We help the good guys win
From a three-person web shop in 2009 to the team behind the Endless Customers System. Seventeen years of lessons, most of them learned the hard way.
Hey there. I'm Bob Ruffolo, founder of IMPACT, the company behind Endless Customers. Our story is nothing more than a series of lessons learned over the years. Many of them were learned the hard way, but they've all come together to shape who we are, what we stand for, and how we serve our clients today. Here it is, year by year.
A web design shop with a bigger vision
IMPACT is founded as a simple web design company. It doesn't stay simple for long. A bigger vision sets in quickly: build something world-class, a company that truly helps every business owner who hires us achieve their goals. Not just decent-looking websites; a new standard for what a marketing partner could be.
All-in on inbound with HubSpot
We sign on as one of HubSpot's first partner agencies. Inbound marketing is groundbreaking: grow a business by earning attention instead of buying it. If inbound is going to be our thing, we have to prove we're the best at it. And the best way to prove it? Do it great for ourselves.
Practicing what we preach
While other agencies sell "8 blog articles a month" and barely blog for themselves, we keep at least two people dedicated full-time to our own marketing, at one point publishing three articles a day. Search anything related to inbound and the results read: HubSpot #1, IMPACT #2. Traffic approaches a million visitors a month, with more sales opportunities than we know what to do with.
Winning clients, losing clients
As easy as it is to bring clients on, we're losing them almost as fast, because we work with anyone who will pay us. The clients who treat us as an outsourced lead-gen department struggle; the content never sounds like them. The clients who thrive have in-house marketers and want to learn. The entire agency world shares this problem and calls it normal. We know in our hearts there has to be a better way.
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Enter Marcus Sheridan
One person has cracked the code. Marcus Sheridan saved his swimming pool company from bankruptcy by honestly answering the questions buyers were actually asking, turning his website into the most-visited pool site on the planet. Then he taught businesses to do it themselves: "I won't do it for you, but I can teach you how to do it." His book They Ask, You Answer becomes one of the most influential marketing books of its time. We co-run IMPACT Live 2017 together, and our teams click.
The merger that changed everything
Marcus says yes to merging our companies. (Okay, there was some pleading involved.) Months in, it finally clicks: we retire the traditional agency model entirely. No more creating content for clients. We become coaches and teachers, and for the first time we're genuinely proud of the work we deliver to every single client.
Coaching, not doing it for you
Hundreds of businesses go through the They Ask, You Answer coaching program. Owners and their teams learn to own their marketing instead of renting it, and the businesses that complete the program come out transformed. Creating heroes, growing businesses, and changing lives stops being a tagline and becomes the job.
Endless Customers
AI changes everything about how businesses market, sell, and show up online. We've seen this window before: inbound created the same opportunity in 2011 for businesses willing to move first. We rebrand and rewrite They Ask, You Answer as Endless Customers, a USA Today national bestseller built for an AI, video, and social-first world, and launch the Endless Customers Coaching Program alongside it.
Just getting started
Our Core Target: help 1,000 businesses complete the program and become the most known, trusted, and recommended names in their markets. Every one of them represents hundreds of careers and thousands of customers. Read more about our vision and values.
It's an honor to do this work
We love the people on our team, the clients we serve, and the community of thought leaders and partners we get to collaborate with. We watch the businesses we coach grow, create jobs, and serve their communities, and there is no greater thrill.
If our story resonates, explore our content, listen to the podcast, join us at Endless Customers Live, or simply reach out. We always love hearing from the people who find their way here.
Bob Ruffolo
Founder & CEO
See what drives us
The purpose, vision, and values behind everything in this story.