How I Moved From Amazon Services to an £80K-a-Month Automation Agency

I'm Dan. Before the automation agency, we had worked in Amazon FBA, logistics and Amazon brand management. By the interview, we were discussing an £80,000-a-month business, up from around £10,000 a month. These were the monthly figures discussed in the interview; I did not give a profit breakdown.

The useful change was recognizing that the systems we used inside our own businesses could solve problems for other companies. Cold email helped us find those conversations, but the offer had to cover more of the customer's operation than an isolated automation task.

I already had operating problems to learn from

We started in Amazon FBA and moved into logistics, where the margins were difficult. Getting work through recommendations also made it hard to forecast demand and plan the business. Later, we managed Amazon brands and used Fiverr to bring in work.

That gave us experience of operating businesses, but it did not give us a predictable way to find the right customers. We came into Client Ascension during the Amazon brand-management stage and began testing the offer in the market.

The systems became more valuable than the original service

We took process knowledge from the logistics business and used it in the brand-management business. We were also using no-code tools and AI to automate our own work. The opportunity was to sell that systems capability as a service in its own right.

Instead of thinking only about managing an Amazon account, we moved toward helping a company organize and automate its operations. The work we had already done internally gave us something concrete to bring to those conversations.

I start with the customer journey before adding AI

At a high level, we map what happens in the business first. Then we put a project-management system around the actions and handoffs so that the team can see who is doing what across the customer journey.

After that come no-code workflows: alerts, reporting and the movement of information. AI sits on top of that foundation for suitable tasks, such as follow-up emails and parts of content preparation. The offer is a connected operating process, rather than simply adding an AI tool to an unclear workflow.

Client Ascension related reading: the acquisition guide explains selecting a channel for an offer and judging cost per client over a full sales cycle.

Cold email opened the door; proposals still did real work

I estimated that about 95% of our acquisition was cold email. We were only beginning to build the content side again, including a new Twitter account. Content was a channel we were starting, rather than the explanation for the business figure we had already reached.

Client Ascension related reading: the VSL breakdown examines the decisions and objection handling inside a complete sales presentation.

Larger projects needed a more substantial sales process

Our sales process could be drawn out. We used detailed proposal documents, case studies, testimonials and introductions to existing clients. Those materials helped a prospect understand the work and speak to people we had served.

For a large company we discussed, we made several long trips to meet in person before closing. That was work to win a customer, not a quick close based only on sending a message. Understanding the wider solution also mattered: the CRM, proposals, pricing and the customer journey around the immediate task.

I was still involved in selling and building the team

At that stage I had two business partners and support from global teams. I still did a lot of selling myself because being at the front of the business helped me understand the market and how buyers perceived AI.

More account-management and sales support were things we were considering for the next stage. They were not already completed hires. The business still needed both the selling and the operating systems behind the promise.

Client Ascension related reading: Alex Tenorio’s case study describes a fractional CFO offer, consistent outreach and the systems behind the business.

Adapted by Client Ascension with AI assistance from Dan's interview. The first-person narrative follows the source speaker’s account. Watch the original video