He Stopped Chasing Clients and Built an 80-Client Home Services Agency

Full transcript of Josh Nelson’s interview with Mandeep Bala. Lightly edited for readability.

Josh Nelson: Asked where we're interviewing highly successful digital marketing agencies from across the country on how they're growing their agencies, how they're landing clients, delivering world-class results and scaling their businesses. I'm super excited to be joined today by Mandeep Bala from Grow Nearby. He's built a multiple seven-figure agency serving the plumbing, HVAC, and home services niche. If you're excited, you're gonna wanna watch this video. So Mandeep, thank you so much for being here.

Mandeep Bala: Oh, thank you so much for inviting me here, Josh. I'm super excited to be here.

Josh Nelson: So for the, for the sake of the listener that doesn't know you yet, kinda give us a high-level overview where the agency sits today. How many clients, how much revenue? Like, what's the lay of the land?

Mandeep Bala: Sure. So our agency is, like, sitting right now between seventy-five to eighty clients across the country, like home service, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, garage door- Mm. -now tree service. So all these, like, clients we have. And, when it comes to MRR, we are sitting, I think, close to one eighty-five to one ninety K.

Josh Nelson: So nice multiple seven-figure agency. Fantastic work. Congratulations. Thank you. Of course, we always like to hear the journey, right? You didn't start there. As I recall, a couple years back you were at the Roadmap line. You were starting this thing. Kinda tell us a little bit about your journey over the years as you've grown the agency.

Mandeep Bala: Yeah, absolutely. As, I don't know if you know, like, you know, I born and raised in India. Came to the US, in twenty fifteen- Mm. -with my wife and, I was working at one of the agency as a VP of Marketing. And, I figured out like, you know, I have to go above and beyond to serve home service industry. And, I was just like, you know, I have to go all in. So right before COVID, twenty twenty, and no one had idea about like, what is COVID, what's gonna happen? I went all in in my business, which is like Grow Nearby and never looked back. And, I was at your event, that was Roadmap- Mm-hmm. -in March twenty twenty and, that was a game changer for me when I found you guys. Like, I'm all about like, you know, relationships and vibe, and I always say your vibe attracts your tribe. Yeah. And that's how I attracted to you, Josh- Mm. -and entire, your seven-figure agency family. And, after that, like, you know, signed up with you guys and obviously there are so many strategies that you can deploy to take your agency to the next level. And, I've gone through with your all like, you know, content, you know, thoroughly and started applying those strategies. And I would say the major thing was like, you know, from the beginning, I'm all about relationships and, producing content. And I'm, by the way, I'm a big fan of Gary Vee, and he was the one that was actually giving me boost to go all in. Like virtually, like we never connected. I met him like, this year twice. Awesome. But I got like motivated through his content and that… And I, and I was actually riding a bike in Tampa and, I was listening to his podcast and he said that, "If you want to do something, do it now. Flip a coin." And I had that coin.

Josh Nelson: I still have that coin in my- Mm.

Mandeep Bala: -wallet. I flipped that coin and it was tails, and I went all in my business. And producing content at mass level, like in the form of text, videos, you have, you have to provide value. It's not– It doesn't have to be like salesy content, right? Mm. You genuinely provide value that you care. And, and I think the love that I have got like from home service industry, like, part of the events, running podcast. By the way, you should check out Born for the Trades, a home service podcast, and, just part, just part of the community. And I think, that's how we get like a lot of business, home service industries like owners that reach out without me reaching out to them, and because we all are connected on Facebook and that is fundamental. If you provide value and, they see that, you know, you are genuine, authentic, they're gonna reach out to you without you reaching out to them.

Josh Nelson: Excellent. So, so great stuff. I look forward to digging into this, kinda how you're landing clients, what the delivery looks like. Can I take you one step back? You– Obviously you decided to focus on home services and you built the business in that. What made you decide home services and kind of a, and a specialty around plumbing and HVAC?

Mandeep Bala: That's a great question, Josh. So I was actually connecting dots, I think couple of years ago, and then I figured my dad was into trades. My dad was into doors and windows business, and I was helping him with his projects. I used to go out when I was nine year old, and I think for several years, like I supported him, like completing those projects. Like, you know, just being there, managing the technicians, installers. So I think that's in my DNA. Mm. So I connected the dots that I am serving home service industry because of my dad, and he… And then I look at that my wife and I, we came to the US in twenty fifteen and I was like part of like, you know, one of the companies that was serving HVAC. But I saw, you know, lot of value has to be, you know, given to home service industry by going above and beyond. And, we started with HVAC, plumbing, and then we added electrical and then garage doors and pest control. And it's, I think it keeps adding, till this time.

Josh Nelson: All right. So it kinda started with this, experience with your dad and kind of knowing the trades and knowing the challenges that they face.

Mandeep Bala: Yes. And so when it was time to start the agency, it's like, "Hey, I know this industry. Let me, let me serve them at a really high level." Right.

Josh Nelson: So let's talk about the first couple of clients- Mm-hmm. -because you know, a lot of our listeners are just trying at that start stability phase. Kinda put yourself back into that mode for a second. How did you win the first handful of clients in plumbing and HVAC?

Mandeep Bala: Yeah, absolutely. So again, I was part of that roadmap that you had it in March twenty twenty and, I was going through with the con- Like, you know, how to do like, you know, cold email, cold calling. By the way, we've never did cold calling. But yes, like, you know, reached out. Reached out to like, you know, potential, like, you know, prospects, home service industry owners that this is like, you know, what we do. But not just like, you know, a lot. I think I reached out straight on like Facebook and, they looked at like, you know, our, you know, what would we do, what we offer, and what solutions look like. So that's how we got like, you know, initially from the connections. I mean, they knew me and I think they trusted, they trusted, in my vision and my company, and that's how we got started. And I'm still grateful we're still working with them and, I hope you guys are watching, but I'm, I'm always grateful for the first two clients that, you know, we got.

Josh Nelson: So in your case, it wasn't just, you know, mass blast everybody you can get. It was reaching out in a very intentional way- Yes… To a very specific group of ideal prospects, and growing those relationships, and kind of moved it up over time, got those clients, got some great results. Let's talk about how you're landing clients today. So if you think, you know, now you've got seventy-plus clients, you've got a multiple seven-figure agency. What's working best with your current clients? 'Cause you made a big point that you don't like doing chase, you don't like doing, you know- Right… Outbound marketing. Right. How are you getting the clients to come to you pre-positioned today?

Mandeep Bala: Yeah. That, that's a great question. So the way that, we started with like, you know, couple of clients, and no one, no one is like doing that, like traveling to the client, like, you know, location- Mm-hmm… On their dime. So we are traveling on our dime. I looked at like, you know, three years ago, you know, what if I can just like, you know, go out and spend couple of days with them, do media footage for them. And it's not about just the media, it's all about relationships. Mm. Relationships go like, you know, beyond. And obviously we can leverage that, media on their website, social media. And we started with like couple of visits and then now every month we go out and visit at least one client a month. Mm. If they are located in like, you know, multiple clients are located in one state, so we do two couple of visits. And the media that we get for the client is usual, the relationship that we build that is phenomenal, and on top of that, we get video testimonials. We don't have any script. It's all coming from our client's heart. We just put them on camera and we just ask like, you know, a few questions and we get that video testimonial. And once we come back, we share that video testimonial with the other prospects, or they look at it on social media. Mm. And you have to make sure that you put out that content where your audience, your customer audience is there. Say it's Facebook, I've got, I've got five thousand friends, and seventy percent of them are home service industry. So put that, you know, content in front of them and you don't have to reach out to them. If they like your content, your video testimonials gonna speak themselves. And that's the one thing. Second, home service industry, all the big players out there have a great relationship. My team and I, we go out and be part of the industry events. So I speak at the events. Tommy Mello, Joe Creceta, they have given a great hand to just like, you know, present myself and my services. And I think right now that's the second thing that we are getting, you know, a lot of business from the events. Third is like always wanting to provide value from the podcast. So that was in my mind because it's a connection with my dad that yes, I'm trade and want to provide value, and it's all complete value. We never promote ourselves out there and we are bringing, you know, coaches, mentors, and I think that's, that's the one that really helped us. It was totally uncomfortable doing it, being on camera, podcast, but you have to push yourself to take it to the next level. You have to take yourself to the next level. And I think these three sources, we are getting, you know, decent amount of business.

Josh Nelson: I love it. So a couple takeaways there for you guys, right? I mean, a lot of us get these agency-based clients and we wanna serve them from behind the scenes, right? We wanna- Yeah… Be on Zoom and kind of leave it at that. What Mandeep did was he decided I'll double down my personal investment in each one of these clients, traveling out to their site, spending a day, shooting videos, creating content. And again, that has multiple touch points. First of all, probably most important, you're creating good content for the client. Like you're creating content that you can use for your marketing. Second is it's creating more time and space for that client. Where now Mandeep's face to face with the client. He's seeing their operation, he's understanding their challenges. Right. Now they've got a tight relationship with Mandeep. Then he's getting video footage he can use to tell their story for himself. Right. Hey, look, we helped this client. Now they're ranking here. Now these are the results they're getting, which is extremely powerful. And then just the social credibility, right? Sure. 'Cause you're taking pictures of yourself at their site. Right. And you're showing that you're doing this with the client. And so the industry is now seeing Mandeep is really invested- Right… And is getting proven results.

Mandeep Bala: Right. And it's a lot. It's a lot, to be very honest. But if you do just like, you know, once a month, right? Once a month or maybe once per quarter, that's totally fine and stuff for you. You have to plan out like your flights, hotels, like your content, and on top of that, like, you know, you are scheduling. Like as the owner of the company, I'm going out with my account manager, video guy with high-end equipment, flying drones. It's a lot. And on our dime. It's a lot, but at the end of the day, it really helps like, you know, your client, yourself and, you have to do kinds of things, right? Taking the usual pictures and all you are sharing with, with your audience right there. So it really helps. It's a lot. It's overwhelming. But at the end of the day, yeah, I think, this is definitely what I love doing the most and this makes me happy and we are getting good results.

Josh Nelson: And I can say personally, we did this for years at the company TradeDeskio as well.

Mandeep Bala: And- Yeah, you did that…

Josh Nelson: It pays dividends having those relationships and spending that extra time. As it relates to the five thousand connections on Facebook, you know, that you're not doing cold outreach, but you have developed all of these personal relationships, whether it's on Facebook or Instagram or LinkedIn. Was there intentional strategy behind that? Or was it just, you know, naturally those people connected with you?

Mandeep Bala: That, that's a great question. So intentional and non-intentional, both. Mm. So initially, like, you know, I was sending out like, you know, requests to the company owners, like HVAC, plumbing, electrical in my free time, let's say if I'm having like coffee. And it automatically actually tells you if you are on Facebook, let's say you're serving landscape, and you might see like, you know, connections where you can add friends like those are like landscaping owners, HVAC owners. Automatically, you know, Facebook is going to show you if you wanna add, you can see mutual friends as well. So I did that. But now with the help of podcasts, with the help of events, they see the content when I travel and, you know, meet everyone at the event. They just come for the selfies. They, they say that, "Mandeep, we see you all over. Like, you know, we don't even see, you know, president of the United States, like more we see you." So, so that's like, you know, a funny thing. But yes, I think, it really helped putting out the content and then they automatically send you. But in the last, like I would say six or eight months, I'm getting the requests, but that's my personal. But if we have– if we talk about our GoNearby, we don't have a lot of engagement there, but we are producing a lot of content there. Or if you have to… So Gary Vaynerchuk, Gary, he talks about his new book that's coming to create the attention. So if you have like, you know, your audience is on there, on Facebook, LinkedIn, wherever they are, let's say if any of your niche, they consume a lot of emails, send out those emails like, you know, providing valuable, you know, content to them. But for me, Facebook is a platform like, you know, that has been a game changer. Yes, we got the clients. We went deep with them, spend the time, right? We actually get that face time with the clients. We'll connect on Facebook and where the clients are hanging out.

Josh Nelson: Then you mentioned something other, like I think one of the most powerful plays you can do to make yourself magnetically attractive, which is to get involved in the industry events and associations, look for opportunities to speak. Stage time is money time- Mm-hmm… And then connect with those experts, those influencers, which you've done a masterful job at. Can you talk about like how you identify the groups to participate in and how you were able to land some of those speaking opportunities?

Mandeep Bala: Yeah, absolutely. I would highly recommend if you are agency owners, if you're looking forward to having like part of these like industry events, I highly recommend reaching out to the coaches and mentors. So if I were to talk about like, you know, the journey started with the events as Joe Crisara. He, he's the, he's the man when it comes to sales coaching.

Josh Nelson: And, and it was like, you know, I was- In the HVAC space, which you're in, right?

Mandeep Bala: Yes, HVAC and other- Yeah… Plumbing. And I was at the event, and we become friends, at that event. And the way you have to look at is maybe if you are running your podcast, invite them to your podcast. And again, it's all about relationship. Build those relationships, and I think the opportunities will create automatically. But you have to have like, you know, those relationships with the coaches, mentors or whoever you think in your niche that's, that's something going to be good and, you can maybe do the podcast, right? It's gonna be great to provide value. And then send some maybe gift baskets or whatever you wanna do, like, you know, just to share with them and meet with them. It's not just like, you know, dollar exchange. I would say like relationships over anything. That, that really help. And, that's what I would say like, you know, that's, highly recommend in connecting with them. If you don't have like podcast, that's totally fine. Just maybe have like a Zoom session or if you are at the industry event, become friend. Today in our world, we have got… So when it comes to our employees, we have got thirty-two employees, and we have got six referral partners. And there are like couple of referral partners, we don't even exchange any dollar amount. They love us. They send, you know, clients our way. We love them. We send clients their way. There's no dollar, amount exchange at all. But there are like, you know, referral partners that you can see, that guy is really part of that, this industry. But if you can just talk to him, and if they can just send some business your way, and there is no harm in giving them like, you know, good money, I would say if you have to decide whatever, ten percent of the deal, twenty percent of the deal, it all depends on you. But that is like, you know, more nurture if they are actually sending. If any mentor or coach in the industry, they are very like, and they have got a very good reputation, and they are sending your way, they are recommending Josh Nelson, that means that that's a big thing, and they're definitely going to talk to you. Already pre-positioned, we will talk to you and, learn more about your services.

Josh Nelson: Love it. Great, great insights there. So I think the big takeaway here, if you're listening and you're not active in the industry association, and there's events happening in your niche across the, across the country every month, Mandeep's there, right? He's got his booth. He's looking for opportunities to speak. He's hanging out after hours. He's developing relationships with the key people, the coaches, the mentors that run these groups, and looking for joint venture opportunities, whether that's just reciprocal, "Hey, I like you like me," or whether that's a financial relationship. We know that you're basically just one joint venture away from a seven-figure agency, or adding another seven figures to your revenue. So I think when you combine all of that with your podcast, which you've done an amazing job with- Thank you… Born for the Trades. Talk to us a little bit about the format and kinda how you, how you get guests on that show.

Mandeep Bala: Sure. So again, like, you know, we started this podcast I think in March twenty twenty-three, this year, and we have got thirty-eight episodes recorded. Nice. And, what we do is, we reach out. Again, if you have those, like, relationships with your coaches, mentors, industry leaders, or the, or the owners of the company, those who have taken their companies to next level, ten million dollar, twenty, or even two, because there are guys those who are starting their business in any niche, they want help step by step how to take their company from scratch to maybe a million, because that's, that's their goal. And I highly recommend in getting in touch with your clients if they are, if they're okay to be on your podcast and provide value. Because everyone is talking about the numbers, right? But no one talks about the journey. So we actually talk, we actually discuss and ask questions like, "What was your journey?" Like, some emotional questions as well, because at the end of the day, what matters the most is, like, the journey, right? That is missing, and people really want to hear the story. Mm-hmm. Ev-everyone wants their, like, story, how Josh Nelson, like, you know, got to this point. And if you share your story, people gonna actually connect on the podcast on different platforms. And that's how we actually reach out. And sometime… Now, it's like a lot of people reach out to us. They want to be on our podcast. But I would say hit your list, not just like, you know, four email or something. It's just getting on a call with them, sending a message. "Is it okay if we can have you on our podcast? That will be, that will be amazing to have you." And, and most of them, they'll say yes to it. And I feel like by keeping it from thir- like thirty minutes to forty minutes. Earlier we have done like sixty minutes, but a lot of people, they want to actually listen wh-while they are driving. Short is best. I would say thirty minutes to forty minutes is, like, ideal. People would listen in on podcasts distributed on all the platforms, Spotify, Google, Apple pretty much. And if you are, like, searching for home service podcast, I think on Apple we are coming, like, second or third. Nice. And, so– But yeah, I think keeping it, like, thirty to forty minutes, that's ideal and, planning out in advance. A lot of, lot of work is done behind the scenes. It's– But if you have, like, playbook, like Josh, you have, like, amazing playbook, step by step- Mm-hmm… How to run that podcast, what kind of gear, how to run it, how to top it, and how to publish it. Like, publishing is the main thing. You have to put that content in front of your audience. So full format can go on audio platform and YouTube, but chop them into reels. Like, so my video guy, he's amazing. I don't have to tell him. He automatically, like, thinks that this part was, like, amazing, that can provide more value. And he comes with four reels from one episode, and we publish it on, like, you know, different platforms.

Josh Nelson: Love it. So using the podcast as a mechanism to do a couple things. Number one, to get relationship. Like you mentioned at the beginning, how you align with these influencers. Well, if you've got a podcast, you bring them on and you interview them- Yeah… And you get to know them a little bit. That gives you a relationship because you're actually adding value to them, because you're putting them out into the universe and kinda putting them up on a pedestal. But then it also helps you create content, right? Right. That you can have long form, short form, everything in between. And then you can also feature your most successful clients, right? You can feature prospects that maybe have just done really well within the industry. Right. I think ideally in, in the growth system, you can do one webinar per month, and you can do at least one podcast episode per month. Sounds like you're doing a lot more than that. What's your frequency, with your podcast right now?

Mandeep Bala: So every Wednesday, without fail, knock on the wood We have, like, consistency every week. We publish our podcast on Wednesday at nine AM, e-ev-every Wednesday. And, it's a lot of work. You have to plan out. If, if e-even if I'm traveling, I'm going anywhere, it doesn't matter. If I'm traveling, I have my gear with me. If I have to do a remote podcast without my studio, so I do that. And I've done that to make sure that consistency is there. Because a lot of people now depend on– They, they look out for your when is, when is the next episode coming- Mm-hmm… And you don't wanna disappoint them. Yeah. And I made that public announcement, like, I think in Jan or Feb, that we're launching our podcast in March. And I think that made, me and my co-host, like, you know, accountable to make sure that we qualify, we confirm all those, like, you know, guests. And, so I think that is major accountability. Make sure that you post, like, every week on social media, and I think your audience will be addicted to because they're getting value from it.

Josh Nelson: Hundred percent. Is the, is the format always an interview or is it sometimes you just teaching or is it every time you're interviewing somebody asking a series of questions?

Mandeep Bala: So we don't have, we don't have any series of like, you know, same questions. Every podcast has different questions. So-sometimes we have read books about the speakers, about the guests, and we have done a lot of research, and we don't wanna ask the, like, repeated questions. So we come up with, like, you know, different questions according to the guests, according to their journey. And it's a lot of work, but you can stick to like, you know, some format as well. There is no harm in that. You can ask the, like, repeated questions, but we do a lot of, you know, background- Prep work on the, on the, on the back end.

Josh Nelson: Yeah. So it's always an interview. It's not you teaching.

Mandeep Bala: It's always, it's always.

Josh Nelson: Excellent. And so any tips, 'cause you've got your expressive service where you can help convert a long form piece of content into short form. Any tips on how to chop that up or if they wanna learn more about having your remote reel service?

Mandeep Bala: Yeah, absolutely. So what I highly recommend is, first of all, start. Start now. Like, start your podcast. And like Josh said, like, you know, maybe at least a one webinar a month and one podcast a month. We do four a month. I know it's a lot, but- Get comfortable. Maybe start with your, you know, couple of clients and see how it works out. And then start producing long-form content on all those platforms. Hire maybe– You, you can hire a virtual assistant. There are, there are so many platforms available like, you know, Fiverr- Mm-hmm.

Josh Nelson: And, maybe some Philippines.

Mandeep Bala: But I have a, you know, my video guy here in the US in Florida. But you can definitely take these, this help like from these platforms, and they can edit video. But you have to write step-by-step SOP, this is what you're looking for, so that, you know, your video guy has expectations, right? That they have to drop, let's say, four reels or six reels, fr-from that, like the video. And I think, that will be a great start. And when you said about, remote reels, we are offering remote reels to home service industry and agency owners as well. If you guys are running, let's say, podcast, we can– you can send the files to us, and we can convert into short form, and we can edit for long form as well. Yeah. That's what we are doing for the home service industry. We are doing remote reels because they don't have podcast. Or you– if you see the engagement versus photo– versus reels are like the hamper. Everyone is using these micro video platforms like TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Facebook Reels, and Instagram Reels. And, and people they, they want to actually watch less than sixty seconds. It has to be thirty to sixty seconds for a reel.

Josh Nelson: Excellent. And where would they learn more if they wanna learn more about remote reels?

Mandeep Bala: I would say grownearby.com. You guys can reach out or I'm on like Facebook. You can reach out to me, and I'll connect you with my video guy. This is what we are doing. I want to achieve his dream. So he's, he's doing a lot of work, and I want to achieve, like, his goals, his dreams, and, he's doing most of the work. And reach out to me on Facebook or, you know, grownearby.com. Would love to help and will connect you with my video guy.

Josh Nelson: Excellent. So we talked about how you land clients. We talked a little bit about kind of the positioning work that you've done. Let's talk a little bit about the program and kinda what your service offering looks like when a plumbing, HVAC, home service company hires you. What does the, what does the tip of the program look like?

Mandeep Bala: Yeah, absolutely. So we have, four solutions. Earlier we had like three solutions. Now we have like four solutions: scale, grow, dominate, and now we have another one, conquer. And, and those solutions all are very strategically designed according to the annual revenue of the home service company. So scale solution we have– we are not– Right now, we are maximum on pay-per-click. So we don't offer pay-per-click services, and we don't offer Facebook ads. We are website and organic when it comes to LSA. Mm-hmm. Website, LSA, and, organic GPP, social media. That's what we do. But we have like, you know, if scale– if the company is half million to one million, we offer scale solution so that they can afford for the website and for the monthly marketing. And then we have grow. If the company is doing one million to two million, we have that grow solution. Dominate companies, those are in the range of two to five million, so we have services, all organic. It's gonna be good for long term. That gives you compounding business over the time. And then conquer is the companies which are more than five million. And, these are the four solutions we have. They're all organic. Excellent. So all organic, getting the might, tapping into the inbound search plus social media.

Josh Nelson: Can you give us an idea of price range for these packages?

Mandeep Bala: Yeah, absolutely. Scale solution starts from two thousand and conquer starts from ten thousand five hundred.

Josh Nelson: Okay. Two thousand, three thousand, and five thousand, and ten thousand five hundred. Excellent. I like how you have it broken down by size 'cause it's like, hey, at this size, this is what you're gonna need.

Mandeep Bala: Yeah. This is what we're gonna bring to the table, and it's, it's more expensive 'cause there's more delivery. Right. We have more num-number of movers, more like, you know, content. I think we write fifty pieces of content in conquer solution, so you can imagine the work that, you know, we have to put in to get it ranked in, Google Maps and, you know, on Google platform, SEO. So yeah, different solutions.

Josh Nelson: Very cool. Okay. So let's talk, let's talk about retention. So you kind of grow into this seventy plus, you've got multiple seven figures in, in annualized revenue. What are some things you do in order to retain the clients and keep them on board? We know how tricky that can be in the, in the home services space.

Mandeep Bala: Right. That's a great question, Josh. Like, and you know, in agency world, lot of things going on. You have to take care of your clients, team, different requests, campaigns, lot of stuff going on. Like my main goal, like from the beginning, was to go above and beyond for our clients. And how can we do that? Like making sure that, you know, my account managers are always available, like via email, text, phone call, Zoom. And making sure that, you know, any request comes in, they fulfill it. And our– each account manager– By the way, we have changed our name Account Manager to CSM, Client Success Manager. And each CSM is taking up to twenty-five accounts, no more than that because if you give more accounts, let's say you have like hired one account manager and you want that person to handle like thirty to fifty accounts, it's, it's, it's not realistic. You gotta be realistic with the numbers because if they go, beyond twenty-five clients, it's a lot of requests, and they're gonna start dropping the balls, right? You have to make sure that, you know, you hire someone, train them pretty well with your vision that you have to go above and beyond for your clients and to get the results. And they have to be very strategic as well. What's working, give me more of it. What's not working, let's reallocate to something that is working and always learning the best practices. So no more than twenty-five accounts to the CSM, and that has been a game changer because our account managers, CSMs, they are laser focused On the like retention results and the bond relationship. So yeah, that's pretty much.

Josh Nelson: Excellent. Great tip there. And like kind of in your world, the account manager is managing those relationships with the clients, keeping the client engaged, limiting it to twenty-five so they don't get overwhelmed- Yes. -so they don't wind up having too much going on. Right. Right.

Mandeep Bala: Yeah. That, that's something, you know, I think, worked out pretty well, like, you know, from the beginning. Now, we have four CSMs right now. We have hired like two at the same point to see like, you know, how this is going to roll out as far as like industry events and wanna make sure we have like a backup and, I know they are getting like accounts now, but it's, it's okay to invest in your CSMs in advance because you can see that business is coming and make sure you train them pretty well and track what they're doing and, have like some, you know, pop quiz. We just started doing that. Mm. And, our CSMs, they have scored pretty well. So I'm proud of, all my CSMs in my team.

Josh Nelson: Very nice. And when it comes to retention, you kind of touched on all of the key things, right? You've gotta have a great onboarding process, then you've got to kind of re-report to them on a consistent basis- Yeah. -make sure that they're sort of there, and then you've gotta build a team. And you're in that place right now where you've built that client success management team underneath you, which is fantastic. Any tips on where you find good CSMs or kind of what's worked for you to recruit that type of role?

Mandeep Bala: Yeah, absolutely. Before that, I want to add one more thing that in every company, your interpreter or I must say implementer, like operations is the backbone. Without operations manager, yeah, nothing is going to happen. So I'm so proud of, you know, our operations manager, and, she's going above and beyond making sure that all the departments are synced, whatever the work is being assigned gets done so that, you know, account managers, like, you know, they don't have to worry about the fulfillment, making sure the timeline deliverables are like, you know, are met on time. That's definitely, and I highly recommend investing. If you, if you're wearing– I used to wear multiple hats and, I decided to, you know, bring one implementer. You have to, you have to hunt, you have to do a lot of interviews. You have to set the expectations, but if you get one- Yeah. -make sure you take care of that person. That's going to be a game changer for your agency. So yes, yeah. What was your question about CSM?

Josh Nelson: How to- How, how do you recruit those types of talented people that could step in and do a great job to retain those clients?

Mandeep Bala: Sure. Number one strategy, always there on my list, and I'm a huge fan of LinkedIn. So we have created all those like job descriptions for designers, developers, same for CSMs. And I want my CSMs to work and sit in my Tampa office. And we have like, you know, created that JD job description and you just like interview like a lot of people. Ask like questions in advance, may-maybe in video. If they can send like, you know, what do you call like, you know, the initial video ask, video ask. You can use that so that you can get to know, okay, this candidate looks good so that you can move forward with the round one. And, we have like, you know, two rounds and then another final will be with the leadership. And then we have like, you know, some tests with this like, you know, Kobe Index, H Index, and we have like couple more index, like, you know, I think we follow. But, but this is the like step-by-step. LinkedIn, huge fan of LinkedIn. You can spend, I think fifty to sixty dollars per day. Let's say if you are in, maybe Michigan, Tampa, wherever, it's worth it. You can run for five days and you have like hundred applications out there, and then you can screen them and, it's definitely a game changer, LinkedIn, and for other roles as well.

Josh Nelson: Excellent. So some good tips there on how to attract account managers. Talk a little bit about scale. I think this is important. You know, you've gone to multiple seven figures. You're doing a great job for the clients. How did you think about the growth of the team? You mentioned that first role being that operations implementer. Kind of what– like what has the scale of the operation looked like for you, and what positions did you hire in what order?

Mandeep Bala: So yeah, that's, that's again, amazing question. I would say it's going to really help, other agency owners. When I started, I had like one designer, one developer, and, I would say like, you know, couple of, you know, team members in SEO team, and we used to outsource the content to the US writers. That's how, that's how I started. And then once you, once you start getting more clients, you have to think about it. You– we cannot do all that work. And I think, I think a lot of like, you know, agency owners, they think they can do– they can run pay-per-click ad, they can do social media posts, but it's a lot. You won't be able to focus on scaling your business to the next level. And then you got stuck. Let's say if any client leaves and then, you know, it's going to be very challenging to bring another one and do the fulfillment by your own. I highly recommend investing in the resources from day one and, just scale it. If you think that, you know, you're getting like maybe five or six clients in one month or two months, plan in advance that you need, you need another designer, you need another developer. One thing that, we had like, you know, a lot of challenges with the PM, project manager, and now we have an amazing project manager that is like good with numbers, with the timelines, how many days it's gonna take to launch this project, and, what designer– how many designers it's gonna take to complete, you know, these projects, how many developers. So it's all about math. You have– And this guy is, PMP certified, project management professional. And you have to look for those people so that you don't have to dig into what's going on because they know how it works, and they know how to manage the team. But start investing in the resources if you see that new business is coming. So keep adding those resources.

Josh Nelson: I think it's critical what you said there. You know, oftentimes as the agency, we think, you know what? I can do the website, I can do the pay-per-click- Yeah. I can do the Facebook ads. And to really grow and scale to multiple seven figures in the time as someone like Mandeep has, you can't think of yourself as the web person, right? You gotta take off that web person hat and be the executive, the CEO of the business. And, and Mandeep's done a great job with this in that he figured out, okay, who do I need that can do this? Starting with that project manager and then getting those positions filled. And so not only is Mandeep not writing the content or doing the SEO optimization- Yeah. He's not managing that process either. He's got a project manager that's great at that he's placed in that role. Now, of course, he's bottom line responsible at the top- Right. -to make sure it all gets done well, but Mandeep's not even managing it, right? And, and to grow and scale your agency, take yourself out of operations- Yeah. Then take yourself out of account management, then take yourself out of sales. Are you still selling on the phone or do you have a sales team as well?

Mandeep Bala: I have like, you know, one salesperson. I see. And she's amazing. And what I do is I get on like, you know, strategy sessions still. I– because that's, that's the part that I love the most. And if I don't do that, what I'm gonna do? So, so I feel like, you know, I, I love, you know, creating roadmaps. And, right now we have done so many roadmaps, like, you know, digital marketing roadmap for twenty twenty-four in advance. And, my salesperson, she runs discovery calls. Mm. And making sure you don't– making sure that you land like, you know, good clients. When I say good clients means you have to– they have to, you know, match your life, right? So that we can work together, we can collaborate. If you land any client and all your team is just focusing on that project, it's a nightmare. And, we do PITA score. Can I talk about that? Absolutely. Okay. So earlier we used to call– I used to call it mindset qualifier while, you know, doing the discovery calls and strategy sessions. Now we do PITA score. I don't know if you guys know about PITA, but yeah, pain in the ass, scores. We do that. And if any prospect is out of two out of, out of two, from five, yeah, we don't wanna like, you know, work together because lot of, lot of issues can come that I think, we can see, we have seen in the past. You have to make sure that they collaborate, they listen to your ideas, recommendations, and they are patient. If they are not– Yeah, because you can't, you can't have results overnight. Lot of, lot of work goes into websites, you know, Josh. Like creating, designing, develop- development, content, and then SEO kicks in after– once we launch the website. So there's a lot of work. You have to make sure that you qualify your clients where they can collaborate and they have trust in you that you will deliver the results. And make sure that you have case studies, video testimonials to showcase. So I highly recommend doing that.

Josh Nelson: So what he said, there's like a hidden trick here, right? On your– when you're growing and scaling your agency, you get to choose who you work with. Yeah. Right? And client selection will make or break your agency, right? Right. 'Cause if you're taking PITA clients, you know, they're like, they're less than half a million dollars. They're a pain in the neck. They have these crazy expectations. They're not willing to invest in their marketing, and you built your business with PITA clients, you're gonna fail, right? You're gonna have clients that are constantly churning. Your account managers are gonna get burned out. They're gonna wanna quit. And so really smart on your end to say, "Hey, look, this is the minimum threshold. We gotta be at least a three or higher on our PITA scale." And that's the kind of client that's gonna appreciate you, that's gonna stay long-term, that's gonna refer you to others. Right. That will be a testimonial for you that your client account managers can have great relationships with. Right. And not be like, "I can't stand the people we've gotta work with here." And so be intentional with who you let be a client. Right. Yeah.

Mandeep Bala: Have to be intentional about it because otherwise your account managers, your team, everyone is gonna suffer the most and, it's, it's not worth it. It's always good to qualify in advance and ask those questions. And if you want, like, you know, I can share it, but it's, it's in our– it's in my head, it's in my sales. Like, you know, she's running those discovery calls. She knows how, like, what questions we have to ask. And, sometimes, you know, you can't figure out on the discovery call that maybe they can just like, let's say yes, like, you know, they want, they want to work with us. But you gotta qualify. Once you spend one hour, one and a half on the strategy session, you get to know about your prospects more into deeper by asking lots, you know, micro questions, and then you can qualify. Maybe you might not qualify on the first discovery call. That's another tip that I would like to share. Yeah. Yeah.

Josh Nelson: Love it. I like that, you know, you use the industry vernacular well. So in the industry, in plumbing and HVAC, what do they call the person that answers the phone? A CSR. CSR. Right? Yeah. And so you've called your account managers client success managers or client success representatives to kinda use that same lingo.

Mandeep Bala: Yes. They, they're exactly using the same lingo. And you have, you have to dial in, and you have to give that experience, like world-class experience. You– Josh, you always talk about, you know, when you onboard any client, give them world-class experience. Like, you know, for the next two to four weeks or six weeks, like give them all those updates, making sure your account managers are giving those updates, though if there is no call with schedule, just like sending maybe emails, like your proposal listings are done, content is done, design is ready for… So all these things matter, and I think people buy from emotions, right? And they want to see like, you know, how your company is connecting and how are you really understanding what is their goal. Not just saying like, "Okay, give me five thousand dollars and we're gonna make it happen for you." But what's the strategy? Understand the goals. If they are, if they are any of your niche, any client has done two million, this- If they're pacing two million, ask them what's their goal in twenty twenty-four for the next twelve months. They might say like ten million. That's not realistic. So just ask those questions, what's your realistic goal? So two point five, I would say, yeah, that's doable. What are the strategies that are involved? And then you have your packages solu– we call it solutions. Then you can say like grow solution is perfect, but dominate is perfect because you are– you're pacing two million right now. You should do dominate solution because that has like more activities, SEO keywords, content, social media. That's how you're gonna achieve your two point five million goals. And I think that's really important to be very strategic when you talk to your prospect and understand the data and ask those related like, you know, questions.

Josh Nelson: Love it. Great, great stuff. Yeah. So we talked about why you chose the niche. We talked about how you've positioned yourself to get clients to come to you. We talked about your program, kinda how you've scaled the team, the operation. If you had one last piece of wisdom for that agency owner regardless of where they're at, they're, if they're at half a million dollars per year or a million dollars, they're trying to get to the next level. What would that, what would that piece of wisdom be?

Mandeep Bala: Yeah, absolutely. I would say number one will be like, you know, I'm always about like, you know, your vibe attracts your tribe. Mm. Be part of the group. Be part of the community. And it's not just like, you know, you are just getting the information, and you're just going to just like, you know, go through the content and implement. You have amazing people, and I'm so proud to be part of like Josh, and I'm grateful. And I'm grateful from the beginning when I, when I met you at the Roadmap. And, there is a lot of content. Sometimes it's very difficult, but bring your A player. They can learn about like, you know, what good content is planned out by Josh to take your company to the next level. And be part of the group, like-minded people. I still have my friends, like, you know, a-and I've got amazing friends like, you know, from Seven Figure Agency. So many, so I don't wanna name it, but so- Like the whole video, yeah, right? Yeah. So, so many. But you learn a lot. You hang out. Like, you know, I come like three times a year. I try to. I missed, I missed last one, but definitely not going to miss, next intensive, which is happening here in, Miami. And hang out with the like-minded people, where they at, where they are at their– in their agency, what exactly they– what kind of strategies they're doing. And they are ready to help each other, and that's the help Chris Rodriguez, from Tampa, like, you know, Tony and I visited their office with my A players, and we got like a lot of stuff that, you know, we w– we were struggling with, and these guys have helped us. And that's, that's what like, you know, you get from this kind of community. Be part of that community of Seven Figure Agency for sure. Joshelson is a great, great human being.

Josh Nelson: Awesome, man. Well, hey, congratulations on your success. Thanks for traveling to Miami to be part of this. If they wanna connect with you and kinda connect and get to know you better, what would be the best way?

Mandeep Bala: Yeah, absolutely. You can connect on Facebook, Mandeep Singh Bala, or you can reach out to me, Mandeep@grownearby.com. And I would say that's, that's the best platform. And I would love to help you guys, with the media plan that we go out and what we do and any strategy like media, like I would say video content. Start producing content today. You know, be real, be authentic, and I know it's going to be uncomfortable. But once you do five, seven, ten videos, it's, it's a game changer. And start producing content today, especially video content.

Josh Nelson: Awesome. Well, great stuff, Mandeep. Thanks for being here.

Mandeep Bala: Thank you. Thank you for inviting me.

Josh Nelson: Thanks for listening. If you've got follow-up questions, post them in the, in the chat here. Mandeep and I will do our best to answer them as we, as we get them. And, be sure to tune in for the next episode of Seven Figure Agency Podcast. Thank you.