Learning from Others

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Last weekend, the Factor Four team headed to New York City for two days. It was part team building and part learning experience.

One of my core beliefs is that if you want to improve your business, you should not only look at competitors. You need to look outside your industry. If we want to give clients an experience worth talking about, where should we look?

The hospitality industry seemed like a good place to start. About six months ago, I asked the team to read Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara. The book tells the story of how Eleven Madison Park became a 3-Michelin-star restaurant and one of the top restaurants in the world by focusing on the dining experience and not just the food.

So we had a team trip to Eleven Madison Park. 

The 9-course dinner was delicious and interesting, but the service is what stood out most. For our whole team, this was the first time eating at a restaurant of this caliber. And instead of making us feel intimidated, they made us feel welcomed and that we belonged there.

Here are five lessons we took away from the experience.

1) There Are No Dumb Questions

Some high-end experiences make you feel like you should already know the rules. This was different.

They wanted us to learn while also enjoying the meal. We asked about the wine cellar (21,000 bottles), the flowers (larkspur and lisanthus), how specific dishes were made, the flow of the dinner, and plenty more. No one made us feel silly for asking.

That matters. Clients should never feel embarrassed to ask questions about their marketing. If something is unclear, it is our job to explain it clearly.

2) Fewer Choices Can Be Better

Even though dinner included nine courses, we only had choices on four of them. And for those, there were only two or three options. That made the experience feel manageable.

Too many choices can make people feel overwhelmed. Sometimes the best service is not giving clients every possible option. It is helping them understand the choices that actually matter.

3) Hospitality Means Making People Comfortable

Our group had three team members with food constraints: gluten-free, nut allergy, vegetarian. They never made any of it feel like a problem. They simply handled it.

That was a great reminder. Clients should not feel like their questions, concerns, or business constraints are an inconvenience. They should feel like we are there to help them succeed within the reality of their situation.

4) Presentation Matters

Everything was presented beautifully, from individual pots of silken tofu and English peas to bowls of strawberry shaved ice. The food would have been excellent either way, but the presentation made it feel more special.

That applies to client work too. The quality of the thinking matters most, but how it is presented affects how easily clients understand it, trust it, and act on it.

5) A Little Access Can Feel Special

Between our main course and dessert, our table was invited into the kitchen. As a serious cook, I was thrilled. The whole team enjoyed seeing how things work.

They did not put on a show while we were there. They simply welcomed us behind the curtain., but that little bit of access made the experience feel much more memorable.

There is a lesson there too. Clients appreciate seeing how the work gets done. A little more visibility into the process can build a lot more trust.

The Bigger Lesson

Over the past six months, we have been working to improve the experience clients have with Factor Four. While reading Unreasonable Hospitality gave us ideas, experiencing it gave those ideas more weight.

It reminded us that service is not just about doing the work well. It is about how people feel while the work is being done.

Do they feel informed?
Do they feel comfortable asking questions?
Do they feel like their business matters?

Those are the kinds of questions we are trying to ask more often.

What are you doing to see your business differently? Are you learning from people outside your industry?

A Meaningful Conversion

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Google Ads is very goal-oriented. Tell it what success looks like, and it will work hard to find more of it. The problem is that many businesses accidentally teach Google the wrong lesson.

While auditing a new client’s account, we discovered that every phone call was being counted as a conversion, even calls that lasted only a few seconds. When we asked the client what actually constituted a quality conversion, conversations with prospects that are likely to convert lasted at least four minutes.

That may not sound like a big deal, but it has enormous implications. If Google is rewarded for generating 20-second phone calls, it will find more people who make 20-second phone calls. Unfortunately, those aren’t people who are likely to become customers.

Instead of optimizing for real sales opportunities, the campaign begins optimizing for activity.

Teaching Google What Matters

We’ve seen the same principle play out with another client: a CPR training company that provides on-site training for organizations. They don’t offer regular classes for individuals. Their ideal customer is a business looking to train employees on site.

When we started working together, nearly half of their “conversions” were individuals looking for a class. The previous agency had told them this was simply the cost of doing business on Google Ads. And that makes sense if you are just sending them to your website.

The problem was that Google couldn’t tell the difference between a valuable lead and an irrelevant one. Both were being counted as conversions. So we built a landing page that helped sort prospects.

When visitors clicked “Get a Quote,” they were presented with two options:

  • On-Site Class
  • Class for an Individual

People interested in on-site training were directed to the standard lead form and counted as conversions when they completed it. Individuals looking for classes were directed to a different page showing the limited classes available to them. Even if they completed that form, they were not counted as conversions.

This allowed Google to learn something it had never been taught before:

An organization training request is valuable. An individual class inquiry is not.

Better Leads Beat More Leads

The result was dramatic: over the course of six months, the percentage of conversions coming from individuals dropped from 50% to less than 10%. While the cost per lead increased slightly, the cost per marketing-qualified lead (MQL) dropped significantly.

We stopped optimizing for more conversions and started optimizing for meaningful conversions. Today, 90% of their leads are the type of leads they actually want.

What Are You Teaching Google?

One of the first questions we ask new clients is:

“How do you know when a lead is a good lead?”

The answer is rarely as simple as a form submission or a phone call. If your campaigns are optimized around leads that don’t correlate with revenue, Google will faithfully deliver more of them.

The real opportunity is to identify the actions that signal genuine buying intent and train Google to find more people like those prospects. In Google Ads, you don’t get more of what you want, you get more of what you measure.

What do you want more of?

You Can’t Do That

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In April, we started working with a large national client. They came to us frustrated. Their previous agency, a global firm with offices in more than 25 cities, had told them something surprising:

“You can’t build campaigns targeted at each local market.”

Why They Said It

To be fair, I understand where that came from. It’s much easier to manage a few national campaigns than to build and maintain campaigns for 140 individual locations. Budget allocation is simpler. Reporting is cleaner. The workload is lighter.

From the agency’s perspective, it makes sense. From the client’s perspective, it doesn’t.

The Problem with “Easier”

This client doesn’t operate as a single national entity. They operate as 140 local markets, each with different demand, capacity, and priorities.

Sometimes Macon, Georgia is at capacity and doesn’t need more leads. At the same time, Daytona, FL may need more volume. A single national campaign can’t account for that.

And when your campaigns can’t reflect how your business actually operates, performance suffers no matter how “optimized” they look in the platform.

What We’re Doing Differently

We’re in the process of building campaigns for all 140 locations so the client can adjust budgets based on what each market actually needs. Yes, it’s more work. But it gives them something they didn’t have before: control.

  • Control over where leads come from
  • Control over how budget is allocated
  • Control over how marketing supports real-world operations

The Bigger Point

Platforms like Google and Microsoft Ads have their own ideas of what’s “optimal.” Agencies often follow those ideas because they’re easier to manage at scale.

But campaigns aren’t built to serve the platform. They’re built to serve the business. And sometimes that means doing things that are less convenient—but far more effective.

A Question Worth Asking

If your agency tells you, “You can’t do that,” it’s worth pausing for a moment.

Is it truly not possible? Or is it just not how they prefer to operate?

Because the right approach isn’t the one that’s easiest to manage. It’s the one that helps your business perform at its best.

Recommending You Spend Less

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Has your agency ever suggested that you spend less on Google Ads? If you’re laughing right now, I think we both know the answer.

Most agencies are paid as a percentage of ad spend. Which means the more you spend, the more they make. So naturally, the conversation tends to focus on growth – more budget, more campaigns, more reach.

But here’s the problem: More spend doesn’t always mean better results.

An Incentive Problem

If your agency makes more money when you spend more, it becomes very hard for them to recommend pulling back, even when it’s the right move for your business. That’s not always intentional, but it does shape behavior.

And over time, it can lead to inefficient spending that no one is motivated to fix.

A Different Approach

When we first met with a credit union, they were spending about $15,000 per month across seven locations. Three of those locations were in the same town, and all were within two counties.

They didn’t come to us because of budget concerns. They came to us because their agency was unresponsive. 

When we reviewed the account, something else became clear: they were overspending for the market they were in. There simply wasn’t enough qualified demand to justify that level of budget.

So we made a recommendation most agencies wouldn’t. We told them to cut their Google Ads spend in half – from $15,000 to $7,000. They were thrilled, and a little surprised.

We didn’t just reduce the budget, we refocused it.

  • Tighter targeting
  • Better alignment with high-intent searches
  • Cleaner campaign structure

The result? They generated just as many marketing-qualified leads at half the spend.

A Natural Ceiling

Google Ads isn’t about how much you spend. It’s about how efficiently you turn that spend into results.

There’s a natural ceiling in every market based on search volume, competition, and intent. Once you push past it, you don’t get more of the right leads. You just pay more for each lead, or worse yet, you pay for lousy ones.

Good management isn’t about pushing spend higher. It’s about finding, and respecting, the ceiling for your market.

Real Partnership

If an agency wants a long-term relationship with a client, they have to be willing to say: “You should spend less.” Even when it means less revenue in the short term.

Because what you gain is trust, efficiency, and a client who knows you’re looking out for their business…not just your own.

If your current agency has never suggested reducing your budget, it’s worth asking: Are you truly optimized… or spending more than you need to?

Do You Really Know Why Your Best Clients Choose You?

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Many businesses think they know why clients come to them. Fewer actually do.

Recently, we had a clarifying discussion with a client, Sterling Point Capital, that works on complex community development projects using New Market Tax Credits (NMTC). On the surface, it seemed obvious why prospects reached out: they were searching for help with NMTC financing.

And that part was true.

People aren’t searching for “full capital stack consultants.” They were searching for New Market Tax Credits. That’s the language they know, and that’s how they start their journey. But when we looked at the projects that were the best fit for Sterling Point Capital – the ones where the relationship really worked and the impact was greatest – a different pattern emerged.

Those clients valued them not just for NMTC expertise, but because they could help assemble the entire capital stack needed to move a project from concept to reality.

So we didn’t change the targeting. We continue to meet prospects where they are: searching for NMTC support. But we changed what happened next. The landing pages were updated to clearly communicate that Sterling Point Capital’s role extends far beyond a single funding tool. They are partners in making complex projects viable, not just advisors on one piece of financing.

Immediately, we began to see better results. Not more leads, but better-aligned ones: prospects who understood the broader value from the start and were more likely to move forward.

The service hasn’t changed. The clarity has.

A Different Lesson from a Home Services Company

We saw a related but slightly different dynamic with a home services company. Their instinct was to lean heavily into urgency language in their search ads. It made sense on the surface. Their services are often needed quickly, and urgency felt like the obvious angle.

But when we stepped back, we realized something important: by the time someone is searching, the urgency already exists. They don’t need to be told the situation is urgent, because they are living it.

What they really need is reassurance.

They want to know that someone competent will take care of the problem, respond quickly, and show up when promised. So we shifted the messaging away from pushing urgency and toward providing calm confidence: we’ll handle this for you, and you’ll know exactly what to expect.

That change better matches the emotional state of the prospect at the moment they were searching.

The Common Thread

Both situations highlight the same core lesson: It’s not enough to know what people search for. You have to understand why your best clients actually choose you.

Sometimes, as with Sterling Point Capital, prospects start with one specific need but ultimately choose you for a broader capability they aren’t looking for yet.

Other times, as with the home services example, the difference isn’t about services at all, but about tone: meeting prospects with reassurance instead of amplifying the urgency they already feel.

When your messaging reflects that deeper understanding, your marketing begins to attract the right people more naturally. 

A Question Worth Asking

If you looked closely at your best clients – the ones who value your work most and stay with you the longest – what would you discover? Are they choosing you for the exact reason you emphasize in your marketing? Or are they choosing you for something more nuanced that you haven’t fully articulated yet?

That gap between what you say and why clients actually choose you is often where the biggest opportunity for improvement lies.

If you are looking for some help figuring this out, I would love to have a conversation. We have some new tools that make this a little easier and it is a lot of fun for us. 

Avoid “Long-Term Contract” Neglect

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When we bought our home in 2016, we replaced all the kitchen appliances. Everything came with a one-year warranty – which I was grateful for when our refrigerator broke within the first year. A repair person showed up in two days. Problem solved.

So when we were offered an extended warranty, I signed up without hesitation. The fridge wasn’t cheap, and it had already failed once. Then it broke again. This time, it took 10 days to get a technician.

That’s when I learned what it really means to be locked into a long-term contract. They knew I wasn’t going anywhere. So urgency disappeared.

I’m guessing customers paying full price got much faster service.

The Same Thing Happens with Agencies

Long-term agency contracts create the same dynamic. Once you’re locked in for a year, some agencies quietly shift priorities. Response times slow. Small tasks drag on. Follow-through weakens. We see it all the time.

One client told us their previous agency took two weeks to upload new creative. This is something that should take 10-15 minutes.

Another waited more than a week for a new call-tracking number. That’s a 60-second task.

These weren’t technical problems. They’re motivation problems.

When Clients Can’t Leave, Service Suffers

For some agencies, a year-long contract becomes a license to be unresponsive. They know the client can’t walk away – even if performance slips. That’s not a partnership. That’s complacency.

And it’s incredibly frustrating when you’re investing real money and getting slow, careless service in return.

Why We Don’t Rely on Lock-Ins

At Factor Four, we ask for 90 days to build, optimize, and stabilize campaigns. After that, we work month-to-month. It’s not because we’re “nice” (although we think we are). It’s because it keeps us accountable.

We don’t keep clients through paperwork. We keep them through performance, responsiveness, and results you can see.

Clients don’t leave agencies that:

  • Return calls quickly
  • Act on feedback immediately
  • Take ownership of problems
  • Deliver measurable ROI

They leave when those things disappear.

If your agency feels slower, less responsive, or less invested than they used to, and a long-term contract is the only thing keeping you there, it may be time to ask why. You deserve a partner that treats your business like it matters every month, not just when you sign.

Have you ever been locked into a long-term contract? What was your experience?

Business owner

Own Your Google Ads Account

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Do you actually own your Google Ads account? Not just access but real ownership.

If you decided to part ways with your agency tomorrow, could you take the account with you and hand it to a new team, or bring it in-house?

If you’re not sure, that’s a problem.

When the Agency Owns the Account

Last January, we started working with a company spending about $1.5 million per year on Google Ads. At the time, they had 33 locations (and have grown since). They were frustrated with performance and ready for a change.

There was just one issue: Their agency owned the Google Ads account and refused to transfer it.

Despite paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in management fees over several years, the agency claimed the account was their intellectual property.

In my experience, that rarely has anything to do with protecting great work and everything to do with avoiding accountability.

The Hidden Cost of Not Owning Your Data

Because we couldn’t access the historical account, we had to rebuild everything from scratch. We couldn’t see what had worked, what hadn’t, or what lessons had already been learned.

That slows momentum and means the client ends up paying, again, to rediscover insights they already funded.

That’s not a partnership. That’s a lock-in strategy.

What You Should Check… Now

If you’re currently working with an agency:

  • Do you have your own login to the Google Ads account?
  • Is the account owned by your business, not the agency’s email address?

If you don’t own the account, you’re more tied to that agency than you may realize, especially if performance slips.

To be clear: a strong agency can still drive solid results within 30–90 days, even without historical data. But you shouldn’t have to give up your past learnings just to move on.

Set the Expectation Up Front

If you’re evaluating a new agency, ask this question early:

“Will we own the Google Ads account… unequivocally?”

If the answer isn’t a clear “yes,” keep looking.

Ownership gives you leverage, flexibility, and confidence that your agency is earning your business, not protecting theirs.

Transparency Changes Behavior

I believe agencies should earn trust every month. That doesn’t mean every month is perfect, but it should always be clear that your results come first.

And when agencies know you can log in, see the data, and ask real questions – they’re far less likely to hide behind dashboards or massage the numbers.

If you want more transparency, clearer accountability, and an agency that believes you should own what you pay to build, feel free to message us. I’m always happy to have a conversation and see if it makes sense to work together.

Looking Back at 2025

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How was 2025 for you? Personally, I’ve found that reflecting on a year is a valuable exercise. It’s a chance to slow down, notice progress that’s easy to overlook, and acknowledge how your thinking has changed along the way.

In December 2024, we closed our largest client ever. Until that point, I had assumed we couldn’t compete with the big agencies. Then we took over the Google Ads work from one of the largest agencies in the country – and the client is thrilled with the results. More than the revenue, that experience fundamentally changed how I see what we’re capable of.

To properly serve this new client, along with several others who started working with us, we added two full-time team members to Factor Four. These were our first full-time employees in 17 years in business.

Building a bigger team has been energizing… and humbling. It forced me to let go more than I was comfortable with and trust others with work I’ve always held closely. Delivering outstanding results is what gets me up in the morning, and I held onto the details tighter than I should have. With some helpful coaching, I’m learning how to stop being the master craftsman and start becoming the architect building systems that deliver excellent results repeatedly.

Despite the growth, we still measure success by one thing: how effectively we helped our clients.

This year brought some meaningful wins for organizations willing to rethink how they approach lead generation. A few highlights from new clients:

  • Cardiac Care landed their largest client ever through a Google Ads lead, revealing a new market opportunity they are now actively pursuing.
  • A home services company reduced the cost of branded search terms by 77%, freeing up budget to successfully expand into non-branded keywords and acquire new customers via Google Ads.
  • SMCU lowered overall ad spend by 39% while maintaining the same volume of qualified leads.
  • ScriptCert temporarily reduced advertising because demand outpaced their internal capacity. They are currently adding team members so they can scale further.

We also celebrated a milestone that means a lot to us: 16 years of helping Otay Ranch Eyeworks get new patients consistently.

2025 reinforced something I’ve always believed: when performance can be clearly measured, decisions get better, and growth follows.

We’re grateful for our great existing and new clients and look forward to building on our momentum in 2026.

Do Prospects Think You’re Different?

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Do you like competing on price?
Neither do I.

But when prospects can’t tell the difference between you and your competitors, price becomes the only thing left to compare. And in Google Ads, where every click costs real money, that’s a losing strategy.

When Everything Looks the Same, Prospects Act the Same

Clicks are expensive. If searchers click the top 3-4 ads before making a decision, you’re paying for every one of those comparisons.

The fix isn’t lowering your price. It’s standing out before they ever click.

When we started working with a home services company, their ads looked just like their competitors’. If you covered the company name, nobody could tell them apart.

So we began digging for a meaningful differentiator. Something that mattered to the people they wanted to attract.

Key person leader or speaker stands in the middle of a company or group of people

The Small Differentiator That Made a Big Impact

Their standout feature? A self-service scheduling system that:

  • Instantly confirmed if an address was in their service area
  • Provided a real-time estimate
  • Let prospects pick a day and time for the service

For busy customers who value convenience over hunting for the lowest price, this is gold.

So we built the ads and landing pages around that message.

Suddenly, they weren’t “just another home services company.” They were the easy, convenient option – the one that respected people’s time.

The result? A 30% drop in cost per conversion and more qualified leads from people who weren’t just price shopping.

Differentiation Works in Every Industry

We’re doing something similar for a client that helps nonprofits and developers secure New Market Tax Credits.

Most competitors only help with the NMTC portion of the funding. This client helps assemble the entire capital stack – all the financing needed to move a hospital, community center, or affordable housing project from plan to reality.

That’s a real point of difference. Once it’s reflected in their ads and landing pages, it won’t just attract more leads, it will attract better ones, already aligned with what they offer.

What About You?

If you want to improve your Google Ads performance, start with this question:

“What makes us meaningfully different… and does our advertising actually say so?”

When your uniqueness shows up in your ads and landing pages, you attract the right people, convert more of them, and waste far less money.

Want Help?

If you’re unsure what your differentiators are, or how to turn them into stronger, higher-converting campaigns, send us a message. We’re always happy to take a look and point you in the right direction.

Don’t Let Your Agency Hide Behind a Dashboard

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Do you hire a digital advertising agency to grow your business—or to grow their bottom line?

It sounds like a ridiculous question, but too many agencies act like you’re there to fund their retainers, not your results.

The Dashboard Dilemma

Dashboards can be a great tool… when used honestly. They can also be a convenient way to show you just enough to keep you from asking tough questions.

Too often, agencies use them to summarize performance without context. And without context, you can’t make informed decisions.

Simplicity Shouldn’t Mean Hiding the Truth

Dashboards often highlight one number: Average Cost Per Lead (CPL). Useful, sure. But it rarely tells the full story.

Here’s an example. Before we took over a client’s account, their agency showed them an average CPL of $37 – a great number for their industry. But 80% of those conversions were coming from branded searches – people already looking for the company by name.

Once we dug in, we found branded leads cost $26 each, but new customer leads (non-branded terms) were much higher. So, we restructured the account.

Within months, branded CPL dropped to $7, and non-branded leads – actual new business – came down to $75. That shift turned their ad spend from “maintenance mode” into a real growth engine.

Local Data, Informed Decisions

The same client has 37 locations across the East Coast. Their previous agency lumped everything into a handful of campaigns. It was easy… for them. But not so useful for the client.

We rebuilt it from the ground up: 147 campaigns by location and service line. That level of granularity gave them clarity they’d never had before.

Now they can see that leads in Charlotte, NC, cost twice as much as in Bow, NH, and make decisions accordingly. That’s what transparency looks like.

Demand the Data You Deserve

I hate seeing businesses spend good money on bad campaigns.

If your agency’s dashboard makes everything look “fine” but you don’t understand why it’s fine, or where your leads are really coming from, it’s time to ask for the full picture.

Simplicity should serve clarity, not hide it.

If your agency can’t (or won’t) give you that clarity, it may be time to find one that will.

Your Thoughts

What has been your experience with agency dashboards?