Sam Shepler

I run two productized agencies (Testimonial Hero & Product Hype). Sharing learnings on scaling B2B services.

[Sam Shepler @SamShepler]

Legacy is not the money your great grandkids forget.

Legacy is the mindset and values your kids absorb and pass forward.

You change your family line more through who you become than what you leave behind.

[Sam Shepler @SamShepler]

@Pabu01 @AndrewWarner Interestingly fwiw as it relates to this analogy, elevator maintenance is still a really good business. Recurring contracts, mandatory, and expensive.

[Sam Shepler @SamShepler]

Depends on a lot of things but in a project based business ideally you would want to keep a customer 2-3 yrs minimum, and each year they are buying 1-2 packages from you.

Another way to look at it would be at any given time, 50%+ revenue should be coming from returning customers.

[Sam Shepler @SamShepler]

Most creative agency owners talk about CAC to LTV. It sounds smart. It feels like the metric that matters. But here is the thing most people miss.

CAC to LTV is basically irrelevant if you do not know your gross margin.

And almost no agencies who are project-based or that collect pre-payments (ie upfront, deposit, or quarterly billing) actually know their gross margin.

Why?
Because if you are not doing accrual accounting, you literally cannot know it. If you bill a client 30K today but your team does the work over the next 90 days, cash accounting will lie to you every single month.

So you end up making decisions off phantom profit.

Which means you cannot know CAC to LTGP. And CAC to LTGP is the actual metric that matters for a services business.

CAC to LTV works for SaaS

Software companies have 85 to 95 percent gross margins. Their cost to deliver for an incremental customer is almost zero. So CAC to LTV is useful.

But creative agencies are not SaaS companies.

If you have a service business, your cost to deliver is real. Human. Variable. And it eats your lunch if you do not measure it.

What your gross margin should be

Healthy agencies run at:

• Minimum 50 percent gross margin
• Ideally 55 to 60 percent
• Anything in the 30s or low 40s is a slow bleed

If you are sitting at a 35 percent gross margin, the math is brutal. You cannot pay yourself well and reinvest in marketing at the same time. You do not get both. You have to pick one.

This is why so many agencies feel stuck. They think they have a marketing problem or a sales problem. But what they really have is a gross margin problem. They are carrying too much delivery cost relative to revenue. They are underpricing. They are overservicing. They are blending production and overhead. They are guessing instead of measuring.

The fix:

• Switch to accrual accounting
• Track delivery cost on a per project basis
• Calculate gross margin monthly
• Only then decide what you can afford to spend to buy a customer

Because CAC to LTGP tells you the real game. It tells you how aggressively you can market. It tells you what your cost to acquire should be. It tells you whether you can scale without blowing up.

Most agencies are flying blind.

Know your gross margin. Or you do not know your business.

[Sam Shepler @SamShepler]

@productizeguy Thanks brother 💪

[Sam Shepler @SamShepler]

@AnthonyTumbiolo @_toddanderson Thanks Anthony!

Todd you’re 100% right. Proof beats persuasion. That’s why we built https://t.co/XnWARkdDPl

[Sam Shepler @SamShepler]

@cameronsehl In the near to medium term, we'd ideally like to either a) find tuck-in acquisitions to existing port cos OR b) acquire new companies under the umbrella.

While preserving long term optionality to have the option to eventually consolidate into one brand (way down the road).

[Sam Shepler @SamShepler]

Big news: We’re officially launching https://t.co/j4SZ0es2GC as our parent brand 🚀

For years, many of you have known us through Testimonial Hero and, more recently, Product Hype. But behind the scenes, we’ve actually always been Storysnap, LLC.

As we plan for more acquisitions and brand launches, we’re leaning into Storysnap as the umbrella brand that ties everything together.

We’re also betting that Storysnap as our holding company brand will strengthen our marketing for M&A and increase dealflow.

Speaking of that... If you run a B2B video agency and are exploring acquisition opportunities, I’d love to talk 😎

[Sam Shepler @SamShepler]

@Emediong_Okon_ Thanks! Will take a look

[Sam Shepler @SamShepler]

Who is the best ad copywriter you know with B2B experience?

Our new agency Product Hype [.] Com has some use cases for video ads upcoming and we'd like to collab with someone.

Looking for concept, copy, and then we'd execute the video.

[Sam Shepler @SamShepler]

@juliazniv We (ProductHype [.] com ) made this one for Woden, I think it came out really well.

[Sam Shepler @SamShepler]

@JohnnyTimbo 100%

[Sam Shepler @SamShepler]

The invaluable thing to learn from entrepreneur mentors isn't tactics—it's their mindset and their strategy.

Tactical knowledge can be learned in a variety of places, but understanding the mindset and strategy of people who exactly where you want to be in 3-5 years is invaluable.

It's a cheat code to skip steps and dodge major potholes.

These are the very personal things they do no not typically share.

If they are outside your own company, expect to have to build a good relationship and/or pay for access.

The most I've paid for advice (so far) from a $20M+ agency owner is $2,000/hr and it's been the best money I've spent on coaching or courses.

[Sam Shepler @SamShepler]

I love B2B because it's selling things people and businesses actually need.

Products and services that actually create economic value.

A lot of "best" consumer marketing feels like it's psychologically manipulating people to buy things they really don't need.

Am I heavily biased, or is there a wholesomeness to being a B2B marketer that isn't there in consumer marketing?

[Sam Shepler @SamShepler]

If the lottery is a “tax” on the poor…

Angel investing is a tax on the rich

[Sam Shepler @SamShepler]

Really fun to participate in this @IndieHackers writeup by @JamesOfTheDrum.

This is probably the most in-depth I've ever gone on my backstory and the "behind the scenes" of Testimonial Hero 👇

https://t.co/7XY7N7onsB

[Sam Shepler @SamShepler]

@BPindulic For finances, “sell side QoE” is sorta this.

It Wouldn’t include legal DD, tax DD, etc though

[Sam Shepler @SamShepler]

@_ryan_tweets Amazing- looking forward to seeing if we can help you out here Ryan!!

[Sam Shepler @SamShepler]

New agency , who dis?

Meet Product Hype -> https://t.co/RhxvWHgWS7

SaaS product marketing videos that stop the scroll and excite your prospects.

Check out our reel below 👇

[Sam Shepler @SamShepler]

@Travis_Jamison Super good points, ty 🙏