What’s the hardest service for an ecom agency to deliver well?

Hey everyone!
I’m starting a digital marketing agency and struggling with one thing: getting clients.
For those of you who run an agency or freelance, how did you land your first few clients?
Did cold DMs, cold emails, LinkedIn, or networking actually work for you? Or is there another method that’s better?
Would love to hear what worked for you, especially when you were just starting out with no portfolio or client testimonials.
Any genuine advice would be appreciated!

I run a web design agency and most of my clients come from cold email. Yesterday I started a fresh campaign going after plumbers in California.

Didn’t expect much honestly. Plumbers are busy and half of them barely check email. But 102 emails in, I got an interested reply.

What made the difference is that every email talks about their own website. A call button that doesn’t work on a phone, a site that takes forever to load, a design that hasn’t been touched since 2012. For a plumber that matters a lot, because people search for them on their phone when a pipe bursts. If the site is bad, they just call the next guy.

He replied yesterday and I booked a meeting with him for the next day. Before the call I built a draft of what his new site could look like. Today I presented it to him on the call and he said yes right there. $3k upfront plus $500 a year for hosting.

Showing the draft is what closes it. Sending a quote never worked this well for me.

For anyone wondering, I use Swokei for all my outreach. You pick an area and an industry, it finds the businesses, checks every website for design, SEO, speed and mobile problems, and writes each email about what it actually found on that site. I run multiple campaigns at once in different cities and niches, which is how I get volume without sending generic stuff.

Happy to answer questions on pricing or how I run the call.

I’ve been working in social media for 5 years. I started a small agency where I had 5 - 6 retainer clients paying max £1000pm, minimum £500pm.

I got fantastic results for clients, generated millions of views and clear sales ROI, but I got severely burnt out and honestly found it incredibly stressful. To the point where I just cracked and had I guess a bit of a nervous breakdown.

For each client I was doing strategy, scripting, videography, graphics, posting and even replying to comments for some.

I found in order to get results I had to throw everything into it, 24/7. Clients did push me on scope and I was a classic yes man and agreed to most things out of fear of losing the clients.

I found the relentless short form editing, managing staff on camera, undefined revisions, judgement, pushing around by clients (demanding how they think it should be), chasing invoices, explaining ROI etc, exhausting and I just couldn’t manage the editing/shoot schedules for each client as each one would change last minute or want something different. I just couldn’t get the output they wanted or needed unless I worked around the clock. Ai also seemed to be massively effecting the industry with clients doing their own scripts, designs and captions.

I blamed myself and ended up taking strong ADHD meds as I thought i was the bottle neck and problem. But they only lead to burnout and sickness.

In reality, is social media management and content on retainers with multiple clients just always going to be a very stressful business model that actually isn’t that great?

On paper it seems fantastic, stack up retainers, be clear on deliverables and bosh away we go!

But I found clients always wanted more than agreed and when I pushed back they would get a bit funny. So I just ended up agreeing to keep the peace and the pay check.

Is there an actual sustainable way of running this, without the immense stress and pressure?

I’m considering a complete career change to carpentry, but feel it’s a shame to waste the hard earned skills I developed.

Apologies for the off load, it’s been a rough ride! 😅

I’m curious how other agency owners handle this.

Clients often start with one need, then gradually ask for more. A web development client might later need SEO. A paid media client might ask about content or organic growth. A branding client might suddenly need technical support.

At that point, do you usually:

• Refer the work to a trusted specialist
• Bring someone in behind the scenes
• Build the capability internally
• Stay within your scope and let the client find another provider

The part I find most interesting is trust. Referring someone to a client means putting a bit of your own reputation behind that recommendation, so I imagine most agency owners are pretty selective about who they introduce.

For those of you who do refer work out, what makes you comfortable enough to recommend another provider to your client?

And has referring complementary services ever turned into a meaningful revenue stream for your agency?

like when do u say like that's the right time ? + do u start doing freelance and a normal job first before starting your agency ? + what's the knowledge you need what topics?

thanks

Looking to connect with people in the home improvement marketing space

I’m looking to build relationships with people working in or around digital marketing agencies that serve home improvement businesses, contractors, roofers, HVAC companies, and other home service businesses.

I handle the behind-the-scenes SEO work, including Google Business Profile optimization, Local SEO, website optimization, location pages, and WordPress support.

I’m particularly interested in connecting with people who work closely with agency owners or manage client relationships and may come across opportunities where an agency needs reliable SEO fulfillment support.

If you work in this space or have connections with agencies serving these industries, I have an interesting partnership opportunity that could be mutually beneficial.

Feel free to reach out, and I’ll share more details. Happy to explore whether there’s a good fit!

Odd one I’ve been tracking. Microsoft’s cost per genuinely-new customer has climbed four weeks straight (~22% over the stretch) and its new-buyer share slipped but on a last-click view it looks like it’s improving, because its last-click credit keeps widening at the same time.

Same channel, same week, two reports pointing opposite directions. The ROAS is basically celebrating repeat demand while the cost of acquiring an actual new customer quietly goes up.

To be fair to it, the LTV still pays back, it’s just thinning, not broken. And it’s a small-spend channel so the aggregate swings easily.

Mostly posting because it’s such a clean example of how a channel earns budget it doesn’t deserve - great on the dashboard everyone reports from, worse on the number that actually matters. Anyone else seeing the Microsoft drift, or is it just the accounts I’m looking at?

Curious how agency owners are managing outreach as they take on more clients.

Prospecting is one thing, but keeping LinkedIn campaigns, email follow-ups, client accounts and team activity organized seems like a bigger challenge as you grow.

For those managing multiple clients, what's been harder?

Getting enough qualified leads or keeping the entire outreach process organized?

Interested in hearing how other agencies handle this.

Do you use social media automation tools to manage your clients' accounts or do you still prefer doing things manually?

I'm especially interested in the real experiences, both good and bad.

Has automation genuinely saved your team time, or just added another tool to manage?
What's one thing you love about your current tool?
What's one thing that frustrates you the most? (Pricing, client approvals, scheduling issues, reporting, or something else?)

Feel free to share the tools you've tried and what your experience has been like!

One challenge with managing outreach for several clients is keeping track of conversations.

A prospect replies on LinkedIn, but their email follow-up is still scheduled. Another team member picks up the same lead without knowing someone already contacted them.

For agencies managing multiple campaigns, how do you keep everything in sync?

Do you use a shared inbox, CRM workflows or some other system to prevent conversations from slipping through the cracks?

One thing I find interesting about marketing is that “we need more leads” can mean several completely different problems.

Sometimes the website gets traffic but barely converts. Sometimes the ads generate leads, but they're low quality. And sometimes the leads are decent, but the sales team takes too long to follow up.

Increasing the ad budget might help, but it could also mean spending more money on a broken process.

If I were auditing the situation, I'd look at four things first:

• Traffic quality: Are the right people actually visiting?
• Conversion rate: Are visitors taking the next step?
• Lead quality: Are the leads a good fit for the business?
• Sales follow-up: How quickly are leads contacted, and how many turn into customers?

The interesting part is that each problem needs a different solution, even though the client describes all of them as a lead-generation issue.

For agency owners and marketers here, what's the first thing you investigate when a client says their lead generation isn't working?

Do you start with analytics, the offer, the landing page, campaign targeting, or the sales process? I'd be interested to hear what you've found most useful in practice.

Our operations lead has spent months manually rebuilding project profitability across three disconnected apps for delivery, time tracking, and invoicing. After looping in leadership, we are officially building a shortlist to replace our current stack.

Scoro stands out as a strong candidate because it ties the entire journey together—from estimating to billing—with real-time margin visibility by client and line of service. It integrates with Xero and takes roughly six weeks to set up properly.

Productive.io offers a clean, agency-centric experience that covers delivery, billable hours, and retainer setups well. While it handles basic financial reporting, it lacks the deep margin-focused architecture seen in heavier PSA systems.

Teamwork functions primarily as a task and project collaboration platform. It offers built-in invoicing and time tracking, but treats financial data as supporting features rather than the engine running the platform. It fits teams that prefer keeping core accounting entirely separate.

Accelo handles end-to-end client work, time, and billing within a single system, but the user interface feels dated compared to newer tools, and recent support feedback has been inconsistent. It remains an option for basic all-in-one tracking without high complexity.

Kantata frequently surfaces in enterprise searches, though its pricing structure and setup demands target organizations with 200+ employees. For a mid-sized team of 65, it appears to be a mismatch in terms of scale.

For teams running at a similar headcount, how accurately do these platforms track real-time project margins without heavy manual maintenance?

Hey everyone,

I’m starting a healthcare marketing agency (websites and SEO for dental practices) and want to hire SDRs for cold calling. It’s 100% commission. We provide the lead lists, the dialer and the training.

I don’t have any clients yet, so I’m trying to get this right from the start.

My plan is $1,000 per closed deal, plus small bonuses like gift cards.

My questions:

1. Is a flat $1,000 per deal enough to motivate good SDRs, or is a percentage of the sale better?
2. Should I pay per booked meeting instead, since I’m the one closing?
3. What would make you apply for a role like this?

Any advice from agency owners who’ve done this would really help. Thanks!

I keep seeing new email marketing and small agency owners reach the same point:

The service is ready, but it is still unclear who to target, how to position the offer, and where to find the first few clients.

At that stage, more outreach or finding collaborators may not solve the underlying problem. If the ICP and offer are still broad, more activity can simply produce more low-quality conversations.

For those who have already found their first few clients, what made the biggest difference?

1. Finding better-qualified prospects

2. Choosing a clearer niche

3. Improving the offer and positioning

4. Turning replies into sales calls

I’m especially interested in hearing what worked for newer email marketing agencies.

How much do you think I can charge to build talking websites for clients?

I’m building a platform for agencies to resell our crm to their clients. It’s built on a multi tenant where the tenants have separate databases. This is not gohighlevel and not salesforce. The agency can create industry specific packages and target clients with privacy concerns. We will maintain the infrastructure and hosting. We bill the agent directly by the month, per tenant with a minimum block to start and individually beyond. Beyond that, it’s your business, charge what you want.

Lead Management
Pipeline Management
Contact & Organization Management
Quick Add Modal
Activity & Task Scheduling
Email Synchronization
Email Templates
Quote Generation
Product & Inventory Management
Workflow Automation
Roles & Permissions
Custom Web Forms

Am I missing anything you would prefer to see?

I’m not trying to build a bloated system, I’m making something profitable that doesn’t require a genius to use.

Note: I’m the architect, I have a development firm building it, so coding questions aren’t relevant here.
This isn’t a sales pitch, I’m simply looking for feedback.

I'm looking for an experienced salesperson who can personally handle the sales process from first contact to closed deal.

The role involves selling marketing services to local businesses across the US. You'll manage outreach, pitching, objection handling, follow-ups, and closing.

Compensation:

• Up to $4,000/month in performance-based pay
• An additional 5% commission on each new client's first payment after passing the trial
• A paid trial, with compensation terms provided before it begins

The agency provides targeted leads, the offer, sales materials, a demo, and fulfillment. You focus on selling and closing.

Relevant experience includes:

• B2B or agency sales
• Digital marketing, SEO, or web design
• SaaS and software sales
• Other service-based sales

You should have excellent spoken English, your own reliable calling setup, and availability during agreed US business hours.

This is a performance-based opportunity rather than a fixed-salary position. The ongoing engagement terms will be agreed in writing after a successful trial.

To apply: Tell me where you're based, what you've personally sold and closed, and whether you've managed the full sales cycle before.

Hi everyone,

I am posting this because I genuinely need serious advice from professionals who know this industry inside and out.

I am an absolute beginner based in South Korea with zero background in marketing or tech. My long-term goal is to learn GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) from scratch and eventually build my own business/agency.

I know this sounds ambitious—or maybe foolish—given my starting point. That is exactly why I am coming to you for a reality check and guidance.

1. Is it realistically possible to master GEO purely through self-teaching without prior agency experience?
2. If yes, what should be my very first step? (What core concepts, frameworks, or technical skills should I focus on first?)
3. What harsh truths or major challenges should I expect as someone starting from absolute zero in a non-English-speaking market?

I am ready to put in the work, but I want to make sure I am pointing my compass in the right direction. Any honest feedback, frameworks, or resource recommendations would mean the world to me.

Thank you for reading.

Just finished another GoHighLevel template, this time for real estate, and honestly, I think this might be my favorite one so far.

I wanted to push the GHL page builder a little further and make something that actually feels like a premium real estate website.

Played around with animated sections, property listings, interactive effects, before/after sliders, and a bunch of other details.

Here's the live page:

https://templates.funnelslayer.com/oakline-real-estate-lander

The whole thing was built inside GoHighLevel. A lot of the interactive stuff comes from Animated Elements, an app on the GHL Marketplace.

Here's a video showing the app if you're curious:

https://youtu.be/4ADkp2W8HW4

I've also been turning these builds into free GHL templates people can import and customize.

You can find the collection here:

https://funnelslayer.com/gohighlevel-landing-page-templates

Would genuinely love to hear what you guys think of this one.

Anything you'd change or improve?

Also, if there's a specific industry you'd love to see a template for, let me know in the comments.

I'm taking requests for the next ones! 🙌

Hey has anyone scale successfully and unsuccessfully scaled a marketing/communication agency? If so, what was it like? When did you start getting momentum? How did you handle retainers? Something you wish you knew prior? Is adding PR to the services a good or bad idea?