Today we’d like to introduce you to Howard Wolpoff.

Hi Howard, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My story started in college. On campus and during the summer, I enjoyed planning and implementing events. I planned campus-wide events during my last two years, and it always stuck in my mind that this is something I might be able to do as a career.

I eventually returned to business school and received my MBA from Fordham University. During this time, I started interning for a minor-league baseball team launching that year in Brooklyn, New York. After graduation, I worked full-time for the Brooklyn Cyclones, creating in-game events and special promotions at the ballpark and working with small businesses, marketing themselves through various game programs and outfield walls. And special advertisements in the game programs, outfield walls, and special giveaways. Fast forward a few years, and I am finding opportunities in sports, working special events for the National Hockey League. The NBA, and the World Cup, led me to a fantastic opportunity as part of the launch of a large sports complex in New York City, Chelsea Piers. Eventually, I left the team to work on national radio for Westwood One selling sponsorships of traffic reports. These were 10-second messages embedded into the programming of radio stations across the country, read live by the traffic reporters. It taught me the importance of getting your message in a medium people are paying attention to. Many businesses spend millions of dollars on advertising that people never see, and small businesses that do not have those types of funds have to be efficient in marketing themselves and creating messaging that will resonate with an audience.

From there, I went into local radio, working for 1010XL sports radio in Jacksonville, Florida. First as a sales representative and soon after as the Director of Sales and Marketing, where I transformed the sales process and brought the station to revenue levels they had not achieved previously. This was the missing piece in enabling the station to become the flagship radio station of the Jacksonville Jaguars which they still are today. During this time, we also launched a website for college football fans of the Southeastern Conference, focusing on the teams, players, and their stories. It gave me a great view of digital marketing and how such websites create advertising opportunities and audiences for those advertisers. While at the radio station, I worked with hundreds of small businesses helping to create the appropriate campaigns and messaging to drive new customers. I wrote over 100 commercials and voiced more than half of them during my time there. It was fantastic to see the successes the station was bringing these businesses; the key was knowing exactly who your audience was and how to speak to them. That’s a powerful thing. Many businesses don’t understand who their customer is and try to throw wide nets with their advertising; unfortunately, they come up short, missing their target each time. With the station, our advertisers continually renewed their campaigns because of the results we provided them. The conversations I had with these owners were educational, and it really was an opportunity to learn about different types of businesses, how they operate, their mindset as to why their owners created them, and their goals.

It allowed me to travel weekly to Houston, Texas, and help relaunch an agency there. Their goal was to become a dominant digital marketing agency and was evolving from being a yellow page business with their current clients being the first new digital accounts. It was an opportunity to start with a warm call as opposed to a cold call and was an amazing experience. Most of these owners had websites but didn’t understand why they needed one or why they could work better for them and had no sense of social media understanding. So we got started in re-creating marketing campaigns for these businesses. The travel was challenging, so I ended up with an agency here in Jacksonville, Client Focus Media, where I became the vice president of client integration. We developed multi-faceted campaigns for our clients, incorporating video with a program where campaigns are unmatched by anyone else locally. The agency had a studio in the building and had launched an online TV portal called BuzzTV. Small business owners around the city were invited to tell their stories in brief five minutes segments. Then, they could use those clips on their social media or their websites just as if they had interviewed them on a local TV station. This helped drive business and revenues for the agency and awareness and visibility for these companies. Eventually, I was asked to become an on-camera host and interviewed over 100 businesses. And it was then that I saw a need to assist these business owners.

Many of the offerings the agency was suggesting exceeded their budgets. And all honesty, most of them didn’t have a marketing budget. So I went off to become a profit acceleration coach. Working with these businesses, I’ve been able to address not only their marketing needs but help them redefine how they operate. Most small business owners start their business because they’re excited about doing something they are very good at and enjoy. However, they soon realize that, as an owner, there are many hats they need to wear. Most of these hats are skills they do not have but are vital to the growth of the business. They try to market themselves based on suggestions they get from other people. They try to address their bookkeeping and their human resources needs. But it is a lot for small business owners to handle. So when I meet with them, our goal is to try to make their lives easier, to start generating the level of leads, sales, and revenues that they need so that they’re able to outsource these tasks and to build the business so they can hire people as part of their staff. The end goal is to make business owners enjoy their business and reach the goals they set for themselves when they started. Seeing the level of stress dissipate from them as we implement the pieces that are developing new growth in the business is incredibly rewarding. I initially came in with 8 strategies that work for most businesses and then quickly learned the specific needs each business owner has for their business. My vast experience from my marketing agency time provides the understanding of what tactics are needed to grow these businesses from Point A to Point B to Point C. When meeting these business owners, I usually share with them that if they give me 45 minutes of their time. I can show them how I can triple their leads, double their sales and find $100,000 or more in their business, as recurring annual revenue, without spending an additional dollar on marketing or advertising. All this piques their interest and allows me to share with them what their business could look like. It becomes a growth opportunity for the business and the business owner and for myself, learning from them and taking their experiences into my future client conversations.

Additionally, I’ve taken on a role as a host for another online TV site, dailyadbrief.com. I interviewed marketing and advertising agency owners around the country in five-minute brief segments to share their knowledge and give them some exposure. It’s a great way for me to learn what is happening around the country in marketing and take the conversations I have with them on to LinkedIn and continue to learn so that I can share the latest marketing trends with my clients.

Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Most roads are never smooth, and neither has mine been during my journey. The agency in Texas had to shut down due to Hurricane Harvey. Our clients experienced significant damage to their homes, business, and vehicles that they could not continue to pay bills or market an underwater business that would not reopen for months, if at all. I lost contact with two of my salespeople for three days until they could charge their phones and respond. It was a very trying and emotional time for everyone involved.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Small business owners hire me to rebuild their confidence and competence to exceed expectations because most have a business in a state of chaos, lacking guidance, and are frequently overwhelmed. So I help redirect energies, create accountability and accelerate performance, doubling their revenues. In the process, making them love their business again. I specialize in profit acceleration. I work with business owners weekly to develop the tactics, skills, and game plan to provide them with revenue growth, greater exposure, and a stronger appreciation for their business. My offer to business owners is simple if they give me 45 minutes of their time. I can show them how I can triple their leads, double their sales and find $100,000 or more in their business, as recurring annual revenue, without spending an additional dollar on marketing or advertising. Simple tactics that are easily implementable to create growth.

My 25+ years working with small business owners have taught me that they need an advocate. They need the right guidance to reinforce their passion for their business. And I have enjoyed being that person throughout my career.

Any big plans?
I hope to continue to generate growth for my clients. I love creating success stories and sharing them. I hope to be a storyteller for many years to come.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.profitmasterbusinesssolutions.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hwolpoff/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/howard.wolpoff
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/hwolpoff
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYpOxGSVz3GFaTr4ZIDEfgg
• Other: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/small-business-marketing-then-and-now/id1534322776