How Torro Media Mastered the Art of Saying No for Sustainable Growth

In the heart of Boston, where the competitive spirit runs as deep as the Charles River, Matt Sullivan, CEO and founder of Torro Media, harnesses a lifetime of athletic rigor and a fierce drive to be first. 

Matt’s world revolved around sports from a young age—from the little league baseball diamonds of North Reading to an NCAA baseball championship with Trinity College. “I’ve always been super competitive,” he admits. “I’ve never really been satisfied with second-place type stuff.”

Matt’s drive didn’t stop at sports. It propelled him into the digital world, where he initially fell in love with the internet's possibilities. As he transitioned from college athlete to entrepreneur, driven by his relentless pursuit of growth, Matt faced a challenge throughout his agency career that would eventually test Torro Media’s limits: his inability to say “no” to clients.

I’ve always been a “yes man” at everything. People need help, and I always want to say yes. I always want to add value. You say yes to something, thinking it brings in more money, even offering discounts to make it work. But it’s just not smart. It’s not the right recipe for success or scalability.

Matt Sullivan, CEO & Founder, Torro Media

Let’s dive into how learning to say “no” has shaped Torro Media’s strategic approach, forcing a pivotal shift in how the agency manages growth and client relationships.

Learning the Marketing Ropes in a Budding Digital World

“I fell in love with the internet when my aunt signed me up for AIM way early on AOL—I was like ‘This is so cool,’” Matt says, recalling his first encounter with a dial-up modem and all its bleeps, bloops, and whirrs.

His athletic discipline provided the framework for his approach to business. The same competitive fire that drove him on the baseball field and in athletics (Matt is also a triathlete) became the cornerstone of his professional ethos.

While still in college, Matt undertook his first venture into digital marketing: creating a website for his future wife’s stepdad's diner in Wellesley, Massachusetts, for $750. For Matt, it was more than a job; it was the convergence of his life’s two passions: competition and technology. 

Inspired by another passion—his love for music—Matt also attempted to create a social network for bands and musicians. He built one from the ground up, and it actually gained some traction. However, the venture fizzled out—a classic case of a great idea that perhaps came before its time or without the necessary resources to sustain it.

For Matt, each new project became a game to win, with each client a teammate to assist across the finish line. Meanwhile, each setback taught Matt valuable marketing lessons—the importance of timing, focus, and resource allocation—while refining his strategies and gradually shaping him into a seasoned digital marketer.

I got this reputation of being able to take an idea or concept and bring it to life online. With that reputation, people started to pitch me things all the time like it was Shark Tank.

Matt Sullivan, CEO & Founder, Torro Media

Grabbing the Bull by the Horns to Launch Torro Media

Before founding Torro Media, Matt honed his ad sales and marketing skills, working for various businesses and agencies. These experiences gave him an insider’s view of the industry’s dynamics and the challenges of sustaining client relationships.

Recognizing a growing demand for his unique approach and driven by his competitive spirit, Matt decided to channel his efforts into creating his own agency, Torro Media, in 2018. Initially focusing on web design and development, Matt leveraged his expertise to create digital experiences that stood out in a crowded marketplace. 

We really have four tiers to our business, and these are the pillars that we live off of: web design, SEO, paid marketing, and social media management.

Matt Sullivan, CEO & Founder, Torro Media

Matt’s past experiences proved invaluable as he shaped the agency’s culture, emphasizing resilience, strategic thinking, and a proactive approach to client service. Torro started building a client roster that eventually could no longer be met single-handedly, and Matt began to grow a team that now includes more than 20 employees.

But his ambitions—and his desire to always say “yes” to every project thrown his way—would lead him to some tough decisions down the road.

Matt Sullivan’s competitive spirit fires up his award-winning team. (Credit: Torro Media)

Mastering the Art of Saying No and Implementing New Processes at Scale

Matt admits that Torro wasn’t originally meant to be an agency—he initially launched his venture as a solo operation. When the demand got too strong, he started hiring staff to assist him, which created a cycle where new employees meant a higher capacity, more new clients, and so on.

I'm glad I went down that path because we have a kick-ass team and a good thing going. We thought we were doing things right at that point, as more services equal more clients, which equals more dollars.

Matt Sullivan, CEO & Founder, Torro Media

But the cycle wasn’t sustainable. As their client portfolio grew to exceed 200 clients, including top-tier names such as Cisco Brewers and prestigious Boston Red Sox partner 128 Plumbing, Torro’s initial resistance to declining projects led to overextension and diluted the agency’s work.

Recognizing this uncontrolled growth spiral as a huge red flag, Matt refocused Torro Media to serve the agency’s core pillars/tiers.

We were very guilty of trying to do everything everyone wanted us to rather than focusing on what we were good at. We’ve had to get smarter about saying no because if you say yes to something, you’re saying no to something else. 

Matt Sullivan, CEO & Founder, Torro Media

Torro Media developed a strategic approach to ideal client selection to manage the influx of potential projects and ensure a good fit between the agency’s capabilities and client needs.

Nowadays, when a client project doesn’t align with the agency’s core strengths, strategic focus, or existing niches, Torro Media refers these opportunities to other trusted agencies. Matt explains that Torro has roughly four referral partners, with some specializing in videography for bigger clients and professional shoots. This referral system helps maintain focus on their specialties and builds a network of reciprocity among complementary service providers.

We have a phenomenal partner in New Jersey. They only do law firm SEO. When law firms talk to us, we can help them, but it would make way more sense to send them to our partner. When they get something like construction, plumbing, or anything like that, they kick it over to us. And that's led to exponential growth for both of us.

Matt Sullivan, CEO & Founder, Torro Media

While Torro scaled, a major operational overhaul was also necessary, particularly in project management. Transitioning from an ad hoc approach to a structured and strategic client project intake system improved client satisfaction and operational efficiency.

Matt added a pivotal individual to further the agency’s strategic direction: Michelle Cormier, Torro Media’s Chief Innovation Officer. Michelle was instrumental in introducing new tools and technologies and automated project management systems, including Monday.com, to streamline workflows.

Here’s what Torro’s client project intake system looks like:

• Detailed Proposal & Agreement Review: Once Torro establishes it’s a good fit for a client, the team prepares a comprehensive proposal tailored to that client’s specific needs. This document outlines the scope of work, timelines, deliverables, and pricing. Torro encourages the client to review it thoroughly and ask any questions. The goal is complete transparency and alignment before moving forward.

• Comprehensive Onboarding & Full Discovery: After the agreement is finalized, Torro kicks off the onboarding process. Clients receive an introduction email from a dedicated service representative who will guide them through the journey. The agency sets up a unique, customized Monday.com board designed around specific services provided. This board will include all the initial onboarding tasks needed to get a client’s project up and running, complete with automation to ensure everything stays on track.

• Kick-Off Call/Intro Meeting: With the onboarding process underway, Torro schedules a kick-off call/introductory meeting. During this session, the agency reviews the onboarding form, discusses objectives and goals, and outlines the next steps. This meeting sets the tone for the collaboration and ensures everyone is aligned on expectations and timelines.

• Ongoing Check-Ins & Campaign/Project Adjustments: As the project progresses, Torro maintains regular check-ins to review performance, address concerns, and make necessary adjustments. The team leverages automation to keep everything on task, ensuring the client’s campaign or project evolves in line with business goals. These ongoing communications are key to sustaining momentum and achieving the desired results.

Introducing new processes with automation has totally changed our business. We've also added multiple people to our leadership, so it's not just me calling the shots. It's been good to bounce ideas off of one another and not have a bottleneck when it comes to decision-making.

Matt Sullivan, CEO & Founder, Torro Media

Torro Media’s leadership team: CEO & Founder Matt Sullivan, CIO Michelle Cormier, and VP of Marketing & Sales Pat Florence. (Credit: Torro Media)

Matt also stresses the importance of transparent communication with clients. When your agency handles more than 200 of them, as Torro does, automating the process and trusting your software to deliver becomes essential. 

Before adopting AgencyAnalytics, Matt found the traditional methods like taking screenshots or using basic Google Analytics exports inadequate for Torro Media’s needs. These methods often led to reports that only highlighted positive outcomes, leaving out crucial data about what wasn’t working.

With AgencyAnalytics, Torro Media provides real-time, comprehensive data across all marketing channels via customizable dashboards branded with its own colors and logos. Clients see exactly what’s happening with their campaigns—everything is out in the open, both the good and the bad.

There are still agencies in 2024, now going into 2025, that will totally cook up good news reports. There's a huge lack of transparency still to this day. We truly pride ourselves on honesty and transparency, and AgencyAnalytics has solved that problem.

Matt Sullivan, CEO & Founder, Torro Media

To better support employees while scaling and adding new tools and processes, Torro Media developed an internal learning library, a key component for skill enhancement within the team. Matt describes the learning library as a repository built using Google Workspace and Screencastify where “we record ourselves walking through click-by-click whatever the new thing is and whatever the educational element is, and we share it internally.”

This library is part of a broader strategy to ensure all team members are up-to-date with the latest digital marketing techniques and technologies. Recorded audio and video make the content engaging and accessible, allowing team members to learn at their own pace, revisit the material as needed, and build a stronger agency culture.

Winning the Agency Race at a More Measured Pace

A significant part of Torro Media’s strategic plan for the future involves solidifying its position in key markets and expanding its client base to include more large-scale enterprise projects. 

That said, Matt is wary of the pitfalls of returning to a model where he says “yes” to everything, whether it’s adding new clients, strategies, or even new team members. Much like he now prepares to participate in the famous Ironman triathlon, Matt is leading Torro to take a more measured approach to the future.

You get this snowball effect in a business of adding new people and new clients. It just kind of keeps going, and if you get too far over your skis you can really create some serious problems.

Matt Sullivan, CEO & Founder, Torro Media

As Torro Media continues to evolve, the agency is committed to maintaining principles—innovation, quality, transparency, and balance—that sustain growth and success and foster a fulfilling and supportive environment for everyone at the agency.