By Background
Janice Christopher is the founder of the Janice Christopher Marketing Agency and an Executive Coach. Marketing is Christopher’s bread and butter with over 30 years of experience in sales and brand management.
Christopher founded her agency in 2007, and it has evolved since then. “It was my clients who brought me along from being a marketing consultant, to being a marketing consultant with a full-service digital agency. For me, it was an organic process.”
As Christopher took on more clients it became clear that she needed help to grow her agency to keep pace with her client demand. “Before I found Vendasta I spent a lot of sleepless nights trying to figure out how I was ever going to grow my business. I knew that something had to change because I was serving my clients one-to-one and literally doing all of the work. That was great, but there was no other Janice. I had to find a way to keep doing what I was doing because I knew I was onto something but I needed to replicate myself. So Vendasta has really helped me to grow.”
Objectives
Christopher needed to find a way to grow her business at scale while still maintaining her one-to-one approach with clients. She didn’t want to lose sight of the individual needs each client has as they evolve. “Our clients are going to lead us where they need to go. They ask questions, present us with issues, and then it’s up to us to figure out the solution for them.”
By signing on with Vendasta the Janice Christopher Marketing Agency hoped to:
- Find a way to grow their client base without compromising service quality
- Be the agency small businesses turn to for all their online product and service needs
- Bring on new clients with an evidence-based approach using reporting tools that will also show proof of performance over time
- Grow the Janice Christopher Marketing Agency by having access to a multitude of digital solutions to fit all client needs
Approach
Snapshot Report
When working with prospective clients Christopher uses the Vendasta Snapshot Report. This report gives Christopher a jumping-off point to start an evidence-based sales conversation. With information about a business’s online reputation, Christopher can physically show prospective clients what their online presence looks like and what she can do to improve it.
Vendasta Marketplace
“Marketplace has everything I need, even if I don’t need it yet. The products are there waiting for me to discover them,” Christopher says.
The Vendasta Marketplace offers solutions that are tailored to each individual client’s needs. Christopher starts with basic packages and builds up the product basket size from there based on her weekly one-on-one client meetings.
“I remember the first client that I brought onto the platform. I spent one full day a week at his office working on his marketing up until I started using the Vendasta platform. When I signed up for Vendasta I moved everything I was doing for him onto the platform. Suddenly monitoring and managing his online reputation became simple, and posting to social media became so much easier.
“Managing the listings, I no longer had to log into the multitude of listings this business had. When I came to him with this elevated approach and a new way of looking at how successful our work was, it was such a win for both of us.”
Vendasta Marketing Services
Christopher had difficulty taking on more clients before she began working with Vendasta. She was a one-woman show, and fulfilling all of her client’s needs on her own was impossible. With Marketing Services backing the Janice Christopher Marketing Agency, this is no longer a roadblock. The Marketing Services division takes care of listings management, reputation management, content services, digital advertising, web design, and social media content.
“I don’t have to put a limit on how many clients I can take or what I can say yes to because I know I have a team of people behind me with the Vendasta Marketplace and Marketing Services. I can say yes to any business that comes along that I want to work with, and know that I have a team behind me to do the fulfillment.”
Business App
Reporting to clients with the Vendasta platform has made client conversations and progress tracking extremely simple for the Janice Christopher Marketing Agency.
“Over time Business App has really helped me build trust with my clients. They know I’m being completely transparent with them because they can log in to the application any time they want to see what’s happening.”
Execution
Monthly strategy call
Although she has the option to simply send monthly automated reports to her clients, Christopher makes a point of meeting with them to go through these reports face to face. “It’s about letting the customer know how the process works. I have a format, process, and agenda that I use. It’s the same every month, clients know exactly what metrics we’re going to go over and I compare this month with last month.” Christopher relies on monthly check-ins with all of her clients as a way to keep her process transparent.
These meetings keep clients on the same page as Christopher as she works with them. “I’m proactive about it, I don’t wait until I get to the meeting to know the problem, I already know the problem and I already have a solution to their problem.” Christopher paints a picture for her clients and helps them understand the story that the numbers are reflecting to avoid any confusion.
In order to give each client what they need to be successful, Christopher applies three simple steps to every client interaction.
- Listen to client
- Identify client needs
- Develop a personalized strategy that fits client needs
It was important to the Janice Christopher Marketing Agency that these three steps never be overlooked even as the business grew. Transparency and communication are Christopher’s keys to success in building relationships. “So much transparency it’ll make your head spin. That’s how you build trust with your clients.”
Results
Christopher has been able to say yes to taking on a higher volume of clients and continues to provide top-notch service. Her retention rate over the last year is nearly 100 percent, and in 2020 the Janice Christopher Marketing Agency grossed $751,000 in annual marketplace revenue. The agency also had a monthly recurring revenue of $65,000.
Christopher has been able to help clients expand their businesses and increase profitability. Noting the success of one particular client since beginning her work with them, “their shop is now full, they bought the property next door, another business that compliments the first business, and they’re doing so well. My client and his partner are prospering, their employees are making more money, their community benefits. There’s so much good that happens when we help our clients prosper.” She has been able to help clients expand their businesses and increase profitability
By leaning on some of her favorite products in the Vendasta Marketplace, Christopher’s basket size is one of the largest on average out of all Vendasta partners at 5.85 products per client.
Conclusion
Christopher needed to grow her business, but she couldn’t replicate herself. She found Vendasta, has used a Marketplace of products, white-label fulfillment services, and a built-in brandable client portal to help her achieve results for all of her clients without having to make any sacrifices.