Have you been burned by an agency?
I'm going to tell you a story.
But first, a little context.
9 out of 10 merchants I speak with who THINK they need to hire an agency are NOT ready to hire an agency.
They’re usually in a place we like to call Merchant Misery.
They’re spending more than they’re making.
They’re attempting to execute strategies that they’ve seen in Youtube videos
But it’s not going as well as the Youtuber promised.
They’re spending excessive time and energy on tactics that aren’t working.
The solution?
Hire a team of experts that will swoop in with an ‘S’ on their chest and will make all your problems go away.
They said they would triple your revenue overnight.
They actually believe it. They’ve done it before and have the case studies to prove it.
They’re incredibly excited to get to work.
I think you know how this ends.
Now, let me tell you about one of my students, Mark.
Mark hired an agency after going through the exact process above.
His brand was starting to get some traction. He’d cracked his first $10k month out of pure brute force of will.
It was time to let go of the reins and let the experts take over.
Hiring an agency starts with an investment of $15,000 (at the low end).
This does not include ad spend, and trust me, agencies are used to spending big dough.
And, you have to break some eggs to make an omelet,
An agency has to test, test, test, while they get a feel for your brand.
In all honesty, if you could float the cash to work with them for a decent amount of time, I would bet that they would see success.
Therein lies the problem. CASH.
Meanwhile, Mark had no idea what they were doing, how they were doing it, or why they were doing it that way.
He was sitting there blind while watching his bank account dwindle and his sales flatline.
When all was said and done, Mark was down $15k on agency fees and another $15k on ad spend that yielded very little return.
What did Mark learn?
Not much.
Don’t hire an agency ever again, maybe?
When Mark found us at Merchant Mastery, he was the most skeptical student I’ve ever had.
He was convinced he was being duped again.
But this is where the magic kicked in.
We opened up the kimono and showed Mark the strategies that this agency was deploying… and more.
He realized he could execute them by himself.
Actually, he could execute them BETTER because he knew his brand and customers on such a deep level.
Needless to say, Mark saw some incredible progress.
He focussed on the high-impact Tiger Swipestm.
He saw his ROAS climb and his ad spend climbing with it.
He consistently hit $40k+ months.
But then he was struck by a new problem.
He was doing all of the marketing himself… and his store was busier than ever.
He needed to focus on logistics, product development, you know, all that business owner stuff.
He needed help.
He could hire freelancers, or in-house, but that takes time to hire, train, fill their plate, etc. (more on building teams in the weeks to come).
An agency was starting to look like a good option… again.
“I will take the house, the car, the kids, and leave you on the side of the road with your precious agency,” Mark’s wife told him.
But Mark was different now.
He was equipped with the tools he needed to work WITH the agency, not sit on the sidelines holding a sad-looking pompom.
He could guide them and provide them with strategic direction and assets that were proven to work.
And the agency loved him for it.
They were able to continue on that growth trajectory while Mark developed new products, dialed in his systems, processes, and profitability.
You don’t need to make the same mistake that Mark did.
Learn the tactics yourself before you trust someone else to execute them at your immaculate standards.
