Certified Closers Review: Should You Hire Them? 

I’d like to share my experience working with James Sansone and his company, Certified Closers.

James frequently runs compelling Facebook and Instagram ads with irresistible offers, but that’s not how I connected with him.

I first noticed him on my Instagram Explore page, where one of his videos had gone viral, racking up around 2 million views at the time.

You can watch the video below.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CpnD3ebDDRg/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

I thought to myself, “This guy really knows his stuff when it comes to sales.” So I decided to reach out and see what we could do together.

I decided to shoot him a quick DM. 

He responded, and we hit it off. I mentioned I was finalizing the fulfillment setup for a new service my company, Marketing 180, was about to launch.

For some quick background, at the time, my company, Marketing 180, offered paid media services across Facebook, Google, YouTube, Pinterest, and TikTok. We also provide local and nationwide SEO, website design and development, email and SMS marketing, and AI implementation.

There was one service that we really needed that wasn’t under our control at the time. This was the influencer marketing service which focused on micro influencers and UGC creators. We had the proven frame works in places that we backtested hundreds of times and we knew that with our strategies we could really tap into generating the hype for businesses. 

We faced a unique challenge:

#1. Contacting influencers and convincing them to join our network.
#2. Showcasing our influencer/UGC content to new businesses beyond our existing clients.

Hiring Certified Closers 

We held two official meetings with James and his team. After the second, we decided to move forward and paid to get them started.

Their team dove into our service, fully grasping its essence and the unique challenges we faced. It might not sound tough, but after running a successful marketing agency for five years, I can tell you it was a complex task to pull off within our team’s tight timeframe—plus we had to reach out, educate, train, and broker them out after getting a response. This all had to be done in a very tight time frame. 

Certified Closers: The Strategy 

The absolute fastest way we could start getting these potential UGC creators was by running the Facebook and Instagram ads. Based on our cold outreach strategy results, by the time we actually converted 1,000 UGC creators, it would take close to 9 months to achieve but with ads it would be alot quickerm but we never ran ads to do this with so we had to test things. 

Certified Closers team, followed this framework: 

1. Front End Packaging: This basically involved identifying and selecting a niche, who were our target audience exactly. Once we got clear on that, they focused on crafting a very compelling offer, and validating it by testing it the offer by running ads. This was a very smart plan because it ensured it addressed a genuine need within the target audience. The focus was on creating offers that are not just attractive but necessary, which definitely boosted their effectiveness. 

This process lasted about two weeks, I’d say. We began by focusing on recruiting UGC creators for our UGC academy. We had a pretty compelling offer: if you wanted to earn money as a UGC creator, you could take this $5,000 course—crafted by top social media influencers—for free.

We provided them with everything they needed, but all opportunities would flow through our company. As a service, we connect brands with influencers and influencers with brands. So everything made perfect sense. 

2. Paid Ads: Once we validated the offer, aiming for at least 20% conversions, we exceeded expectations with 35%—15% above our target. That’s how we confirmed the offer’s potential; hitting 20% would’ve been sufficient to start scaling, but 35% gave us even more confidence.

He employed paid advertising to scale the campaigns which increased our UGC lead flow. This approach helped us reach a broader audience and driving more potential creators to the offer.

3. Sales Process Refinement: James helped us refine our processes to improve conversion rates and maximize the potential for closing UGC creators to come work with us. This involved tweaking the approach to make it more efficient and effective. Which we only tweaked it couple of times after the initial tweak. 

Lastly, 

4. Removing my top guys from the Sales Role: Guys that were managing this, they needed to work on closing the new UGC business opportunities from the client side so, James assisted with helping them stepping back from day-to-day sales roles. Which allowed my guys to shift concentration to closing the new deals for this service. 

I was pretty please how fast we were able to get this put in place. 

The next thing was shifting focus on acquiring he new business which would hire these UGC creators. 

We followed the same exact process there too, crafted the offer, validated the offer, scaling and automation. 

In one and a half month timeframe we had everything dailed in. 

What They Nailed (Pros):

1. Spot-On Execution: Certified Closers don’t just hit the mark—they go above and beyond, wrapping up projects faster than expected while keeping the quality top-notch.
2. Niche Targeting Pros: They’ve got a knack for zeroing in on niche markets, crafting campaigns that hit the bullseye, boost conversions, and max out ROI.
3. Killer Sales Training: Their training is legit—super thorough, arming teams with next-level skills to seal the deal and level up the whole biz.
4. Smart Offer Creation: They don’t mess around with flashy gimmicks; they build offers that actually solve real market needs, setting campaigns up for success.
5. Automation That Works: Their systems automate the heavy lifting in sales and marketing, letting business owners focus on growing other parts of the operation.

Where They Might’ve Overdone It (Cons):

1. Too Damn Fast: They crank out projects so quick it can catch clients off guard if they’re used to slower timelines—almost too efficient, ya know?
2. Super Narrow Focus: Their campaigns are so dialed in that they might skip over broader audiences who could still be in play as potential markets.
3. Intense Training Vibe: The training’s deep and hardcore, which can feel like a lot at first, even though it sets teams up to crush it long-term.
4. High-Bar Standards: They don’t play around with offer validation—takes more upfront work from clients, making the pre-launch grind a bit tougher.
5. Growth on Steroids: Their systems can scale your biz so fast it might strain operations if you’re not ready to handle that kind of rapid expansion.

Final Thoughts on Working with Certified CLosers LLC 

To wrap things up in a nutshell, working with James Sansone and Certified Closers has been a game-changer. Their knack for dialing in a custom strategy flipped our influencer marketing approach on its head, turning ideas into real, trackable wins. Yeah, their speed can feel intense at first, but it just shows how sharp and efficient they are. Our team vibed with theirs, speeding up our timelines and making our outreach hit harder. This collab pushed Marketing 180 into uncharted territory, arming us with the tools and know-how to dominate in the cutthroat digital marketing game. If you’re debating whether to roll with them, take this as my full-on stamp of approval—they deliver, big time.