Boutique Growth

[00:00:00] Louis-Rae:

Before you started working with DFY Setters and the, the Setters & Specialists team, where were things at, what were things like?

[00:00:07] Ahmad Munawar:

We do really well with advertising. We spent a good amount of money on ads. We create really great ads and we've had great results, but I always knew that we were leaving something on the table by not having a good Setter program in place.

We tried building a Setter program ourselves in-house. We recruited, we use recruiting firms. We hired setters. But it never got the level of attention from myself as the owner that obviously working with the closers and the advisers would get. And so the Setters were always like that neglected child that nobody really paid attention to.

And yet we expected them to get great results, which obviously. Was not fair. And so that was the impetus to work with you and your team was, we wanted somebody to come in and run the setter shop and take that responsibility off of my plate.

[00:00:55] Louis-Rae:

What was the main trigger that you know caused you to want to go for outside help?

[00:00:59] Ahmad Munawar:

In this case, it was just knowing that offer existed. So you were the f… I'm not saying you're the only one, but you were the first Done For You Setter offer that I had come across. We've engaged people in the past to recruit setters for us, but once those setters came in, we would have to run the program ourselves.

So you were the first offer that I saw that promised, you know, done for you, come in, run the systems, run the process, run the people without my having, my, my needing to be involved at a really intimate level. And that was just, it sounded too good to be true at the time, but it was worth a try.

[00:01:31] Louis-Rae:

Why did you go for more of a done-for-you option than manage it in-house? Is there something that you really wanted to have done for you as opposed to in-house?

[00:01:38] Ahmad Munawar:

Managing the advisor team and the closers is plenty of work in and of itself. And it's certainly where my expertise and where my interest lies, working with the advisors.

Working with the setters is something that I would constantly neglect. I'm not an appointment center. I haven't been an appointment setter. I've been a closer right. I've closed deals for myself before I built the sales team. So I can advise and coach the sales team, the advisor team, how to close deals.

That's very much within my purview. I've never been a setter. I don't know how to set calls. I don't know how much volume to look for. I don't know what reasonable conversion rates are. I don't know necessarily how to overcome objections on a setter call. Probably figure it out, but it's likely not going to be the best use of my time and expertise.

[00:02:18] Louis-Rae:

You mentioned obviously what things were like before, neglecting the setter team, everything like that. What are things like now with us on board?

[00:02:24] Ahmad Munawar:

So now the big thing is that we have rigor around the setter process. If you asked me three months ago, what's going on with your setter process, you would have seen my eyes glaze over and be like, oh, I don't know.

It's this, it's that, I don't spend time on it, I don't know what's going on, I don't know what to do. Now there's a clear process. We know where our leads are coming from. We know where the sets are coming from. We have clear channels, we're meeting on a weekly basis. You're meeting with the setters more often.

There's a process, there's rigor, right? And the results frankly, are way better than what we were getting before and are only going up. And we haven't quite hit where we want to get to because we have goals, but I have a hundred percent confidence that the process that we have in place now with you and your team is going to get us to the goal that we have for our setter program.

[00:03:08] Louis-Rae:

Digging deeper on that, like, what are you looking forward to in the future with the setter program?

[00:03:12] Ahmad Munawar:

Ultimately the Setter program is what unlocked scale, right? Because anybody can run ads. Not anybody, but lots of folks can run ads and generate a reasonable cost per lead and a reasonable cost per app off of ads.

But when you can implement a setters program that drops your cost per application down, like, 20%, 30%. That's a real game-changer, especially in a rising ad costs world. I think a setter program, like the one that we built here, is quickly becoming a necessity and not a nice to have or a luxury. So for us, it means more profitable and consistent scaling of our campaigns.

[00:03:47] Louis-Rae:

You mentioned that setting is becoming a necessity. Would you recommend, you know, a done-for-you program and specifically, Setters & Specialists' done-for-you program to others? And if so, why?

[00:03:56] Ahmad Munawar:

Only if it doesn't impede my results. So as long as there's enough Louis-Rae to go around then absolutely, I recommend it. No, but seriously. You could build it yourself. Yeah, you could. I'm not saying you couldn't. I probably could have done it. As the owner, that's an investment of time and energy, and resources to build your own in-house setter program. Whereas for us, having Louie-Rae who's been there before, done it before, knows what to do better than I do, having him do it for us it's just a, it's a no-brainer investment.