Slideshow with Dave Hayward, Ep 11, Season 2 (#24)
Episode links
Kim Voon’s agency was sending 250 leads a month to an Australian healthcare business. Every number on the dashboard was green, and Kim couldn’t find the leads anywhere in the client’s own system.
Kim runs Insight Online, a performance marketing agency that generates leads for service businesses with lots of locations. This client had more than 50 clinics. Spread that thin, 250 leads is about one a week per clinic. Nobody was going to notice. Kim went into the meeting ready to hand the account back. The client told him to get on with the fix instead: two clinics in Victoria, phone calls tracked alongside appointments, and a 90-day trial to prove the model before rolling it out state by state.
The conversation then turns to AI search. Kim’s rule is that authority beats volume. Five hundred generic posts about plumbing give ChatGPT nothing new. A plumber who knows the drainage problems of every Waitākere suburb does. Kim explains how to ask ChatGPT why it recommended the names it did, why reviews away from Google matter, and why the agencies promising to rank you in a month are selling old SEO tricks. Then a candid admission: three years ago, the agency’s own leads dried up. LinkedIn video brought them back, mostly from people already in Kim’s contacts.
A Slideshow mini-episode, recorded live in the Podcast Bach at the Business Expo in Auckland, an activation designed and run by Stu Lees. Expect a bit of expo floor in the sound and picture.
Links and things
Slideshow with Dave Hayward podcast links:
Produced by Europa Creative Partners
Chapters
00:00 Would you notice one lead a week?
01:00 A third culture kid from Pukekohe
03:15 Every flaw shows up in your bank account
05:30 250 leads a month that nobody could find
10:00 Go small to go big: two clinics, 90 days
13:00 AI search: why authority beats volume
16:45 The one-month AI ranking pitch is old SEO
18:30 Ask ChatGPT how it picked your competitors
20:15 The agency with no leads of its own
Keywords
Kim Voon, Insight Online, performance marketing, lead generation, multi-location businesses, franchise marketing, AI search, ChatGPT search, SEO, marketing attribution, LinkedIn video, Podcast Bach, Business Expo Auckland, Slideshow with Dave Hayward
FAQ (for humans and search engines)
Why don't my marketing leads show up in my sales numbers?
Kim’s agency hit this with a healthcare client running more than 50 clinics. The dashboard showed over 250 leads a month, but spread across every location that was about one a week per clinic, too few for anyone to notice. His advice is to match the agency’s numbers against your own CRM before you scale spend.
Should I test a marketing campaign small before scaling it?
Kim thinks so. He restarted with two clinics, a couple of services each, phone call tracking and a report pulled straight from the client’s CRM, with a 90-day trial to prove it worked. He admits taking on the whole network at once was hubris.
How do I get my business found in AI search tools like ChatGPT?
Kim’s rule is that authority beats volume. Instead of publishing hundreds of AI-written posts, focus on what you can speak about better than anyone, often your location or one service you do really well. AI tools aggregate what’s already out there, so they need something from you they can’t get elsewhere. Treat it as a medium to long-term play.
How do I find out why ChatGPT recommends my competitors?
Search something like “best plumbers in West Auckland”, then ask ChatGPT how it came up with those names. It will usually point to the sources it trusts, such as industry associations and review platforms like Clutch. Get reviewed and mentioned in those places. Other people saying you’re great counts for more than you saying it.
Are agencies that promise AI search rankings in a month worth it?
Kim is wary of them. The tactics he sees, such as duplicate websites, masses of backlinks and thousands of blogs, are the same ones he saw when he started in SEO, and search engines have since punished them. If you want a business that lasts, build real authority instead.
