taste in their mouth, and then they avoid all the great people (and even some agencies) who actually live and die on “Team Client,” like yours truly.
So, I’ve been spending way more time than I originally intended vetting different lead gen freelancers and agencies because this is a hole in my business I waited too long to plug.
(If you know anyone, send me their info.)
Anywho, moral of the story?
Don’t do business with a Gary Vee doofus.
There are plenty of superior people to learn bidness from.
And if you need help sending more profitable emails?
Hit reply (even if you’ve been duped by an agency in the past).
I retain my clients for years because I get them results month after month after month. Most agencies cannot say the same.
Rant over.
John