Agency lessons, TV show recommendations, trimming the fat, themes for 2024, aligning billing intervals and time-to-value

Hey!

Why you’re getting this: I'm Jakob Greenfeld. I run Sales.co and this is my personal newsletter. I send this every month or so to interesting people I’ve connected with and friends I want to keep in touch with. You can unsubscribe at any time, and I won't be mad. I won't even be notified!

Here’s what I’ve been up to recently.

• A few weeks ago my local gym removed the sauna. When I asked the girl behind the desk about it she told me it was too much maintenance and ultimately not that many people were using it. They didn’t lower the price or offer any kind of replacement. But did I cancel my subscription? I did not.
  
  Been thinking about this recently because I’ve always struggled to find the right balance between going up and beyond to make clients happy and focusing on our core offer.
  
  I’m now convinced that I’m actually doing everyone involved a disservice when I say yes to extra stuff. It never moves the needle in a meaningful way and takes resources away from our core processes.
  
  I never had a single client say “You’re not willing to do this custom thing? Screw you, cancel my subscription!”
  
  First and foremost care about the leads we generate. Do they match the agreed profile? Are they engaged? Everything else is just a nice-to-have, not a deal breaker.

• Wrote about my Themes for 2024: Optimism, Congruence, Presence, Intention.

• We changed from monthly to quarterly billing at Sales.co. It doesn’t make sense to charge monthly if the average time-to-value is far longer.
  
  We only work with B2B companies which typically have deal cycles of 6+ weeks.
  
  What this means is that companies will not have tangible results (= deals closed) when the second or third bill is due.
  
  Most companies of course do understand this but it still creates a less than optimal dynamic.
  
  By switching to quarterly expectations are crystal clear from the start and clients can properly evaluate their decision to renew.

  

• My podcast is now called Agency Lessons and 100% focused on interviewing fellow agency owners and operators.
  
  The podcast was already organically evolving in that direction but I’ve now decided to make it official.

  
  I love talking to people in a similar situation, maybe one or two steps ahead of me. Still simply trying to create the podcast I would love to listen to myself.
  
  If you’re running an agency and want chat, shoot me a message!

😌 Dope stuff

• 📺 TV Shows. I really enjoyed watching Slow Horses, Jack Reacher, and Silo recently. Highly recommended if you’re looking for some solid evening entertainment until the cold, dark winter is over.

That’s all from me this week.

Talk soon,

Jakob