Schetky Client Interview

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of Schetky Bus and Van Sales. We sell buses and vans to school districts, transit agencies, and corporations across the US.

What challenge were you trying to address with JSMM?

We wanted to create a consistent and engaging marketing strategy that would allow us to reach our customers across all platforms. We needed all different modes of marketing from email blasts to social media campaigns.

We were doing marketing and advertisements ourselves, but we weren’t very consistent. We neither had a strategy nor knew the science behind what we were doing. We realized there was more to marketing than just advertising. We also wanted to separate ourselves from our competitors.

What was the scope of their involvement?

JSMM does everything from our Google Ads and SEO to the actual redesign of our website. They also do our email blasts through MailChimp, and they handle all of our social media platforms, including LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. JSMM also integrated our website with Zoho CRM while working on the lead-capturing side of things.

We do a weekly call, and they create an outline for every single one of our calls with links and everything else. Every end of the week, we get all of the upcoming posts that we go through and approve. We cover SEO and Google Ads every call, but we dig into the figures, the spending, and everything else once a month.

What is the team composition?

We have Val (CEO) as our main point of contact, and then there are 3–4 people who offer input on certain aspects of what we’re doing. They chime in and tell us what they think we ought to do.

How did you come to work with JSMM?

We were working on a deal with one of our manufacturers, and I wasn’t happy. They were good, but they didn’t have a broad offering. Then, I got a phone call from JSMM to go through a marketing piece they were doing for our manufacturer.

I was impressed with how they conducted themselves, and I eventually asked them what they do. They weren’t trying to press me for business, and it wasn’t a hard pitch. I wasn’t even planning on switching, and I didn’t think that there was anything better out there. Then, I met JSMM, and I thought they were a lot better, so I hired them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested $5,000–$10,000 for their services so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in May 2020, and the partnership’s ongoing.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

When I see graphs, and when we’re getting more actual phone calls and leads coming through our website, I know that what they’re doing is working. Our past company used to show us higher engagement and online visitors. However, I always asked them whether we were getting qualified leads. With JSMM, our qualified leads have shot through the roof. For an investment in a marketing company, that’s the bottom line — and they deliver.

Additionally, a lot of the things they post are under my name, and people have responded well to them. JSMM has a good understanding of how to walk that fine line between being professional and being amusing and positive. They don’t say things that are inappropriate, and they know all of the new trends and things out there that are new and funny.

How did JSMM perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re great, and everything’s outlined. When we get on a phone call with them, we’re not just flying blind. They have an outline, and 10 minutes before every meeting, they update that outline. There’s a structure to the call. They understand that time is valuable, so they don’t waste our time. We simply go down the list and cover all topics. They give me a full schedule of when things are supposed to go out. If I want to make slight changes here and there, I will. It’s a turnkey solution.

They’re totally open and accommodating to whatever we might want to do. We can throw anything at them, and they’re always ready to look into it and see what they can do. We haven’t had a single thing that we’ve thrown at them that they haven’t been able to do.

Val is a great point person because there’s no guesswork. If we send something to her, she makes it happen. With other companies, when you send something to the wrong person, they’ll tell you to contact somebody else. With Val, we don’t need to have an in-depth understanding of their corporate structure to get things done.

We don’t have to figure any of this out on our own. If we have an issue or there’s a roadblock to getting customers’ information, we just ask JSMM and they figure it out. It’s been awesome.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We want our name to be up there and for people to follow us on different platforms so that we seem relevant and people can enjoy our post. JSMM helps us do that, and they have a great sense of humor and a sense of what’s relevant and what people like. It’s a good relationship. We’re also getting leads, and we’ve seen a real uptick in our new business.

Other providers are good at giving metrics that make them look good. They’re always telling me to look at the improvements and the information they provide that supports that. However, at the end of the day, if we’re not getting leads, there’s no point in spending our money on it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Throw away everything you thought you knew, let them create a plan, and run with it. Everybody likes to think they know marketing, and I thought I knew it, too. However, I’ve learned quite a bit from JSMM. Have faith, do a trust fall on them, and let them handle it. You’ll see results.