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7 Tips for Keeping Your SEM Consulting Clients Happy
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About the Author
David Rodnitzky (38 Posts)
David Rodnitzky is CEO of PPC Associates, a leading SEM agency based in Silicon Valley. PPC Associates provides search, social, and display advertising management to growing, savvy companies. To learn more, visit ppcassociates.com, or contact David at david@ppcassociates.com.
17 Comments
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Great article David…. as Sales Manager for LinkWorth.com – I’m going to make this a required reading assignment for each of our Account Managers – thanks!
Thanks Enrique, I am glad to hear that you found the article useful!
Nice summary of these points – and was a great add on to a post I was doing about SEM service concerns. I quoted your pc. in a recent post should you wish to check it out. Hopefully will be able to meet you in person at some point.
I find that the referrals provided to others (when I’m not the ‘right guy’) almost never result in reciprocity.
Thanks for the comment Scott – I read your post and we are on the same page – SEM alone, or usability alone will not work – you need to take a holistic viewpoint.
David
This was an all-around tremendous post. I found #’s 1 and 2 to be most insightful. On that note, I would like to stress to other readers that is would be much easier to just take your word for it than to have to learn these lessons the hard way.
This is a great blog post! Having been a SEO/SEM consultant for 5 years and having worked for several internet marketing firms and now as an owner as a website marketing firm, you are 100% correct on all points! I have experieced (and made mistakes) along the way, as we all have…I wish I had read this post 10 years ago
)
Thanks Nick – we all benefit when we treat our clients well – it helps the whole industry.
You my friend have just convinced me to buy the book.
David, excellent post and frame work for the aspiring SEM entrepreneur.
Great post, I think turning away business and knowing what you are too big / too small for is CRITICAL. I find that clients respect that over taking an account that is too big (and your service sucks) or too small (and you almost ignore the client, making them feel like they get no service).
Again, great post. I touched on some of those ideas (in not as good of a way) in this post: http://www.thinkseer.com/blog/10-daily-steps-to-grow-your-agency-without-sales-marketing-or-stress/2008/04/12/
Nick,
I have been doing SEM for a year now and am thinking of trying to acquire my own clients. What would your steps be and how would you go about this. Please when you get a chance email me your thoughts, recommendations, and opinions to my email. Thanks.
Ryan
David,
I really enjoyed reading this post – in fact, it touches on a problem that our company currently faces, which is setting a minimum spend that we’re willing to work with. Is there a typical minimum for SEM spend in the industry? What about commission? I am curious as to what other agencies are charging and the limit on the size of accounts they will take on.
Michael, I think there are a lot of agencies that won’t accept a client unless they can bill at least $10,000 a month. If you assume a 15% percentage of spend billing rate, that would a minimum client spend of $150,000. 15% is definitely the industry standard, with discounts for volume. For example, if a client was spending $1 million a month, I doubt many agencies would charge 15% – probably 7-10% would be more in range.
I guess that means we’re picking up the scraps. We have many clients that spend $500/mo and we charge 20% commission. I’d love to have my “minimum” be $150,000 a month, but those are our marquee clients, not the norm. Our struggle is do we raise our minimum from $500 to $1000 – the smaller accounts, definitely require more hand holding, it seems. If you want to throw your scraps our way, we’d be happy to take them on
Thanks for the insight.
Hi Michael, my advice would be to set a minimum monthly charge. For example, you could do something like:
Under $5000/mo spend: 15% or $500, whichever is greater.
If you are charging a $500/mo client 20%, that means you are billing $100 for the month. If you spend more than one hour on the client’s account, you are probably losing money!
David, excellent post but i am new in this field can you give me idea for beginner i have full knowledge of SEO not SEM Thanks
more information needed