When clients reach their three-month mark with LinkNow, they receive a call from someone genuinely invested in their overall well-being, both professionally and personally, someone who is committed to ensuring client satisfaction and possesses the expertise to address any concern, someone they’ll likely develop a strong and enduring relationship with throughout their LinkNow journey.
This someone is their Account Executive.
As an Account Executive (AE) who’s been with LinkNow for over 10 years, Jon Borshy can recall a time when he handled almost everything for clients, from submitting website changes and advising on which backlinks should be created to custom content requests and selling paid ads when LinkNow introduced this service.
As LinkNow grew rapidly, he watched other departments grow and gained what he calls “invaluable training” in how to direct the company’s resources to achieve a client’s wishes and vision.
Every LinkNow client receives a check-in from their AE up to four times a year to assess their progress, and many clients receive more regular contact if they’re engaged in an active campaign. Jon works with many clients in service-based industries—masons, general contractors, landscapers, etc.—for whom online visibility is a constant concern.
What Do an AE and an Auto Shop Owner Have in Common?
Imagine taking your car into the shop, Jon suggested, using an analogy to demonstrate the value of an AE.
When you’re talking to the auto shop owner or, at the very least, the manager, you might get into general things about yourself or them or cars in general. You might talk about the weather, frustrations with your vehicle, directions, etc. Maybe you’d ask them for maintenance advice or how to upgrade your stereo.
“If you go back and talk to the mechanic who’s actually fixing your tires, you’re just talking about tires,” Jon explained. Now, there’s nothing wrong with that, he insisted—it’s just that simply performing the task at hand doesn’t require the same personal engagement and depth of explanation as when you’re building trust and a lasting relationship.
“Not many business owners wake up in the morning wanting to spend more money. But certainly, almost every business owner did wake up in the morning wanting to improve their business. So, it’s a matter of having that trust with them so that they’ll allow us the opportunity to show them how our programs and products work.”
—Jon Borshy, Account Executive
The impact of that trust goes both ways.
“The ones who listen to our strategies and see the results, it’s pretty rewarding on both our parts,” Jon said. Being able to connect with clients and relate to them, in Jon’s experience, typically will lead to them having the confidence to do more for their websites and invest in their own success.
Account Executive Jon Borshy holding his "Employee of the Month" award
That connection means that many clients share a great deal of their personal lives with Jon. “If they’re struggling and they’ve had personal matters, and they’re not in a good place,” he said, it’s deeply rewarding when he “follows up a few months later, and they’re getting business, and they’re happy, and they’re able to better provide for their family.”
How Loyalty and Trust Helped a Client Start Over
“I tell this client that he’s my favorite client.” Jon started this story with this statement, and you’d never doubt it was true.
The client in question is a general contractor in Ontario. He’s been with LinkNow for as long as Jon’s been working here—at least a decade—and was the first in the company’s clientele to start on a $1,000-a-month marketing package. Until then, all the packages offered were at a lower monthly rate.
Initially, the package wasn’t working as well or quickly as the client expected. To make matters worse, he had several expensive personal matters arise, including a honeymoon trip where his credit card was declined. This prompted him to call Jon and say he wanted to quit the package, return to a lower monthly rate and lessened services.
Jon went to the CEO, Welsey Mendelovitch. In a rare gesture, Wesley approved Jon's offer to give the client three months of the heightened service for free.
“Wes gave him three months for free and said, ‘No problem, just allow us three months to show you that it works, and we won’t charge you for it,’” Jon explained, adding that this wasn’t something he’d seen before.
That extra time to see the results come in made all the difference.
“Within those three months, he started seeing, you know, it takes time, but it started turning into projects.”
Everything went smoothly, and the client’s business thrived until he began to run into personal difficulties, eventually having to shutter his company, sell his house, and move to another city entirely.
“He ended up having to start over with a whole new company name in an area where no one knew him,” Jon said. But he was still a valued client. With a package of services that included building him a new website, getting him backlinks, and helping him ask for reviews, things started to turn around.
“We helped him get his name out there a lot quicker than word-of-mouth,” Jon explained. “He doesn’t spend a lot on marketing, but he sees results, and he gets results. People recognize him, and they start finding him on the Internet and finding his reviews, which really helps his business.”
According to Jon, the most important part of LinkNow’s role in helping the client start over was the personalization that went into his website. What makes it so special is that it’s “thoroughly representative…of what the client does.”
Jon spent many hours working with the client to craft the website and make it truly reflective of the client’s business, adding many images of past projects and coaching him through adding before, during, and after shots of his work. “Anyone who finds this website sees the quality of this client’s work,” he said. “They see what he’s about.”
This anecdote demonstrates the real heart and soul of what an AE brings to a client—their understanding of what a client really needs and who they are and the transformation of that understanding into actions and results.
This is why Jon often spends a great deal of time on the phone with his clients rather than transferring them to another department. After engaging with the client about their expectations in great detail, it’s his role to communicate their vision to other LinkNow departments and see that it comes to fruition.
Jon’s Tips: What Does a Client Need to Be Successful?
“Always, always, always, every phone call that I’m engaged with the client, I always recommend, suggest, and encourage them to get Google reviews,” Jon said. “They stay online, people find them, they’re so important.”
The key to online success, according to Jon, isn’t just to be found—although that’s a big part of it. It’s also about showcasing yourself authentically to the people who do find you.
“If you spend $1,000 a month on marketing and have only stock images and no reviews, you’re not going to do nearly as well as someone who spends, I’m going to say, even $500 a month and has lots of reviews and lots of pictures,” he explained. “$1,000 will help people find your website better, but it’s not going to help them engage with you.”
To thrive online, you need a combination of SEO practices, paid advertising, and website personalization. This means providing recent photos for your gallery, providing details about you and your specializations, and asking your clients for reviews.
Jon is here to help with all of this. He’s here to help select photos, add them to your site, choose the right level of backlink package to get you showing up, ensure your marketing works for your budget, and be the understanding ear and problem-solver when things aren’t going well.
In a world of long holds and constant transfers to another department, AEs are the ones who pick up the phone to check in with you and every LinkNow client is better off for their tireless work.
Jon's Clients Congratulate Him on His Employee of the Month Award
“Congratulations! As far working with you the past few years, you’ve always been professional, polite and knowledgeable. You’ve always followed up on your calls to make sure that things were going well for us. We appreciate your good service! Congratulations!”
—Chris U.
“Congratulations, I’ve been with you for many moons now.
I feel that you should be employee of the year.
It’s people like you that makes our web sites active and because of you guys that we are proud to be with you.”
—Sylvain D.
“Good for you Jon you deserve it 👍😊”
—Stephen H.
“Congratulations Jon! You are indeed a very valuable part of the team.
I am so happy for your achievement.
Have a nice summer.”
—Marinela B.
“Congratulations Jon! Well deserved!!”
—Adam K.
“Congratulations 👏 👏 Buddy 👏 👏”
—Gary B.
“Very nice. Congratulations!! You deserve it. You have always kind and very knowledgeable. I am glad to have met and work with you.”
—Derrick B.
“Congratulations Jon. You have certainly helped me several times!”
—Dennis T.
Looking for an AE Who’ll Support You Every Step of the Way?
AEs are the unsung heroes behind LinkNow clients’ successes, supporting their needs and fulfilling their visions. If you want to work with a team that cares, a team that will reach out to you first, contact us today and find out how we make online small business life a little easier.
