Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to John Locke. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi John, thanks for joining us today. Can you tell us a story about a time you failed?

Around the end of 2017, I was doing a lot of custom website builds for different agencies. I had one agency in particular that was close to half of my revenue, and they were leveling up their own business. My own business was doing okay, but it really needed a boost, and I approached them about renegotiating our terms on the contract work I was doing for them. They rejected this idea, and I knew I had gotten my business into a place where I had to make a decision. I could continue with this client at the present terms and stay stuck, or possibly lose them and have to find more clients.

What ended up happening is I came back with a new price per site that was a sizeable, but not unrealistic jump from the previous negotiation, and they flat out rejected this. I knew the probable result would be they would no longer do business, which is what ended up happening. I was disheartened that they really did not want to see me grow, based on a comment one of the principals made at that time.

What I learned is, never ever, let one client become a third, much less half of your revenue. If anything happens to that client, your own revenue will be in danger. Since then, I not only spread out my client revenue but pivoted to be more self-reliant in my services, not needed to do contract work for other agencies, unless it is on terms I feel comfortable with.

It was rocky for several months after that initial break with my “whale” client, and money was incredibly tight. But after about five months or so, I was fortunate to land a client that helped me verify that I was on the right path, and it’s been nothing but up since then.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is John Locke and before I worked on the internet building websites and helping people with SEO, I was a baker, first as a bakery manager for a grocery store, and also working in commercial brad factory. I got into web design going back to school in 2009, because I wanted to switch careers. Today, I help industrial clients with SEO and web development, helping them get more leads through search engines.

What is different from my company compared to many is there is still a personal touch. I work directly with marketing managers or company owners, one to one. We do not rely on automation to create content or make diagnoses, and this helps us create higher quality work with human insights. Machines often miss crucial details, and so many of our peers rely on this to save time, but it yields poorer results in the long run.

The thing I am most proud of is the businesses that I have seen grow from ideas into empires over the past several years. It is incredible to see it happen in real time. I’m also particularly proud of earning the trust of so many hard-working business owners, who choose to work with us.

It’s because of that trust our clients put into Lockedown SEO that we’ve been able to deliver good results for them over the long haul.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

It’s sounds corny, but just being trustworthy, keeping your word, and doing what you say you’re going to do will go really far towards getting referrals from your current clients. Many of the clients we have were referrals, or were referrals from other referral clients.

Doing good work, keeping your word as bond, and following through, not trying to trick your clients is a way to grow steadily over time.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

A lot of web design companies and SEO firms have a poor reputation because they might be inexpensive at first, but they end up betraying the clients trust and trying to lock them into situations where they can’t access their own website or leave with their own domain name or website.

At the end of the day, you must do right by your customers and treat them with the respect they deserve. If they want to move to another provider, you should help in every way possible. If they want to leave your hosting or work with someone else, you must be supportive of that decision.

Working with web design and internet marketing clients is a long game, and it only takes a handful of bad interactions for them to resent you forever. Always be supportive of what clients want to do with their own website, when it comes to management, ownership, or working with other agencies.

It shocks me how many horror stories I hear, and I think our reputation is solid because we never try to restrict or trap clients. We do our best to treat them with dignity and respect, and never impeding on their freedom to try another provider. Everyone is–or should be–working towards the common goal of helping the client business succeed.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lockedownseo.com/
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• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lockedownseo
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lockedown-seo
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• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/LockedownSEO
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/lockedown-seo-sacramento-2