Built to Sell: Client Account Management That Runs Without You

If your agency stops the moment you step away, that’s not a client problem; it’s a systems problem. And it’s one that has a very clear solution.

I sat down with Taylor McMaster, founder of DOT & Company, to talk about the client account management model she built over nearly seven years that quietly freed hundreds of agency owners from the meeting cycle, the email threads, and the feeling that every client relationship depends on them personally.

Taylor didn’t just build a service. She built a business she could fully step away from, taking six months off without touching Slack or Asana, and then successfully exited through an acquisition by E2M Solutions. The proof of concept is the life she lived while building it.

If you’ve ever told yourself your clients only want you, this episode is going to challenge that story and give you a real path forward.

Books Mentioned

• Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell
• Crucial Conversations by Joseph Grenny
• The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy

To learn more about how DOT & Company can remove you from the day-to-day of client management, head to dotandcompany.co. You can also connect with Taylor directly on LinkedIn; she’s very active there and would love to meet you.

Join Dr. William Attaway on the Catalytic Leadership podcast as he shares transformative insights to help high-performance entrepreneurs and agency owners achieve Clear-Minded Focus, Calm Control, and Confidence.

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Transcript

Welcome And Guest Introduction

Dr. William Attaway 0:00

It is an honor today to have Taylor McMaster on the podcast. Taylor's the founder of DOT Company, where she and her team help digital marketing agencies keep their clients happy and keep agency owners focused on what they do best with full service client account management services. Taylor, I'm so glad you're here. Thanks for being on the show.

Taylor McMaster 0:22

I'm so honored. Thanks for having me.

Intro 0:26

Welcome to Catalytic Leadership, the podcast designed to help leaders intentionally grow and thrive. Here is your host, author, and leadership and executive coach, Dr. William Hattaway.

Taylor’s Entrepreneurial Origin Story

Dr. William Attaway 0:44

I would love to start with you sharing a little bit of your story with our listeners, Taylor, particularly around your journey and your development as a leader. How did you get started?

Taylor McMaster 0:55

Yeah, that's a great question. So I grew up in a family of entrepreneurs. So my mom's an entrepreneur, my aunts, my cousins, my grandparents, you know, I was surrounded by entrepreneurs. So even from an early age, you know, I've always had businesses or, you know, creative ways of making money. So when I went to university, graduated, I was determined to get like a normal job for whatever reason. And so I did and quickly realized that that's not what I meant to do and started my own business and then pivoted into what we do now, which is account management. But really through that, I have evolved so much as a leader. I didn't think I was a leader. You know, as I was getting started, I probably didn't even know what that meant to me. But as you start to show up, whether you have employees or not, I feel like leadership is a huge piece of doing business. And so I had to learn the hard way of what was a good leader, what wasn't. And not that I'm perfect, but we grew a team to around 50 people. So had to pull up my leadership pants

Respect And Authentic Leadership

Taylor McMaster 2:00

to get there.

Dr. William Attaway 2:00

I love it. Well, so let's start there. So what do you think makes a great leader? That's a good question.

Taylor McMaster 2:08

I think respecting people is huge for me whenever I've worked with someone or for someone who has truly respected me from not just my opinions, but just trusted me and had that level of respect where I could show up as myself. That was the best environment that I felt I could thrive in. And so I think when I think about being a leader, I try and get on the same level as the person that I'm working with and showing them that I respect them, I value their opinion, I value what they're bringing to the team and to the organization and that they have different opinions than me and everyone else. And that we can work together to find a solution. And really just I think a great leader is someone who can honestly be themselves when they're showing up for other people as well. You know, when I'm with any, when I'm chatting with you or anyone on my team, I am the same person. You know, I'm not a different version of myself. I'm showing up as the same person no matter what. And I think that's really, really important.

Why In-Person Syncs Work Better

Dr. William Attaway 3:15

I agree. But I've been working on a talk that I'm doing next week on toxic leadership. And I think one of the key components of a toxic leader is that they are not the same everywhere. That there's, you know, who they are in public, so to speak, and then there's who they are with their team. And sometimes there's even who they are at home. And if those three are not the same, that's a lack of integrity. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So for your journey as you were learning this, were there times when you felt like, oh my goodness, yeah, this is clicking? Was there was there one moment that just felt catalytic for you as a leader?

Taylor McMaster 3:53

I think when I'm in person with my team, I feel in flow. I feel like it's clicked and that we can get on the same page quickly. Versus when we're just doing, you know, weekly calls or remote team meetings. I feel like everyone is kind of has their own agenda or their own opinions. And we can't just like read the body language and can't come together quick enough to like build the solutions that we need. So I always find that when my team and I get together, whether it's, you know, leadership meetings or at a conference or anything like that, that is when I feel the most in tune.

Finding The Niche That Fit

Dr. William Attaway 4:35

So how did you get from where you were in college to DOT and company?

Taylor McMaster 4:41

Hmm. I mean, it was a long, bumpy road. We took a lot of turns and and changed a lot of things. But I think for me, I knew I wanted something more. And I knew that I had, I don't want to say a gift. That that's not the right term, but I knew I had something in me that I had to chase. And I think growing up, like I said at the beginning, with entrepreneurs, I knew that that was there for me. You know, I have friends who are in med school right now, or they were in med school, and I would say to them, Aren't you like intimidated to be a doctor? And my friend told me, she's like, No, my parents are both doctors. It's just I was surrounded by it. It's normal to me. And that's when I realized, oh, okay, it was the same for me. It was always an option. It wasn't something scary. It was you can figure it out. And so I just knew in my gut that I couldn't work the nine to five. It just wouldn't get me where I wanted to go and wouldn't allow me to flourish and kind of bring the skills forward that I had. So I think as soon as I realized I wanted to do my own, like have my own business, that's kind of when things shifted for me. And I just kind of started to figure out what I enjoyed and what I felt like I was just naturally good at, and where things didn't take me too much energy. And that's where I just kind of started to narrow in, narrow in, narrow in. And then once I found that, I just felt like I was, you know, when you're at the airport and you like step on one of those escalators that are floating.

Speaker 6:18

Yeah.

Taylor McMaster 6:19

Yeah, those moving things. That's how I felt. I like got on this thing and I was like, that's like that feeling. And that was Dot and Co. And then we just kind of grew from there.

Dr. William Attaway 6:30

So why digital marketing agencies? Why choose that age?

Taylor McMaster 6:34

Well, I was already I had already started my own digital marketing agency. All of my network, I would say, were were digital marketing agencies because that's where I had started my business. So I was a part of some mastermind communities. I just like started to learn that industry really, really well. And so it was just like this natural progression. I was actually at a conference in Fiji, and that's where the idea of Dot and Co. started with my mentor, Kat Howell. And she encouraged me to start. And so at that event, I started telling people, I have an account management agency, and they were all like, oh, can I hire you? And so it just started there. And it was just what I knew. It was what I felt comfortable with. It was, I could speak their, speak exactly into their pain points. And I knew I could just step into their agency and help them. So it was just kind of this natural fit. I like that.

Dr. William Attaway 7:33

And I think that's so often how that happens. You know, you step into something that just feels like, yeah, this is this is it. This is right. You know, I was talking with somebody earlier today, and she's trying to find her her niche for her agency. And several things have happened that have led to where today she was like, wow, I feel like this is it. I feel like this is like the steps that are leading me that direction. It's almost like the niche chose her.

Taylor McMaster 7:55

Yes.

Dr. William Attaway 7:56

And and I think that's so great when that happens and you feel like, oh my goodness, this is syncing up.

Taylor McMaster 8:01

Yeah.

Dr. William Attaway 8:02

This is this is such a confirmation.

Taylor McMaster 8:04

That's exactly how I felt. I felt like the niche chose me. It was like something spoke into me. And yeah, it was just, it was time. Although my husband tells me that every quarter you have a million order million dollar idea.

Speaker 8:18

So I don't know. I felt like it was a once-in-a-lifetime. But he says, hey, they come every quarter. And I was like, okay.

Dr. William Attaway 8:24

That's the gift of the visionary, though, right? Yeah. You have those million-dollar ideas. That's exciting. Yeah. The key is understanding you can't do them all right now. So good. So tell

What White-Label Account Management Is

Dr. William Attaway 8:34

me about what full service client account management services look like.

unknown 8:39

Yeah.

Taylor McMaster 8:39

So when I started Dot and Co., all of the agencies that I had known in my network were at this awkward point of growing their agency where the agency owner was doing everything. So they were talking to the clients, they were onboarding project management, running the ads, they were writing the copy, building the websites, they were doing it all. And in order for them to get any sort of time freedom so that they could do business development, they could grow the agency, they knew they had to get out of the 30 client meetings they were doing a week and every Slack channel and being on every email thread. They knew they had to get there, but they didn't want to hire somebody full-time yet because it felt risky or really they didn't know how to hire somebody who could do a good job and actually replace them. And so I looked at it and said, okay, I understand digital marketing very well. I understand marketing strategy. Plus, I understand the pain points of these agency owners. If I could use my skill set, which is I was just naturally good at talking to clients and keeping everything super organized and just kind of being that person on the team. If I could step in and do this for the agency, this could be a huge, huge up level for them because they were removing themselves from, let's say, 20 to 30 hours a week with someone they could trust. So then they could go off and do the things they needed to do in the business. So quickly I realized that there was nobody in our industry that was doing this. So I just kind of started to test it with a few agency owners. And honestly, what we do today, which is almost seven years later, is exactly the same. Now, of course, some of the nuances have changed, but the service is the same. We come in, we're fully white labeled, we are an account manager within your agency, and we are there to remove the agency owner from that day-to-day client management. So we are doing everything from client communication, project management, reporting, really owning that full experience with the goal of removing the agency owner.

Dr. William Attaway 10:44

That's remarkable. You know, I think about so many agency owners that I've talked to who are in the earlier stages and they don't feel comfortable hiring somebody yet. And you step right in and provide a solution for that. I think that's such a gift. And I I'd I know so many of our listeners are leaning in right now because they're like, oh my goodness, I didn't know this existed. Like, how does this work? What is what does it look like for an agency who's never had somebody in that role other than the owner to bring you in?

Onboarding Clients Without A Hard Handoff

Taylor McMaster 11:13

Yeah. I think it, you know, for most agency owners that I chat with, they say, they say the same thing. Like, how am I going to bring in somebody to talk to my clients? My clients only want me. And I think that's such a great thing for agency owners to feel because they care. Like you actually do care about your clients, of course. And so I always say, you know, when we come in, it doesn't need to be this switch that goes off. It's not like you're going out the back door and we're coming in the front. You know, it's very much so a collaborative experience. And we want to make sure that your clients feel a seamless transition. And it doesn't mean that you need to run away either. You know, a lot of our agency owners will stay on and they'll still do strategy or they'll still do like, you know, the quarterly check-ins or things like that. And that is totally fine. But if you think of it like 80-20, we're there to do 80% of that work for you and get you so much time back. So what happens is we come in and the first two to four weeks, we're deep diving. We are learning everything about your agency. The beauty is you don't need to teach our team how to be excellent account managers. They come fully ready to go. You know, they are experienced account managers and marketers. So we understand the role very, very well. But we do need to learn your agency because your agency is unique. So when we come in, we need to learn who are the clients, what's the service offering? What's the team? What's the project management software look like? What is the whole client experience feeling and looking and sounding like right now so that we can come in and really make sure we're helping optimize it. And yeah, we're there. We want to meet the clients as soon as possible. We want to get involved. We want to, you know, start making changes. But also every agency owner has a different comfort level in terms of the speed. But usually once we get in there and they see, you know, okay, wow, like Taylor's getting back to my clients faster than me, and she's doing all these extra things, and my clients are going to her first now. And once they start to see those things, they get a lot more comfortable kind of giving over the reins.

Dr. William Attaway 13:24

I love that. So almost seven years that that you guys have been doing this. Yeah. What are some can you share an example of a story where somebody brought you in? It freed them up to do what only they could do, and then they began to move to a different level.

unknown 13:40

Yeah.

A Founder Gets His Life Back

Taylor McMaster 13:41

Actually, one of my first clients ever, his name is Tom, and I love him dearly. He was the type of agency owner who was at the office all the time, was missing soccer practice, was not home for dinner, was just like feeling super overwhelmed. And it was so funny. Like, as soon as I started working there and I was like working with the team super closely, we got him out of all clients. And I call him the runaway CEO. Like, he was gone. Like I never heard from him. And it would be like weeks. I'm like, I've got this, but like, are you okay? Um, and yeah, it was really, really cool experience. And their their business and their offerings were able to grow. He was able to focus on sales and speaking engagements and like high-level stuff. And then we were able to take on all the back end. So as soon as the client came on board, he didn't have to worry about it anymore. So it was just like a really cool, life-changing opportunity for him to like get so much time back with the family.

Dr. William Attaway 14:38

You know, so many agency owners that I talk to feel like they have to put in the 80-hour weeks to reach the level of success that they're aiming at. And in doing so, they're sacrificing what matters most to them. And I love that that's the story that you shared. Here's somebody who who wants to reprioritize their life, and you enabled that. You helped make that happen through the service that you guys do.

Taylor McMaster 15:03

Yeah. Yeah. And that's what I'm I live for. And I was I was able to do it myself too. You know, I was able to remove myself and take six months off to have a baby and fully remove myself, not be involved in clients, not be involved in the day-to-day operations. And so even like we do that for our clients, but I did that for myself as well. And so I I know it works.

Dr. William Attaway 15:27

That's a pretty strong testimony there. Because how many people are doing trying to help other people do something they really aren't doing for themselves?

Taylor McMaster 15:35

Exactly.

Dr. William Attaway 15:36

And I love that you shared that, Taylor. Yeah.

Acquisition Plans And Scaling With E2M

Dr. William Attaway 15:39

So thinking about dot and co, like, what's next? Where are you going from here?

Taylor McMaster 15:44

Yeah, that's a great question. We recently were acquired at the beginning of the year by our partners now, E2M Solutions. So that was a huge move for our team. And they're all so thrilled. They love working with the E2M team. And it's really given us the opportunity to continue to grow and scale and expand. You know, we, even though we have a decent team, we've still felt quite small. And we have so much more that we want to accomplish. So we definitely want to continue growing in the marketplace. Like you said at the beginning, why didn't I know this existed? Or like I'm sure people are leaning in saying, I didn't know this existed. And we hear that all the time. People will say, Oh, I wish I knew about you three years ago. You know, we just want to get the message out there further and further of like, there is a solution and you don't have to drown. Like we can jump in and help you. Um, so yeah, really just want to expand, helping more agencies. And then on the flip side, you know, as we do continue to grow and help serve more agencies, our partners at E2M, they are helping with a lot on the back end as well. AI, all like, you know, all the solutions you could need to grow an agency. So really having that back end partner, not only for us, but also for our agency partners to be able to give them these tools that they can they can build a really, really successful agency by having the back end and the front end now of both dot and e2m together. And so I'm really excited to see that come to life.

Dr. William Attaway 17:21

I love that. And I I would affirm everything you're saying about E2M. Great, great folks over there. I've had uh Manish has been a guest on the podcast. Most recently, Brent has been a guest on the show. And to to hear what they're thinking, what they're doing. And now to hear what they're doing with you with this acquisition, man, I just can't wait to see what's ahead. I think the best is yet to come for y'all. That's right. Can't wait.

Building A Business You Can Exit

Dr. William Attaway 17:44

So talk up with me for just a second about the acquisition, because that's something that a lot of listeners are thinking, oh man, one day, one day I want to sell. One day I want to build this so that it can be sold. Did you have that in mind from the beginning? Did you build it with the intent of one day selling it? I did.

Taylor McMaster 18:01

Yes. Right from the beginning, I knew that at some point I wanted to exit the day-to-day, whether that meant just hiring an operator and I was fully removed or a full exit. I would say early on, I knew I wanted a full exit. I just wanted to go through that experience. You know, I wanted to have that on my resume. I don't know. I just thought it would be a really fun exercise. Um, yeah, so I intentionally built the business to operate without me. And when I had my second baby in May of last year and took six months off, that was kind of the that was a big thing for being able to exit, really, because I was able to show I have been fully removed. I am not in Slack. I am not in Asana. I haven't been for six months. The business has continued to grow without me. So it was just like a proof, you know, like this is a business that doesn't need the founder. Yeah. So it was definitely intentionally built that way. And then just kind of the stars aligned that the timing worked out.

Relearning Leadership After The Sale

Dr. William Attaway 19:06

Yeah. I'm excited for you, and I can't wait to see what's next. I do want to ask this. Like, you know, even in this new role that you have and looking ahead, you know, you still have to continue to grow and develop. You know, there is more being demanded of you in a lot of ways than there was five years ago. So how do you stay on top of your game? Like, how do you level up with the new leadership skills that you're gonna need to have in the years to come? Yeah.

Taylor McMaster 19:36

I would say for me, I I definitely have shifted. Like you said, things are changing now for me in terms of how I need to show up. For the last seven years, I've been trying to figure out how to be a good leader, how to, you know, lead a team. And now I find myself over here and I'm a coworker now. You know, I'm not their boss.

Speaker 20:00

I'm just one of them, which is so cool for me.

Taylor McMaster 20:04

I love it. I'm here to tell you. So now I'm kind of recalibrating. It's like, who am I now now that I'm going to, you know, show up as myself in a different way. Um I recently was listening to a podcast with Emma Greed, and she has this new uh new book out. And so um I plan to really lean into figuring out who I am now in this next phase and aligning my my personal development with that. You know, I think I've spent a lot of time kind of trying to force myself to be like this boss and this great manager and leader and for, you know, a company with a lot of employees, and now I'm doing it for me. So I think it's gonna change, and I'm not sure what that's gonna look like yet.

unknown 20:54

That's good.

Books That Shape Better Leaders

Dr. William Attaway 20:55

As a continual learner, is there a book that's made a big difference in your journey that you'd recommend to the leaders who are listening?

Taylor McMaster 21:02

Oh my gosh. There's so many books that I've read that, you know, every book there's like one unlock. But the big one that I love is Dan Martell's book, Buy Back Your Time. Yeah. I think that's a really solid business book. I think it covers a lot of ground. And I think a lot of the things that he talks about in that book I did. Things like, you know, hiring hiring people to help you for tasks that are, you know, less than your hourly rate, and things like that that really, really made a big difference for me being able to step away from the day to day, but also for the acquisition. I think that one's really, really solid. In terms of leadership, I've read the book Crucial Conversations, which was good.

Dr. William Attaway 21:53

Such a great book by Joseph Granny.

Taylor McMaster 21:55

Yeah. Yeah. I thought that was a good one. And then another one that I read. Early on, that was impactful was the compound effect. So thinking about everything that you're working on compounds. So if I'm showing up on podcasts, that compounds, you know, all those things that that come together to in future build something really big. So that was a big one for me.

Dr. William Attaway 22:21

I haven't read that one. I'm gonna have to check that out. Check that one out. Yeah. You know, this has been so great to get to hear some of your story, Taylor, and what has happened so far. And I gotta tell you, I can't wait to see what's gonna happen next for you. Because I think, you know, there's no such thing as a wasted experience. And everything that has happened thus far has made you into the leader that you are today. And I think your next chapter is gonna be your best one yet.

Taylor McMaster 22:45

Thank you. I appreciate that. I'm excited too.

Dr. William Attaway 22:48

I know our listeners are gonna want to stay connected to you and continue to learn from you and more about Dot and Company and how that, how the how Dot and Company can help them build an agency where they're not at the center of the spotter web where everything has to connect to them. What's the best way for folks to do that?

Taylor McMaster 23:06

Yeah.

How To Connect And Closing

Taylor McMaster 23:07

So you can check out our website, dotandcompany.co, or would love to connect with you on LinkedIn. I'm very active over there. So please reach out, say hello, and we'd love to meet each and every one of you.

Dr. William Attaway 23:19

We'll have all those links in the show notes.

Taylor McMaster 23:21

Amazing.

Dr. William Attaway 23:22

Taylor, thank you so much for your time and your generosity in sharing so freely today.

Taylor McMaster 23:26

Thank you for having me. This was a blast.