Have you ever felt like your business had more potential than your marketing results showed?
Do you know the frustration of being confident in your offer but not seeing the leads you need, and not knowing what to change to get unstuck?
In this episode of the Endless Customers podcast, I sat down with Mike Ritzema, Founder and President of Superior Trucking Payroll Service, a company that helps trucking businesses simplify payroll. Like many leaders, Mike knew his service solved real problems for his customers, but the marketing wasn’t delivering. As he put it: “I knew our company had more potential, but the leads just weren’t coming in.”
If you’ve ever felt like you were doing good work but not getting noticed, you’ll relate to exactly what Mike was going through. That gap between knowing your business can grow and not seeing the path to make it happen is frustrating.
What happened next is a journey every business leader can learn from. You’ll hear how Mike went from stalled growth to building a reliable marketing engine that now drives traffic, leads, and sales conversations every week. You’ll discover the specific actions that made the biggest difference, how he knew it was time to expand his sales team, and why staying committed to the process was the turning point. Most importantly, you’ll walk away encouraged that consistent effort, done the right way, always pays off.
When we asked Mike what things looked like before he started implementing the Endless Customers System™, he was candid. “We were kind of throwing things at the wall. We had a website, but it wasn’t doing anything for us. Leads were random, not steady. It just felt like we weren’t in control.”
That lack of predictability is exhausting for a business owner. One week, you might get lucky with a referral. The next week, nothing. It’s like fishing without knowing if there are fish in the lake. You’re putting in the time, but you don’t know if it’s ever going to pay off.
Mike shared that at times it felt like they were spending more energy worrying about how to generate business than actually serving their customers. And that takes a toll. Instead of focusing on growth, they were stuck in survival mode, waiting for the phone to ring. “I hated the feeling of not knowing where the next lead would come from,” Mike admitted. “It wasn’t a system. It was luck.”
That uncertainty trickles down into every part of a business. You can’t plan for new hires. You can’t confidently invest in better tools or training. You start second-guessing your decisions because the future feels unstable. For Mike, it wasn’t that his service wasn’t valuable. It was that nobody knew about it at the right time, in the right way.
If you’ve been there, you know how discouraging it can be. You pour money into a website redesign and cross your fingers. You dabble in social media, but it feels like shouting into the void. Maybe you even hire an agency that promises the world but delivers little more than a few reports with colorful graphs. All of it adds up to the same feeling Mike had: “We weren’t in control.”
This is where so many businesses find themselves stuck. They know they have something worth buying, but their marketing isn’t creating the pipeline they need to grow. And that’s exactly why Mike’s story hits home. It shows there is a way out of that cycle.
Everything started to change when Mike committed to the Endless Customers System™. Instead of dabbling in disconnected marketing tactics, he decided to build a real inbound engine that could run consistently in the background of his business. That required a mindset shift. No more quick fixes or hoping for luck, this was about building a long-term foundation.
The first step was committing to content. Not just any content, but consistent, transparent answers to the questions trucking business owners were actually asking. “We just started publishing. Every week. We got clear on what our customers wanted to know and we focused on answering those questions,” Mike explained. It wasn’t complicated, but it required discipline.
Mike admitted that at first it felt awkward. Writing about payroll regulations or compliance rules wasn’t glamorous. It wasn’t the kind of thing that goes viral. But that wasn’t the point. He wasn’t trying to entertain the internet. He was trying to build trust with the exact people who needed his help. And the more consistently they published, the more confidence grew inside the company. “Every article felt like we were putting another brick in place,” he said.
The shift also changed how Mike’s team interacted with prospects. Instead of trying to convince people on the phone, they could point to content that already explained complicated topics. It gave prospects the chance to educate themselves on their own time. This alone started to make conversations smoother and more productive. In Mike’s words, “People came into calls already knowing who we were and how we could help. That was new for us.”
It’s a lot like planting a field. You don’t see crops the day after you put seeds in the ground. But if you keep watering, keep tending, eventually the growth comes, and it comes in a way you can count on. That steady, dependable growth is what began to change everything for Mike and his team.
What results came from implementing Endless Customers?
Once the system was in place, the results spoke for themselves. Mike described the shift: “Now we’re seeing consistent website traffic. Every week, we’re getting new inbound leads. We’re having multiple sales conversations we weren’t having before.”
For any business leader, that moment when you realize “this is actually working” is powerful. Mike recalled, “The first time I saw a lead come in directly from our content, I thought, okay, this isn’t just theory. This works.”
But it wasn’t just about the numbers. The quality of the leads improved, too. Instead of cold prospects who needed long explanations, people reached out already understanding what Superior Trucking Payroll Service did and why it mattered. They had read the articles, watched the videos, and by the time they filled out a form or booked a call, they were halfway sold. That made conversations shorter, smoother, and far more productive.
Mike shared that some prospects even began referencing specific blog posts in their inquiries. “They’d say, ‘I read your article about driver pay compliance, and that’s exactly the problem we’re dealing with.’ Right there, the conversation was on a different level than we’d ever had before.”
The consistency was also a major win. Before, there were months with no leads at all. Now, the team could count on a steady rhythm: website traffic climbing, forms being filled, and calls being booked every week. That predictability was a relief. It meant Mike could finally plan ahead instead of holding his breath.
From an owner’s perspective, this kind of change is transformational. It shifts the business from reactive to proactive. Instead of wondering where the next customer will come from, you start thinking about how to serve the customers already lined up. That’s a far better problem to solve.
Trucking payroll may not sound flashy, but that’s exactly why Mike’s story matters. It proves inbound works anywhere.
How do you know when it's time to expand your sales team?
The results didn’t just mean more leads. They also meant more work. For the first time, Mike realized it was time to bring on a dedicated salesperson.
He told us, “I used to handle all the sales conversations myself. But with the consistency of leads coming in, I knew we needed someone focused on that full-time.”
This decision represented more than just lightening Mike’s workload. It marked a shift in the company’s growth trajectory. When a founder decides to step back from being the only salesperson, it’s a sign that the business is moving beyond survival mode. It’s moving into scalability. That’s the moment when a business starts to truly operate like a machine instead of a one-person hustle.
Hiring a salesperson also allowed Mike to focus on higher-level leadership priorities: refining services, supporting his team, and building relationships that would fuel future growth. In his words, “It freed me up to think about where we’re going, not just the next phone call I had to make.”
For many business owners, this is both exciting and intimidating. Bringing in someone new to handle conversations with potential clients feels like handing over the keys. But when your inbound engine is strong enough to consistently generate leads, it’s not just possible, it’s necessary. The sales process becomes more repeatable, less personality-driven, and more about following a proven path from interest to closed deal.
And here’s the bigger picture: this step is often the start of building a true revenue team. First, a salesperson, then perhaps a second, and later sales support roles. Each hire builds on the foundation of consistent inbound leads that Mike’s story highlights so well.
What lessons can businesses learn from Mike's journey?
So, what should you take away from Mike’s experience?
Think of it like going to the gym. You don’t walk out with six-pack abs on day one. But show up consistently, keep putting in the reps, and eventually, the results are undeniable.
How do I turn frustration into consistent growth?
Mike’s journey shows that even in a specialized, unglamorous industry, the principles hold true. Educate your buyers. Build trust through consistency. Stick with the process long enough to see results. When you do, the shift is undeniable. The fear of “will anyone call us this month?” turns into the confidence of a steady, repeatable pipeline.
And the ripple effect goes even further. A business that can count on leads is a business that can invest in people, improve services, and take bold steps forward. Mike’s story wasn’t just about traffic or leads; it was about freedom. The freedom to focus on leading his company, not scrambling for the next deal. The freedom to think long-term, not week-to-week.
If you’re reading this and thinking, “How do I get from random leads to a reliable sales pipeline?”, this is your next step. Talk to our team about how to implement the Endless Customers System™ in your business. We’ll walk you through the process Mike followed so you can stop guessing and start building momentum that lasts.
Mike proved the growth is out there; you just need the right system to unlock it. And once you do, you’ll see what he discovered: momentum is contagious.
When the leads start flowing, when the sales conversations start multiplying, it changes how you see your business and what you believe is possible. That’s where the real transformation begins.
With over 20 years of experience in entrepreneurship, management, business planning, financial analysis, software engineering, operations, and decision analysis, Mike has the breadth and depth of experience needed to quickly understand entrepreneurs’ businesses and craft the most suitable solutions.
Before founding Superior Trucking Payroll Service, Mike was the CFO of a trucking company with 80 trucks and a thriving brokerage. This experience gave him the perspective that a payroll solution has to make the lives of the office people better. All the solutions he has designed are to benefit everyone. Our company's mission is to help trucking families, and that includes the company owners, the drivers, and the office.
Check out Superior Trucking Payroll Service
Connect with Mike on LinkedIn
How do I know if my marketing isn’t working?
If your leads feel random, unpredictable, or mostly reliant on referrals, it’s a sign your marketing isn’t creating a steady pipeline. Like Mike’s story shows, when you’re “throwing things at the wall” and hoping something sticks, it’s time to shift toward a system that creates consistent, qualified leads.
What made the biggest difference for Mike’s business?
Consistency in publishing helpful content was the turning point. By committing to answering his buyers’ questions every week, Mike built trust with his audience. Over time, that steady effort turned into a reliable stream of inbound leads and sales conversations.
How do I know it’s time to hire a salesperson?
When your inbound marketing starts generating more leads than you can handle personally, it’s time to consider a dedicated salesperson. For Mike, reaching that milestone meant the business could scale beyond survival mode and focus on long-term growth.
What should I expect when I start using the Endless Customers System™?
You shouldn’t expect overnight results. Instead, you’ll be building a foundation that grows stronger over time, much like planting seeds and nurturing them until the harvest comes in. The payoff is a marketing engine that brings in consistent, qualified leads and gives you the freedom to plan with confidence.