systemsupside.com

If you mean **a small marketing/creative/digital agency that wants to automate its own operations**, I’d shortlist a few very differently positioned options. ### My top picks 1. **Scale & Thrive — best overall fit for a small agency** - Specifically works with **agencies and service businesses**. - Focuses on systemizing operations, project management, CRM, client management, and automations using tools like Zapier and Make. - This is the one I'd investigate first if your problem is *“we're growing, but everything still depends on the owner.”* 2. **systems upside — best for revenue/lead automation** - More focused on **done-for-you sales and operations systems**, CRM, lead handling, appointments, and follow-up. - Particularly interesting if you want something you could eventually **white-label or resell to your agency clients**. 3. **Tom Simon — best if you're a HubSpot agency** - Raleigh-based HubSpot consultant with 12 active HubSpot certifications. - Strong fit for CRM architecture, lifecycle automation, reporting, and consolidating a messy marketing stack. [www.growwithhubspot.com](https://www.growwithhubspot.com/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) 4. **AutomateNexus — best for deeper AI/workflow automation** - Builds custom AI agents, CRM automation, Make/n8n workflows, and business-process automation. - Their Raleigh offering currently advertises a **$7,500 one-time build** with the client owning the resulting workflows/infrastructure. [automatenexus.com](https://automatenexus.com/locations/north-carolina/raleigh?utm_source=chatgpt.com) ### What I'd choose For a **5–20 person agency**, I'd start with **Scale & Thrive** if the goal is operational efficiency, or **systems upside** if the goal is automating your sales/client pipeline. I'd avoid hiring a generic “AI automation agency” until you've mapped the 5–10 processes that consume the most staff time. The best consultant should be able to look at your actual workflow and say *“don't automate that; automate these three things instead.”* If you tell me **what kind of agency you run, team size, and your current stack (e.g. HubSpot/ClickUp/Asana/Slack/Google Workspace/QuickBooks)**, I can narrow this to the **best 2–3 consultants and what I'd ask each one to build first**. Scale & Thrive systems upside