How 2 Questions Helped This Marketing Agency Make $100,000 in 90 Days

In March of 2020, Renée Boudakian, CEO and co-founder of Rubicon Marketing and DM Certified Partner, found herself in the same situation you did. 

Wondering if her business would be able to ride out this unpredicted storm. 

It turns out that her business was not only able to survive, but it became a better version of itself. In 90 days, Renée was able to secure $100,000 from offers that didn’t even exist at the start of 2020.

Yes—you read that right. The offers she launched to have a 6-figure quarter weren’t even part of her business pre-pandemic. Using the Customer Value Journey and 2 essential questions, Renée was able to maneuver through the end of 2020 with a strategy we’re excited to share with you.

Before Renée put the Customer Value Journey to work, her agency’s offer was to implement and build out individual Infusionsoft campaigns on spec in monthly retainers. This was solving a challenge of her customer avatars, but not the whole problem. As Renée teaches in her Certified Partner Training, she was giving her clients legos instead of helping them build their entire castle.

This led to the insight needed to weather COVID-19 and the new changes it was bringing to agencies. Using 2 simple questions and the Customer Value Journey, Renée was able to create brand new offers that either show her clients how to achieve their goals, do the work to reach those goals for them, or work alongside them to show them how it was done.

Here’s a look inside Rubicon Marketing’s big pivot that ended up bringing their agency 6-figures in 3 months.

Question #1: Do we have something that we are already good at or already selling?

The first question Rubicon Marketing asked themselves was what they were already good at or already selling. In their case, they were great at implementing and building out those Infusionsoft campaigns. The problem was that this was a single lego in a huge stack needed to build that castle.

Rubicon pulled up the past client calls from their BEST clients and listened to hear if there was anything they were missing. As Renée covers in her training, the key is focusing on your BEST clients. These are the clients who pay you the most, are easiest to work with, and always get results. Quickly, they realized that clients were overwhelmed, frustrated, intimidated, emotional, and exhausted. Each client was experiencing the chaos of trying to do it all (landing pages, email campaigns, TikToks, Clubhouse)—and the failure of not being able to keep up.

That was Rubicon’s light bulb moment.

Their clients weren’t asking what a landing page was, how an email campaign worked, what TikTok was, or where the Clubhouse was. They were trying to implement high-converting landing pages and email funnels and create engaging TikTok and Clubhouse content.

They had entered “The Chasm.” The Chasm is the part of the Technology Adaptation Cycle where people adopt the technology. This means that you’re not convincing people as to why this tech exists—they already know and understand.

Rubicon knew this was a huge opportunity for their agency. 

“The volume of opportunity to serve the people who are adopting new changes was huge,” says Renée. “Our avatar is willing to change but doesn’t know how. This is where we can provide the greatest transformation.”

The Customer Value Journey was their missing link. Here’s how Renée breaks that down. 

Every business has 5 core functions: 

1. Lead generation
2. Lead nurture
3. Conversion
4. Delivery
5. Retention, resell, upsell

And, every business has 3 distinct phases where each of these core functions fit:

1. Marketing (lead generation)
2. Sales (lead nurture and conversion)
3. Fulfillment (deliver and retention, resell, upsell)

Rubicon looked at the Customer Value Journey through these phases, with the core functions, to nail down where each stage of the CVJ fits into the 3 business phases:

• Marketing: Awareness, Engagement, Subscribe
• Sales: Convert, Excite
• Fulfillment: Ascend, Advocate, Promote

For each of these business phases, Rubicon built out the automation that would help clients be able to achieve their goals. They call this their Automation Architecture and it uses automation tools specific to marketing, sales, and fulfillment. 

This was the transformation clients were looking for. They didn’t need to be convinced that email funnels worked—they were ready to adopt the technology that would help them have an email funnel that worked FOR THEM.

Rubicon created 2 new done-for-you offers:

1. A paid planning session where they show clients how to create their Automation Architecture based on the Customer Value Journey
2. Building and implementing the Automation Architecture for the clients

Just by answering that first question, they were able to increase their average project size and increase their revenue. But, there was still a bit more work to do.

Question #2: Are we missing any opportunities with our existing clients?

After figuring out what it was that Rubicon could absolutely nail for their clients, they started to look into what upsells, cross-sells, or add-ons they could also offer.

By knowing their customer avatar, they realized there were two different desires:

1. Some people wanted to market themselves because they’re low or pre-revenue
2. Other people want to have someone help them with their marketing (not do it ALL for them)

You know what’s going to happen next…Rubicon created offers for each of these customer avatars. 

For the people who wanted to market themselves, they created a subscription-based membership site as a Do-It-Yourself Model.

For those who wanted to work alongside Rubicon, they offered Zoom calls where clients could leverage the Rubicon team’s expertise in a Done-With-Model.

You already know the ending to this story: Rubicon was able to bring in $100,000 in just 90 days. But, that’s not where this ends. 

Rubicon didn’t stop there and instead focused on figuring out what the transformation they were giving their clients actually was. It wasn’t Automation Architecture of being able to talk with expert marketers. It was something deeper that made them buy.

In her Certified Partner Training, Renée explains, “We know that customers will evaluate our services by weighing the perceived value against the asking price.”

Using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Rubicon was able to figure out what experience they were really giving their clients.

As you serve needs higher on Maslow’s pyramid client loyalty increases. Rubicon changed their message with the goal of providing transformation for customers as high up the pyramid as possible.

For example, their messaging about their services now talk about how they help clients avoid anxiety, focus on what they truly enjoy, and the other esteem and self-actualization experiences they provide. Using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Rubicon is able to achieve the 3 things every business wants:

1. Better customer loyalty (increased CLTV)
2. Great consumer willingness to try the brand
3. Sustained revenue growth

We know that’s what you’re looking for from your agency too. Now that you’ve seen how Rubicon was able to make $100,000 in 90 days with two questions and the CVJ, let’s take a look at what you can do to get the same results.

How to Create This Growth for Your Agency

The first step to seeing the same results that Rubicon was able to create is to walk yourself through the same exercise. Ask yourself the same questions that Renée and the Rubicon team reflected on.

Question #1: Do you have something that you are already good at or already selling?

Chances are the answer to this is yes. If you’ve built your agency and you have clients—you have something that you’re offering that they’re interested in. But, are you offering your clients the castle or a single lego?

Rubicon listening back to their past recorded client calls was a brilliant move. It was the catalyst showing them that even though their clients liked what they were offering, they were leaving opportunities on the table. That’s when Rubicon was able to build out two more Done-For-You services that were already market tested, approved, and ready for purchase.

Question #2: Are we missing any opportunities with our existing clients?

The answer here is also yes—and we say that with love. If you know your agency could be doing better, you have room to optimize. A lot of the time, optimizing means that you’re creating new offers, upsells, add-ons, etc. to help your clients in a new way.

Rubicon figured out that their clients fell into 3 buckets: they wanted to do their own marketing, they wanted Rubicon to handle everything, they wanted to work together with Rubicon on their marketing. That meant there were 3 offers that could be created to serve each of these clients. 

Now, let’s add in the icing on the cake that Rubicon absolutely nailed.

Making your agency stand out from the others. Start to get really familiar with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to figure out what needs you’re filling for your clients. Sure—helping them make more money is the end goal, but what does that actually mean for them.

• Does more money help them elevate their social status?
• Do they need more money to be able to have freedom?
• Are they looking for money as a way to help them be the most they can be?

We were thrilled to have Renée join our Certified Partner Training Day and show other agency owners how they can reach 6-figures in a few months. Using the strategy you just read in this article, we know you can pull it off too.

Run your team through these questions and figure out how you can add offerings that your clients are already asking for.