Sixth Division

Brad Martinot spent six years as a key member of the Infusionsoft leadership team, directly involved in product development and learning from some of the industry's brightest entrepreneurs. But in February-March 2010, during a difficult economic period, Infusionsoft laid off 10% of its staff—including Brad. "I got kicked out the door," he says now with a laugh. Rather than seeing it as a setback, Brad recognized an opportunity. He'd spent years understanding what Infusionsoft users needed but couldn't easily access: practical guidance on actually implementing automation in their businesses.

In 2012, Brad launched Sixth Division with a simple but ambitious idea: the "Makeover"—a two-day intensive workshop where entrepreneurs could come to the office, work one-on-one with coaches, and leave with a complete, executable blueprint for their automation strategy. The pricing was straightforward: $6,000 at launch, raised to $12,000 by 2014. "We built a multimillion dollar business on the back of this two days," Brad explains. Over the next few years, between 500-600 customers went through the Makeover. The value proposition was clear: walk in with chaos, walk out with a documented, implemented system.

Brad's approach to customer acquisition was unconventional. Rather than relying purely on organic word-of-mouth, he invested heavily in event sponsorships—$12,000 to $15,000 per event. But here's the key: he didn't just sponsor. He pitched from stage with a high-value offer (his presentation slides, recording, and worksheets). Using a texting tool called Fix Your Funnel integrated with Infusionsoft, he'd get 75% of the room (150 out of 185 attendees in one case) to opt in via text during his presentation. He'd then close sales at the booth immediately: one event yielded $40,000-$50,000 in direct Makeover sales, with another $70,000-$75,000 in follow-up conversions. This allowed him to spend aggressively on customer acquisition because the high-ticket services paid for the event immediately.

The Makeover was brilliant but had a ceiling: "Being in the hotel business means there's only so many that you can sell." In 2015, Brad diversified. He added remote "mini-makeovers" (half or full-day sessions) at a $2,000 price point to reach customers who couldn't travel. He also launched a "core" offering—essentially teaching clients his proprietary methodology—at $2,000, allowing him to scale without being personally bottlenecked. On the software side, he spun off Plus This in 2013 ($59/month, trending toward $60,000-$70,000 monthly revenue by mid-2015) after clients repeatedly asked him to integrate Infusionsoft with other tools. By late 2014, he'd launched a $97/month membership with weekly "jam sessions" (group coaching calls) and proprietary reporting dashboards. The membership maintained a >90% monthly retention rate—far above typical membership site churn—because it was anchored to expensive service delivery (clients had already paid $12,000+) and included actual software value, not just content.

In 2014, Sixth Division hit $1.6 million in revenue; 90-95% came from the Makeover, with the rest from emerging service offerings. By mid-2015, Brad was projecting over $3.1 million for the year. He'd also maintained close ties with Infusionsoft as a strategic partner, driving mutual customer value and benefit. His strategy of using high-ticket services to fund and acquire software customers proved remarkably effective: he could spend $15,000 to sponsor an event because a single Makeover sale ($12,000) offset the cost, and the 150+ leads captured could then be funneled into lower-ticket software offerings at near-zero marginal marketing cost. Brad had cracked a repeatable model that bridged the services-to-SaaS gap.