My podcast co-host and friend Johnny Robinson AKA @SqueegeeGod has an e-learning business called Home Services Academy. HSA teaches folks how to start their own remote local businesses.
He has successfully scaled it, and I wanted to pick his brain about how he did it. His biggest piece of advice?
Start small and pour the cash back into the biz to grow it. And how do you grow a business quickly? With a solid marketing team behind you.
Creating the Team
When Johnny first decided to create HSA, he knew that he needed a partner. Someone who had skills that complemented his own. He decided to go with his friend and long-time partner in many other ventures, Sergio Silesky. Johnny would be in charge of sales while Serge would handle operations and product development.
In the beginning, it was all about the sales calls — HSA needed the cash flow. As they geared up, they also brought on an outside vendor to take care of ads.
Johnny says that it’s essential to have those three positions filled from the get-go, and I can’t help but agree. When you have your marketing and sales team in sync, you can start implementing systems that will allow you to start scaling quickly.
Eventually, HSA fine-tuned its sales funnel so that every call mattered. It would require them to weed through the dozens of potential inquiries to determine whether they were serious or not. They were able to do so through the use of a pre-recorded video and appointment setters.
Why Appointment Setters Matter
If you’ve ever tried selling through Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn, you know that at some point you become inundated with messages. The key here is to be able to determine whether or not those leads are worth your time. These are called marketing-qualified leads.
You need to create systems to vet your leads. Ask specific questions to gauge serious interest — such as income, current industry, and the like.
Johnny ended up making a pre-recorded video called a video sales letter funnel. Instead of sending a message or DM, people who were interested in HSA would enter their name, email, and phone number before being granted access to the video. The video went over the opportunity and exactly what to expect from HSA.
If the person was still interested, only then would they be able to view a calendar to book a sales call. And in order to book there, you had to answer a set of ten questions. Johnny and Serge’s marketing guru created automations to determine who was qualified or not. They were then automatically scheduled for a call. But, even after all of these barriers to entry, people were still no-showing!
After using the video sales letter funnel, Johnny learned that there were still a lot of folks who simply wouldn’t show up to the calls. These days he uses an “appointment setter” for all of HSA’s sales calls. An appointment setter is someone who schedules sales calls between an interested party and a salesperson. They go over all of the information the potential client has provided to see if they would be a good fit.
When there was an appointment setter involved, more people started showing up. This is called the “show rate.” An improved show rate is the main reason why Johnny now uses these setters for all of his leads.
The All-Important Show Rate
When Johnny began tracking the show rate, he discovered that it was much higher when using an appointment setter. Ideally, he wants the rate to be around 60%. Show rates tend to be a lot higher when you use an appointment setter — HSA’s show rate with appointment setters is over 80%. It makes a lot more sense to use the setters as much as possible, which is what HSA did.
As a note, Johnny pays his appointment setters a base salary of $1,500 per month. They then get a 5% commission on every closed and cash-collected sale.
So, what’s the lesson learned here? Don’t underestimate the power of a stellar marketing team, which includes appointment setters. They’ll help you see through the proverbial weeds so that all of your sales calls matter.
Another takeaway? Start with a dedicated sales, operations, and marketing team, and the possibilities are endless.
This article was written by Neel from MaidThis Franchise, a remote-local franchise opportunity for people looking to escape the rate race and reach financial freedom. Learn more here.
