Agency Horror Stories

Agency Horror Stories

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2093393/fan_mail/new] Season 4 kicks off with the episode we've been wanting to do for a long time. Meredith and Caitlyn walk through four real horror stories from contractors who came to FatCat after getting burned by other agencies — names left out, lessons left in. From the agency that held a contractor's website, ad accounts, and Google Business Profile hostage, to the "lead inflation" reports that counted every wrong number and telemarketer as a win, to the revolving door of account managers, to the agency quietly running a contractor's closest competitor. The episode closes with a lightning round of eight red flags to watch for the next time you're shopping for a marketing partner. What you'll learn: * The four ownership questions to get answered in writing before you sign (website, domain, ad accounts, tracking numbers and data) * Why "leads are up and cost-per-lead is down" can be a mirage — and how to demand real definitions * How account-manager churn quietly erodes your campaigns * Why service-area exclusivity protects you from subsidizing a competitor's education * An 8-point red-flag checklist for vetting any agency Got a horror story of your own? Email us (address in the show notes) and we may feature it anonymously in a future episode. Want to find out how we can create a custom digital marketing game plan for your contractor business? Schedule a call with us at fatcatstrategies.com [https://fatcatstrategies.com].

How AI Search Is Changing the Way Homeowners Find Contractors: A Yelp Conversation

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2093393/fan_mail/new] The way homeowners find contractors has changed more in the last 18 months than it did in the previous decade. Search has become recommendations. Websites have become trusted platforms. Clicking has become asking. And one name keeps showing up in the AI results: Yelp. In this special-format episode, Caitlyn Noble sits down with Phil and Ryan from Yelp's partner team to break down why Yelp has quietly become one of the top citation sources for ChatGPT, Bing Copilot, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and Gemini — and what that means for replacement contractors who've been treating their Yelp profile as a listing they claimed once and forgot about. Includes live examples of how Yelp data flows into AI recommendations, what makes Yelp users different from Google searchers, and a free AI Visibility Audit at fatcatstrategies.com/AI. Want to find out how we can create a custom digital marketing game plan for your contractor business? Schedule a call with us at fatcatstrategies.com [https://fatcatstrategies.com].

What Contractors Should Automate First (And What Should Stay Human)

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2093393/fan_mail/new] In this episode, Caitlyn and Meredith wrap up a stretch of AI-focused conversations with a practical question every contractor needs to answer: what should you actually automate, and what should never leave a human's hands? They share a simple framework for thinking about it (operational vs. relational moments), then walk through six things you should automate this week, five things to protect at all costs, and four gray zones where the answer lives somewhere in between. The episode closes with a four-question decision tool you can run any new task through when you're not sure which side of the line it belongs on. If you're either nervous about automation or a little too eager to hand things over to AI, this one's for you. In this episode: • The two-bucket framework: operational vs. relational moments • Six things to automate first (and why) • Five moments that should always stay human • The gray zones: follow-up, social media, review responses, and proposals • A four-question decision tool for anything you're unsure about Want to find out how we can create a custom digital marketing game plan for your contractor business? Schedule a call with us at fatcatstrategies.com [https://fatcatstrategies.com].

AI in Sales Follow-Up: Turning More Leads Into Booked Appointments

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2093393/fan_mail/new] Most contractors are sitting on leads that should have closed but didn't, and the reason is almost always the same: follow-up. In this episode, Caitlyn and Meredith break down how AI can make your sales follow-up faster, smarter, and more consistent without taking over your life. You'll hear the five highest-leverage ways to use AI in your follow-up process: speeding up your first response, building a full multi-touch sequence, personalizing messages based on actual sales conversations, addressing common objections head-on, and re-engaging cold leads from months or years ago. The hosts also walk through a real-world bathroom remodel scenario from form fill to booked appointment, share the most common mistakes contractors make when they start using AI, and give you a simple starting point you can put to work today. If you've ever wondered why some contractors book 50 to 60% of their leads while others stall out at 30%, this one's for you. The difference usually isn't talent. It's persistence, and AI is what makes that kind of persistence realistic for a small team. Want to find out how we can create a custom digital marketing game plan for your contractor business? Schedule a call with us at fatcatstrategies.com [https://fatcatstrategies.com].

Practical AI for Contractors: 10 Ways to Save Hours Every Week

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2093393/fan_mail/new] No theory, no hype, just 10 specific ways home improvement and remodeling contractors can start saving hours every week, starting today. Whether you've never touched an AI tool or you use one every day, there's something in this episode you can put to work this week. In this episode, you'll learn how to use AI to: 1. Write and polish your estimates and proposals 2. Respond to your Google and online reviews 3. Draft your follow-up emails to leads 4. Write social media captions and post ideas 5. Create or rewrite your website copy 6. Summarize your sales calls 7. Write job postings that attract the right people 8. Build out SOPs and training docs 9. Answer customer FAQs faster 10. Draft your email campaigns You'll also hear which tools are worth your time (spoiler: you don't need a contractor-specific app), why sticking with one AI makes everything better, and the one ground rule to keep in mind before you type anything into a prompt. Your challenge: Pick one thing from the list and try it this week. Just one. Then tell us what you tried. Want to find out how we can create a custom digital marketing game plan for your contractor business? Schedule a call with us at fatcatstrategies.com [https://fatcatstrategies.com].