Visual Client Communication & Building SaaS in an Agency, With Mikael Dia

Feb 19, 2025

Mikael Dia, a former agency owner and founder of Funnelytics, dives into the world of visual client communication and SaaS development. He emphasizes how visual strategies not only enhance client understanding but also improve sales and retention by clearly mapping marketing funnels. Mikael shares insights from his journey, explaining how agencies can demonstrate value to clients through visual reporting and strategies. He discusses the challenges of transitioning from agency life to tech, stressing the importance of feedback and collaboration in building a successful SaaS product.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

ANECDOTE

Whiteboard Visualization

Mikael Dia found that visualizing strategies on a whiteboard improved client engagement.
Clients understood his plans better and perceived him as more knowledgeable, leading to faster sales and higher prices.

INSIGHT

Visual Communication and Trust

Visual communication, especially drawing, aids client understanding and builds trust.
This aligns with adult learning theory, which emphasizes the importance of visualization.

ADVICE

Visualize for Higher Prices

Visualizing strategies makes them less of a commodity and more of a unique system.
This can justify higher prices and faster closing times because clients aren't comparing services.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

Points of Interest

01:04 – 01:35 – Guest Introduction – Mikael Dia of Funnelytics: Mikael Dia, former agency owner turned SaaS entrepreneur, shares his journey from running an agency to founding Funnelytics, a tool designed to visually map and analyze digital marketing funnels.
06:24 – 08:20 – How Funnelytics Was Born: Funnelytics emerged from the need to overlay real marketing data on top of strategic visualizations, allowing agencies and marketers to prove and optimize their funnel strategies effectively.
08:25 – 10:05 – The Importance of Visual Communication in Business: Marcel and Mikael discuss how visual communication aids in client understanding, enhances learning, and fosters trust, a principle rooted in adult learning theory.
10:42 – 12:13 – Impact of Visual Strategies on Agency Sales & Retention: Using visual models in sales processes helped Mikael’s agency close deals faster and at higher prices by positioning services as strategic solutions rather than commodity offerings.
12:24 – 14:06 – Enhancing Client Retention with Visual Reporting: By consistently tying marketing efforts back to a visualized strategy, agencies can effectively communicate progress, highlight bottlenecks, and demonstrate value to clients.
15:02 – 17:08 – Clients Need a Clear Path, Not Just Services: Clients struggle to see how individual marketing services fit into a bigger strategy. Mapping out a clear pathway from initial engagement to desired outcomes transforms how clients perceive agency value.
20:56 – 24:06 – Transitioning from an Agency to a SaaS Business: Mikael shares key lessons from shifting from an agency to SaaS, emphasizing the importance of knowing one’s strengths, finding a technical co-founder, and solving real customer problems.
27:19 – 32:24 – Common Pitfalls in SaaS Development: Mikael and Marcel discuss the challenges of product development, the need for technical expertise, and the mistake of building features based on assumptions rather than market feedback.
32:42 – 36:12 – The Reality of Finding Product-Market Fit: The conversation highlights the challenge of achieving product-market fit, the importance of iterating quickly, and the value of starting with a service-first approach before building software.
37:03 – 39:00 – Shifting Mindsets: From Proving Yourself Right to Proving Yourself Wrong: Marcel shares a key insight: the biggest shift in product development success comes when founders move from trying to validate their own ideas to actively seeking to disprove them as quickly as possible.

Show Notes

Connect with Mikael

Love the Podcast

Leave us a review here.