Who you hear from, which channel for what, and how an engagement pauses or ends.
One address, one rule about email, and a clear list of what you get back when we part ways. Three minutes.
Who you hear from
Stephen sends everything. Plans, creatives, reports, quotes and invoices all come from stephen@thegrowthbully.com, and that is the address to write to. Delivery updates on a live thread, such as a creative revision or a footage question, come from our team on the same thread. Every comment you give is logged against your account so it does not have to be repeated to whoever picks up the thread next.
If a message claiming to be from us asks you to pay to new bank details, share a password, or click a link on an unfamiliar domain, stop and email the address above before doing anything.
Channels: what goes where
| Channel | Use it for | Not for |
|---|---|---|
| Anything you want actioned: briefs, approvals, changes, questions on a report, invoice queries. Reply on the thread the item arrived on. | Nothing is excluded. If in doubt, email. | |
| Same-day urgent only: a live ad with a wrong price, a card that failed on the ad account, an event tomorrow. Follow with an email so there is a record. | Briefs, approvals, files or anything you will want to find again in three months. | |
| Video call | The monthly review, a launch plan walkthrough, a shoot planning session. Booked in advance with an agenda. | Walk-in calls. See below. |
| Social media DMs | Nothing. We do not monitor DMs to our pages for client work, and a DM to your own page from a lead is answered by your team, not ours. | Everything. |
Working hours and response times
- Hours: Monday to Friday, 09:00 to 17:00, Europe/Malta time, excluding Maltese public holidays. Ads keep running outside those hours; automated lead replies and alerts run around the clock.
- Acknowledged within one working day. Every email gets a reply within one working day that either answers it or says when the answer is coming. Your agreement states the outer limit for a substantive response.
- BLOCKED means same day. A screenshot of the whole window with BLOCKED in the subject is handled the same working day. See the one rule.
- Holidays and closures are announced on the report thread at least two weeks ahead, with what is scheduled to run while we are closed and how to reach us for a live-ad emergency.
Meetings are booked, not walked in
Calls are booked in advance with a short agenda. Reply on any thread with the two or three points you want to cover, and Stephen offers slots. Time-boxed: the monthly review is 30 to 45 minutes, most other calls are 20. Meeting notes and actions go back on the thread the same day, so a call never replaces the written record. Prefer email where email will do; it is faster for both sides.
For your sales team
Two habits decide whether the leads we send turn into revenue, and both sit with your team. Call every lead within five minutes of the alert: the automated reply buys the first minute, the human call wins the day. Mark every outcome in the CRM with a value: Closed Won with the deal value, or Lost with a reason. Without that we cannot report cost per sale, cannot see which ads bring buyers, and cannot make the case to scale. Automated follow-ups keep going until a lead is marked Won or Lost. The printable version is on the overview page.
Pausing and ending an engagement
Notice
Your agreement runs for an initial term and then renews automatically for a further term unless either side gives written notice before the end, with the notice period stated in the agreement. We send a reminder ahead of each renewal date. Notice is an email to stephen@thegrowthbully.com with "Notice" in the subject; we confirm receipt and the end date in writing within one working day.
Pausing
A pause is agreed in writing with a resumption date. During a pause:
- Ads are switched off on the agreed date. Consider leaving a small budget running instead of a full stop: the audiences we have built decay when nothing runs, and restarting from zero is slower and dearer than keeping a pilot light on.
- Automated follow-ups on existing leads keep running unless you ask us to stop them, so leads already in your pipeline are not dropped.
- Your CRM stays live for as long as its platform subscription is paid. Tell us if you want it kept, frozen or exported.
- Billing is paused: nothing is charged, nothing is owed, and the remaining months of a prepaid period resume on the agreed date. See when billing starts.
- Access stays in place so resumption is a switch, not a rebuild.
What you get back at the end
- Every campaign asset: ads, videos, statics, copy and landing page content, in a plain folder of files you can use, not inside a presentation. Yours on full payment, as your agreement states.
- Creative source files for work produced specifically for you, in the formats stated in your agreement.
- Your ad account, Business Manager, pixel and page were always yours. We are a partner on them, and removing us is one click on your side.
- A learnings document within two weeks of the end date: what worked month by month, what did not, the audiences and creative angles to keep, and our recommendations for whoever takes over.
- An access revocation checklist, below, so nothing of ours is left on your accounts.
- A no-charge handover call with your next agency or in-house team, if you want one.
What stays with us
Our methods, templates, playbooks, automations and the CRM snapshot they are built from remain ours, as your agreement states. You keep a licence to use what was installed for you while the agreement ran; the machinery that built it does not transfer. Your contact data is yours: export it before access ends (Contacts, filter, the three-dot menu, Export to CSV) or ask us for the file.
Final invoice
The last invoice covers the final period of the term and any approved add-on not yet invoiced. It is issued on the normal date with the normal terms. Assets and source files are released on full payment of everything due. If a subscription charge lands after the end date, it is credited in full.
Offboarding checklist
- End date confirmed in writing on the thread.
- Ads stopped on the end date, or the agreed pilot-light budget left running.
- Asset folder shared: every ad, video, static, copy document and landing page content.
- Creative source files shared as per the agreement.
- Learnings document sent within two weeks.
- Contact export from the CRM delivered or confirmed done by you.
- Access removed by you: Meta Business Settings, Partners, The Growth Bully, Remove. Google Ads and Analytics, user removed. Website, our user deleted. Shared folders, our access removed.
- Access removed by us: your logins deleted from our password manager, your subdomain records released, our tracking removed from anything we hosted.
- Final invoice issued and settled.
- Handover call with the next team, if requested.
For Decision Maker Pipeline clients, the shorter version of this is in the onboarding FAQ: What does the offboarding look like if this doesn't work?
Common questions on this page
Who is actually working on our account?
Stephen leads every account and sends everything you receive. Delivery, creative and platform setup are handled by our team on the same threads. If the person on a thread changes, the thread does not: every comment you have given is logged against your account, so you never start again.
Can we pause the retainer and come back later?
Pauses are agreed in writing with a resumption date. Ads stop, billing stops, follow-ups on existing leads keep running, access stays in place. Consider a small pilot-light budget instead of a full stop, because restarting from zero is slower and dearer than keeping the audiences warm.
What do we get when we leave?
Every ad, video, static and copy document in a plain folder, the creative source files stated in your agreement, a learnings document within two weeks, a contact export from the CRM, an access revocation checklist, and a no-charge handover call with your next team if you want one. Your ad account, Business Manager, pixel and page were always yours.
How do I book a review call and what should I send before it?
Reply on the report thread with a line or two on what you want to cover. Stephen offers three slots within a working day. The call is 30 to 45 minutes on video and assumes you have read the report, so it is spent on decisions rather than reading numbers aloud.
A colleague is leaving or joining. What do we need to tell you?
Name, email, role, and whether they approve anything (day-to-day or compliance). We update the recipients on reports and invoices, add or remove them on the CRM and shared folders, and if they held any platform access you remove it on your side. Tell us before the leaving date so nothing is sent to a dead mailbox.
Do you work on weekends or public holidays?
No. Campaigns, automated replies and alerts run around the clock; people do not. A live-ad emergency on a weekend goes on WhatsApp and is dealt with on a best-effort basis; everything else waits for the next working day.
Stuck? Email stephen@thegrowthbully.com with a screenshot of the whole window.