He Borrowed $600 to Start. Three Years Later He Was Booking $81,000 a Month.

Full transcript of Josh Nelson’s interview with Alan Hillsberg. Lightly edited for readability.

Josh Nelson: All right, well, hey, everybody. Thank you so much for joining me on this session. I could not be more excited 'cause today I'm interviewing Alan Hilsberg from Funeral Marketing Services. I've been honored to be part of his growth and his progress as he's grown his agency over the years. And, you know, today we're just gonna talk about him, we're gonna talk about his business, how he's been able to grow it, how he's been able to scale it. So let me start by welcoming Alan to the call. Alan, thanks so much for taking the time today.

Alan Hillsberg: Josh, thank you for your kind words. Appreciate it. Thank you.

Josh Nelson: So let's, let's dive right into it. Just to start off with, just tell us a little bit about your agency, where it sits today, how many clients, approximate monthly recurring revenue, that type of stuff.

Alan Hillsberg: Well, going into February 2018, I've got 71 clients with monthly revenue at about $81,000 a month.

Josh Nelson: That, that's awesome, man. And, tell us how long you've been doing this for. Like, when did you, when did you get started in this particular vein of the business?

Alan Hillsberg: Well, I started March 7th, 2015. Okay. I'm a month shy of three years now. All right. I remember sitting by myself in Dunkin' Donuts on a Saturday morning with pen and paper after coming up with a $600 deposit. It was the first payment of three installments to get involved with you. I could barely afford that initial deposit, and after absorbing the first module in your course, I started to map out my game plan moving forward.

Josh Nelson: Nice. That's phenomenal. And so you said 80, $81,000 per month. Did I hear that right? Yes. That, that's fantastic. So that puts you at a run rate of seven figures or a million dollars a year in annualized revenue. That's correct. Wow. And, and what a, what an amazing journey that is 'cause you're telling me just, like, less than three years ago you were stressing out about the $300 first payment you made in order to get into this seven-figure agency program, right?

Alan Hillsberg: Yeah. Yeah, it was, it was a struggle. And, I was… You know, it took… You know, I needed to borrow that money.

Josh Nelson: Wow. That, that's awesome, man. I can't wait to unpack this and talk about, you know, how you got here, what you've done, because you've executed, which is amazing. Not everybody's executed at the same level. So but before we dive into that, tell us a little bit about the history. I know you didn't just start… Like, you'd done web design and stuff for years. So just start from the beginning with us as far as your evolution in this process.

Alan Hillsberg: Well, back in the, 1990s, late '90s, I w- I had a company called Top Listing. Okay. This was five years before Google came into existence, and I was doing, SEO, for different companies, optimizing for AltaVista- Oh my goodness… And, you know, th- those, search engines back then. And, it was during the dot-com phase, and, a public company came over to me and asked me if I wanted to sell my business. Okay. And at the time I had 17 clients. Hmm. And I said to them, I said, "What are you buying? I, I don't have a clientele." They said, "We don't care how many clients you have, we're interested in your, you know, your technology. You know, how you do what you do." So I sold that business for $100,000 in cash. Nice. You know, and it was, to me at that time it was a big deal. Sure. Looking back on it, if I did not sell that company, I would probably be living on an island right now. Oh, man. Didn't have that foresight. So I, started, going, to work for other, major companies doing work for them in the SEO, field, and I got the itch to go back into doing business myself but for smaller business. And, I started doing SEO all over again. And I've been doing SEO for years, offering SEO services to everyone, but not really getting anywhere. Hmm. For example, I remember doing a great, a great job for a local restaurant, creating visibility in all the communities, that were close to him. I helped develop incentives for customers to come back, and I helped him with, a systematic method of obtaining, reviews. The owner spoke highly of me, and his attorney that handled his restaurant asked me to take over his account. So I, so what I did was I applied the same strategies I used for the restaurant and applied them to the attorney. And I did this with a bakery and to the dentist and to the clothing boutique and to the local hairdresser, all with mediocre results. So it was an endless stream of bringing on new clients and s- and losing established, old ones. Hmm. It was exhausting. It was like an ex- an exhausting revolving door, and it was very frustrating.

Josh Nelson: So, I mean, it, I mean, it all sounds good, right? You got a restaurant, you got good results. You started getting referred to, you know, every other business in the local market, but it just wasn't that… It didn't, it didn't actually work that well for you.

Alan Hillsberg: No, it didn't, because I never really got to know that business the way you really need to get to know them- Mm-hmm… To really help them. It's almost like a bumper sticker m- mentality. You read somebody's bumper sticker, it's a nice saying, but the more you get, you ask questions- The more you see how little they know. Mm. So I mean, I just felt that I did not really get to know my clients the way I really should, and I… And it was on, it was on top of my mind, but I didn't know how to change. Okay. One day, I listened in on a webinar given by Mike Cooch- Mm… Selling the seven-figure agency course, and he had an interview with you. And what I knew I needed to do was break away from my method of doing business, as I saw so many in the same industry doing so much better than I, and they were, they were living a lifestyle I very much wanted for my family. So what m- resonated with me and still resonates with me, from that initial, seminar was recurring revenue, charging enough for services, being niche-specific- Mm-hmm… And, does the business sell a high-ticket item? Yep. So that day, when I sat in Dunkin' Donuts on that March 7th, I just got involved in your course, paid that $600. I remember watching the first module, and, I've got the, handwritten notes in front of me. And what I wrote was exactly what I'm gonna read to you now. "What is exciting, I'm doing the same service Josh Nelson is doing, except he's doing it better. Where my services are fragmented, his service offerings are more organized. He offers a complete package to one niche. I offer anything to everyone. He establishes himself as an expert in one niche. I'm a master of none, offering services to anyone. Another significant flaw, my price points are too low, not enough to offer clients a valuable service or enough, or enough, money to create a profitable business." So I started lon- so that's how I started.

Josh Nelson: That's amazing that you still-… That you still have that note and that it was, that was really a turning point for you.

Alan Hillsberg: Yeah. I mean, continuing on, I wrote, "He," which is you, "charges an absolute ele- an absolute minimum of 1,000 a month, and I don't have a customer paying me more than 500 a month." Mm. You know, so I saw all the flaws, and I really felt that I had something that I can really duplicate and really, make my own.

Josh Nelson: Well, that, that's, that's, that's amazing. It's a tremendous story. It's- One question that comes to my mind, and I'm sure it's gonna come to mind to the others. So 1990s, you sell type listing for 100,000, then you go and you start working, and you have your own agency again. How did you get to the point where that money dwindled away? It goes fast. Yeah.

Alan Hillsberg: Yeah. It goes fast. I actually thought that I could take some time off. Mm. But, you know, being a homeowner at the time, I had two small children, and, living off that money, it, you know, chunks of that money go very quickly. Yeah. And I quickly realized that that was not amount of money, although it was a nice windfall- Mm-hmm… For a very small company that really didn't have much. I knew that, you know, I couldn't just sit and, you know, work with the money I had. I had to go out and, you know, make a living.

Josh Nelson: Absolutely. All right. So that, so that was kinda like the turning point, right? You have these notes. You've got this clarity on what's wrong with the way you're doing things. So obviously, the next step was that you chose a niche. How did you choose a niche? Tell us about that process.

Alan Hillsberg: Well, I currently serve the death care industry. Okay. My clients are predominantly funeral homes, but I also serve cemeteries and cemetery monument companies as well. It, it's not as morbid as it sounds. It really isn't. I'm also now negotiating with hospice organizations, which is a direct win for the funeral homes I serve. Mm. Social workers that work in hospice are a valued relationship to any funeral director. Social workers are highly trained to provide end-of-life care to terminally ill people. During the short time patients are in hospice, families start asking questions about funeral pre-planning, which is beyond the scope of the hospice worker, but the type of questions a funeral director is trained to answer. So relationship development between a social worker and a funeral director is incredibly important, not to mention profitable. So, you know, that's my business. So funeral homes and…

Josh Nelson: So in the, in the selection of the niche, I know you kinda popped back and forth between a couple different options. What, I guess, what were the main things you were looking for as you chose this particular one?

Alan Hillsberg: Well, you know, I kinda leaned on, you know, pretty much everything that you've asked me to look at, which was recurrent, recurring revenue- Mm… Charging enough services, being niche-specific, does the business sell a high, ticket it- is it, does the business sell a high-ticket item? Mm-hmm. Is the, are there associations as- associated with that niche? Yep. Those were important. Are there enough, companies in your niche doing a million dollars in sales per month? I'm sorry, per year. Are these, funeral homes or is this niche one in which I can find, these people a- and, go after them? Is it seasonal? Those were all the questions that I asked myself. Mm-hmm. Each one of them gave me a green light.

Josh Nelson: Awesome. And I remember kind of when you came down to the office with a, with a group of people, and I remember you, saying, "Look, this is the niche I'm going after. This is why I chose it." You were pretty passionate about, you know, it being resonant for you, that transaction value. And I remember Dean and I afterwards kinda like, not sure, you know, this wasn't even on our radar and, you know, it's just so exciting to hear you tell me that you've had this level of success and, you know, being in this niche has been such a good fit for you. Tell us a little bit about the services you provide, to the, to the clients in your space.

Alan Hillsberg: Yeah, you know, before I answer that- Okay… Just, to push forward on, on choosing this niche, there's a book that I definitely recommend you, that everyone read. It's called Blue Ocean Strategy- Okay… By W. Chan Kim, and what they talk about is the fact that most markets are red oceans. They're full of blood because all the sharks feeding, all the sharks are feeding on the same pool of fish. Mm-hmm. So the fir- so he takes a big step back, and he says that the first person who taught health, wealth or relationships was working in a blue ocean with no other sharks or competitors coming after their customers. But people quickly saw the success, so they jumped into the waters. Over time, the waters grew red with sharks feeding on the same customers. That's why it became necessary for people to create their own blue oceans, so that's where submarkets began. Mm-hmm. And the first teachers in these submarkets experienced great success as well until people jumped in there and bloodied the waters. The smart people looking around and figured out what they could create inside of their submarket that could become a new opportunity to those customers. So the, so what they did was they created a new blue ocean once again. And what I'm doing when I talked about the social workers in this hospice, when I talked earlier about social workers in a hospice environment- Mm-hmm… That's a blue ocean. Yeah. And it falls directly inside my niche. Yeah. So kinda getting- The… Creative on what else you can do to create your own new blue ocean that'll be different than anyone else.

Josh Nelson: Exactly. Exactly. Awesome. So, so let's, let's dive in then to the services that you offer to your clients at this point.

Alan Hillsberg: I provide, SEO services for all my clients, focusing not only on the city or town they have a physical location but the surrounding communities as well. Mm-hmm. I provide reputation management services for my client, clients using a, proprietary software that, we developed. Okay. We also provide video production and development, one-on-one video interviews, walkthrough of their facilities, that kind of thing. Okay. And marketing through our clients on Facebook has been incredibly effective as well. I set my clients up not only to show up on Google when the family does a search, but we also take a proactive approach, reaching out to customers, branding our customers, reaching out to families and branding our customers, with the living in their demographic. We also do web design and have developed some very useful web applications that's specific to the niche that we serve. It's been working out well, and we have a very high retention rate. I lose very few clients throughout the year, and that's part of my success. And currently, we've been transitioning our clients into PPC as well.

Josh Nelson: Okay. So I mean, that's awesome. It's really a diverse set of services that are built specifically for the niche that you, that you work in. Obviously with an anchor around the website, the SEO and, video and other things that help position them and get them leads. Ultimately, you're generating leads, calls, and revenue-producing opportunities for your clients.

Alan Hillsberg: Yes, no doubt. And, and becoming niche-specific, it's easier to not only get a client but to help your client. When I'm in a competitive situation with another SEO firm that's not niche-specific, I immediately have the edge. Mm-hmm. You know, my client sees that I only work with funeral homes. I'm getting him funeral home testimonials. I'm getting him clients that he can quote directly all within his same niche. My competition can't do that. Yeah. I also ask my, clients to go back and ask that, my competitor certain questions like, "What is the difference between pre-need and at-need?" Most of them can't answer that, and if they can't answer that basic question, they'll never be able to serve the client. Yeah. Also, I find that working with one industry, I'm able to take the same strategies and apply them to another funeral home or monument company because I know that they work, and I'm able to really drill down and, and work on strategies that really help my customers grow and help them, generate more services each month.

Josh Nelson: Yeah. That's, that's the power, right, of the niche because you actually understand the industry. You can actually generate results, and then you can systematize what you do so that you can apply your knowledge to every single client that you serve.

Alan Hillsberg: No doubt. So actually- I'm making… I'm doing much better than I was when I was working for every type of company, and, it's, it's easier. The whole process is easier.

Josh Nelson: Yeah. That's, that's super cool, and thanks for sharing kinda your suite of services and the different things that you do, and I know that you're always trying to figure out what that blue ocean is. Mm-hmm. Not sitting only inside the internet marketing SEO box, but what else could you do now that you have these clients to serve them more and deliver on that key objective, which is to help them drive more leads, more sales, better profitability?

Alan Hillsberg: Right. No doubt.

Josh Nelson: Very cool. So now what I wanna ask is a question that a lot of people are curious about, they wanna know, which is how did you get your first five clients? It is exciting to see that you're now at, you know, $80,000 per month, 70 plus clients, and y- and we'll talk about what you do today, but for those first five, what was the strategy? How did you get those in your, in your niche? All cold calling. Hmm. But here's something I think this might be the most important line in this, interview.

Alan Hillsberg: Awesome. Tim Ferriss once said, or it came from one of his books, "Life punishes the vague wish and rewards the specific task." If you want confusion and heartache, ask yourself vague questions. If you want unca- uncommon clarity and results, ask uncommonly clear questions. Fortunately, this is a skill anyone can develop. Often, all that stands between you and what you want is a better set of questions. Hmm. And that goes back to you pushing people to plan. They set… If they s- if they plan, there i- there's clarity there, but you've gotta ask yourself clear questions, not vague questions and that's what I've done from the very beginning. Okay. So the first thing I did before putting together a website or anything else was put together a keynote presentation that was impactful. It took me two months to really get something down I felt was exciting and helpful to the clients that I wanted to serve. Then at that point, I got on the phone. But in order for cold calling to work, I needed to be realistic with myself. I knew I wasn't making 50 calls a day, and if I did, I knew I wouldn't be consistent day in and day out with that. I mean, you know, in a regular cold calling s- situation, you call six businesses in a row, and you get, you get shot down by the gate, gatekeepers six times. Yep. Then what you do is you end up taking a break or wasting time doing something else. You know- Yeah… The thing is you'll never, you're never gonna call 50 prospects a day. Mm-hmm. Not gonna happen. So I created a crystal clear plan to call and engage three prospects a day that agreed to either a follow-up conversation with me or open-minded to review information I'll be emailing them. If I got those three per day, I reached my goal, and my cold calling for the day was over. Sometimes I'd make more calls, but the thing is, I just set it… I set a re- realistic expectations for myself. So three interested prospects a day is 15 per week, or 60 prospects that a- a- that I actually engage with in a month. That's how I got my first five clients and beyond.

Josh Nelson: That, that's amazing. So I have a couple of drill down questions on this, 'cause I think this, like you said, is probably the most important slide and what a lot of people are really interested in. So you… Instead of making an infinite supply of calls, you made enough calls to make sure you had three specific interactions, and I do wanna drill down on that.

Alan Hillsberg: But to start with- If that took me 15 minutes, then my day was over. Okay. If it took me six hours to get those three, then my day was over. But looking back on that time, I don't think I spent more than, you know, three hours on a hard day- Hmm… To get the few calls, and that's doable. Yeah. That was doable.

Josh Nelson: So then- You know, and it might not- So then where did you- I'm sorry.

Alan Hillsberg: No, no, I'm sorry. You go ahead. I didn't mean to cut you off. It, it might not sound like a lot, but it does add up. I mean, three a day is 15 people that have an expectation of receiving information from you- Yeah… Or have agreed to a follow-up call. At the end of the month, that's 60 calls.

Josh Nelson: How many people that may be listening to this would like to be able to be negotiating with 60 different, prospects right now? It could happen in the next 30 days. Yeah. That, that's pow… I mean, it's powerful stuff, you know, even a different perspective than I, than I've heard. Where did you find the initial list? So this is something people are kind of struggling with. They pick their niche. Okay, I'm gonna start to make some calls and do some direct mail and some email. Did you use InfoUSA? Did you have some other source?

Alan Hillsberg: Yeah, I used the InfoUSA. Okay. And now as you sell Ge- Genie, they, charge $167 a month. Okay. But I just felt that it was worth it because it was, something that I was very clear on. You know, it wasn't on… I wasn't just buying a, bright and shiny object. I had a plan. Mm-hmm. So that $167 was well spent.

Josh Nelson: And- So it was, it was salesgenie.com powered by InfoUSA? That's correct, yes. And in your particular case, the… Did you feel like the data was pretty on point? Was it, like, good enough that you could make the calls and get to actual funeral home owners in your case?

Alan Hillsberg: Well, the email list was not- Mm-hmm… The email list was not good. I don't care what they say. The email list that they had was very outdated. A lot, a lot of the information came back. But, I wasn't emailing people. That doesn't work. It never worked for me. Mm-hmm. Don't call, email people. I think you'll starve. That's my opinion. Mm. I would use that to call, and it worked very well for, as a cold calling, piece of software for me.

Josh Nelson: Okay. So then the follow-up to that, so now you get your niche, you get your, your list of people you're prospecting to, which is just insta… In Sales Genie, I think you… Were you calling right out of Sales Genie, so you didn't have to export and import? You could just run your search and start plugging away? Pretty much. Okay. And then you start making your calls with the target in your mind, "I'm gonna get three people that expressed an interest and are, and are open to receiving my information." What was the approach on those calls? What was the verbiage? What were, what were you saying?

Alan Hillsberg: Thinking back on it, I, I introduced myself. "My name is Alan Goldsberg from Funeral Marketing Services. I ha- I exclusively work with funeral homes, helping them generate, more services per month. Can I show you some of the work I've done for past clients, or can I send you some of the, some of the things that have worked for my funeral home clients that could help you?" Mm. Something along those lines. Okay. I don't have the exact script- Yeah… But I can certainly pull it up for everyone.

Josh Nelson: It would be great if you're willing to pull it up. But so that was the basic talk track. Introduction, you know, who you are, and can I send you some information? It wasn't, can we schedule a time? It wasn't a straight to pitch. It was just trying to get their approval for you to send them a piece of follow-up content.

Alan Hillsberg: A- absolutely. Yeah. Just don't make it sophisticated. It's just simple. Just get on the phone. Make it… Don't, don't put too much pressure on yourself. Don't give yourself, "I'm gonna make 100 calls today." Just make realistic goals for yourself, and you will succeed. It doesn't matter what niche you're in. And then what- You get out there, and you've got to speak to people.

Josh Nelson: What was the- You won't- What was the follow-up piece that you'd send once they…

Alan Hillsberg: So assuming in the perfect world, they say, "Yeah, sure. I'll, I'd like to have you send me some information." Well, I know I was sending… I, I built a video. Prior to that, I was… I built a video on showing them, you know, their, they, their… Every funeral home has a physical location in a particular area. Mm-hmm. So I would do a little bit of research and show them that because they have a physical location in a particular area, the propensity of their website coming up in that area is great, and it usually does show in the three-pack. Okay? However, as they leave their area and go into neighboring communities and towns that they also serve, I would show them how they're drastically falling off. Mm. You know, and I would prove that by spending some time showing them, you know, screenshots so that, of their specific situation. Okay. I told them that if we can now increase their visibility in these different areas, that more calls will be coming in to their funeral home, and then I would go, I would go finish with this. I would show them how many calls came in, how many, Google searches came in for funeral homes in the last thirty days- Mm… Which is the dominant major keyword in this industry. You know, people are not referred, and something happens, that's the first thing they think about, funeral homes. Yep. And, I would show them how many, times that was searched in a month, and I would tell them, "You know, for every neighborhood walk-in you get, there are tens of dozens in your, demographic that don't wanna walk in, that go to the internet to find and search for a funeral home. For every referral you get, there are tens of dozens in your niche that are not referred, that go online to find a funeral home." And I show them the facts. It's not me talking. I show them the facts by showing them the thousands upon thousands of searches that were done that particular month. Mm-hmm. So, you know, I get them to the point where, "Hey, okay, show me more," and that's when I went into my strategy session.

Josh Nelson: I love the, I love the strategy of making a, a select number of targeted appointments or people where they say, "Yeah, I'll, I'll take the information." Just curious on how you bridge the gap from, okay, now I'm gonna send them this assessment that you said. How did you get them back on the call for the actual strategy session sales presentation?

Alan Hillsberg: Well, what I did was, after I show them this, I would tell them, "Look, I… Can I go ahead and evaluate your site, come back to you, and show you how Google is looking at your site, and what I would consider the best strategies for your funeral home based upon the number of services that you're doing now, and how I can increase that by, one or two per month, which will come out to, you know, twenty-five new services a year?" And they would say, "Yeah, that would be great." And then what I would do is call them back. You know, I would tell them, "I need to do my research. I'm going to, I'll call you back-" And I would do just that to set up a s- a strategy session. I was very careful, even in the very beginning, not to go for the sale. Mm. I never go for the sale. It, it's sort of like… And I think I've told, you this before, I've mentioned it in a, in the Mastermind meetings. Mm-hmm. When you meet an, a girl that you like, she could be beautiful, she could be everything you want, she could have a great personality, but you don't ask her to marry her on the first date. Right. There's courtship involved. Yep. And that courtship is the same type of courtship that you need to build with your clients. Yeah. And that's what I do with each and every client that I have.

Josh Nelson: Awesome. So Alan, just tremendous, the value. And just like you said, this one slide, you shared the, the secret sauce for your particular business on how you landed those first five clients. And, and for a lot of members, a lot of people coming through this program, that's their sticking point. They just can't get past that first, that first hurdle. And, I think what you described is an example of permission-based marketing, right? You're not just cold calling, you're not just, you know, blind emailing. You're calling up, introducing yourself, asking permission to send some information. Once they say yes, now they're expecting that email. They send it, you add value, and you're asking for permission then to show them where they've got issues and how you can help. And, really in a nutshell, that's what you did to get those first five and $5,000 a month of recurring revenue.

Alan Hillsberg: Well, the first 20,000 in recurring revenue.

Josh Nelson: So you didn't stop there, right? You kept, you kept following up.

Alan Hillsberg: Yeah, and that… I mean, look, even now I'm probably woefully behind on all the different types of things that could help me. You know, one thing I did learn to become is a great delegator. Mm. And when you asked me how I fulfill, I can explain that. Okay. Yeah. I…

Josh Nelson: We'll get to that in a little bit.

Alan Hillsberg: It, it's… You know, I mean, the thing is that don't make it hard for yourself. You'll still get rejection, but putting even putting the, goal of getting two people to talk to per day, I mean, at least at the end of the week you've got 10 people to talk to. Which if you look back on the five days, from now, you'll say to yourself, "Well, that's 10 people that I haven't had the opportunity to, engage with." You know, and 10 people is 40 people a month. Still a good number.

Josh Nelson: Yeah. So I mean, gold nugget number one, there's been some gold nuggets already, but probably the most gold nugget is set a target of three people that just accept you sending them some additional information. Don't say, "Okay, I'm gonna sit here and plow through 100 calls." Don't just, you know, randomly block out eight hours of your day. Set a target. Work towards that target. If you do that, you're gonna get some momentum, you're gonna get some wins underneath your belt. So- Right… Such a powerful and salient nugget. Thank you for sharing that.

Alan Hillsberg: The other thing to, add is, when you're putting this together, again, I'm gonna repeat this. If you want confusion and heartache, ask yourself vague questions. Mm. If you want uncommon clarity and results, ask uncommonly clear questions. All that stands between you and what you want is a better set of questions. Mm. So you've gotta ask yourself what you're going to talk to them about, exactly what you're going to send to them, how you're going to follow up. I mean, it's gotta be as detailed and as crystal clear as possible. That's the, that's the way I succeeded in this. And it's really not hard to do. It just takes time to think a little bit.

Josh Nelson: Yeah. That, a great stuff. So that's, that's how you got the first five. Obviously, now you're, you're at 70 plus clients, on pace to be $1 million per year a- and growing. Yeah. So ta- let's talk to, talk to us a little bit about the marketing mix today. Is it still just the cold calling? Have you kind of opened it up to other things? Let's just kind of talk through where you're generating most of your clients from now.

Alan Hillsberg: I don't do f- cold calling. I should set that up. Most of my, I generate most of my business today by referrals. Mm. I've, I'm written up now in the trade magazine, so I'm getting calls that are coming in. Facebook advertising has been very good to me. And trade shows. I still follow up with warm calls from my email li- list that I generated from way back when. But the bulk of my current sales are from the trade shows I'm doing. Mm. And, I plan on traveling a lo- traveling a lot this year. I want to do, I want to exhibit in 12 shows. And in fact, as I mentioned to you earlier, Josh, before we came on- Mm-hmm… I'm leaving this Monday to do my first show of the year in South Carolina.

Josh Nelson: Nice. So I mean, what's, what's crazy about what you're saying here is that you're, I mean, here you are in the funeral home niche, kind of a very small, off the radar type of s- niche. There is an association, as there is in most niches, and they're, they're meeting that frequently that you could, you could literally go to 12 events?

Alan Hillsberg: Well, you go to a hospital, and you see all these babies born when your, when your wife gives birth. Don't want to sound morbid, but you know, people, the… None of us get out of this world alive. Mm. None of us. Yeah. I mean, you know. The, and you know, you can't bury your Uncle Bob in the backyard. Yeah. It's not seasonal, you know. And, it's, it's a high-ticket item. Yep. It's, you know, it's something where, you know, death is a fact of life, unfortunately. Yeah. So, so I guess- There are, there are a- a- associations out there because it is a big business. Yeah. It's a close-knit business though, as I found out in the very beginning. Okay. You know, these, the… It's, it's, it's not, it's not easy to talk to these people a-and they are so, they're set in their own ways. But you know what? I could, I could do what I'm doing in any niche, and I probably would be successful. At least I have that confidence. Mm-hmm. It's just a matter of, asking yourself, a better set of questions on how you're going to approach what you're doing.

Josh Nelson: There you go. And so, I remember kind of being in this process. You, you were making cold calls and it's like how do we accelerate the growth? What can we do next? And, I, from day one, I always encourage people, find the associations, get involved in their events. I promise you, when you do that, you're gonna start to see some additional inbound lead flow, and it sounds like that's rang true for you.

Alan Hillsberg: Yes. Yes. And what I'd like to add to this is the webinars- Mm-hmm… Which I plan on doing this year as well.

Josh Nelson: Yeah. I think webinars will be powerful for you, especially because you've already got the, all these people that you did the permission-based marketing to that kind of know who you are, whether they did business or not. If you're doing value-added content where they're seeing Alan as the expert sharing great ideas on how to more effectively market themselves in the funeral home space to generate more leads, that's gonna, you know, magnetically attract even more of those guys to you.

Alan Hillsberg: Yeah, I think I have a g- good momentum for that, yes.

Josh Nelson: That's great. So you'd say, so the lion's share is referrals of current funeral home guys that you're doing business with that just like you that much.

Alan Hillsberg: They're like, "Hey, I've got a buddy across the other side of the state or the country that would be interested in your services potentially." Well, yes. That and also, last month I showed you an article, the three-page article that was written about us, about, the company and we get referrals through that magazine. Mm-hmm. But predominantly from customers that are talking to other customers that, "Hey, look, I've got somebody that, has made me a better,… Has positioned my company, better than I've ever had anybody position me before." Yeah.

Josh Nelson: And that's really, that's really great. That's a great feeling. It, it's powerful. I mean, so if you don't mind, as it relates to the Facebook ads, 'cause that's, that's unique, right? You get, somehow you're targeting funeral home directors on Facebook. Can you tell us a little bit about how you did that targeting, not necessarily for funeral homes specifically, but kind of in general?

Alan Hillsberg: Yeah. If you recall on, on the Facebook group, I, posted, my whole method in which I obtain clients through, the press releases we were writing. Yep. And what we would do is offer clients, and I do this for, my trade shows as well, what I do is I offer a free test drive. I tell them that I will go ahead and rank their business at no charge at all. I will get them on the top of Google in an, in a town that they have low visibility in under a hi- a high traffic pro… Keyword, such as like funeral pre-planning, and I will do it absolutely free, no strings attached. And, I will show you how I'm going to do it, and I'm gonna show you, and I'm gonna show you my results as well, so that when and if you're ready to, hire a marketing company, I might be, one that you may consider. So that's what I do.

Josh Nelson: And, on Facebook I offer this fr- you know, mar- marketing for free, and, with no strings attached, and I get people that come sign on. That's, that's, that's ama- amazing.

Alan Hillsberg: So it's a great, it's really a great strategy that you know you can deliver on every single time, get them impressed, and then obviously get their, get their business once you take them through the sales process. No doubt about it. E- every time. It works every time and I, and I'm… You know, even the people that don't sign on, I'm creating great friendships with them. They see that, we're the real deal. I got them in a marketing list, an email marketing list. They're re-targeted.

Josh Nelson: No doubt that they'll become customers one day. Awesome. And so just to kind of drill down, you know, he shared this strategy and, you know, he's, he's very open with what's working for him. Ultimately, he's telling, "Well, I'm gonna give you a free test drive." He creates a press release targeting one of the surrounding towns that's not their main town for their anchor keyword, writes a press release, pushes it out, and then can a couple days later say, "Hey, I told you I was gonna give you the test drive. I did it. Check this out. This is where you rank, and if I could do this for you in this period of time, imagine if we were working together on an ongoing basis." Something along those lines, right, Alan?

Alan Hillsberg: A little deeper than that. Okay. What, what I would do is I would tell them, "Listen, give me, seven minutes on the phone. Let me share my screen with you. Let me show you what we've done for one customer." So I would show them the actual results. I would show them, the, press release results and then I would bring them to a, a seven-slide, presentation and show them exactly what our thinking was going into this and what we're trying to do, what we're trying to accomplish, by not manipulating Google, but by giving Google what they want. Mm-hmm. So they're very impressed with that, and when they see that I'm able to do that for them and they understand through the transparency I'm, transparency that I'm offering them, it's really simple to get a strategy session Awesome I mean, I have no, absolutely zero pushback. It's a, it's a dynamite…

Josh Nelson: It's really a dynamite strategy, and obviously it's working extremely well for you.

Alan Hillsberg: – It took me two and a half years to develop it. I mean, you know, trial and error and, you know, seeing what works and what doesn't, but it does work. Also, those videos that I showed you one day- Mm-hmm… When you and I had a conversation, do really some good stuff that people just are impressed with.

Josh Nelson: Yeah. Do you mind explaining what that is?

Alan Hillsberg: What- Well, they're a series of, 20-second commercials that you're able to, edit in any niche, put in your own wording. It's something that, you know, if anybody wants to really see, I would need to show you. Mm. So certainly, you guys have access to me. Let me know how I can help, and I can show you some strategies that you might be able to apply to your niche.

Josh Nelson: Awesome. Great, great stuff. So just one quick follow-up question on this. So you're, you're, you're getting… How did you target the people on Facebook? Is it just basic interest targeting? Did you take an email list and import it in order to match up so that your ads are actually syncing to funeral home directors?

Alan Hillsberg: Well, at first I went with, the targeting and the interests, and, that did work. And then I, went, to, my email list, and I imported- Okay… That. Nice. And that as well. They both work.

Josh Nelson: Yeah. So there's lots of ways to get creative with Facebook targeting I guess is the point. When you start to get some organic traffic, you can retarget that group right on Facebook, and you start to develop a bigger and bigger list of people that you can hit on Facebook. And then if you get a big email list through the type of, marketing that Alan's doing, then you can import that into Facebook and make that a targeted audience. So really cool stuff, and then the strategy as far as what you're offering them is unique. You're offering them a free test drive, and that test drive strategy is working well on Facebook as well as at the trade shows because- Yeah, absolutely.

Alan Hillsberg: People want things for free. Mm-hmm. And look, again, I'm looking to build that relationship. I'm, I'm, I'm… You know, th- these press releases and everything I'm doing for them is that courting phase. Yeah. I want them to… I want to bring them into my company so that I can show them what I can do. Yeah. If I'm able to bring them in and I can show them what I can do, I'm going to get them as a client, or at least I'm halfway there. So it's a great way in which I could do that. I don't hold anybody… You know, look, they don't wanna buy from me, and there are some that don't. That's okay. I stay in touch with them, and I'm, I'm still friends with them. I know sooner or later I will get them.

Josh Nelson: That's awesome. So I mean, guys, what you have gotten in the last 30 minutes is exactly what Alan's done from a strategy positioning perspective and from a sales and marketing perspective to build a seven-figure, digital marketing agency in his very niche-focused business. So we talked about, what you do to generate clients. Which of these tends to generate the most? Like, what are the lion's share of your new clients coming from?

Alan Hillsberg: Hands down trade shows. Okay. Right now, right now, hands down. I started, with, trade shows in September of 2017, so okay, only a few months ago, and that trade show was, in New Jersey, and I think I've landed five or six clients from that trade show alone. One of them is now one of my biggest clients. In fact, I closed him last week, and I, I put a, I put a little video up in my mastermind group. Mm-hmm. He's, he's, he's generating $4,600 a month from me. Wow. And he's on a yearly contract, and he couldn't be more happier.

Josh Nelson: That's, that's phenomenal. That, that's phenomenal. So, a- and this is one of those strategies I always suggest, right? You, you find the associations. You get into their events. I think the next strategy for you to even accelerate further is to speak at those events, which I know you're working on, but- Yes…

Alan Hillsberg: I get so much pushback.

Josh Nelson: A lot of you guys running these digital marketing agencies, whether you're in the startup phase or you're kind of in the growth phase, you like to be behind a screen. You like to sit at your desk. Going to a trade show takes work, right? You have to book a plane. You gotta get a hotel. You gotta fly out there. But if you do it right and you put the energy in, it's gonna reap rewards long into the future, as Alan can attest to.

Alan Hillsberg: No doubt. That is true.

Josh Nelson: So let's, let's talk now about how you retain and how you fulfill because, you know, you're a one-man business-owned entity. You don't have a business partner that's kind of the operations guy behind the scenes. You're the, you're the main guy, right? You sell. You fulfill. You implement. So talk to us a little bit about your fulfillment strategy. How do you… You know, you've got all these 70-plus clients, and you've grown it in less than three years. How did you get the work done?

Alan Hillsberg: Well, I run lean, but I'm very profitable. Most of my fulfillment is done remotely. Okay. Great success. I have a web development team that knocks it out of the park for me every time. Whether building websites, updating or developing new products, they are on time, and they're very cost-effective.

Josh Nelson: Is it a, an outsourced provider, or is it your own team that you have that works remote?

Alan Hillsberg: It's… Well, he pretty much works for me. Mm. I give him enough work, but he is a freelancer, so to speak. Okay. But the, mo- most of, most of all his work is coming directly from me.

Josh Nelson: Okay. Great And did you find him on Upwork or on onlinejobs.ph or kinda where did you find this- No, I actually found him on Upwork. Okay, great.

Alan Hillsberg: This is, this is now, prior to, starting with you, I believe. But you know, you know, th- there's trial and error there because, you know, people overseas especially, they'll tell you anything, to get to, make, you know, get your money. But not all of them really care enough about what they're doing, you know. And to find that, company that really cares about customers and looks at money second is difficult, but that's what you need to find if you're looking to outsource. Yeah. So he does knock it out of the park for me and, he's got a team, and they pretty much work exclusively for me, for me. I've got an SEO team as well, actually three teams that share my client base with great results, and they provide quality reports twice a month, all in my name. I have outside content writers. And when I say content writers, they're niche specific, th- that write awesome content for me, and I've got outside social media freelancers that are creative and responsible for the Facebook advertising I do for myself and for my clients. I do have full-time help here for customer service support. We take a proactive approach by communicating with all our clients, consistently showing our re- our results, and providing them with our goals and expectations over the next thirty to ninety days. And this setup has been extremely successful for me because my payroll is low. That's awesome. And by subcontracting services out effectively, my freelancers get paid only from my recurring revenue, so there's no wasted spending, which means more profit for me.

Josh Nelson: Yeah. And so, I mean, it's pretty amazing the way that you've set it up, where you got this skeleton, small crew in-house to facilitate the seven-figure agency and then these highly trusted and reliable subcontractors that you've got that are, you know- That are doing all the work… That are doing the work- Doing all the work… And accountable to you, and but aren't necessarily W2 employees, right?

Alan Hillsberg: You can pay them as, – They're not. They're not. I, you know, we're… In New York, we have a, we have, state taxes. Mm. We've got employment taxes, which everybody has, but, I'm saving a lot of money doing it this way, and it took me a long time to find the right outside people, but it's worth it. I spent a lot of time becoming an expert delegator, and I'm still learning how to delegate, but I'm getting there. Awesome. So what I have in-house is a very lean crew of customer service specialists that I… You know, that take the, work that comes in, and distributes it out and, speaks to the clients. Pre- pretty much their job is to speak to my clientele. Okay. You know, and also, you know, doing the press release work. But, but again, that, inside, that inside cost is, minimal. Yeah. That… What a, what a great- So my profits are not… My profits are, stay high.

Josh Nelson: A- absolutely. No, no better, no better setup than that, where you don't have to have the overhead, you don't have to have the big office. And obviously it's, it's working well for you.

Alan Hillsberg: Yeah. And then, you know, everybody comes back to me, "How come you don't have… You don't know this?" Or using, ActiveCampaign or I don't even know what that is. I just hear that word. I don't need to know it. I got these people doing it for me. Right. You know, I mean, it's some… It is nice to know. I'm getting more involved with ClickFunnels. I find that to be very useful. Mm-hmm. But, but I got it… I've got other people that are doing it for me, and I'm managing it. Very, very nice. I, I am doing all the sales, though, only because I do like it.

Josh Nelson: I- And you're good at it. Right. You're expert status at it. Yes. So that's phenomenal. I did a, I did a webinar last year around this time with Jeff, on the topic of building a team, 'cause he's got a lar- he had a large team at the time of subcontracted employees. So I'll post a link to it somewhere along with this video in case you wanna go back and learn a little bit more on how to build a Upwork style virtual team. And I'm sure, Alan, you could, you could put together a, a great piece of content on that as well, since you've got your own team that you've developed.

Alan Hillsberg: Sure. You know, I never heard that, interview. I'd love to hear it.

Josh Nelson: Oh, no. Okay. Yeah, I'll, I'll definitely share it. Anything else you wanna add on the topic of fulfillment and client relationship or client management?

Alan Hillsberg: Well, what I told you is pretty much all it is. Okay. You know, it's keeping things simple, but al- having, asking… I ask myself better questions than I did last month or last year and, continue to do so.

Josh Nelson: And I will say kudos to you on this front because not only have you sold a lot of clients, but your retention is probably the best I've seen, where literally you're not losing but a handful of clients in this entire, this entire three-year span. It's, it's just phenomenal.

Alan Hillsberg: Well, yes. I've, I've lost some clients, but it, my retention rate is high. I spend a lot of time on that. It's one of my, a KPI. Mm-hmm. It's one of the most important things to me because it's a lot easier to maintain a client than to find a new one. I also realize that if I put a, put on five new clients a month- It does me no good if I'm losing, you know, if there's a hole in the bottom of the bucket. Yeah. The clients are coming out. So I spend a lot of time with my clients. I make sure that they're happy. But my services are good, they're personalized, and my clie- I'm making better customers. Mm. And they feel it, so they see value in the services that I'm providing, and that value is translating into, retention.

Josh Nelson: Nice. Fa- fantastic. Fantastic stuff. So kinda getting to the close of this interview, and this has been, it's been tremendous. Guys, start to get your questions ready 'cause we will open up. We've got a lot, a lot of you online, which I'm really excited about. There should be hundreds of people really listening in 'cause this is so powerful, what Alan is sharing. So you're, you're an active learner, you're, you're proactive in your personal growth. What are some of the books and training programs that have had a big impact on your growth and your success?

Alan Hillsberg: I'm currently reading Russell Brunson's Expert Secre- Secrets. Okay, awesome. I'm telling you guys, it's a book you need to get. To me, it's written specifically for agencies, and his ideas and the way he conveys his ideas are absolutely genius. Mm. They really are. They're easy to understand, and I find it, for myself, easy to take what he's telling me and implement it immediately into my agency to make me better immediately. Nice. The guy, the guy really is a genius.

Josh Nelson: I, yeah. I'm just thinking- Russell's amazing…

Alan Hillsberg: I, I'm actually trying to, get into his event in March down in Florida.

Josh Nelson: The, the Funnel Hacking Live in Orlando?

Alan Hillsberg: Yeah, it's sold out. Okay. I'm on a waiting list. All right. You know, but, he's one. Tim Ferriss' Tribe of Mentors, there's a lot of great advice from the best in the world. Mm. I also like Tools of Titans: Mm… Routines and Habits of World-Class Performers. Yep. That is good as well. But, those are the three books that, resonate with me right now.

Josh Nelson: Awesome. Beautiful stuff. So what would you say to that digital marketing agency owner that wherever they're at, you know, is just trying to get to the next level, they're trying to figure out how to grow, how to get to the next step? Any, any nuggets or pieces of wisdom that you can share?

Alan Hillsberg: Well, I think if you're going to start by cold calling, which I think most of the group has to, has to do because they don't have an agency yet, don't put too much pressure on yourself because you'll fail quickly. Mm. And then you'll s- you'll start developing a negative attitude towards a very important part of your, agency. So go at this, your approach should be maybe two or three clients a day that are just interested in getting the materials or will be available to, a second phone call with you. Two or three a day. The end of the week you'll have 15. The end of the month, 60. That's exactly how I started building this agency. Once I started doing that, then I started building the website. Although, you know, I did start the website at the same time, but I didn't have anything else. I just made the calls and, you know, the presentation was very important. The, keynote. Mm-hmm. That and, making the calls were the only two things that I concentrated on in the very beginning.

Josh Nelson: Awesome. Well, again, I mean, beautiful stuff. Yeah, I couldn't be more honored to have been part, you know, part of this evolution that you've had and, you know, kinda moving you from struggling, broke to a really successful seven-figure agency that I think- Right… Is going e- even to the next level over the next couple years. So, it's been, it's been awesome to have this interview. I know that you're doing awesome, but to kinda hear all of the details and what you're up to, I couldn't be more excited for you and happier to be part of the process.

Alan Hillsberg: Tha- thank you, Josh.

Josh Nelson: So let's, let's open up for questions if anybody has any specific questions. And I will say, if you're listening to this interview and, you know, you're not already part of the 7 Figure Agency, I encourage you to go to 7figureagency.com. There you can access a free training series where I kinda walk you through how we were able to build our agency from zero to $300,000 per month in recurring revenue, hit the Inc. 5000 list two years in a row. And really just to kind of break down why choosing a niche is the best way, how to position yourself as an expert and put together marketing strategies to getting clients coming to you pre-positioned to buy so you don't have to make cold calls forever. So again, if you're not already part of the program and you'd like to learn more, go to 7figureagency.com. You can access a great free four-part training series. But for now, let's, let's open it up for questions, for those of you that have feedback or have questions. I see, David is saying, "Great job. Very inspiring." Yeah. I agree 100%. Let's see. So somebody s- I, I see PM, I don't know the full name, but, "Awesome stuff, Alan. Kinda confused with the press release strategy. Can you please walk me through, exactly how you prep for the pre-plan, pre-planning plus city with the press release?" whoever that is, tell them…

Alan Hillsberg: They're part of this group, right, Josh?

Josh Nelson: They're part of the group, yep.

Alan Hillsberg: Yeah, tell whoever that is, PM me and I'll, I'll be more than happy to show you.

Josh Nelson: Okay. Fair enough. Let's see. Dave's asking a question.

Alan Hillsberg: He says, "At the beginning when you were starting out, before you had the team, how did you handle fulfillment?" I had one SEO group that handled my, fulfillment for all my other agencies, all my other clients before I got involved with you. I used them to help me.

Josh Nelson: So you had a little bit, you had a little bit of a team kind of coming into it, and you've built it up as the- Right… Agency grew. Right. Okay.

Alan Hillsberg: I've never personally got involved in doing SEO.

Josh Nelson: So even from day one, it was, it was, you had a group of people that you found through, Upwork, or I guess at the time it was probably Elance or something like that.

Alan Hillsberg: Yeah, I had a, I had a nucleus. I had a framework of, o- o- of people that I knew I was going to work with and knew I didn't have to pay on a weekly basis, but only as those jobs came in. Right. Only as, like, on a, on an as-need basis.

Josh Nelson: Right. Okay, so Jean, thanks for joining us. So glad to have you here. She's asking, do you start with a narrow local focus, or are you now marketing nationwide?

Alan Hillsberg: No, I've never started with a local focus, although many of my clients are in New York, only because I'm able to visit them. I went for… I went nationwide. It didn't matter. They, you know, a funeral home in Washington State versus a funeral home in Miami, Florida, they still offer the same services. Mm-hmm. So my presentation to them was all the same except I was working in, you know, their area.

Josh Nelson: So w- so the question was, did you… So obviously, you're nationwide. You can't limit yourself just to some place in New York. Well, did your first, any of your first couple clients come into your backyard, or were they all outside the area?

Alan Hillsberg: My very first client, Goffito Funeral Home, was in New Jersey, which is the next state over. Okay. The second client was from New York and then California, Miami, Chicago. R- right away it started to branch- Texas… Yeah.

Josh Nelson: That's awesome. Yeah, and I think it's probably similar to, to our experience. Our, our first one or two were local. That way we could be right face-to-face with them, get the opportunity, knock it out of the park, and then instantly started going on a national basis. So that's a great question. She's also saying if you're ever in, Myrtle Beach, she'd love to, love to get together with you.

Alan Hillsberg: I'll be, the trade show is in Columbia, South Carolina. Don't know how close that is to Myrtle Beach, but that's where I'll be, Columbia, South Carolina.

Josh Nelson: Okay. Cool. So David's asking, and we got questions coming in now, so I really appreciate the engagement here, guys. So David's asking, "Do you run ads in the association newsletter and things like that?" No, I don't. Okay.

Alan Hillsberg: No, I don't. Is it a good idea? Probably. Yeah. I just thought that the prices were high- Mm… And, I chose not to.

Josh Nelson: Okay. Good, good question. You know, it is something that we, in our niche and in our associations, we, at this point, we do buy, like, the cover ad. That way they see us when they get those newsletters. So I mean, as the company grows and as you, as you have a bigger marketing budget, it may be something to look at, and that's a great question, David. Now, did you do that, early on?

Alan Hillsberg: No. We, we were like… It, it's been over the last two years or so where we started doing that. 'Cause it's, you're right, it's a big expense. Y- there's not a hard return on investment. But if you really wanna saturate that niche, you know that your best clients are in that group that's getting that circular. At a certain point, you know, you can put some money towards it and- Well, that makes sense to me.

Josh Nelson: Yeah. Right.

Alan Hillsberg: And then they come up to you at the booth and they're like, "Oh man, I feel like, I feel like I know you. I've seen your videos. I've been on your webinars. I get your stuff in the mail. I see you in my newsletter trade journal." And, and you start to get that famous status within your little, your little group.

Josh Nelson: So David's follow-up question to that was, how many associations in your niche are you a part of now?

Alan Hillsberg: I'm part of three, actually four, associations right now.

Josh Nelson: Okay. Cool. Very cool. Let's see. Oh, lots of questions coming in. I don't wanna miss you guys' questions, and Alan, this is awesome, so thanks for sticking with us and answering the questions. So Brian's asking if you could elaborate a little bit on the specific services being offered at the start. Was the package… Was it a package or was it separate, and what price point did you start at? So he did answer that at the beginning. He kind of explained, that he comes in with a package. Can you just talk through that a little bit more and kind of what your price points were out of the gates?

Alan Hillsberg: Back then, my original price points, were at fifteen hundred and two thousand, but I got pushback with those price points for SEO- Mm-hmm… And, review, you know, review management. I came down, I found that my sweet spot was around twelve fifty, nine ninety-five to twelve fifty. I rarely take a client under a thousand a month. And their services are good, but they're, they're not everything that I can provide for them. Mm-hmm. Back then, and it's still the same as it was.

Josh Nelson: Okay. So in that one thousand to fifteen hundred dollar range?

Alan Hillsberg: Yeah. Yeah, twelve fifty. Those are the… One thou- nine ninety-five to twelve fifty is my sweet spot.

Josh Nelson: Okay. And obviously that'll go up when you start doing some pay-per-click management and things like that for the clients.

Alan Hillsberg: Right. Right. Cool. And I do have clients that are spending a lot of money in pay per click.

Josh Nelson: All right. David says he's got a lead that he might be able to refer you to in a local hospice.

Alan Hillsberg: – Yeah, Da- David's been a big, David Doost has been a big help to me- Mm-hmm. Okay… Throughout these years, sending me stuff that, all good stuff that I was able to implement and use. Awesome. Yeah, David was just a wealth of knowledge. I appreciate, I appreciate you, Dave. Thank you. Yeah. He, he's, he's awesome.

Josh Nelson: So David's asking if you're, if you're facing any com- competitors in your niche, or a lot of, a lot of competition?

Alan Hillsberg: There, there is competition in my niche, yes, more established firms. Mm. But, I don't find myself going face-to-face with them, you know, head-to-head with them. There is another company, out there that, works, only in, on the social media side, which is what they call pre-need, you know, people that are pre-planning, funeral arrangements, where I do more at need, you know, people that want to report a death. Mm. And I don't want to sound morbid, but different types of marketing. I don't have,… But I don't have, a direct competition or a competition that I feel.

Josh Nelson: Right. He's, he's asking, to follow up to that, are their price points similar or lower or higher?

Alan Hillsberg: Well, the social media guy who I became friendly with, has similar price points than, as I do. Okay. The other competition, I don't know.

Josh Nelson: Got it. These are, these are great questions. As we start to wrap this up, I do want to say this has been phenomenal. If you're watching this after the fact, if you're watching it live, I expect all of you to send a big thank you note to Alan for sharing his information, sharing his experience. Just tremendous what you, what you've done. So, don't let it be lost on you that when somebody opens themself up like this and they put themselves out there, you know, they start to wonder, "Was that good? Did I add value?" And I can tell you, Alan, you just rocked it. You just provided such great value. Don't be the guy that got tremendous value and doesn't send a thank you to Alan for what he's done, over the last, hour and 10 minutes here with us. So Jeanne has a good follow-up. She says she got some of her clients to add her to a closed Facebook group. So like, for instance, you know, in my space, there's plumbing and HVAC marketing or plumbing and HVAC specific groups where they hang out on Facebook and they talk. She says that's been tremendous for her to get clients in her association. Might be something to look at. I don't know if funeral home directors are hanging out on Facebook and communicating back and forth, but I guess it's, it's possible. She says, "Thanks, Alan. Great stuff." Jeanne says, "When I do a g- a Google search here in Myrtle B- Beach for funeral home marketing services, Alan comes up number one." So nicely done from an SEO perspective, Alan.

Alan Hillsberg: Yeah, definitely. We, we, we definitely come up. If I… Hey, look, if I can't do it for myself, how am I gonna do it for my clients? Gotta eat your own dog food, guys. Y- I mean, in your niche, and it's not that hard, right, because there's not a lot of people that are targeting niches. There's not a lot of people putting out great content. You know, shame on you if you're not doing well from organic perspective for your own services. And you should probably be bidding on those terms via pay-per-click as well with it. Wouldn't cost you that much from a budgeting perspective. So- No, and look, you know, I learn a lot from, everyone else as well. Even yesterday, took a look at that new website that one of, the newer members, – David, yeah. David put it up… Man, that was beautiful. Mm-hmm. A- and I, it started to inspire me to go ahead and change my whole look as well.

Josh Nelson: Nice. Awesome.

Alan Hillsberg: Well- Thank you for that…

Josh Nelson: Well, I think we're, we're coming to the close point of this interview. Again, Alan, tremendous stuff. Thank you for sharing. For those of you that are listening, you know, go to, go to synfigureagency.com if you're not already a member. If you are a member, be sure to post your comments, your feedback. Send a personal message to Alan thanking him for sharing such great information and being such an in- inspiration. And I will give you the last word, Alan.

Alan Hillsberg: Well, you know, look, for everyone that's on the call, if you're interested in any- anything that, I might be doing that you might want to implement in your own industry, your own a- agency, don't hesitate to PM me. We'll set something up. I'll show you what I'm doing, and I'll be happy to help.

Josh Nelson: Awesome. Tremendously generous. And with that, we will, we will close. Thanks, guys, for joining us live. Thanks for watching this, possibly listening to it as a podcast. And, if you get value from this type of information, would help if you'd go on to whatever channel you're listening to it on, whether it's Facebook, iTunes, YouTube, go and post a comment, po- you know, share your feedback and, we'll, we'll talk to you guys again soon.

Transcript of Alan Hillsberg’s testimonial video.

My name is Alan Hillsberg, and I want to thank Josh and Dean for a very in-depth, fantastic course. I've learned a lot and, um, I've been doing this now for a year and a half, and I am doing tens of thousands of dollars per month in recurring revenue because of the things I've learned from the course. I am appreciative, I'm grateful, and I'm excited for the future, and I can't wait for the, the opportunity to learn more from, uh, these two individuals. This was the best investment I've made in myself, uh, m- for my whole life, and I, I wanna thank them.

Uh, I'm glad to do this testimonial and, uh, convey this message. Thank you.