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What happens when years of planting seeds finally meets the right market moment?

Alexis Trammel is Chief Growth Officer at Stratabeat, a B2B SaaS organic growth agency. She recently transitioned from account management into a biz dev role. But the real story is how timing and preparation collided. For years, Stratabeat was doing the unglamorous work: niching down, building LinkedIn presence, publishing original research, speaking at conferences, nurturing relationships. Then GEO (generative engine optimization) hit right as AI anxiety peaked, and suddenly the leads started flooding in. This conversation explores what it looks like when the groundwork you've been laying finally pays off, and why most agencies aren't ready when their moment arrives.

What You'll Leave With:

• Why lead flow needs to exist before you hire a salesperson—not the other way around
• How years of niching down positioned them to catch the GEO wave
• The compounding value of original research, LinkedIn presence, and conference visibility
• Why internal sales hires often outperform external ones when the foundation is there
• How to keep planting seeds even when you're not sure which one will sprout
• The seasonality reality and why "when it rains, it pours" cuts both ways

Timestamps:

• [00:00] Introduction to Alexis Trammel and Stratabeat
• [02:36] The long road of niching down and eliminating services
• [03:19] When AI panic created unexpected demand for GEO
• [05:16] Original research as a lead gen and credibility play
• [07:46] Coming back from maternity leave to a sales opportunity
• [10:00] Why the lead flow has to come before the sales hire
• [11:47] Wearing both the sales and marketing hats
• [14:10] Planning for seasonality when you're riding a wave
• [16:41] LinkedIn as long-term brand building, not cold outreach
• [22:04] GEO converting better than almost everything except referrals
• [30:12] The relationship groundwork that makes referrals possible

Mentioned Resources / Links:

• Stratabeat - B2B SaaS organic growth agency
• Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi
• Alexis Trammell on LinkedIn
• Tom Shapiro on LinkedIn

When clients start asking "What am I paying you for?", most assume they have a pricing problem on their hands when they're actually facing an operations problem.

Leah Leaves is the founder and CEO of Alderaan Operations, where she embeds operations directors and part-time digital project managers directly into remote agencies. In this conversation, she reveals what's happening when clients question an agency's value - asking for more deliverables, questioning reports, or wondering why they can't just use cheap tools themselves.

A few things we covered:

• Why the same operational bottlenecks agencies have always had are now happening at 10x-100x speed
• The exact question clients are asking agencies right now (and how the best agencies are answering it)
• How agencies are reinvesting time saved by AI into client experience, productized tools, and advisory services
• The "bionic org chart" framework for documenting what AI owns versus what humans own
• A practical system for turning meeting transcripts into searchable client context that actually gets used
• Why hiring people who want to stay static in their role is a feature, not a bug
• The shift from deliverables-based positioning to strategic marketing partner (and why AI makes this more urgent)

Timestamps:

• [00:00] Introduction: Leah Leaves and the state of agency operations
• [01:26] Same issues, 10x-100x speed: What's really changing with AI
• [03:37] The question clients are asking: "What am I paying you for?"
• [06:38] How agencies are answering the value question differently
• [11:15] Moving from execution to advisory: Selling thinking, not deliverables
• [15:30] The art of productive client meetings (and why most fail)
• [20:45] Hiring strategy: Finding people who want to grow vs. stay static
• [29:47] The bionic org chart: Documenting AI's role on your team
• [32:17] Practical AI implementation: Turning meeting notes into searchable knowledge
• [34:20] Ideas that wouldn't exist without reduced latency
• [35:29] Where to find Leah and learn more about operation

Alderaan Operations - Leah's company embedding ops directors in agencies

Leah Leaves on LinkedIn - Connect with Leah

Looking to build a repeatable, referral-focus biz dev system inside of your agency?

Check out our new video training: https://hey.salesschema.com/opt-in-mw-referral-engine

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What if successful agency business development isn't about having the perfect system, but about showing up consistently in the right conversations?

John Caruso is the Director of Business Development at Vendilli, where he's spent the last six years navigating the messy reality of agency growth. With a decade of BD experience spanning traditional and digital agencies, John has learned that there's no magic formula, just consistent effort in the right places. In this conversation, he shares the unglamorous truth about what BD actually looks like day-to-day, why agency owners set their BD hires up to fail by expecting results too quickly, and how he learned the craft by sitting in dozens upon dozens of sales meetings with his team.

What You'll Leave With:

• The realistic timeline for a BD hire to become truly effective at an agency
• How to structure your day when client needs constantly derail your plans
• Why sitting in sales meetings with experienced agency owners builds BD skills faster than any course
• The "shortlist" dynamic that determines whether prospects even consider your agency
• How to think about the division between marketing and sales activities
• What systems need to exist before bringing on a dedicated BD person
• An education-first approach to staying top of mind without being pushy

Timestamps:

• [00:00] Introduction: John's journey from traditional to digital agency BD
• [02:30] The reality of a day in the life of agency business development
• [05:40] What activities consistently drive revenue for agencies
• [10:30] Why getting on prospect "shortlists" matters more than perfect positioning
• [15:45] Moving beyond transactional referral requests
• [20:15] How the BD landscape has shifted over the past decade
• [28:34] What needs to be in place before hiring a BD person
• [29:04] The learning curve: why it takes 6-9 months minimum to see results
• [31:10] How Vendilli divides marketing and sales responsibilities
• [33:25] Where to learn more about John and Vendilli

Vendelli: https://www.vendilli.com/

John on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johncaruso-vendilli/