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How often do you take time off simply to rest? Do you carve out moments to recharge and find stillness before the daily whirlwind begins? If you’re a successful entrepreneur who doesn’t prioritize rest, you may be heading toward burnout. Today’s featured guest is an entrepreneur who’s created several noted frameworks for business owners, empowering countless individuals to elevate their businesses.

Gino Wickman is an entrepreneur, content creator, and most notably the founder of Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS). Through the years he’s noticed highly accomplished entrepreneurs tend to feel unfulfilled in what should be the highest point of their success. This happens when they forget the fundamental purpose behind building a successful business: to create a fulfilling life. In this episode, you will gain insights into achieving success while maintaining fulfillment in both your professional and personal life.

Gino has created many business frameworks but EOS is what he’s best known for and is used by hundreds of thousands of companies around the world. In his new book, "Shine," Gino explores the idea of achieving success while maintaining balance and fulfillment in life. This is something many entrepreneurs often struggle with and may not even realize it.

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

• Why business success isn’t enough.

• Breaking work cycles.

• 3 discoveries to free your true self.

• The ten disciplines.

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Sponsors and Resources

E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service.

Check out Gino Wickman on the 2 disciplines every agency owner needs.

The Missing Piece: Why Isn’t Business Success Enough?

With a track record of thirty years working with entrepreneurs, Gino realized that, even though he has been helping them create thriving businesses, many of his clients continued to feel unfulfilled. This is something Gino himself can relate to and what led to him to creating his latest framework centered on helping entrepreneurs master both their inner and outer worlds.

Many people achieve remarkable success but continue to feel unfulfilled or unbalanced, even if they have more money than they know what to do with. Attaining external success and continuing to struggle with finding purpose and feeling empty on the inside is common for business owners. This underscores the need to nurture our inner selves in addition to focusing on external achievements.

In our fast-paced and achievement-oriented society, it’s easy to get caught up in the pursuit of external success and validation. However, without a strong foundation of inner fulfillment, external achievements can feel hollow and unsatisfying. That’s why prioritizing self-reflection, self-care, and personal growth is essential to cultivating a sense of inner peace and fulfillment.

Breaking the Work-Hard and Hustle Cycle

After selling EOS Worldwide, Gino found himself in a remarkable position, engaging in work that he genuinely loved. This newfound contentment revealed to him he had been operating under a belief system based on non-stop work since age fifteen. Back then he committed to work hard and build an empire around what he thought would make him happy.

Now, years later, it finally hit him that he had been enduring the unhappiness created by his work obsession and the feeling of safe and contentment after the sale is what helped reveal this pattern. He realized it was time to work on his inner struggles and find true fulfillment.

Just like Navy SEALs commonly experience trauma once they are safe at home, entrepreneurs often find that their inner demons come to the surface when they are not focused on a task or goal. These moments of stillness and introspection present an opportunity to confront our fears, insecurities, and past traumas, and ultimately free ourselves from the burdens that have been holding us back.

To deal with this, Gino recommends meditation, which many people reject fearing that the moments of quiet will evoke past trauma. Nonetheless, Gino believes there is a need to let this stuff come up, to shed the layers of armor you’ve built up, and to free yourself. Achieving this freedom is what will allow individuals to make a real impact on the world and become much more creative.

3 Discoveries to Free Your True Self

Some people think that growing and selling your business brings freedom. However, Gino presents a different perspective, advocating for three transformative insights that can help you unlock your authentic self while enhancing your energy, impact, and inner peace.

1. Recognize and accept that being driven is part of an entrepreneur’s DNA and wiring. Acknowledging this helps you navigate the ups and downs of that drive and recognize the impact it has on your mental, physical, and emotional well-being.

2. All decisions are made out of love or fear. Understanding the motivations behind your actions will help you make more conscious choices that align with your true self rather than your ego. This awareness can help entrepreneurs break free from patterns of fear-based decision-making and move towards a place of love and authenticity.

3. Know it is possible to be BOTH driven and have peace. This may seem contradictory at first, as many driven individuals equate drive with a constant state of hustle and striving. However, finding peace does not mean losing drive; in fact, it can enhance it. At this stage of his life, Gino has everything he’ll ever need; nonetheless, he’s more motivated than ever. By letting go of the need to constantly be in motion and finding a sense of inner calm, driven entrepreneurs can tap into a deeper source of motivation and creativity.

The Ten Disciplines

The next step after embracing these discoveries is how to implement them into your life. In this sense, Gino emphasizes the transformative power of shedding everything that isn’t the real you. He encourages entrepreneurs to let go of societal expectations, comparisons to others, and unnecessary tasks or responsibilities that do not resonate with their core values and passions.

The 10 disciplines outlined by Gino provide a roadmap for achieving this state of authenticity and include:

1. Tenure thinking

2. Taking time off

3. Knowing oneself

4. Being still

5. Knowing one's 100%

6. Saying no often

7. Avoiding low-value tasks

8. Preparing nightly

9. Organizing one's life

10. Practicing humility

     

Following these disciplines, anyone can begin to strip away the layers of conditioning, false beliefs, and distractions that prevent them from living in alignment with their true selves.

For instance, knowing your 100% is a step that will help you pinpoint the perfect amount of effort you’ll need to create something amazing as an entrepreneur. Also known as the work container, this measure should answer how many weeks of the year and hours per week you can work to reach your maximum output without going over or under that measure. One extra hour over that measure may lead to burnout while one hour less might mean you’ll start to get bored.

The key to finding this magic number is to start experimenting with how you manage your time. Instead of deciding you’ll only work three days of the week as of tomorrow, start reducing your working hours little by little and see how you feel, how your energy levels change, and whether or not you’re still able to handle your workload. The perfect balance will allow you to manage your energy while making as big of an impact as possible. 

Learning to Sit Still Without Guilt

Do you find it challenging to sit still? If so, you may struggle because your mind is preoccupied with tasks and responsibilities that are piling up, making it difficult to take a moment to reset and recharge.

What does ‘stillness’ mean in this scenario? It means four things: meditation, prayer, contemplation, or journaling. The idea behind this daily exercise is to set aside time to just stop and let your soul catch up to be present and aware.

For his part, Gino recommends dedicating thirty minutes each day to simply sit in silence. As simple as that sounds, it’s hard for driven entrepreneurs. If this is your case, just try starting with 10 minutes every day and slowly work your way up to 30 minutes. Being constant with this practice will allow you to feel more present, aware, energized, and creative, which will benefit every aspect of your life, not just your performance as an entrepreneur.

Why 130 Days Off Could Boost Your Business

Just like sitting still can be a challenge for entrepreneurs, taking time off can be even harder. However, Gino recommends business owners take at least 130 days off a year, which may seem like a lot if you’re used to working long hours and prioritizing productivity above all else.

Personally, Gino has taken the month of August off for the last twenty-five years and is a big believer in the power of a sabbatical. He insists these days off must be days when you do not think about work at all.

By taking time off, we allow ourselves to rest and rejuvenate, which can lead to increased creativity, productivity, and overall well-being. It allows us to step back from our daily routines and responsibilities, gain perspective, and come back with a fresh outlook on life.

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training

Do you find it hard to remember the name of someone you just met? Do you struggle to recall the details of last week’s meeting? Busy agency owners are constantly juggling countless responsibilities which is overwhelming and leaving you feeling like you're losing your edge. But what if you could sharpen your mind and tackle daily challenges with confidence?

Today’s featured guest has transformed his remarkable journey as a record-holding memorization expert into a powerful business dedicated to helping entrepreneurs enhance their memory skills. By harnessing effective visualization techniques, he empowers individuals to project themselves into a future filled with success. In this episode, learn more about his inspiring story and insights on memorable marketing and memorization.

Dave Farrow is the founder and CEO of Farrow Communications, a full-service public relations and digital marketing agency with a reputation for creating ‘memorable’ marketing and publicity campaigns. Dave shares his incredible journey from being diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia to becoming a Guinness World Record holder in memorization and building his business around his passion for helping people understand the brain's workings.

His most recent book ‘Brain Hacker’ is another step in his mission to show that the brain can change and be trained to improve memory.

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

• Supercharging your memory with visual associations.

• The super learner’s toolkit to remember everything.

• The use of visualization techniques in business.

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Sponsors and Resources

E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service.

Using ADHD to Transform a Talent into a Mission

As a child, Dave was often led to believe that his ADHD would hinder his chances of achieving success. This conviction ignited a profound curiosity about the workings of the brain and the concept of neuroplasticity. Dave became passionate about the idea that the brain is capable of change, adaptability, and training, embarking on a mission to demonstrate this potential.

Through dedication and hard work, he broke the Guinness World Record for memorizing the order of 59 decks of cards, an accomplishment that showcased his exceptional memory skills and brought him a lot of publicity and recognition. However, he realized memorization alone was not enough to guarantee success. He needed to find ways to leverage his memory skills to create opportunities for himself.

His time as ‘the memory guy’ gave him access to several media outlets, including appearances on The Today Show and features in The New York Times. Leveraging this exposure, Dave began to pivot the narrative from a personal focus to a broader mission—promoting effective learning strategies to enhance memory and combat memory loss. Through this approach, he aims to provide valuable solutions that can benefit others.

Visual Associations as the Secret to Supercharging Your Memory

Human beings are naturally good at remembering people’s faces. However, we’re not as good at connecting those faces to names. Throughout his career, Dave has used memorization to teach people to improve their memory. Specifically, one of the main techniques he uses is the Costume Party Technique, where people associate the name with a costume and imagine the person wearing it. Creating visual associations with names can be a powerful tool in improving memory retention.

By creating these visual associations with something we want to remember, we engage different parts of our brain and make the information more memorable. This technique can be applied to various aspects of life, not just remembering names.

The Super Learner's Toolkit: Combining Organizational Strategies and Purposeful Memorization

When it comes to greater amounts of information, like remembering key points from a meeting, Dave looks at it as organizing information rather than just remembering it.

Much like creating a grocery list before shopping, one can utilize the “method of location” to construct a mental map. This technique involves associating each piece of information with specific objects or items within a familiar space—like an office or a room—, making it easier to remember and access important details.

Organizing information can help us avoid confusion and errors that may arise from simply memorizing without a clear structure. Moreover, understanding context is equally important to effective memorization. Learning out of context can hinder progress significantly. By combining organization and purpose-driven learning, you can become a super learner and collect skills like others collect stamps.

Using Visualization Techniques in Client Pitches

When pitching clients for a big opportunity like appearing on ABC, Dave and his team try to choose words that help visualize the experience. For instance, they’ll try to get the producer to picture that client in their studio. This is a powerful technique that taps into the brain's ability to believe what it sees. In this sense, using visual language and asking questions can help potential clients imagine themselves in a specific scenario, increasing the chances of closing a sale.

To take this experience to sales, focus on what the client is looking for rather than just presenting the problem. If you can articulate this the fastest, then you’ll get the biggest response. Incorporating questions enhances the visualization process when done correctly, prompting the client to imagine themselves in a specific scenario or consider their past experiences. This approach is particularly effective on websites or marketing materials, where asking questions like "Do you want X" or "Do you think this is X" prompts visitors to visualize themselves using the product or service being offered.

Using Visualization to Empower Aspiring Entrepreneurs

Even someone like Dave, renowned for his exceptional memorization skills, dedicates time each morning to hone his abilities. Drawing from his past experiences with Buddhist practices, he incorporates meditation into his routine, visualizing his goals and aspirations for the day ahead.

This method of visualization serves as a powerful way to concentrate on your desired outcomes and maintain motivation in your pursuits. Dave envisions himself as already successful, effectively training his brain to identify innovative strategies for achieving his objectives and overcoming challenges.

For aspiring entrepreneurs, he recommends reframing their mindset. Rather than perceiving their venture as something they are merely starting, which can evoke feelings of overwhelm about the journey ahead, they should visualize themselves as having already succeeded. This shift in perspective prompts the brain to generate actionable ideas and solutions, ultimately serving as a crucial catalyst for progress.

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training

Are you considering narrowing your focus in the near future, or do you prefer to retain the flexibility to take advantage of growth opportunities in specific sectors? Our featured guest established a PR agency by recognizing the potential to connect forward-thinking companies with journalists. In the current uncertain economic climate, she opts for diversification and maintains the agility of her agency to capitalize on the expansion of emerging sectors. Gain insights into her journey of building a PR agency that harnesses technology to enhance brand visibility, her pivotal moments in realizing the agency's success, her strategies for solidifying its growth, and the ongoing learning curve inherent in the agency's evolution.

Amy Jackson is the founder of TaleSplash, a PR agency focused on effectively helping startups and emerging brands. She shares her journey from working in corporate PR to starting her own agency, discusses the role of the media in times of change, and explains how the agency is using AI to efficiently connect journalists with relevant sources and products.

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

• The power of versatility and adapting to economic shifts.

• Getting beyond the $ million mark.

• Why growing an agency is a continued learning experience.

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The Art of Brand Elevation and Media Matchmaking

After a decade in the corporate world and navigating the challenges of the pandemic, Amy recognized the pivotal role of media in shaping people's understanding of the world. This realization sparked her vision of bridging innovative companies with journalists to promote their products. Serving as a matchmaker between clients and journalists, she has steadily expanded her agency, empowering founders to elevate their brand awareness and position themselves as valuable resources for journalists.

So far, her agency journey has been one of discovery. As much as one can prepare themselves, speak with other owners, and read about the experience, you won’t really know until you jump in and start your journey. Her first year with the agency was about building and creating. After that, each year has brought on new challenges as they grow, like staffing and learning to run the business profitably.

Overall, she always keeps in mind what clients want from her agency, which is coverage at big outlets, speak at conferences, and have people pay attention to what they represent as thought leaders to bring in more customers, investors, and have more credibility. This commitment to meeting client expectations is vital in the face of intense competition, ensuring the agency's ongoing relevance in the industry.

Building an Agency Team of Experts

Amy first felt the momentum of her agency when she began enlisting the support of experienced individuals, enabling her to deliver top-notch services to her clients. She surrounds herself with people who have decades of experience. As a result, has been able to offer a diverse range of services and support to her clients, ultimately leading to their success.

Her team has helped multiple clients be recognized by the White House, brought into Senate hearings, and be a part of important conversations in the media. This level of support and expertise has added immense value to her clients and set her agency apart from others in the industry. All this is possible thanks to the team of experts she assembled.

The Power of Staying Versatile and Adapting to Economic Shifts

Amy cites the current economy as a key factor in why she hasn’t niched down her services. Amy’s agency needs to remain fluid during tough times while certain niches have their moment. Versatility makes it easier to focus on some key industries like AI, climate solutions, lifestyle brands, and health tech.

By diversifying, Amy can capitalize on growth opportunities in various sectors and mitigate risks associated with focusing solely on one industry while allowing her agency to adapt to changing economic conditions and industry trends, ensuring long-term sustainability and success.

Growth Strategies to Get Beyond the $2 Million Mark

Up to this point, Amy has relied on personal networking to drive her business. She has explored various marketing channels such as lead generation, attending events and conferences to connect with other industry professionals, and has also received some referrals. However, the majority of her agency’s growth has been attributed to meeting people at events.

Typically, this approach can only take a business so far, usually up to the $2 million mark, before hitting a ceiling. This is because the potential to meet new prospects at events is limited. To surpass this point, it is essential to establish alternative channels for business growth. These channels are:

• Inbound: This includes social media, podcasts, blogs, website, and ads as ways for the clients to find you and get to know you and your services before reaching out and becoming customers.

• Outbound: Building an effective sales team with a clear target and a deep understanding of the ideal customer profile to actively pursue leads.

• Strategic partnerships: A key component in any agency’s growth strategy. In her case, forming alliances with other businesses has helped her expand her agency’s reach, access new clients, and tap into new markets. Strategic partnerships also provide opportunities for collaboration, knowledge sharing, and mutual support, ultimately enhancing the agency's capabilities and competitiveness in the industry.

Grit, Growth, and Grace

In the world of PR, if you come from a traditional PR education and agency background, you won’t have any notion of sales and financial infrastructure. In Amy’s case, it’s something she’s had to learn on the fly as an entrepreneur and a focus of hers as her agency continues to grow.

The agency experience is all about continuous learning and overcoming challenges. As Guy Kawasaki explained in a past episode, looking back at his career he likes to break life up into thirds - grit, growth, and grace. This concept emphasizes the idea that learning is a lifelong process that involves embracing challenges, seeking growth opportunities, and remaining humble and open to new experiences and knowledge.

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

Are you looking to connect with decision-makers in big brands? Do you want to land bigger, high-value clients? Big brands realize there's a good match with boutique agencies that provide a fresh and innovative approach. So how can your agency unlock inbound marketing strategies and get noticed by big brands? One agency has worked with household names like Disney and Shopify. He explains why he strongly believes in the value of forming and nurturing strong relationships with people rather than brands, and how betting on someone’s growth can help you land big clients and take your agency to the next level.

David Mausolf is the owner of Apex Growth, an agency focused on helping big brands that aren't fully staffed or are uncertain about their growth strategy crush their financial forecasts. David’s team becomes seamlessly integrated with partners and provides clients with the tools and training they need to grow.

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

• Nurturing relationships before selling services.
• Starting conversations with big brands.
• Earning the attention of ideal prospects with targeted content.

 

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Sponsors and Resources

Attract Masterclass: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by the Attract Masterclass, a free masterclass series where you'll learn how to create a magnetic agency, become an authority in your niche, and master the art of client attraction. Make sure to check it out at AgencyMastery360.com/attract.

 

Nurturing Relationships Before Selling Agency Services

Years ago, David and his partner were working full-time jobs while trying to grow their agency on the side. However, it wasn’t sustainable and in 2020 they decided to make the jump to focus on scaling the agency full-time. In just three years they’ve grown to have 25 employees and over one million in revenue.

How did they do it? David believes it all started with relationship-based selling. Most agency owners approach their relationship with clients from a service-based standpoint, where the focus is on what they’re selling – whether ads, SEO, CRO, etc. Instead, his agency's model revolves around cultivating meaningful relationships with clients to uncover their unique needs. Then they craft tailored solutions that speak directly to the clients' needs.

Depending on their needs, David’s team helps companies hire new team members or executives. The relationship may also start directly with the specialist searching for new job opportunities. By strategically connecting specialists with target companies, they foster meaningful relationships that organically develop into sales opportunities with large enterprises. This strategy helps them stand out from the competition who are just selling services.

Getting Conversations Started with Bigger Clients

David understands the opportunity to work with a big company may come every 1-3 years. In the meantime, he works on planting the seeds to first build and nurture a relationship with that company. It’s a very different model than trying to sell to a mid-size company or startup, which can be much more transactional. When you’re trying to work with a brand like Facebook, that relationship must be pre-established so they feel they know you on a personal level.

Start by supporting them in a way that’s not transactional. Keep in mind you’re selling to people, not brands. David’s team focuses on building valuable relationships with executives knowing they will move on to work at other companies and bring the relationship with them. Someone currently working at a small startup might end up working at a big international company in a few years. The relationship-based model focuses on the individuals as their career progresses.

For instance, David’s team may even make introductions for one of these individuals looking for a new job. The agency doesn’t gain anything from that, but it’s part of establishing trust and making a bet on someone who is likely to be a valuable contact at a big brand someday. It’s definitely a long-game strategy. Eventually, when this person needs your agency's services in their new company, your agency is one of the first they reach out to.

https://www.agencymastery360.com/agency-blueprint Earning the Attention of Your Ideal Prospects With Targeted Content

Relationship-building is a strategy that has worked wonders for David’s team. However, if you want to get your foot in the door right now then it’s all about getting attention with great content.

Ask yourself what type of content would be relevant for someone in your niche/ industry. David focuses on LinkedIn content by posting about the type of problems his ideal clients usually face. Then he might also run ads to target that specific audience. It’s a way to create a passive relationship before ever talking. In fact, he prefers using ads over sending direct messages, which can feel invasive and repetitive. Many times, after consuming his content for a few months, clients come to them.

Keep in mind you might not get concrete data that your content is being seen by the right prospects. As David explains, executives and decision-makers are very busy and don’t necessarily comment and engage with your content. This doesn’t mean they’re not paying attention. Many times an executive will tell David during their first meeting that they’ve been following him for months.

Is LinkedIn the Best Place to Grow an Audience?

Is LinkedIn the best place to find these decision-makers? Yes, you are more likely to find that audience there. However, David and his team are starting to organize round tables and invite people from the industries they’re targeting. They also participate in private Slack work groups where they get to meet ideal prospects and bring their expertise. Their goal in these forums is to present themselves as a resource that can help with specific issues. It’s not a place for selling, it's more about establishing authority and gaining trust.

How often to post? Most don't have meaningful and insightful advice to offer by posting daily. David’s team focuses on quality over quantity, which means posting about 3-6 times in a two-week period. There’s no need to post daily - people don’t need to see you every single day. David's agency has a formula focusing 20% of its content on personal stories and 80% on industry-relevant content. This too, establishes authority in the industry and followers begin feeling like they know you on a personal level. Finally, they also mostly focus on written form, which gets them better results than video.

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

If you want to be around amazing agency owners who can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program enables you to take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Do you sometimes doubt your ability as an agency owner? Are you constantly comparing yourself and feeling like you have imposter syndrome? Setbacks make every agency owner nervous about their ability to push through. Today’s guest has been successfully running an agency in an unconventional niche for years. They have experienced their share of setbacks and she was forced to come to terms with the fact that hard times shape her business as much as successes. Our guest shares how she learned to separate her identity from her role as agency owner and the importance of looking for outside support. As a result, she’s become much a more effective leader.

Kate Ahl is the owner of Simple Pin Media, a Pinterest marketing agency focused on both organic and ad marketing. They help clients create a multi-layered approach to marketing their products or content on Pinterest. After seeing steady growth for a couple of years, her agency was recently hit by setbacks that shook her confidence.

In this episode, we'll discuss:

• Second-guessing yourself as agency owner.
• Not letting the agency define you.
• Regaining the focus to get through the tough times.

 

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Sponsors and Resources

E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service.

 

Finding a Gap in the Market and Building an Agency Around It

In 2010, Kate got her first taste of the digital marketing world by helping a friend who did Facebook marketing for freelance clients. They also dabbled in Pinterest and the potential for this overlooked platform.

Three years later, Kate’s family was hit by the reality of post-recession when her husband lost his job. By then, her friend had learned more about Pinterest and suggested she manage people’s profiles. “It sounded like the dumbest idea,” she recalls, but since she was in a desperate situation, she gave it a try. She bought the Simple Pin Media domain, went through some content creator struggles, and got to work.

Right around that time, Facebook changed its algorithm and businesses were scrambling to find other alternatives. It was the perfect opportunity to give Pinterest a try. After three or four months, her first clients started spreading the word about her work as a Pinterest educator.

Still, the agency remained a side hustle for a while until a referral got her five inquiries at the same time. That was the turning point. Kate hired a business coach and from that point treated the agency as a serious business.

Second-Guessing Yourself as an Agency Owner

Revenue was a particularly tricky goal to set for Kate because of its variable nature. However, as the agency and team started to grow, the million-dollar mark seemed achievable. They did reach that milestone in 2019 and then continued to grow in 2020 and 2021.

Unfortunately, she got hit later by the pandemic and in 2022 started seeing a decrease in revenue after several years of growth. Kate used to think the 7-figure mark was the dream for her agency. In reality, it is just another vanity metric like the number of employees.

In fact, getting past the 7-figure mark came with a sudden awareness of the level of responsibility she had to employees and as the breadwinner. She started to question how clients were getting into their ecosystem and how sustainable it all was. She was suddenly very aware of how improbable it was to get over both a pandemic and a recession unscathed.

The weight of being responsible for a large team – mostly made of working moms – really got to Kate. Suddenly, scaling back to a solopreneur or having a smaller team started to look very appealing. In reality, she can see she was self-sabotaging. Her coach brought this to her attention and helped her see the need to separate her identity from her agency.

https://www.agencymastery360.com/agency-blueprint Not Letting the Agency Define You

Being an agency owner can’t become your entire identity. At some point, you will exit the business. If you’re too attached to the role as owner and see the agency as your baby, you’ll never be able to delegate. Some people feel selling their business is the equivalent of selling your soul. Instead, if you see yourself as being “entrepreneurial” and not just an entrepreneur, you’ll be able to take that to whatever you take on next.

Agency owners don’t realize how much their identities become entrenched in the business. It makes sense, you put everything into your agency. Many owners believe they won't be the type to be too engrossed however, one day they wake up to the realization that's exactly what happened. And it happened to Kate, who admits she thought she’d be the exception to the rule.

At one point, she even thought of selling the agency instead of turning to layoffs to stay afloat. She needed to take a step back and realize everyone would lose if she gave. She needed to step up and make hard decisions.

Focusing on the Right Things to Get Through Tough Times

In order to get through a difficult time, Kate reflected on what had worked before. When they were growing back in 2019, what was the team structure? What were the lessons learned? She now had the added advantage of more experience to help her be a better leader.

It’s easy to become resentful as growth declines but it’s also useless. Instead, Kate chose to get back to the basics and really understand her clients. By doing that, she opened the doors to be more profitable than before. Trusting herself as the leader of the agency was very important for their overall success. In hindsight, she got distracted by what she saw in the marketing space, which led to self-doubt. To get back on track, she stopped focusing on what others were doing and focused on results.

Why Your Agency Team Needs Opportunities to Flex their Idea Muscle

Going back to the basics with your agency means going back to the vision you set in the beginning. It maytake a couple of years, but creating the agency vision provides a timeline for your agency’s growth. Sharing your vision helps elevate your team to believe in it and empowers them to start making decisions without you.

Kate is very proud of having a team very tuned in to her agency vision. They’ve gotten through the most recent setback thanks to the vision. However, getting too deep into implementation modeduring crisis makes it so the team isn’t flexing the idea muscle as much as they should.

Kate’s team had been grinding so much that they hadn’t given themselves the opportunity to get creative. Is that in contradiction to a business going through a setback? Tough times are always an opportunity to look at things in a new way. It can be a chance to think differently.

Give your team an opportunity to think of fun ways to stand out and serve clients. Ultimately, your agency will benefit from having a team that allows themselves to think bigger and dream bigger.

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program enables you to take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Every digital agency struggles with some of the most common sales objections. I'm here to tell you how to turn those around and convert more prospects into clients, faster and easier.

Have you ever felt your agency’s proposal knocked it out of the park only to have the prospect put you off? It happens to all of us. You put your energy and effort into a stellar proposal only to receive a lackluster response like “Let me talk to my partner”, “let me see if we have the money”, or my personal favorite “Send me more information”.

Are these responses just to put you off or simply objections that can be flipped into a more favorable response? In this video, I go through some of the most common objections and how you can actually respond and determine if they can be flipped so you can train your team to handle objections effectively and close more business.

The best marketing salespeople answer questions before they’re asked. How to do this? By being transparent and sharing their exact process to build trust. Of course, questions and objections will still be raised, but if you answer 90% of the unasked questions then your salesperson can come in with that extra 10% and bring it to the finish line.

I firmly believe there are no bad agency CLIENTS, only bad PROSPECTS or bad PROCESS. So how do you know if your prospect has a true objection or is just wasting your time? There are some steps you can follow to get to the bottom of this faster and turn more of those NO's into YES!

 

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#1 Agency Sales Objection: Send Me More Information

If you give your pitch and the prospect's reaction is that they still want more information, this can mean one of two things, either something’s missing or you’re just getting a nice put-off. It can be difficult to determine which one it is, which is why I recommend asking these three simple questions: What, When, and Why.

• ‘What information would you like me to send you?’ This will help you determine what’s missing from your proposal and what else they need to know before saying yes.
• ‘When would you like me to send you this information?’ You want to follow up with the right information at the right time to increase your chances of working together.
• ‘Why do you need this additional information?’ This way you can understand more about the specific goals the prospect is trying to achieve. Moreover, it may also reveal whether you’re speaking to the right decision-maker or not. Perhaps they need more information to pass along to their boss or business partner. In that case, you need to get in front of the right person to answer their questions accurately.

If someone is blowing you off, they won’t have good answers to these questions. On the other hand, a good prospect who is genuinely interested in working with your agency will have very specific information they’re requesting, a timeline, and a reason.

Pro Tip: If it turns out it is a good prospect who just needs more information, then yes, commit to sending the information but also make sure to schedule the next meeting right then and there. That’s how you’re going to close the deal and stop wasting time on the wrong prospects.

#2 Agency Sales Objection: Let me Think About It

You spend lots of time on the prospect only to hear ‘Let me think about it”. It’s frustrating and unfortunately very common. Luckily, there’s an easy solution that just needs a couple of upfront questions.

If it’s a legitimate objection, then you can prevent issues by gathering more information. When I hear ‘Let me think about it’ it’s usually due to one of three reasons:

1. The prospect remains unclear about the plan. You may be using jargon that makes it confusing to the client when you should actually be talking to them about stuff they know.
2. The prospect is unclear about the results. Remember you’re not selling your agency services to your prospect, you’re selling them results. Do they understand how your solution will ease their pain and solve their issues? Have you established trust and authority in order to build their confidence in your ability to deliver?
3. Your agency isn’t clear on one or more elements of the NBAT criteria. The NBAT criteria (Need, Budget, Authority, and Timeline) is the best way to qualify your prospect so you don’t have to waste time with the wrong ones.

So as you prepare for your next business pitch, instead of dreading one of these lines, approach the pitch more proactively. Make sure you’re clearly defining the plan and results and that prospects have a full understanding of the NBAT. Once you have that covered, you’ll dramatically reduce and even eliminate this objection.

#3 Agency Sales Objection: We’ve Had a Bad Agency Experience

The first impression can be everlasting, whether it’s good, bad, or indifferent. Unfortunately, many times you can be held accountable for negative impressions left by an awful experience with a bad agency. This experience can become an objection because the prospect doesn’t fully understand what separates your agency from the rest.

There’s nothing you can do with regard to that past bad experience. It happened and was probably the result of bad communication when it came to expectations and results, strategy, or just a clash of personalities. What you CAN do is educate the prospect that those types of bad experiences aren’t the norm. How can you turn it around? Educate them on the plan. Explain exactly how you’re planning to achieve their goals and ease their pain points.

There’s an inherent uneasiness when people don’t know what to expect. However, having a clear plan in place will help your prospect feel more confident and assured. Inform them about the systems and processes. Establish clear communication on what you do and how you do it.

You need to know and understand what’s the issue they’re having, what’s the impact that issue is having on their business, and what’s the level of importance or consequence if they don’t address the issue? When the right prospects are properly educated on the process, they’ll choose to work with you. However, it requires work to build that relationship.

#4 Agency Sales Objection: Do You Have Any References?

What if the prospect isn’t asking you for more information and instead they want references? Does it hurt or help to use past clients as references for new ones?

The request for references goes back to the presence of doubt in the prospect’s mind. There’s something they’re still uncertain about when it comes to working with you. Bottom line, this means there’s a hole in your sales process. It’s possible that somewhere in the sales process you failed to gain their trust fully.

Frankly, giving them a reference will actually hurt your agency. Here’s why, you respect your client’s time. If you have a prospect call up a client now they’re spending their time helping sell you instead of working on their business.

A lot of prospects will have questions about your specific strategies, which are your intellectual property. Not knowing any better, your clients might start giving away your secret sauce for free. So when a prospect asks for a reference, counter by asking more questions: What’s missing for them? What are they unsure about?

Instead of letting a reference or testimonial talk them into or out of working with you, try to answer all their concerns. Finally, tell them you want to share a case story or two instead of a reference. Case stories can often accomplish the same trust-building as a reference without monopolizing your client’s time and putting your IP at risk. If after this, they still want a reference, you can do this as a last resort and make sure you have a trusted client or two that previously agreed to be contacted.

#5 Agency Sales Objection: Another Agency Will Do It Cheaper

After easing the prospect’s mind, answering all their questions, and offering all the information, you may find some clients will want to haggle over price. They’ll say something like they got a cheaper quote from a different agency. It may be a case of an uninformed prospect who just needs a little bit more formation or a sign this is a bad prospect who’s just not a good fit with your agency.

Is it really a price issue or are they undervaluing the solution that you’ll be providing? Oftentimes, prospects aren’t fully educated on the value. So how to combat common price objections? Cheaper does not mean equal. Go back to Issue, Impact, and Importance. Is the lower-cost option really meeting the prospect’s objections? Ask them why the other agency’s quote is so cheap and let them think through the cost vs. quality difference. Often the cheaper option will mean more work for the client and, don’t forget, time is money.

Sometimes prospects only see dollar signs and forget to really scrutinize what they’re getting. When you initiate conversations like these it helps them second-guess their gut reaction of going with the cheapest option.

Related: https://jasonswenk.com/top-5-agency-sales-objections/

Do You Want to Convert More Prospects Into Agency Clients?

FREE COURSE: Discover the 4-system process to CONVERTING more agency clients at https://www.agencymastery360.com/convert In our videos series, we'll break down the steps you need to charge what you're worth, overcome common sales objections, and unlock up to 20X more revenue from existing clients.

Have you thought about expanding into a new industry? Ever wonder about buying another agency for their expertise and book of business? Even for an established agency, it can be difficult to break into a new space. However, a strategic agency acquisition can save a lot of time and effort. Today's guest found an agency acquisition was the ideal way to break into another niche. In this conversation, he shares some of what he learned from his agency acquisition and some lessons learned along the way.

David Hernandez is the cofounder of Lotus 823, an integrated communications and digital market agency. This boutique agency works with some of the most recognizable and innovative brands in consumer tech and lifestyle offering to build engaging partnerships that feel like a natural extension of clients’ companies.

Historically, his agency had mostly served clients in the tech space. However, they recently expanded to the home and lifestyle industry after purchasing an agency with years of expertise and reputation in that space. Thinking back to the acquisition process, he talks about how he made the decision, the lessons learned, and the valuable partner they gained as a result.

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

• Using a strategic acquisition to break into a new industry.
• Lessons from acquiring an agency.
• How to run a people-first agency.

 

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Sponsors and Resources

E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service.

Podcast Takeover!!

Get to know your Smart Agency Guest Host: Dr. Jeremy Weisz is the co-founder of Rise25, an agency that helps companies launch and run podcasts profitably. He followed Jason’s podcast and eventually joined the mastermind and has been a guest on the podcast before. Today, he’s helping Jason bring something new to the Smart Agency podcast audience by interviewing a special guest and getting a new perspective on the show.

 

Building Authority to Land Bigger Agency Clients

The idea for David’s agency was born 12 years ago while he and his wife pondered the possibilities for social media. Back then, people were still trying to figure out Facebook and they could see consumers would use it to communicate with each other and brands. It would never again be just top-down marketing. That was their inspiration for building an integrated agency that focuses on public relations, communications, and digital marketing. From the start, they had the vision of being a true partner to their client’s business goals.

Like most agencies, in the first couple of years, they focused on trying to get off the ground. They had a logo, a website, no case studies, and basically just their word and prior experience to attract clients. Because of this, their first clients were innovative startup brands in the tech space who took a risk on them. They worked to get their clients' media placements and third-party credibility through media reviews and spotlights.

That was the start and they built on that even when it took extra hours and was not profitable. Eventually, they had a body of work they could use to go for bigger brands.

Using a Strategic Acquisition to Break Into a New Niche

Several years ago, David and his partner acquired an agency specialized in the home space. They saw the growing push of the tech space into homes/lifestyles and wanted to access new opportunities to expand into a new industry.

Initially, David and Rachel (the owner of the agency he eventually acquired) met working on opposite sides of a client. While Rachel was handling the public relations side, David and his team handled social media marketing. They quickly hit it off and realized both agencies meshed really well, culturally. The idea for the acquisition grew organically and seemed like a great move for Lotus 823. Additionally, it offered the advantage of having a true expert at the helm of that initiative.

Of course, the acquisition process came with its own challenges and frustrations past the honeymoon phase. Bringing together different cultures has its challenges, even if they’re a good fit. In the end, it was a great way to accelerate access to the home/lifestyle space as opposed to them breaking down that door by themselves.

https://www.agencymastery360.com/agency-blueprint Lessons from Acquiring Another PR Agency

If he could do it all over again, David would try to understand the other agency’s processes, instead of just focusing on their results. His team didn’t realize how different their process was from what they were used to. It differed in the way both agencies measured profitability and results. There was no ill intent in it; it was just a series of details the team glossed over that led to complications later on.

It was definitely a learning process and in hindsight, David says he should have understood how the agency works from onboarding to execution. It’s the only way to know what you’re acquiring in terms of revenue vs. profitability and whether or not both teams can mesh seamlessly.

The agency they acquired was a boutique so it was more about acquiring their book of business as well as Rachel’s expertise in the space. From the beginning, they laid out the plans for her involvement and future exit. He worried the acquisition would spook clients not on long-term contracts. However, in a sense, it made it a simpler acquisition. The challenges came later on when it was time to figure out how to incorporate the acquired agency into his agency's processes.

2 Big Misconceptions Clients Have About Public Relations

There’s usually some level of education needed for clients when it comes to understanding PR work. There are two big misconceptions most clients have:

1. PR brings in sales. That’s not what PR is for. There are many other tools that can help with sales. But PR is first and foremost the best tool to create credibility and visibility for a brand. Typically, once Lotus823 gets clients on a couple of media outlets their views go up, sometimes to billions of impressions. That type of visibility helps a brand create awareness, which creates a different conversation with potential consumers who now have an emotional connection with the brand.
2. Big publications are the best PR. Clients think pubs like the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal are the key to unlocking PR. However, this doesn't necessarily move the needle for every brand. It depends on their audience. Everybody wants the legitimacy of being in the New York Times. However, maybe an influencer program or tech outlet is a better fit for certain brands. When they build an influencer program, they typically look for relevancy. It’s not about the numbers. Sometimes a client will specifically want to work with celebrities. David’s team will redirect them to what actually works, which is working with creators with strong, engaged communities and a great reputation.

How to Run a People-First PR Agency

David runs a hybrid agency that offers the option of coming to the office. It’s important to him to offer flexible schedules to show they respect the team’s personal lives. The goal is to allow employees to build their work schedule into their personal life and really be present when it’s time to work.

When it comes to his agency’s culture, David strives to run a people-first agency where employees feel like their mental health is taken into account. Providing a work environment that allows for a balanced life helps you find and keep great talent.

According to David, if you find yourself managing a person too tightly, you’ve made the wrong hire. It’s a mistake that leads to mediocre output. You get transformative work when you have people you trust and who are happy working with each other.

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program enables you to take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Are you struggling with low agency profit margins?  Are you tired of not winning the engagements you want and deserve? Did you know there’s an art to pricing in order to unlock 20X more revenue? That's 20X more than you are making right now!

When it comes to pricing, there are two common problems I see many agencies struggling with:

1. Low profit margins.
2. Not winning the engagements they should be.

Back in the day, I wanted to win high-profit engagements. I wanted the retainer clients because of the predictable income. I knew the combination of higher margins and predictable business would yield a healthy business and steady cash flow. But why is it so hard to accomplish? In my experience, it goes back to your approach.

Land 20x More Revenue by Making it an Easy Decision for Buyers

If you have a hard time landing the business you want it’s probably because you’re making it a difficult decision for the buyer. How? You’re selling the wrong thing first. Pitching a big project or long-term contract from the get-go is like proposing marriage on the first date. It’s a HUGE COMMITMENT to ask when you haven’t proved your worth yet. So the issue here is you haven’t created the perfect offer.

Mastermind member, Chris used to deal with this very issue. He owns an SEO agency and was charging $5,000 a month in month-to-month contracts. This was hindering his growth because clients normally stay with the agency for about 6 months, meaning they're worth just $30,000.

There were three things we needed to do in this scenario:

• Make it an easier decision for the potential client.
• Raise his pricing.
• Transition to a long-term contract.

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  Steps to Creating the Perfect Digital Agency Offer

In order to 20X revenue, you need to have a plan. That starts with developing a foot-in-the-door offer, which is a small, low-cost offer that demonstrates your value as an agency. This type of offer should be low-commitment and a very easy 'yes'... an offer they can't refuse :)  How can you benefit from having a foot-in-the-door offer? Well, clients who buy this offer are 20 times more likely to give you more money down the line. Overall, people are more likely to buy from you once they already know, like, and trust you.

It’s natural that you want to sell your core service first -- that’s your money maker! However, it’s a huge commitment for your prospect, and therefore a harder decision to make. YOU know your agency is awesome but they still have concerns and questions. It’s not a clear decision... yet. The solution here is to ease into a paid relationship first with a foot-in-the-door offer that highlights your expertise.

A lot of folks tend to over-complicate their foot-in-the-door offer so I created a tool to help agency owners develop your offer. Just go to agencymastery360.com/convert and download this free resource call the Foot in the Door Decider.

How to Build a Digital Agency Offer Ladder

The next step we did for Chris was to create an offer ladder, beginning with a foot-in-the-door. Start by asking yourself “What are you doing for free now that you could charge a small amount for?”

In Chris's case, he was spending around two and a half hours with each prospect giving them free strategy and advice. Instead, he switched to offering a one-hour paid strategy session where he could help them create an SEO Blueprint. They would go over some of their biggest challenges and highlight ways to solve them quickly. At the end of this session, the prospects who wanted help implementing this blueprint could sign on as clients.

Next Step in the Ladder: Small Project or Engagement

The next step in an offering ladder is a short-term project. Here you’ll be solving one of the issues you highlighted in the foot-in-the-door. This small project entails a slightly more significant financial commitment for the client. For instance, in Chris’ case, he offered a 3-month project for $15,000. This gives the agency 90 days to deliver results.

What do you think happens after your agency starts showing results? The client starts to trust you more and more. Suddenly, the decision to commit to a long-term relationship doesn’t seem so difficult.  Also, this short-term project also gives your team time to get acclimated to working with this client, and them working with you. Chances are it goes really well and a long term longer-term relationship is beneficial but in the off chance they're a nightmare client you're only stuck with them for 3 months!

Next Step in the Ladder: Digital Agency Retainer

As the window starts to close on the short-term project and you know you want to continue working with the client, that is when you can propose a year-long retainer. For Chris, it was also an excellent opportunity to raise his prices and change that year-long retainer from $5,000 a month to $9,000 a month.

So ask yourself what is your value proposition? What kind of front-end, middle, and back-end offers do you have to entice your clients? The answer to these questions will help you create an offering ladder and a perfect offer.

Why Do You Need to Go Through the Offer Ladder Process?

I get a lot of questions about the foot-in-the-door offer. Most agencies, make the jump to start charging for something they used to do for free and tend to put gasoline on it. They create something so complicated that they confuse and overwhelm their prospects.

Just remember, you don’t have to teach them anything in the initial call. Just help them identify problems and prescribe the solution they need.

https://www.agencymastery360.com/agency-blueprint 10-Step Framework to Build a Foot-in-the-Door Offer

1. Build rapport.
Work with what you got. If you see a picture of a golf course behind them, chat about golf briefly.

2. Lay out the agenda.
Let them know you have a framework you use to make sure you cover all the basis in these conversations. This will position you as an authority and keep you on track.

3. Identify why now.
Ask them “What made you reach out and why is it important now?” and check to know if they’re okay with the agenda.

4. Current situation.
Where are they now with revenue, marketing, and profits? You restate it to them like this: “From what you're telling me, I understand that you want this to happen. Currently, this is what's happened, you've tried this and then that happened. Is that right? Anything else I need to be aware of?”

5. Talk about the roadblocks.
Let them know you want to know their roadblocks by making a list of everything standing in their way.

6. Restate the value.
Go back to what you’ve discussed to make sure you have the full picture. “So let me get this right, you really want X but Y is in the way and costing you XYZ. Does that sound right?”

7. Prescription or solution.
Present your assessment according to what you’ve been told. “So based on what you’ve told me, it sounds like you need [your solution] in order to get [X benefit]”.

8. The promise.
This is where you start talking about what you do. Go through how your agency helps clients and the benefits your team gets for them.

9. Logistics.
This is where you can go more into detail on your prescribed solution. Go through the specifics of how it would actually work. You’d be surprised at how much educating your prospects on the process can help you win the deal.

10. The price.
Now that you’ve helped them determine where they want to go, where they are now, and the impact on their business, they’ll be more open to paying much more than prior to you walking them through the framework.

 

Do You Want to Convert More Prospects Into Agency Clients?

FREE COURSE: Discover the 4-system process to CONVERTING more agency clients at https://www.agencymastery360.com/convert In our videos series, we'll break down the steps you need to charge what you're worth, overcome common sales objections, and unlock up to 20X more revenue from existing clients.

Are you resisting the advice to niche down and become a specialist? Do you think niching down means losing opportunities and turning down clients? It's normal to fear a change like this but when you understand your ideal audience, you can't lose. Your ideal prospects will notice that you speak their language and understand their challenges. That leads to building trust and authority as well as a pipeline full of prospects. For one agency, everything changed once they realized they already had tons of success in an uncommon niche. It took time but this agency doubled revenue when they went all in.

James Kaye is the co-founder of Big Games Machine, a video games PR agency with unique experience in delivering consumer and B2B PR campaigns for clients worldwide. Although it has tons of experience in the gaming industry, James’ agency wasn’t always marketed to that niche. The decision to speak to its ideal audience changed everything for its business. He discusses how this small change helped them double their revenue.

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

• Doubling their revenue by positioning themselves as a specialist agency.
• Struggling to fill his agency’s pipeline.
• Why choosing a niche doesn’t mean you’ll turn down all other clients.

 

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Sponsors and Resources

E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service.

 

Like many, James and his business partner are accidental agency owners. They had both worked at different agencies before reuniting to create Big Games Machine. They started as just two consultants working from their kitchen tables on different sides of the country. Growth was slow, but it snowballed into an agency little by little as they started to take people on.

Overall, just learning to run an agency was a bumpy road that led to many failures before starting to see the successes. Now even after nine years of growing the agency, he's still learning and making mistakes. For instance, new business remains a constant problem that he's still figuring out. On the other hand, one of the most valuable lessons for him has been the importance of finding the support of a coach to guide you and trusting his agency could grow in a specialty niche.

The Biggest Inbound Marketing Mistake

Many agency owners struggle to build a pipeline after growing on referrals in the beginning, which is not scalable. This is actually still a struggle but James has learned his pipeline is his lifeblood so he’s always willing to try something new.

In terms of the work they do at the agency, they divided it into two segments:

• Consumer, where there’s a lot of competition with many agencies doing consumer PR,
• B2B, where they’d really found their footing.

At his agency, they work in video games PR, which is a pretty small niche. Luckily, they are pretty good with SEO, which has become a big part of their inbound marketing strategy. The problem James has found, however, is that as a unique specialist, it becomes very difficult for a third party to represent you eloquently and passionately.

Over the years, he’s tried pretty much everything in terms of building the pipeline. He partnered with a LinkedIn agency to give cold emails a try and found this did not work for his agency. Of course, some things take 6-12 months to start showing results. Looking back, he thinks they were too generalist in their inbound marketing approach.

How Seeking the Help of an Expert Changed Everything

There are a lot of options out there for agencies trying to accelerate their growth; it might seem like you're simultaneously drowning in options and starving for good ones. Loads of bad options are out there and it’s up to agency owners to decipher which ones are legit.

James found a good fit and started integrating systems for agency growth. One of the most impactful was making the decision to become a specialist.

Up to that point, his agency was called Big Ideas Machine and was more of a general Tech PR agency. They served B2B and consumer customers but hadn’t managed to book a consumer client. The feedback they were getting was that the agency didn’t look enough like a games agency. He decided to create a different brand called Big Games Machine hoping to attract consumer clients on the gaming side.

https://www.agencymastery360.com/agency-blueprint Stop Resisting the Shift to be a Specialist Agency and Pick a Niche

In James’ experience, it was a big mess trying to run two brands and two websites at the same time. It came to the point where he and his partner sat down to consider their choices. They had 25 years of experience in the game industry and that was their area of expertise. In fact, looking at their B2B clients, they were all in the games industry. They had resisted the idea to niche down even though they were getting no traction as a generalist agency. That was the lightbulb moment.

The big shift came when they finally decided to get rid of Big Ideas Machine and consolidate Big Games Machine as their main brand. By doubling down on that niche they occupy a very unique space. No one else does B2B in the gaming industry quite like they do.

Now that they do B2B and consumer work for the games industry, people quickly understand what problems they solve. With this change, James understood it’s not only about picking a niche but also about how you position yourself in the market.

Additionally, he recently hired a new head of new business marketing with experience and contacts in the gaming industry that has been getting very good quality leads for the agency.

Does Choosing a Niche Mean Turning Away Other Clients?

When pushing to remain a generalist agency, it was because James was thinking about the business they would lose as specialists. What if a client from another industry approached them? Would they have to turn them away?

One of the biggest mistakes people make when they’re choosing a niche is thinking they’ll need to say no to other clients. The idea is that you’re only marketing to ideal clients in a niche, but can still take on projects outside the niche.

The Best Advice to Fill Your Agency's Pipeline

James best advice to fill your pipeline is to play the long game and go all in on content. He feels this is the best way to gain your prospects’ trust, which you’ll do by solving a problem for them. How can you do that? Start by creating amazing content, whether it's a podcast, blog post, or newsletter. It’ll be the best thing you can do for your agency.

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program enables you to take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Are you tired of being the only one in your agency responsible for closing deals? Would you like to build a top-notch agency sales team to land the deals you’ve always wanted? In this episode, you'll learn how to find the right salesperson, build a sales team, train, manage, and compensate them so the owner is no longer the one responsible for agency sales.

It all starts with:

• Understanding your ideal client.
• Finding and training the right salespeople.
• Creating a sales process that works for the sales team.

 

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Being an agency owner can feel like being on a rollercoaster ride. One moment you have a full pipeline and the next it is as dry as the desert. I remember focusing all my attention on sales to get new business and then having to switch my focus to delivery. As soon as I was focused on delivery I noticed sales suffered. In hindsight, I think I was self-sabotaging sales because we just couldn’t deliver as fast as I was selling the services.

To fix this problem you have to find a salesperson who can do a better job at sales than you do, as the agency owner.

There are three types of salespeople:

• Hunter:  usually has a lower salary and gets paid per appointment.
• Closer: with a higher base salary and tiered commission, and should have a sales quota.
• Farmer or account service: has a mid-range salary with a bonus based on client retention.

The BIGGEST MISTAKE you can make while searching for a salesperson is trying to find a unicorn that can fill all three of these roles. And, you don’t need to hire all three at once. Start by hiring for the role you’re weakest at. Are you good at getting the leads in but lacking when it comes to following up? Then hire a closer. Eventually, you can hire the rest and grow a sales team.

Pro tip: be sure to give them the right title. No one wants to meet with a “Business Development Manager” or “Salesperson.” Personally, I’ve always preferred the term Specialist, like Scale Specialist or Conversion Specialist. You need a title that makes prospects want to have a conversation.

Now where can you actually find these salespeople? You have several choices:

1. Personal connections: I don't suggest hiring a friend, but a mutual connection is a winner almost every time.
2. Current and past clients: Your clients already know what you do and your process and they may love working for you.
3. Salespeople who have sold to you in the past: They can even be from another industry. The important thing is that you had a good experience; you can teach and train them in everything else agency-related.
4. Recruiters and job boards: This has never personally worked for me but it depends on your style and preferences.

How to Differentiate a Good Agency Sales Candidate

Once you start the interview process, how can you tell a sales candidate is right for your agency? Look at how they’re behaving during the interview. Are they talking too much? If they do, it’s probably a bad sign. A good salesperson listens more than they talk. Are they asking great questions? Have they been successful in sales in the past? As mentioned, they don’t necessarily need experience in the agency industry, as long as they understand the principles of sales.

For the candidates you do like, ask them to prepare a 90-day plan. They should be able to paint a picture of what they would do during the first 90 days at your agency. Moreover, you can use that plan later as a way to measure them.

Pro Tip: Sales are very competitive, so if you can hire two or three candidates at the same time, you can encourage competition while also testing out strengths.

How Should You Compensate Agency Sales? Commission-Only vs. Salary

This is a question I get very often. How do you compensate an agency salesperson? Commission-only or straight salary?

To be clear, each has its downsides. If you’re paying commission only, your salespeople may start to make false promises in desperation to make a sale. They also may not be 100% focused on your agency and might even sell for someone else to make ends meet.

On the other hand, if you go for 100% salary you avoid the problem of false promises but they almost certainly won’t be hungry enough to go hard on sales.

This is why I lean more toward doing a combination of both: salary plus commission. I offer a base salary that is just below their salary requirements and a commission, of maybe 5% - 10%. You need to show them there is an incentive to exceed their salary goals IF they are a rockstar at sales.

Training Your Digital Agency Sales Team

When I think about training a salesperson I think about preparing them to be able to answer the following:

1. What’s your promise to your clients?
2. What’s your client's problem? And,
3. What types of clients are a good fit and what are not?

Over the years I’ve broken down what makes agency owners such good salespeople and realized it all comes down to stories. As owners, we have all the stories for different scenarios. If you’re dealing with a prospect that’s having a hard time converting leads, you probably have a story about another client who dealt with this same struggle and overcame it.

As the owner, I recommend keeping track of and sharing those stories. The team could use some of them to attract leads, others to convert. The point is that you give them the tools to succeed. Over time, they’ll accumulate their own stories.

https://www.agencymastery360.com/agency-blueprint How to Train and Manage Your Agency Sales Team 

When it comes to managing salespeople I recommend you start doing it daily until you feel they can handle themselves. You can break it down into morning and afternoon, at least for the first couple of months. The morning should be used to share stories and prepare them to chat with clients. You’ll also want to share wins and go over objections people may be having.

On the other hand, the afternoon should be more about the progress of the day. This is better left for the afternoon because some days they’ll get a lot of no’s and you’ll have to help rebuild their confidence.

Once they get to a good place, you can change the daily check-ins to weekly. They should also start recording all their calls so you can review them. You can ask them to send their worst and best calls of the day. This way, you can see if they’re clarifying why the client got on the call. They should label the problem and establish a gap in how far away the client is from where they want to be. Also, make sure they ask for the sale, rather than just prescribe what they need to do.

Finally, make sure you’re constantly measuring them on their 90-day success plan. This way, I guarantee within 30 days you’ll know whether that salesperson is going to work out or not.

How to Qualify Agency Prospects and Stop Wasting Time with the Wrong Ones

How can you spend time with the right prospect and avoid wasting time with the wrong ones? The first conversation with a prospect is the most important because it frames how the relationship develops.

Too many agencies use that conversation to focus on themselves (showcasing capabilities and successes) when you should actually be focusing on the prospect. Often agencies start talking about their awards and their portfolio with a prospect that doesn’t care about that yet. They don't care what the agency can do, they care what the agency can do for them.

However, I’m sure you want to stand out and present yourself as more than just another Me Too agency, and there are 10 questions you can ask to position yourself as THE CHOICE rather than a choice.

10 Steps When Talking with New Agency Prospects

It's important to gauge the benefits and pre-qualify any new agency prospect. I call this a triage call, where you can assess the challenge the prospect is facing and determine whether you can work together to deliver the results they seek.

1. The Welcome: This sets the tone for the meeting and establishes you as the one in control. Just make them feel comfortable and let them know you’ll be asking them some questions to determine whether or not you can help them. Explain that if you're a good fit, there will be another meeting. If you can't help, you’ll give them some advice and part as friends.
2. Why now and why me? Try to understand why they’re coming to your agency at this particular moment.
3. Tell me more about your business: Make sure you have the full picture of what they do so you can determine if you can help them.
4. What’s your budget? This will determine their expectation and what they’re willing to pay.
5. Where are they now and where are they trying to be? Get to know the metrics, the goals, and how they are going to measure success.
6. What is missing or broken? Try to identify their biggest issue. Try to learn the impact that issue is having on their business and the impact of fixing it.
7. What do they need? What are their biggest challenges and why do they think you can solve those?
8. Establish the priority: On a scale of 1 to 10 how much of a priority is it to resolve this issue?
9. Problem check-in: State the top problems and the impact they’re having on them.
10. Can you actually help them and do you want to? This is a question to ask yourself, thinking not just in terms of revenue but based on the initial interaction; is this client he right fit for your agency?

After doing the triage call and walking through these 10 questions, it is time to present your foot-in-the-door offer.

A foot-in-the-door offer is a low commitment, low cost, and easy YES for the prospect. And, it's the best way to showcase your agency's expertise and test out a working relationship with a client before fully committing to larger projects.

Do You Want to Convert More Prospects Into Agency Clients?

FREE COURSE: Discover the 4-system process to CONVERTING more agency clients at https://www.agencymastery360.com/convert In our videos series, we'll break down the steps you need to charge what you're worth, overcome common sales objections, and unlock up to 20X more revenue from existing clients.

Are you an accidental agency owner? Most of us are! That is why it's important to continually evolve in order to grow your digital agency. Can you identify the milestones that have gotten you where you are? What are the biggest challenges you’ve had to face? As an agency owner, it's important to stay inspired and stay the course on the path we're paving for ourselves. Today’s guest took inspiration from various industry leaders to start his agency and learn how to grow from just an owner to a CEO. He’s been in the agency world for over ten years and has had to reinvent a few times to keep up with new challenges. He shares the various challenges he's faced over different stages of his agency's journey and the milestones that helped him keep going.

Andrew Gottlieb is the founder and CEO of No Typical Moments, a digital marketing agency that works exclusively with purpose-driven social impact-focused businesses. His agency acts as a Fractional CMO working executing social media campaigns for online education. His agency handles everything from media buying to Instagram, Facebook, and Google campaigns, and backend email marketing solutions for some of the world’s thought leaders.

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

• Evolving the agency's service offering to keep up with market changes.
• The importance of diversifying your lead gen source.
• Overcoming 3 big challenges of growing an agency.

 

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Sponsors and Resources

E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service.

Podcast Takeover!!

Get to know your Smart Agency Guest Host: Dr. Jeremy Weisz is the co-founder of Rise25, an agency that helps companies launch and run podcasts profitably. He followed Jason’s podcast and eventually joined the mastermind and has been a guest on the podcast before. Today, he’s helping Jason bring something new to the Smart Agency podcast audience by interviewing a special guest and getting a new perspective to the show.

 

Becoming an Accidental Agency Owner with Inspiration and a Mastermind

In 2010, Andrew was a senior in college applying for and getting rejected from any job he could find. He had majored in Managerial Economics and had done everything right. However, it didn’t work out as expected so he had to sit down and reflect on his next move.

He was referred to David Siteman Garland’s podcast, where he described a lifestyle working from the beach in Puerto Rico while making six figures. That's when Andrew set out to get himself to that point and developed the idea for his agency, No Typical Moments.

It turned out that the formula for building his ideal business included things he greatly enjoyed: marketing and new technologies. It took him 18 months to really develop the concept of his agency. Meanwhile, he worked odd jobs, did a couple more internships, and finally found a full-time job with a minor league baseball team.

In his agency journey, Andrew found many role models like David, Gary Vaynerchuck, Jesse Itzler, and more. They were an inspiration throughout building and growing his agency in different ways. They helped him see the importance of taking advice from someone who already walked that same path.  He also credits involvement in a mastermind is a fundamental part of going from agency owner to Agency CEO.

What Milestones Propel Agency Growth?

Andrew officially started his agency in 2012 with six months' worth of savings and the plan to either duplicate his income in those six months or find another job. After 90 days of endless meetings, he hit his first big milestone: finding a paying client.

From there, his growth was marked by milestones like meeting the agency’s first big client and making some key hires. Around 2013, Andrew met a sales expert who joined the agency and ended up being an important part of its growth. Having someone besides him to help with client work and sales made a big difference.

As he started delegating the client work, they were also able to take on more clients. Shortly after that, their next big client was the Pittsburg Marathon, which was another big moment for the agency.

Evolving the Agency’s Service Offering with Market Changes

Originally, the agency offered organic social media marketing, which included Twitter and LinkedIn. However, over the years he's had to adapt to keep the business going. With time, Andrew realized there wasn’t a clear ROI he could break down for clients. There wasn’t a clear way to explain what those campaigns would do for their business. This was back when social media wasn’t what it is today. He realized doing paid ads lend to a more straightforward conversation. ROI is clearer with ads and it's a cleaner business case to sell to clients. This is what inspired a change in their service offering.

Later on, their offer evolved again to Facebook ads campaigns, which actually became pretty much their only service offer. Everyone was using Facebook and it worked for the agency. However, the big wake-up call came when iOS 14 changed everything. As most know, this made Facebook advertising very challenging and clients started to pull out. Those who weren’t immediately taken aback saw their ROI go down pretty quickly.

Luckily, Andrew and his team had already been thinking about broadening their offering. They had their eyes on doing YouTube, LinkedIn, and Google advertising. Moreover, he realized some clients were more in need of thought leadership and strategic direction than advertising. Hence, they searched for a Fractional CMO who could point these clients in the right direction so the ad campaigns would have a better chance of success.

https://www.agencymastery360.com/agency-blueprint The Importance of Diversifying Your Lead Gen Source

Usually, clients defer to Andrew's agency to get clear on their next best step in digital marketing. At some point, the easy answer was Facebook Ads. With it, you could generate revenue at the snap of your fingers. The game has changed, however. It’s now very important to be clear on where the business is at in its maturity to develop the right strategy. When a client brings on their team, they’ll help them with anything from email marketing, landing pages, copywriting, media buying on any major platform, or tech integration. They can also help manage employees, manage vendor relationships, contractors, and whatever clients require from a CMO.

When his agency changed course to a more full-service offering, he needed to get clients to understand it was a good moment to diversify their lead gen sources. If their entire campaigns hinged on Facebook, they will likely have issues in the future. The storm from iOS 14 combined with other difficult moments for the platform finally helped some clients see the light. Some companies had spent millions in Facebook ads only for their accounts to be banned out of nowhere. Now they had a need to spend on Google and YouTube to get to a million in spending.

For the longest time, it seemed like Facebook could not fail. But, in that moment it became much easier to explain the importance of diversifying.

3 Biggest Challenges He’s Faced at Different Stages of His Agency Journey

For Andrew, the challenges presented by building a digital agency have changed depending on the stage of the agency’s growth.

1. The mental challenge of entrepreneurship.
   As a 22-year-old starting a business, his friends went the more traditional route and had high-paying jobs. Their path offered more of a clear trajectory whereas he entered entrepreneur which is the land of the unknown. The shame and embarrassment of not having that clarity affected his confidence. It also affected his social life, since he had to pour all his resources into the business. He couldn’t afford to go out and risk spending money he would need for the agency.
2. Growing the agency beyond the owner.
   Finding the right people to continue to grow the agency has been more challenging than he expected. He was lucky with his two first hires, who are actually still with him years later. However, he made a series of bad hires as the agency grew. He was not clear on the expectation for each role and needed to hand over control. Those first mistakes ruined some relationships for him.
3. Staying inspired to grow.
   More recently, Andrew's big challenge has been continuing to be inspired to grow and build after ten years. After years of weathering different storms like the pandemic and changes to his offering, it is time to reinvent again.

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Did you know if you keep saying you’re too busy it probably means you’re not charging enough? Are you ready to start charging what your digital agency is worth?

Being too busy is the quickest way to not only burn yourself out but also your team. I’ve been there, and let me tell you I was on the verge of shutting down my agency from being overworked and undervalued. We were doing so many things wrong. We were talking to the wrong clients, working long hours, and worst of all, barely making ends meet.

If any of this sounds familiar, it’s time to get out of your own way and start charging what you’re worth.

How can you get your prices to where they should be?

1. Understand the value and results your agency delivers.
2. Build trust with clients through an offer ladder.
3. Position yourself as an authority in your space.

 

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In this video, you will learn the three pricing structures you can use to get you to a place where your pricing will both be more on par with the results you deliver and will give you an advantage over other cheaper agencies.

Most agency owners believe at some point that low prices will give you an advantage over the rest. However, I’d argue that increasing your prices actually works to your advantage. As an adviser, I go through the financials of thousands of agencies, and in up to 90% of cases, I recommend they increase their prices. The suggestion alone makes them back away in fear.

I get it, most agency owners worry about things like losing the pitch because their prices are too high. However, I counter with “What if you lose the pitch because your pricing is too low?” You don’t think this can happen? It happened to me!

Years ago I got a call from a prospect that needed a website. I nailed the call and was invited to their office to present an offer. Their office was HUGE. Who was this company? I proceeded to make the pitch and said my price: $10,000. They actually laughed and I was so confused. Was the price too high?

Well, it turns out this company I'd never heard of, Berkshire Hathaway, was expecting to spend around $300,000 on the website. They loved the pitch and were excited to work with us until I named my price... because it was too low they thought it wouldn't deliver the results they expected.

So how should your digital agency pricing be structured? How can you come up with a price that shows your value, increases profit, and allows you to win more deals? A lot of businesses tend to set a price and then not think about it again for years. When there’s one element of your business that affects everything other element so much, it’s definitely not something to be forgotten. Pricing should evolve as much as your business does.

3 Digital Agency Pricing Models 1. Hourly-Based Pricing

Should agencies charge by the hour? Honestly, I’m not a fan. This is my absolutely least favorite model. Charging by the hour sounds like a great idea, but as you get better and more efficient at your job you’ll be working fewer hours and thus making less money. It’s also the option that makes clients more nervous because there’s a variable of the unknown. However, I do believe there’s a time for hourly rates. If you’re doing something new and it’s hard to estimate how long it will take you, then it’s the best option.

2. Value-Based pricing

This pricing model is the intersection between what your services are worth to the client and what you’re willing to take. Unfortunately, it’s very hard to get a pulse on the perceived value. Try to gather as much information as you can from clients so you can fully understand what they need and how you can help them. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve met with clients and asked them for their budget to find that it’s much higher than I would’ve quoted, so we could have possibly lost revenue or lost the deal altogether.

3. Performance-Based Pricing

What if you only got paid for performance? Would you be profitable? Mastery member David was having trouble charging anything more than $3,500 per month. He was in a race to the bottom that involved over-delivering and under-promising. David focused too much on what others in his niche were charging. After hearing countless success stories from other mastermind members, he got the courage to make a change. He picked a client who he knew he could make tons of money for and asked for a percentage of the revenue he would generate for the company as payment. That percentage turned into a $1 million payday six months later.

The trick when it comes to this model is coming up with a formula to pick the winners. If you generate this company X amount of business, can they scale as quickly as you’re sending them business? What’s the metric you can control? If their sales team won’t return calls then you need to change the performance to an agreed amount of leads.

Getting Your Prices to What They Should Be

I’m a big advocate of agencies increasing their prices but it obviously needs to be done in the right way. You can’t just double prices for existing clients right away.

Mastery member Dean was struggling to afford the team he needed, which led to him doing everything and being close to burning out. We challenged him to raise his prices and he started by doubling his fees for the new clients coming in. To his surprise, they all said yes. Now it was time to turn our attention to existing clients.

By that time, existing clients were paying 50% of what new clients were paying so he was actually losing money on those accounts. We developed a plan for him to reach out to those clients and let them know the price was increasing. He expected to lose around 50% of these clients but the other 50% would make up for this loss. He actually didn’t lose any clients. They all agreed to pay the increase.

This resulted in an extra $67,000 per month for his agency with no additional work for his agency.

Ultimately, your pricing structure will be up to you. Consider your financial goals for the future and ask yourself which structure will get you there the quickest. It’s not about topline revenue but about how you can maximize the profitability of your bottom line.

Do You Want to Convert More Prospects Into Agency Clients?

FREE COURSE: Discover the 4-system process to CONVERTING more agency clients at https://www.agencymastery360.com/convert In our videos series, we'll break down the steps you need to charge what you're worth, overcome common sales objections, and unlock up to 20X more revenue from existing clients.

Are you effectively using storytelling in your agency's marketing? Storytelling is an invaluable tool that makes your prospects feel heard and understood. It's a way to relate to clients and communicate how your help solve their problems. Storytelling creates better communication that’s more effective, more memorable, and easier for people to understand.

Today’s guest started working as a scriptwriter until he discovered business storytelling was a coveted skill he could help business owners develop. Over the years, he has implemented 3 methods that help facilitate clients’ access to storytelling tools. He explains some of the logic behind these frameworks and how anyone can train themselves to be a compelling storyteller.

Douglass Hatcher is the CEO of Communicate4IMPACT, an agency that helps coach people in the art and science of business storytelling. They take what business owners do naturally – telling stories – and help them apply that to what they do professionally.

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

• Using business storytelling effectively.
• 3 methods to improve your storytelling skills.
• Secret to building a successful agency sales team.

 

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Sponsors and Resources

E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service.

 

Discovering the Power of Business Storytelling

For most of his career, Douglass was a speech writer. First in the public sector, for congressmen and a senator. Eventually, he moved on to the corporate world where he wrote speeches for the CEO of MasterCard. This led to requests to help with their presentations and pitch decks. That is where he first heard the term business storytelling.

Douglass quickly learned that it's an actual craft to tell a story in the business context. In addition to creating presentation decks, he ended up helping develop a two-hour course on storytelling for the company. The course was more popular than he could have imagined. That is when he realized there is a market for this service and started his own agency.

The Significance of Effective Business Storytelling

Richard Branson and Steve Jobs are great examples of successful business owners who care about effective communication. Not all leaders put communication ahead of everything else in their business. Of course, your data, financials, and numbers matter; but at the end of the day, if your audience doesn’t understand what you bring to the table, you’re in a tough place.

That said, Steve Jobs wasn't always the confident and expressive presenter we remember today. Douglass recalls a TV interview with an anxiety-ridden Jobs who even vomited between takes. From that point on, he worked hard to become a great communicator spending up to thirty hours on each of his presentation slides.

If you look at any of Steve Jobs’s presentations, he doe not focus on selling the newest iPhone or iPad. He’s more focused on communicating through storytelling. Instead of saying that the iPod was the latest and greatest mp3 player, he said "the iPod is having 1,000 songs in your pocket." Rather than just selling features, Steve Jobs was the master of telling the story of what a product will do for you.

https://www.agencymastery360.com/agency-blueprint 3 Methods to Help Improve Your Storytelling Skills

 

1. The ABT Method

ABT or And, But, Therefore is the three-word vocabulary necessary to tell a good story. It was first popularized by Randy Olson who was inspired to apply the ABT method after seeing a documentary by the South Park creators where they talked about using it for their scriptwriting.

• AND represents the way things are
• BUT is the turn or the change
• THEREFORE is the outcome with a resolution.

Basically, the idea is that instead of saying “My product is this, my service is that,” you use the framework:

“My services are this AND this, BUT if you use it this way you will get X result; THEREFORE, this can happen.”

In storytelling, without change, there is no story. Likewise, in business you’re trying to solve a problem, to change the customer’s situation for the better -- that’s where storytelling comes in.

2. What, So What, Now What

• WHAT is the thing you want to talk about
• SO WHAT is “why do we care”
• NOW WHAT is about what’s next.

In this framework, you ask these questions to identify, analyze, and draw sense from an event. Douglass uses it to train clients to tackle situations where they have to answer a question under pressure.

He gives the example of a famous director who experienced technical difficulties on stage when the teleprompter went out. As a result, he chose to walk off stage. If he had this tool he could have stayed on stage and improvised a way to engage the audience.

The goal of this framework is to keep you from tanking in moments of high pressure, control your anxiety, and have courage to carry on.

3. The PIXAR Framework

Pixar is famous for creating compelling stories that are universally loved by people of all ages. They are masters of storytelling and their framework can be broken down as follows:

• Once upon a time,
• Every day…
• One day…
• Because of that…
• Because of that…
• Until finally…

Similar to the previous ones, we start with ONCE UPON A TIME, which is the client’s current situation. EVERY DAY would be the problem they’re facing. ONE DAY is when you come into the picture with a solution. Each BECAUSE OF THAT represents a benefit brought by your solution. UNTIL FINALLY is the resolution.

It’s amazing how effective this framework is. The best part is that choosing you as the solution doesn’t come until the third act. This is why it's important to always put the customer first and position yourself as their guide.

The Secret to Building a Successful Agency Sales Team

These frameworks are seemingly very simple but they’re also very effective. It often happens that the things that are made to look simple took the longest time to create. There’s a lot of research behind each of these that comes from many years of research on the best practices to create compelling stories. If you’re an agency owner looking to become a better storyteller, these frameworks will give you the advantage you need.

The power of storytelling is also what makes agency owners so good at selling. Owners who have a lot of trouble building a really great sales team are usually not sharing their success stories. Owners need to create a shareable library of stories to pass on to their sales team. When your team can share success stories with clients and prospects, you help them succeed and help get yourself out of sales.

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training

Is your agency prepared for a strategic acquisition to accelerate its growth? What advantages does an acquisition offer compared to organic growth? Do you have the necessary resources to navigate the acquisition process while ensuring the continued growth of your agency? Our featured guest today will discuss his ongoing acquisition process, outlining his reasoning behind this move, sharing why this felt like the perfect moment for an acquisition, and how he kept his peace of mind during this time-consuming process.

Manish Dudharejia is the founder and CEO of E2M Solutions, one of the largest white label services agencies with clients all over the globe. Manish is a friend of the podcast who’s been on previously talking about big decisions agency owners need to make and sharing hiring tips for agencies.

On this occasion, he discusses the recent acquisition of a white label WordPress development company, adding over 80 new team members and 100 new agency clients to their existing roster. He explains the decision-making process behind choosing to acquire rather than solely build, emphasizing the need for rapid growth and expansion in serving over 300 agency clients globally.

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

• Strategic acquisitions as a strategy for agency growth.

• Acquisition vs. organic growth.

• 2 tests for cultural compatibility.

• The Lion Framework.

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Strategic Acquisition as a Fast-Track to Agency Growth

Manish has been building E2M for the past ten years and recently embarked on a new phase in his journey by adopting acquisition as a growth strategy. Why now? One of the key reasons was the ability to acquire clients and add new team members rapidly.

When it comes to rapid expansion, acquisition stands out as one of the most effective strategies for an agency. Manish had a clear objective to increase his agency's scale by around 50% over the next three years. While achieving this organically was not impossible, it would have been time-consuming and presented its own set of challenges, so an acquisition made sense.

By acquiring an existing company, E2M was able to instantly add 80+ new team members and over 100+ agency clients to its portfolio. This immediate influx of resources and clientele allowed E2M to scale up its operations significantly and achieve its growth goals much faster than if it had pursued organic growth strategies.

Ultimately, Manish’s goals of dominating his niche in a short amount of time required a big investment and he opted to make a big move that would take less time. This way, combining forces with another company in the same space allowed E2M to strengthen its market presence and establish itself as a dominant player.

The Biggest Appeal of an Agency Acquisition

For Manish, the biggest appeal of an acquisition is that it’ll bring your agency new customers and especially new talent. Building a strong team is no small feat, and the process can be disheartening. However, acquiring a company with a skilled team already proficient in the area where Manish aims to expand can significantly expedite his agency's growth and heighten its chances of success.

Of course, is not as easy as finding a great team and adding them to your company. It's crucial to consider the cultural fit between the acquiring and acquired companies. Culture plays a pivotal role in the success of an acquisition. Misaligned cultures can lead to integration hurdles, increased employee turnover, and ultimately impede the success of the acquisition. Therefore, gaining a deep understanding of the company being considered for acquisition is essential. This understanding provides valuable insights into its operations, culture, team dynamics, and overall potential for success.

In Manish’s case, he knew exactly what to expect, having established an eight-year relationship with the owners of the acquired company that provided a clear understanding of its internal workings, team dynamics, and overall performance. This familiarity allowed for a smooth transition and integration of the new team into his agency.

Vetting Acquisition Targets: 2 Tests for Cultural Compatibility

There are two big tests to pass before embarking on an acquisition process.

1. First off, ask yourself can you take an entire month off from the business and find it has grown when you come back?

2. The second test is for those who don’t have the luxury of having known the other company for many years and can attest to how they work. Do a test project with the company you’re planning on purchasing. This way, you can see first-hand how you would work together. Regarding this second step, Manish goes even further and prompts agency owners to ask themselves if they would invite the CEO of the company they want to purchase to have dinner at their home since most likely they will be a reflection of their company culture.

Finally, Manish also mentions the importance of having a strong leadership team in place before considering an acquisition. Two years ago, he wouldn’t have embarked on such a time-consuming endeavor as acquiring a business since he still didn’t have the proper support and was more involved in the day-to-day tasks in the business. Having a capable team supporting him through the integration process helped increase their chances of a successful acquisition.

The Lion Framework to Learn the Importance of Rest and Downtime

Agency owners often feel the pressure to maintain a constant 100% effort, fearing that any time off will lead to everything falling apart. In reality, taking time away is not just an opportunity to recharge, but also a chance to evaluate what's not working and what is, ensuring you have the energy to address any issues upon your return.

Moreover, your attitude and energy will dictate your team’s overall attitude to work. A pissed-off owner that hates their job will likely lead a frustrated and exhausted team that lacks initiative. This is why Manish takes his time off seriously. After removing himself from day-to-day operations, he enjoyed a freedom he hadn’t seen in years.

However, the acquisition process brought him back to 18-hour workdays and numerous critical decisions. During this time, he made a point to take daily walks, giving himself the opportunity to recharge and gain the clarity needed to face the next day's challenges.

According to Manish's Lion Framework, which he shared at a recent mastermind event, taking time for self-care is not a luxury but a necessity. Rest time is crucial not only for personal health but also for sustaining productivity and creativity as a business owner. It serves as a vital tool in preventing burnout, maintaining mental clarity, and enhancing overall well-being. In this sense, Manish emphasizes the importance of surrounding oneself with a supportive team and community that offers encouragement, guidance, and assistance during difficult periods.

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

When was the last time you took a break from your agency? Do you stress out just thinking about taking time off? Do you feel like everything will fall apart with you? This is usually the case when agency owners need to create SOPs and delegate more to their team. Getting serious about SOP documentation levels up your agency, sets up the team for success, and increases its overall value. It starts with an important mental shift and understanding your agency will actually benefit from you taking a step back.

Today’s guest is a process and systems expert who focuses on establishing all the necessary systems and procedures to make sure you have something to lean on. If you're doing all the agency work, you’re rarely able to put 100% into anything. This is why she focuses on teaching how to leverage rest and create simple systems to increase your agency's longevity.

Alyson Caffrey is a systems and process creation expert and the founder of Operations Agency. She helps founders get their agencies out of their brains and centralized to help them be more impactful. She’s also the author of The Sabbatical Method: How to Leverage Rest and Grow Your Business, a guide to help return business owners back to their families. With it, founders learn that taking a break can increase your business’s longevity, uncover some inefficiencies, and professionalize operations.

In this interview, we’ll discuss:

• Taking a step back increases your agency's value.
• Simplifying SOP creation to have an immediate impact.
• 3 keys to successful digital agency processes

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  Why Agency Founders Need to Be Intentional with Their Time 

Like many service-based business owners, Alyson hadn’t planned to start an agency. She was working as an Operations Manager in Colorado when her husband got a career-defining opportunity that meant moving cities. Not long after that, she was approached by several former clients to continue providing some services, and she was suddenly an accidental agency owner providing SOPs and operations support.

With no children and her husband occupied in the military, Alyson had a ton of time to dedicate to her business. This meant she was able to serve clients at a really deep level in the beginning. However, when she became a mom she was confronted with the need to take time off.

As the operations expert, Alyson knows she should've had her processes documented, but like the cobbler's children with no shoes, she had not prioritized it. She now attributes the birth of her son to finally being more intentional about the time she spends working in her business and making sure she can spend time away from it, too.

Taking a Step Back Helps Increase Your Agency’s Value

Agency owners work very hard to build a business with the idea that at some point, they'll have freedom and the ability to take breaks. However, once the agency starts growing it never seems to be the right time to take time off. Many agency owners are they're forced to decide between their agency and their personal life. That means missing important events and strained relationships. Alyson says for her it was a high-stakes moment when she realized there was a problem.

It all starts with a mental shift and understanding you’re selling a transformation, not your time.

Many agency owners think they’re the only ones that can lead their business to success. However, once you remove yourself from the equation of day-to-day operations, the agency's value instantly drives up. When you can step away from the agency to recharge, or even just to work on the business and not in it, that single benefit is a game changer.

Three Steps You Can Take to Start Empowering Your Team

Where can you start to systematically take action to make the necessary changes? Alyson started by changing how she performs inside her business.

1. Screen recording. Instead of just going in and doing the work, Alyson started to screen-record while she did it.
2. Become the advisor. Next, she provide the resources and guidance for her team to get the results but didn’t do the work for them.
3. Test the framework. Alyson decided to test out her client-facing frameworks with her own team to see which processes they could set up using them.

How to Simplify SOPs and Have an Immediate Impact on Your Agency

Although the process of creating SOP's and documenting processes can take time, Alyson saw results almost immediately. After screen recording her processes, she was able to delegate some things to her client success manager. This small act freed up some of Alyson's time so she could focus on more important elements of the agency.

Start with the administrative tasks, which can be delegated overnight once you record the process. Things like sending client reports and scheduling meetings do not require a special skill set. Nothing will fall apart if you, as the agency owner, are not doing it. You can focus on other areas of the business while still allowing clients to feel supported without your direct input. Also, setting up a way to centrally locate all processes helps your team have independent access to information without needing your help.

Do you need an Operations Manager right away? In Alyson's opinion, no. Most agencies can wait until they’ve grown to maybe 30-40 people, depending on the type of agency. But it’s not a one-size-fits-all idea. Some owners can achieve results on a smaller scale. You can start by delegating or offloading just 20% of your tasks and still have a small win.

https://www.agencymastery360.com/agency-blueprint Are Your Digital Agency Processes Set Up for Failure?

Alyson says agency owners need to understand there are two states of operations. There’s operations creation and operations management. Usually, people want to skip right to the management part.

Often, agency owners want someone to come in and take over operations management without taking the time to first create the pathway. According to Alyson, this is largely why agency owners get burned with hires. They hire someone to do something without providing the tools for this person to get familiar with their role.

Furthermore, creating something that isn’t maintainable sets up failure. You can have fancy spreadsheets and automation but if you don’t understand how to maintain them, these processes go out of date fast. Building a system that needs less maintenance ultimately results in a better system that lasts longer.

3 Keys to Successful Digital Agency Operational Processes

1. Clear Expectations: We’ve all been there with projects that have a thousand revisions, take too long, or go out of scope. Start by taking a close look at those projects and get some SOPs to ask and answer: What’s in scope? What's outside of scope? What’s the timeline?
2. Standard Operating Procedures: You need to document absolutely everything around how you deliver your core services. A lack of centralized SOPs creates a limit on how much you can grow.
3. Transparent Reporting: There’s no need to overcomplicate this step. Focus on measurable KPIs around your projects. Are they on time? Within scope? Are they coming back error-free or an acceptable amount of minor errors? You want to gain visibility into how things are functioning overall to help you lay a foundation to get to the next level.

Your Digital Agency Can Grow In Your Absence

Some owners don’t want to hear this but the reality is your agency can grow in your absence. Stepping away to take a break gives you the opportunity to get to the next level. When climbing Mt. Everest, one of the main reasons climbers fail to reach the summit is the lack of altitude acclimation. This means climbers don’t take enough breaks at strategic points to prepare themselves for the next level.

In the end, reaching the summit is just 15 minutes of celebrating success. The fun part is the climb. Prepare your agency for joy in the day-to-day, not just in reaching the summit. Stop working weekends or into the evenings. Stop missing important events or skipping vacations. The trade-off is sacrificing daily operations for the joy of reaching the summit.

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program enables you to take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Do you view your digital agency clients as a means to an end? Are you and your team taking a real interest in your clients in order to understand them as a person first? Creating relationships is at the core of every successful agency. That's why today's guest finds his background in accounting a helpful skill in understanding what is important to his agency clients. Budgets and bottom line are one thing, but clients want to be treated like humans. He is on the show to share the insights he has learned about client relationships, how he weaves that into the interview process, and two pivotal moments that helped him have confidence and courage as an agency owner.

Spencer Hadelman is the founder and CEO of Advantage Marketing, a Chicago-based marketing firm that provides digital and traditional media solutions. His agency has served big brand clients like the University of Berkley and Hello Kitty and also invests in multiple companies with their recent e-commerce acquisitions.

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

• Why creating relationships is at the core of every successful agency.
• One unique interview tactic that assesses agency employees.
• Why you need confidence and courage to be an agency owner.

 

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Sponsors and Resources

E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service.

Podcast Takeover!!

Get to know your Smart Agency Guest Host: Dr. Jeremy Weisz is the co-founder of Rise25, an agency that helps companies launch and run podcasts profitably. He followed Jason’s podcast and eventually joined the mastermind and has been a guest on the podcast before. Today, he’s helping Jason bring something new to the Smart Agency podcast audience by interviewing a special guest and getting a new perspective on the show.

 

Serving Agency Clients According to Their Specific Needs

Spencer describes his business as a full-service marketing firm since he believes the label “agency” scares people off sometimes. He understands clients don’t always need help in every area so his company has 3 subdivisions:

• Digital advertising: Helping clients with search and Google campaigns, as well as paid social.
• Traditional media: Including television ad campaigns, radio, billboards, and direct mail.
• Content creation: Mainly content for their organic social campaigns. They also do website design, logo design, branding work, etc.

Some clients require all three services while others choose just one pillar depending on their needs. Overall, clients seem to appreciate that, depending on their strategy, they have different experts working on their marketing needs. They aren’t just pushed to one division completely. It’s great to have a different perspective from someone in a different division and in the end, it’s all about the results.

Why Human Relationships Are at the Core of Every Successful Agency

Even though Spencer majored in accounting, he credits the knowledge and skill set he got from his education as an important part of his marketing work. In fact, having those accounting skills is something he recommends to anyone wanting to own a business someday. Marketing courses and working at other agencies gave him the experience he needed to learn about the industry; however, accounting is what still helps him understand the clients' businesses.

Working at other agencies he learned about media buying and the evolution of changing technologies. The biggest lesson he took away, however, was that clients want to be treated like humans. It’s not just about their budget and coming in focused on how much ad spend. It's about creating long-term relationships. Whether it’s a startup or a huge brand, if clients are putting their faith in you, you need to take a human approach to it.

It was those relationships with clients that gave Spencer the push to start his agency. It seemed like a logical next step, after realizing clients didn’t really care about the agency and were more excited to work with him and his team.

 

https://www.agencymastery360.com/agency-blueprint A Unique Interview Tactic that Helps Assess Agency Employees

Spencer likes to prepare potential new hires for possible hostile reactions from clients. This is something he does even during their interview process. He reads their CV in front of them and shows a dismissive attitude just to see their reactions. In his opinion, it’s a good way to see how someone handles conflict and difficult situations.

To balance that with a fun work culture, he organizes outings, retreats, and contests. To help the team integrate and have fun, he comes up with different activities throughout the year. This reflects on the way the team interacts with one another and helps create strong relationships.

2 Pivotal Moments That Shaped Confidence and Courage as an Agency Owner

When Spencer started his agency, a friend offered to rent him an extra office space. Although he had planned to just work from home and not pay any rent, his friend offered him a very reasonable deal and he took it. Looking back, this helped him a lot during the early stages of his agency. He had access to a conference room where he could meet clients, which greatly helped with credibility. He also got to wake up every morning and leave the house, which helped his agency feel more like a real business even if he was one person at the time. It was such an impactful gesture that nowadays he always offers office space to that same friend.

Another pivotal moment for Spencer happened while working at another agency. He pitched some ideas to the owners of a golf resort. In the end, that client didn’t end up choosing the agency but liked his ideas. They were vocal about the opportunity to work with him outside that agency.

After quitting, he reached out to them and they talked about a project for a golf course in Wisconsin. He had never worked on that type of project but knew the sport well and had his agency experience to fall back on. It’s now one of the top five golf resorts in the country, something he helped build since its beginning.

Overall, Spencer is very proud of how it all happened because he had the confidence and courage to follow through with that client. He thinks every agency owner could benefit from trusting their abilities and taking calculated risks when someone expresses interest in working with them.

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Why is VaynerMedia attracting the best brands that everyone wants to work with? Do you think it is because they have the best team? Do they have the best process and deliver the best results? Out of the millions of agencies… Why do we all know who that agency is? Simply put, they are well known because their founder understood the game of attention. You can to that level of success too by learning to promote your digital agency through content.

In 2006, Gary created Wine Library TV, where he reviewed different types of wine in the hopes of getting the attention of wine buyers. He started by sharing his thoughts about wine on social media and ended up becoming known for his insights on digital marketing. Years later, he founded VaynerMedia after growing his dad’s wine store to over $100 Million!

Pretty much out of the gate, his agency was working with brands like Pepsi and General Electric. But why were they coming to them?

Gary knew what others didn’t, which is that whoever can get and keep people’s attention, will win 99% of the time.

Once I figured out this I never went back.

I thought if I had the best team, service, and results people would line up to work with us. As you may guess, I was WRONG.

I had figured out a formula to get the perfect clients by reaching out through calls, emails, conferences, and even showing up at their offices. However, I never figured out how to get clients to come to us until I started following Gary.

In this video, I’ll share:

• How agencies are getting their perfect clients to call them.
• The type of content you need to be creating to get clients’ attention.

Why Content is a MUST for Digital Agency Owners

First off, let’s just be clear that creating content is not a nice-to-have piece for an agency. It’s a MUST. If you want to stand out from the crowd and get noticed, you should be creating content.

Usually, agency owners I chat with have one main fear around content. They don’t want to be the face of the agency and that holds them back from creating content. They think “if I create it, all the clients will ask to work with me directly” which is just not true. Gary Vaynerchuck is not out there working every single client engagement that comes to VaynerMedia.

If you create content that gets your niche audience’s attention and provides value, they’ll now trust you and compare everyone else to you.

Do you think this is a competitive advantage? OF COURSE IT IS.

Using Success Stories to Promote Your Digital Agency

In this video, you’ll meet Marty, a mastery member who already had previous success in a well-defined niche. However, his agency was not growing as fast as he’d like. We recommended they highlight some of the agency’s successes through video case stories. His audience wanted to hear stories from other businesses they could relate to. These were simple videos that answered:

• What's the conflict?
• How did they overcome it?
• What is life like now that it is resolved?

You may think the work was done once the case stories were ready. Job done, time to open up the floodgates. Not necessarily. Now it was time to promote this content.

They began to run ads and guess what? They got the attention of their ideal audience. Clients like Delta were now calling them wanting to work together.

Sharing success stories will allow you to not only showcase your expertise but also demonstrate the real-world results your agency can deliver.

Promoting Your Brand Through a Podcast

Another type of content I’ve seen work very well for agencies is a podcast. A podcast can be a great opportunity to interview experts in your field while adding color to the conversation. It’ll take time to build an audience, but it’s fun and easy to do. You’ll also learn a lot from others in the process and establish yourself as an authority. By sharing knowledge and expertise you’ll be showing your audience you know what you’re talking about.

Creating a podcast and interviewing experts in your area will also help you create credibility by association. Once you’re seen as an authority, it’ll become much easier to attract and convert leads.

How to Content to Educate Your Audience

This one’s always a winner. One of the best ways to create content that will resonate with your audience is to educate them. By teaching your audience how to do something you’re providing real value that they can use to improve their lives or their business.

What type of valuable information should you share? Make sure it’s some of your best stuff. Too many times people try to get away with sharing some really small pieces. The problem with this is people will assume you’re giving away your best stuff and that your best stuff sucks.

What I’ve found is that people are interested in knowing how something works but they’re rarely interested in doing it themselves. They want to understand, but in the end, they want someone to come in and do it and get it right first. So don’t be afraid to show them. Clients want someone who can solve their problem fast and if you can position yourself as an authority in the space, you’re going to win.

The Ultimate Guide to Unlocking Your Agency's Potential

If you want to attract your ideal clients the best way is through custom content so you can build the know, like, and trust factor. You'll establish yourself as an authority by speaking to their specific issues and challenges. Anyone can create social posts and schedule them on various platforms. Custom content in the form of a podcast and videos showcasing your best stuff if what makes you a master in the art of attraction.

Does your agency truly understand your clients' needs? Are you proactive about learning their business? Is your team constantly looking for new, innovative solutions? What can you do to earn clients’ trust to retain and even upsell them? Today’s guest has been an agency owner for 30 years and knows the business well. He understands which questions to ask to gain clients’ trust and teaches other agency owners to do the same. He’ll reveal what clients are looking for in an agency according to a recent survey.

Drew McLellan owns Agency Management Institute, which serves small to mid-scale agencies helping them grow. He's on the show sharing insight from a recent survey. Drew’s agency runs an annual survey where agency clients respond to focused questions that give agencies some insight into what they can improve to have a better relationship with them. This year, the survey focused on agencies’ struggles to grow their existing book of business.

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

• What do clients think about agencies?
• 4 things you can do to build better relationships with clients.
• 2 big mistakes you should avoid with clients.

 

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Sponsors and Resources

E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service.

 

What Do Clients Think About Their Agency Relationship?

Most agency owners are great when it comes to their services but don’t have the tools to run a business profitably. Having run an agency for thirty years, Drew knows the industry well and now focuses on helping them.

His agency runs an annual research piece called the Agency Edge. In its ten-year history, they’ve mostly talked to people who hire agencies, as was the case this year. The central theme this year was agencies’ struggles to grow their existing book of business.

Clients are taking a longer time to hire agencies, and even once they’ve hired them, they’re slow to assign a first project. So how to get more from the clients you already have? Basically, the gist of the research was to get respondents to reveal how, when, and where they give an agency more money. The results were fascinating -- most fell into one of three categories:

• The ideal agency client: This is the client we all want to have. They want their agency at the table talking about strategy and truly believe they couldn’t run their business as well without the agency.
• The client looking for a specialist: This was the largest group, accounting for over 45% of the respondents. These are businesses that are pretty happy with their in-house team but are in need of extra sets of hands and depths of expertise in certain areas. They expect the agency to come in and partner with their team. They don’t expect them to get in on big-picture strategy.
• The client who thinks everything’s too expensive: This was fortunately the smallest group. These clients see agencies as a necessary evil that is too expensive. If they could avoid giving an agency more money, they will choose to do that.

Naturally, the research focused on the first two groups, which are the ones likely to spend more money on agencies.

What Do Clients Really Want From Their Agency?

No matter the different topics they’ve covered over the years, Drew and his team keep finding these same groups. The undesirable clients who see agencies as money-sucking machines are thankfully always the minority.

However, Drew does note this was the first year where that minority came off very strongly about their views. This might be an indication that brand leaders are becoming more leery about partnerships. Moreover, there are now more agencies out there than ever before, which means there are more bad agencies too. With more people out there who don’t know how to market and adequately provide a service, it drowns out the good ones. This creates a rejection of the concept of agency, which leads to businesses trying to avoid that label.

In terms of how to identify these client categories, they’re actually spread across the board. Businesses that want agencies as a partner could be big brands or small startups.

Overall, clients want an agency partner who really tries to understand their business. Basically, they want the agency to care enough about their business to come up with good ideas; even if those ideas don’t necessarily impact the agency. This could be a problem when account people are order takers who don’t understand the clients’ business and don’t know which questions to ask to have insights into their business problems.

https://www.agencymastery360.com/agency-blueprint 4 Things You Can Do to Build Better Relationships With Clients

1. Learn more. Based on survey responses, agency owners could invest more time and energy learning how their clients do their work. This can mean a number of things like case studies or helping your client do customer research. Yes, this is a huge time investment on the agency's part. However, failing in-depth understanding relegates you to an order-taker role by your own doing.
2. Meet your clients. Even if you’re a virtual agency you should get out there and meet your clients in person, especially in the onboarding process. There's still no substitute for face time in this post-pandemic era with so many ways to connect virtually. It’s hard to develop more than surface-level trust when you’ve never even been in the same room as that person.
3. Ask more questions. Drew believes agency owners tend to stop themselves from asking questions. They assume the client knows their business well, so if they say they want an app or a tradeshow booth, all too often the answer is “Okay, we’ll do that for you”. It’s okay to at least ask simple questions like: "Why?" or "Is there a better way to spend that budget?" Just dig a bit into the reasons behind what they’re asking. More than half the time they need something, but are wrong about what that something is.
4. Be proactive. Clients want their agencies to be proactive and not wait around for them to place an order. Many agencies shy away from this because it feels pushy; however, the message that came across loud and clear is that clients will give agencies more money when agencies give them a good reason to spend more money.

2 Big Mistakes Some Agencies Make with Clients

Out of all the groups, it was especially important for the second one – clients looking for a specialist –to find an agency that respects their team. It’s important to understand the ecosystem of how the business works, who’s on the team, and where you can lend a hand. Overall, the message was “don’t overstep your bounds”.

Clients were clear about how much they dislike agencies that come in and try to prove they’re smarter than the internal team. Collaboration will get you better results because these companies think highly of their internal team. This also goes for getting into a meeting and immediately starting to use technical terminology. You obviously want clients to think you’re smart but you won’t get far by making them feel dumb.

Big Takeaways: More Time with Agency Owners and Being Assertive

Still focusing on the first two groups, it’s important to mention these clients wanted more interaction with the agency owner. This doesn’t necessarily mean the agency owner will be working on their business on a day-to-day basis. It just means they want the agency owner to check in and know what the team is doing and can be a sounding board for them.

Overall, the big takeaway from the survey is that clients are open to agencies being more assertive in bringing more ideas to clients. They want those ideas and most of them do have more money to give to agencies and are eager to do so if they demonstrate they really understand their business.

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

What sets digital marketing agencies apart? How can you destroy your competition to succeed? Are you struggling to stand out in a crowded market? Do you want to crush your competition and become the go-to agency in your industry, but don't know where to start?

What if I told you there’s a way to separate your agency from everyone else? Whether it’s an SEO, ecommerce, or email marketing agency, your agency can still sound like everyone else despite having a niche. Having a MeToo agency will only have you winning the race to the bottom.

The next logical step after choosing a niche is finding ways to position your business as the top choice for clients. From crafting a unique value proposition to building a strong brand identity, you need to know how to set your agency apart from the competition.

In this video, I’ll share…

• How one agency transformed from a "Me Too" agency to an industry leader with a huge waitlist of clients that are willing to pay a premium for the best.
• Why your marketing isn’t clear and how to fix it. I’m also going to show you the simple formula for developing an elevator pitch that makes people say where have you been all my life.
• My positioning script board that you can download and use to make your own marketing stand out.

So, how can you be more competitive in such a crowded space? Let’s about how to position your agency to stand out. Most digital agencies struggle with positioning in a way that truly resonates with their audience. Having unclear marketing leads to several bad things:

• Your clients won’t know who you are.
• Nobody is clear on how you can help them.
• Your marketing campaigns fall short.
• Potential clients won’t buy from your agency.

It’s frustrating because you know you have a great service to offer but you’re talking to an empty room.

Crush Your Competition With Marketing Messaging That Really Works

Let me tell you about my friend Jose, who had an agency with a well-defined niche, but was converting at less than 20%. My first thought was to ask him about his elevator pitch, which was “We design websites for non-profits”... Clear, understandable, and to the point. However, the problem was that it only mentioned who he helped and what he did.

No one cares what you do; they care what you can do for them.

After thinking about the results his clients wanted and why, we came up with an elevator pitch that mentioned how they helped nonprofit clients achieve their goals of raising awareness and finding donors and volunteers. We walked him through our positioning scripts and came up with a new approach. The new elevator pitch was clear on who they actually helped, what they want, and why in just a couple of sentences. That agency is now dominating their niche.

 The Positioning Script That Can Help You Reach the Top

Our formula to help agency owners improve their positioning includes five questions. Ideally, you’ll spend at least 10-15 minutes on each. You’ll be ranking each of the provided options to answer:

• What does your client want?
• What is keeping your client from getting what they want?
• How does their problem make them feel?
• Why shouldn’t people have to deal with this in the first place?
• What is the root cause of your problem?

Once you have your answers, you can start following the script to tell a story and create your new elevator pitch. This is what we did with Jose and this is how you too can get the best results. Get access to these resources at JasonSwenk360.com/attract.

Now you can create authority and position your agency in the right way. That’s where great content comes in, which is our next step in the Attract Series.

Whether you're just starting out or looking to take your agency to the next level, this video is a must-watch for anyone who wants to dominate their industry. So what are you waiting for? Hit the play button and start becoming the go-to agency today!

The Ultimate Guide to Unlocking Your Agency's Potential

If you want to stand out from the noisy agency space and attract your ideal clients in order to crush the competition be sure to check out our FREE video course: AgencyMastery360.com/Attract

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program enables you to take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

How do you get noticed by big brands? And eventually, get noticed by big agencies for an acquisition offer? It's all about making decisions that put the client first. That is what this guest shares in his story about starting out in the early days of social media, finding a hole in the industry,  and how his agency's rapid growth led to an unexpected acquisition offer.

Daniel James is the founder and CEO of Mint Performance Marketing, a growth agency working with brands that take a strong stance. His team helps brands build their business profitably with integrated omnichannel growth marketing execution. He’s led marketing strategies for AOL, Toyota, Disney, and more. His agency saw rapid growth, getting to seven figures within a year, and caught the eye of the global agency group Social Chain, which acquired it in 2019. He'll now discuss how the acquisition conversation started, how he estimated a fair value for his agency, and much more.

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

• Running a full-service agency to have a bigger impact on brands.
• How to use influencer marketing for your agency.
• The importance of customer experience to create loyalty.
• How the acquisition conversation started and how he justified his valuation number.

 

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Sponsors and Resources

E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service.

Podcast Takeover!!

Get to know your Smart Agency Guest Host: Dr. Jeremy Weisz is the co-founder of Rise25, an agency that helps companies launch and run podcasts profitably. He followed Jason’s podcast and eventually joined the mastermind and has been a guest on the podcast before. Today, he’s helping Jason bring something new to the Smart Agency podcast audience by interviewing a special guest and getting a new perspective on the show.

 

The Evolution of Social Media from it's Beginnings

Daniel has been in the digital space for a long time, beginning as a MySpace employee. At that time, MySpace was one of the first recognized social media platforms that really took off. For Daniel, it was a blast working there feeling the excitement of what they were helping build. It was a very creative environment where they were encouraged to do innovative things.

MySpace was always a creative community where you would code your own page. Later on, companies like Facebook took over with a more user-friendly communication tool. From that point, the platform struggled although it still exists today.

All in all, it was an amazing opportunity to visit Los Angeles and work with the MySpace team there. That is when he decided to move to LA and run his own marketing agency.

Finding a Gap in the Market to Have a Bigger Impact on Brands

Daniel didn’t study marketing but was lucky to have a solid formation from the people around him and working on different big brands. After a while, he wanted to have a bigger impact on brands and noticed a gap in the communication between different agencies all working on the same brand. This inspired him to start his agency, Mint, with a vision of being a full-service agency for disruptive ecommerce brands.

As an agency, they don’t try to cover absolutely every service. For instance, they don’t do SEO. However, in their core focus of acquisition and retention Daniel strives to offer a full and non-fragmented service.

One of his current clients was working with several agencies until recently. Although it worked for him, it meant he had different teams for CRM, influencer, social, and Google. Instead, having now all those teams under the same umbrella means they work cohesively to drive the most efficient, scalable, and profitable performance.

The Do's and Dont's of Influencer Marketing

Daniel’s agency uses influencer marketing to harness creative’s connections with their audiences. What brands normally want from influencers is a person-to-person connection to their audience. In his opinion, influencers do a great job because they’re contextually relevant to the platforms. People respond better to a familiar face than to stylized commercial content (although there is a place for commercial content). The influencer approach increases the chances of content being viewed as not just an ad.

Daniel’s agency prefers to provide a script however they're careful not to restrict the influencer. They’ve already figured out a way to engage their audience. That said, it doesn’t mean they’ll be great at getting your message across. This is why they provide guidelines that still allow creative freedom and improves the chances of success.

Influencer marketing is about community first. The worst mistake Daniel has seen when it comes to using influencer marketing is when people don’t think through the community element. Are they relevant to the brand? Are they engaged? Is it the type of community you want to tap into?

 

https://www.agencymastery360.com/agency-blueprint How the TikTok Algorithm Favors Influencer Marketing

TikTok influencers are growing and becoming mainstream celebrities at impressive speeds. What is it about TikTok that helps them grow so much? For starters, it still has organic reach so you can actually establish yourself and build an audience. Additionally, the production levels required to be successful are lower. Because of this, the platform is very attractive to creators and it’s easier to attract an audience.

For Daniel, the production level you want for your influencer campaign depends on what you’re trying to achieve. You don’t need to spend a lot of money on highly stylized video content on TikTok. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t invest in video production. However, for brands trying to tap into TikTok and video, they can go for less stylized productions and get great results.

There’s a place for both. It’ll all depend on what your goal is and what’s native to the platform and doesn’t feel out of place.

The Important of Good Customer Experience to Create Loyalty

Generally, you never want to pay to acquire a customer more than once which is why there is a huge focus on retention.

This is even more important now in an economic climate of inflation and a recession. Consumers will be pickier about where they put their money and demand more from brands. Brands must pay attention and really go above and beyond to keep existing customers engaged.

What’s a good customer experience? There are certain elements that contribute to a good customer experience. There’s a good level of communication upon purchase, shipping speed, and how the brand is following up with the consumer. Things like VIP programs, loyalty points, subscriptions, etc. are ways to encourage repeat purchases.

Daniel is a big believer in making the product unpacking shareable. If your product arrives in a normal package then OK. People will open it and use it. However, if it arrives in a cool package with a thank you note and stickers, then customers are likely to take a picture and post it on social media. This customer experience creates free, word-of-mouth advertising.

How They Got to a Fair Validation that Satisfied Both Parties

Daniel already knew Social Chain owner Steven Barlett from meeting at events yet the eventual conversation about an acquisition came as somewhat of a surprise to him. At this point, the agency was just two years old.

Social Chain had built its business and name working on very creative campaigns around brand awareness. They tapped into social media as more of a communication tool and never had a performance element to what they did. They were now looking to marry brand marketing with performance marketing.

Daniel felt this was a great opportunity and converging those two worlds of brand and performance has always made sense from a consumer perspective and in terms of efficiencies.

When it came time to talk numbers, the estimated valuation depended on a number of factors. It was heavily tied to EBITDA. It was also tied to whether or not the business was growing, profitability, length of contracts, forecastable revenue, and composition of the team (the value will be less for agencies that are freelancer/contractor-only agency).

His agency had established employees, had forecastable revenue, and was profitable. All these things aided him in getting a good valuation. Furthermore, it was important for him to retain control because it wasn’t a cashout for him. They were barely starting and the acquisition was more about a strategic alliance.

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program enables you to take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Have you ever heard the saying there are riches in niches?

Are you an overworked owner of a stagnant agency? Maybe you have grown your digital agency to seven figures but can’t figure out how to get beyond that and are feeling stuck. The door to growth can be unlocked with one key and that key is choosing a niche. But how do you choose the best niche for your agency? Will narrowing down your focus limit your agency's potential?

Everyone is talking about niching down and picking your “perfect avatar” But do you want to know the biggest mistake that no one is telling you about when it comes to niching down?

In this video, I will share with you:

• The biggest mistake digital agency owners are making when it comes to niching.
• How to choose the best niche for your digital agency.

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Do You Have to Turn Away Clients Outside Your Agency's Niche?

When you hit the point of stagnation in your agency's growth, you’re usually working more and making less money. It doesn’t seem fair. However, agency owners are often reluctant to niche down because they fear limiting the agency, hurting the business, or losing leads. But...

How many leads do you have right now? How’s the agency doing? If the answers are not all positive ones, then you have more to lose if you don’t pick a niche!

And this is the biggest mistake people make when picking a niche. You don’t have to get rid of existing clients or turnaway inbound leads outside of the niche. Who said you couldn’t still work with those clients? When you pick a niche it means you’ll now only be marketing to that niche. And the more specific you are, the more clients you’ll attract.

Think about it this way, if you’re having heart issues, would you go to a general doctor or a cardiologist who specializes in heart issues? In fact, the more specialized the better because they know all the special nuances about the heart and your condition.

By focusing on a specific niche, you can build a deep understanding of:

• your clients’ needs,
• their audience and their audience's needs,
• and the challenges they’re going through

Offering a specialized service helps you stand out in your industry as an agency with expertise others can’t match. You will stand apart from the generalists and "me too"  agencies that do a little bit of everything.

How Do You Choose the Best Niche for Your Agency?

When my friend Chris moved to niche down his agency services he started to only work with clients using Magento. With this horizontal niche, his agency became specialized in this software they became the leader in this technology. They were able to  charge premium prices and pick and choose which clients they wanted to work with.

As the expert in your niche, you're able to charge higher fees, your team will become more efficient, and your agency’s profitability will skyrocket. Once you start servicing your ideal customers, you’ll build a stronger relationship with them leading to repeat business. The positive word of mouth and referrals you get from those relationships will help you become the choice, rather than just a choice.

I’ve created a system to help you pick your niche. Download my Niche Grader here, where you'll also find other systems and resources. I’ve found that if you make a list of the niches you’re thinking about choosing – whether it’s lawyers, real estate, doctors, etc – and start ranking them on a scale of 1 to 10 according to the questions presented. You’ll find questions like “do you have experience in this niche?” Or “Is this large enough to support your business?” Once your list and scores are ready, you’ll see the biggest score will almost always be the right answer for a niche you can dominate.

Of course, a niche alone won’t get you all the way to the top. You’ll need to pair that with clarity, strong messaging and authority, which is all part of the attract video series.

Do You Want to Master the Art of Attracting Clients?

FREE COURSE: Discover the 4-system process to ATTRACTING the perfect agency clients at https://www.agencymastery360.com/attract In a 4 videos series, we'll break down the steps you need to take in order to gain clarity, empower your team, and create the freedom you've always wanted in your agency.

Are you guilty of making one of the biggest agency sales mistakes? Do you rely too much on referrals? Do you have three channels working to find new prospects and fill your pipeline? Without this, you're always playing catch-up leaving no time for working on growth. A lack of systems hinders your agency's growth by keeping the owner tied to daily operations. As today's guest learned the hard way, you can't rely too much on any one specific channel of lead generation. He shares the lessons he learned on maintaining a balance and working hard to set up the different channels to secure new leads. He also recalls the pitfalls and mistakes made as well as the ways he learned to set up his agency sales team for success.

Chris Brewer is the cofounder of OMG Commerce, a digital agency that’s highly experienced in crafting Google search ads designed to target traffic that converts. Their team is really connected to the Google ecosystem and knows what’s new and noteworthy, what’s tested, and what’s not quite ready for primetime.

In this interview, we’ll discuss:

• 4 biggest sales mistakes growing your digital agency
• 3 systems to setup for agency sales success.
• The worst and best day in an agency owner’s life.

 

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Sponsors and Resources

E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service.

 

Pivoting to the Agency Service Offering with Market Demands 

Chris and his business partner Brett Curry are both serial entrepreneurs and accidental agency owners.

In 2009, after selling his business and feeling miserable about it, Chris attended the Dan Kennedy Super Conference in Dallas. This conference was a great place to network and Chris actually left with a pretty good idea for a new business he later presented to Brett.

They started selling Google Maps optimizations to local businesses. That first year they sold $30K worth of optimizations. This allowed them to pivot to other areas which provided opportunities for repeat business. They turned their Google Maps model into SEO and PPC and continued to grow their agency in other service areas. Their most recent focus is on eCommerce.

4 Sales Mistakes to Avoid When Growing Your Digital Agency 

With such a long history in the business, Chris is embarrassed to admit it was only eight years ago he realized he needed to get out of sales. Now he shares mistakes made while growing his agency:

1. Not focusing on outbound. When the agency was growing, it seemed there was no need to focus on outbound. However, there came a time when the inbound pipeline dried up and they scrambled to hire for outbound sales. This is reactionary and, as Chris says, “hindsight’s always wonderful in agency land.” Jason recommends a 3-channel approach to lead generation: inbound, outbound, and a strategic partnership.
2. Relying on referrals. Chris and his partner worked hard to establish themselves as a reliable and trustworthy partner. With that kind of reputation, other agencies felt comfortable sending them referrals. However, if most of your strategic partners are other agencies, they’ll hold onto business when things get slow for them.
3. Conferences and events. Before the pandemic, conferences were the place to network since all the big brands were usually there. As we've seen, things change quickly so it's important not to rely heavily on events you haveno control over.
4. Lead gen companies. They turned to the many emails they regularly got from lead gen companies coming after their agency. In the end, however, the ones they chose didn’t play out too well. It was a disappointing experience, but he still believes in outbound.

https://www.agencymastery360.com/agency-blueprint 3 Systems to Set Up Your Agency Sales Team’s Success

By now, Chris has figured out what he does best and the value he brings to the agency. At some point, he felt he wanted to share the spotlight and get approval. More recently, he decided he wanted to step back and do what he does best, which is relationships and connecting with people in a non-sales way.

An owner always sells better than an outside hire. There are various reasons for this, but Chris thinks it starts with compensation. An owner will just step into a conversation and make sure they’re getting the right kind of clients. They’re in no rush to meet a sales quota or specific commission, so they can properly separate prospects from suspects. Additionally, they have a high degree of credibility and trust which helps put people at ease.

There are certain things an owner can teach their team to attract and covert clients:

1. Agency-specific experience isn't necessary; nuances of the agency business and service offering can be learned.
2. Your sales team can navigate sales calls when you prepare them with responses to the common sales objections.
3. Pass along success stories accumulated from the years of being an agency owner in order to share with future prospects. It’s an integral piece to making prospects feel like they’re in a conversation rather than being sold.

Once you set up these systems to tackle the challenges of training an effective sales team, they won’t even need you anymore.

What is the Worst and Best Day in an Agency Owner’s Life?

The day they can finally exit day-to-day operations is the best and worst day for an agency owner. You walk around realizing your team doesn’t need you and can handle things on their own. It’s the best day because now your business is scalable; and the worst day, short-term, until you realize the agency still needs you in a different way.

Maybe you don’t want to exit and maybe you do, but it’s important to have the choice. Also, it’s something you’ll need to do even if you want to take a vacation. Has it been years since the last time you took even two weeks off? Do you think the business will come crashing down if you’re not there to put out the fires? Something’s probably wrong if that’s the case.

Be more productive in the things that’ll move you forward

Most entrepreneurs can relate to the feeling of having so many ideas you end up all over the place. Chris says that’s how he’s made money but he also admits this also makes him his own worst enemy.

If you’re trying to focus on certain projects, Chris recommends not making any big changes all at once. Start with one thing and give it some time to see if it works. Also, figure out your why before you start. Have a clear reason why this new thing you’re working on is important to you and then find an accountability partner. If you’re planning to try time-blocking, you need someone to keep you accountable for that and attach a personal or financial penalty. For instance, when Chris was writing a book, he told his wife he’d put $500 in her account if he didn’t get up at 7:00 AM to work on it.

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Why did I almost QUIT my multi-million dollar agency to get a job? It sounds crazy to think that I’d gotten to that point – for many is a measure of success – and was willing to let it go. I needed to learn to plan for the future and create a vision statement for my agency.

You see, I envisioned owning a business as the ultimate path to freedom, but it was ending up being the exact opposite. Like most agency owners, I started off wanting a business that provided me with predictability, freedom, and wealth. However, there came a point where I felt like a prisoner to the agency I had created.

I was doing EVERYTHING!

Every little decision in the agency was going through me. My team was not making a single decision without me and everything was falling on my shoulders. I was stressed out and miserable.

It’s easy for agency owners to become overwhelmed by the daily grind. This habit will only take you so far and the agency will eventually plateau. You need to take time to plan for the future and envision the agency you want to build. Your vision dictates your eventual success.

Here’s what I want to discuss with you today:

• The first of two keys that led an agency from barely scraping to being nearly an 8-figure agency.
• The 5 most important questions which allowed my agency to grow faster while I worked fewer hours.
• The secret that led to eventually selling my first digital agency to a huge firm.

I’ve seen many agency owners skip these steps, but it’s the foundation that your agency is built on and the most important thing we make sure the members of our Agency Mastery do.

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Setting the Vision for Your Agency

I always say running an agency is like getting on a boat with your team. As the captain, you set the course. However, if your team has no idea where you’re going, they’ll keep coming to you to steer the boat in the right direction. After a while, it’ll get pretty frustrating. It happens to a lot of us and things will never truly change for your agency until you figure out the two keys to successfully leading an agency, here's the first one:

Communicate your vision. This means not just gathering your team and explaining your vision once. For them to steer the boat even in your absence, you’ll have to communicate that vision often.

The Five Most Important Questions Every Agency Owner Should Answer

When I say I almost made the decision to take a job a quit the agency I mean I even did interviews. One of those interviewers asked me the most important question I’ve ever been asked and one I encourage you to ask yourself:

1. What do you want to do every day and what do you want to avoid?

The answer to this question was the beginning of my vision. I realized I didn’t have to shut down the agency. I just needed to create a vision and plan that allowed me to work on the things I loved and delegate the ones I didn’t want to work on.

2. What type of agency do you want to have?

Do you want to have an agency you can one day sell? Then we need to figure out what to do to get it to that point. Do you want to create a lifestyle business where it’s built around your lifestyle and you can do what you want? Do you want an incubator agency where you use the business to build products and companies? Or do you want to be high-priced or high-value, low-price? Deciding the type of agency you want will make it easier for you and your team to make decisions along the way.

3. Where do you want revenue to be in the next year? And in 5 years?

After the first 3 to 5 years with the agency, I felt like we were hitting a glass ceiling. I was being reactive to the business coming to me and never thought about where I wanted to take the agency. Once I started thinking about the number I wanted to reach – which was over eight figures – I was able to start formulating a plan.

By planning ahead to the number I wanted to reach, I realized I either had to 5x the number of clients I had or 5x my pricing. The first one just wasn’t an option without depleting my team, and if you can’t implement the second then, then you have the wrong clients, which leads me to the next question.

4. What types of clients, industries, and engagements excite you?

I was taking on the wrong clients and saying yes to the wrong engagements. One time, the agency took on a client who wanted to build the next big thing for golf. It was an industry we had no experience in and it quickly became apparent the engagement would be a nightmare for all. We kept missing deadlines because we had no prior experience in this industry, the client demanded constant meetings, low budgets and unrealistic timelines; the worst part was that we took time and focus from other clients.

It was tough for the team’s morale and made me question everything. This is what took me to the point of considering shutting down the agency and taking a job.

Looking back, this could all have been avoided if I’d just been clear about the type of clients we as an agency should be going after.

5. What are the values you’re looking for in your team?

I figured we needed to get the right workers to get the job done but went about it the wrong way. I thought if we hired workers from the biggest agencies we would become like them. This turned out to be a big mistake. Coming from a big agency made no difference because the person we hired didn’t share our values, especially being resourceful.

I should’ve focused on hiring team members who believed in the same things the agency stood for and shared my vision. So I started by defining our values and what we believed in. This way, we could measure future and current team members on our values.

The Ultimate Guide to Unlocking Your Agency's Potential

The answers to these questions will become the ultimate guideline for unlocking your agency’s potential. If you’re feeling lost and unsure about why you do what you do, it will be the cause of a lack of clarity.

So why haven’t you worked on clearly defining your vision yet? I get that this is probably the last thing you want to do. It’s tedious and you came here to learn how to attract your ideal clients. That will only happen once you define who your perfect clients are, which you can’t do until you define who YOU are.

Is it difficult for you to delegate to your team? Are you still handling everything yourself? Does your team feel empowered to take the initiative or do more work?  If you’re still at the center of everything, it's time to unlearn your old ways and elevate your team. When you do, you'll experience limitless agency growth. Today's guest thought clients expected to work directly with her and therefore found it hard to step away from daily operations. However, she learned to let go of this limiting mindset and embrace collaborative work. It was a humbling experience to see how much empowering her team made everything better. Now she finally gets to focus on strategy, growth, and agency culture.

Julianne Fraser is the founder of Dialogue New York, a digital marketing consultancy specializing in building influencer marketing strategies for lifestyle brands. For five years her agency has worked with corporate giants like Adidas and startups like Brooklinen amplifying their stories through influential voices.

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

• Growing agency employee growth paths.
• Building a collaborative approach to improve client relationships.
• Elevating your team to develop strategy on their own.
• Keeping high standards of quality as the agency grows.

 

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Sponsors and Resources

E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service.

What Influenced the Vision for an Influencer Marketing Agency?

Julianne got into the industry just as brands started to understand the power of social media. She worked as a consultant at a startup accelerator where she gained valuable insight into the art of building client relationships. In her career, she laid the foundation of strategy work for many startups. Since then, influencer marketing has become a bigger part of marketing budgets. Just last year, investment in this area added up to over $16 million.

Working at several companies over the years, she also learned there are varying approaches to influencer marketing. The PR Approach, understanding relationships and creativity but no measurable results, Performance Marketing Approach, where they measure returns but no creative strategy, and the Automated Influencer Marketing Approach.

Having done all three approaches throughout her career, Julianne felt there was an opportunity to develop a strategy that incorporated all their benefits.

Her agency officially opened its doors in 2017 as a solo venture operating from Julianne's apartment. After 6 months her first hire was someone to handle execution. That time gave her a solid perspective on the ins and outs of all aspects of the operations; this was very useful as she grew her team.

How to Develop Agency Employee Growth Paths

Julianne felt humbled by the experience of hiring and mentoring a team. It’s been one of the greatest challenges but also one she greatly enjoys. Her view on how to hire, train, and manage has changed with experience. In the beginning, she mostly hired based on skill. Now, however, she’s learned the importance of culture fit and having a team that’s excited to learn.

In this sense, she admits to being old school in her approach to employee growth in the agency. Initially, new hires in coordinator junior roles were promoted to associate or manager after a couple of months. Now, however, she crafts her team’s growth by catering to their passions and talents.

She credits her business coach for teaching her the benefits of coaching her team for the role they want. Basically, getting people with very different abilities – whether for customer service, negotiations, or systems – on the same growth track will just ensure they’ll get bored and leave. It was a limiting belief based on old-school conceptions of growth and it took years to unlearn it.

Now she pinpoints each team member’s zone of genius and develops individual growth plans for them. It has worked wonders and helped her increase retention and creating a great culture at her agency.

https://www.agencymastery360.com/agency-blueprint Building a Collaborative Approach to Improve Client Relationships

For the longest time, Julianne was convinced she had to manage all client relationships. Like many agency owners, she believed clients were coming specifically to work with her. It was an old-school limiting belief that got in the way of her agency’s growth. Furthermore, she thought she should be the one developing all the strategy work for clients.

Fortunately, she realized the agency would grow by adopting a different approach. Building trust with clients is very important to the relationship, so there was a lot of work put into training. As to the strategy work, instead of doing it from start to finish, Julianne could break it into stages. Bringing in team members with expertise in creative concepts or copywriting transformed the process into a collaborative approach.

Today, she is completely out of client management and process. She solely focuses on strategy and growth. It has completely changed her role as an agency owner.

It was a humble awakening when Julianne realized she didn’t have to do everything herself and how much stronger the work is when the team collaborates.

Elevating Your Agency Team to Develop Strategy On Their Own

Julianne believes when teaching her team about strategy, why is more important than how. She explains the why can is related to the answers to these questions: What’s the client’s personality? Who are they reporting to? What do they care about?

In their training sessions, she pays special attention to whether her team notices relevant details. For example, if a client feels pressure from their CEO, she asks the follow-up question “How can we ease that for them?” These very subtle elements that don’t feel that important are crucial for Julianne.

When it comes to strategy, many agencies churn out the same copy/paste plans. However, Julianne is constantly challenging her team to break out from the norm. For her, every single detail that goes into the strategy must offer some sort of value.

Her team puts a lot of effort into building custom strategy for a specific client. Developing a competitive analysis is not that hard but adopting that unique mentality is what really made a difference in the quality of their work.

Keeping High Standards of Quality As Your Agency Grows

Julianne runs the type of agency where employees are judged more on results than the amount of time spent working. What she does expect of her team is maintaining the quality of work at 95% to 100%. Everything they put out has to be at the level of something she’d created herself or, ideally, better.

It’s important to keep high standards of quality as you grow your team and clients because it’s very common for agencies to allow quality to slide as workload increases. Of course, it’s not the same having two clients as having ten but that’s where teamwork and training come in. Be very thorough in your training and ensure your team is constantly striving to provide the best service.

For her, strategy is more than just the initial kickoff. They do put together a comprehensive strategy as a roadmap for a year-long engagement. However, she encourages her team to think about what’s coming down the pike every three months. They should ask themselves, is this too simple? Should we reinvigorate with fresh ideas? Do we need to pivot and change? This constant effort of always offering fresh ideas is what Julianne believes retains clients for long periods of time.

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Do you run a virtual agency or a more traditional in-office business? It all comes down to what suits your and your team’s work style, and one agency owner has found a way to incentivize in-office days. She also shares the lessons learned after two big clients left within weeks of each other. This feature guest has constantly been evolving and adapting to change. She shares her reasons for being an advocate for the collaborative and innovative environment that comes with a shared physical workspace. She also shares the challenges she has faced that forced her to diversify her client roster and empower her team to be independent.

Sarah Segal is the CEO and founder of Segal Communications, a public relations, social media, and influencer marketing agency that specializes in crafting communication strategies spanning the events, hospitality, and food niche. She shares her journey from broadcast journalism to accidental agency ownership. Sarah also talks about why she established a hybrid agency show where she encourages her staff to go to the office, and the decision to resize her agency and diversify their client roster.

In this episode, we discuss:

• An innovative approach to promoting office culture.

• Adaptability and resilience when big clients leave.

• Building a self-reliant agency team.

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Going from Broadcast Journalist to Accidental PR Agency Owner

Sarah began her career as a broadcast journalist in New York City, first working behind the scenes for various networks before transitioning to an on-camera reporter. However, her move to San Francisco marked a significant turning point in her life. While covering a particularly harrowing story, Sarah, now a new mom, found herself unable to desensitize herself from such distressing content. This realization prompted her to pivot her career path.

This new stage of her career involved moving into PR and working starting in in-house positions before eventually moving to an agency, where she reunited with an old college friend who first presented the idea of starting an agency together. Sarah was working a couple of freelance gigs and a particular opportunity to launch a resort in Sun Valley, Idaho offered the perfect chance for the agency’s first gig.

Following her partner's departure for an in-house role, Sarah has successfully operated as a solo agency owner ever since.

An Innovative Approach to Promote In-Office Culture

Sarah, a forward-thinking advocate of new technologies and platforms, initially established her business as a virtual agency even before the pandemic. However, as she began to expand her team with freelancers and staff, she quickly recognized the irreplaceable value of in-person communication within her PR agency. Face-to-face interactions and fostering a sense of community in the workplace were paramount to her.

While her team had become accustomed to remote work, Sarah sought to strike a balance between virtual and physical presence. She carefully selected an office space that felt like a home away from home and introduced amenities such as work slippers. Furthermore, she implemented mandatory office days for all staff members. She created a point-based reward system for additional days in the office. Points are cashed info things like extra PTO, high-end headphones, and even international travel.

This way, days at the office don’t have to feel like punishment for her staff and she is leaving room for them to spend extra days of the year there at their choosing. This not only fosters a sense of community and camaraderie among team members but also allows for more spontaneous and creative interactions that can lead to better collaboration and idea generation.

When Big Clients Leave: A Lesson in Adaptability

Every entrepreneur is cautious about how they move ahead with growing a company. Throughout the years, Sarah has received all types of advice about what not to do with her agency, and, by heeding this advice, she successfully expanded her client base, securing several major accounts. However, when the agency lost two of those clients in six weeks, Sarah had to start making tough decisions to stay afloat.

Unfortunately, this meant she had to lay off part of her staff leaving her feeling terrible, yet also relieved about being able to make payroll. This experience served as a poignant lesson that she hopes never to repeat.

Since losing those clients, Sarah has restructured her agency to diversify their portfolio. Now, her agency does not focus solely on big clients and has a range of small and mid-size clients. This way, if any of those clients depart, it has no impact on her P&L. By spreading out the risk across multiple clients, the business owner was able to protect their bottom line and ensure financial security moving forward.

Furthermore, diversifying clients also opens up opportunities for new business relationships and partnerships. By working with a range of clients, the business can expand its network and potentially tap into new markets and industries. This can lead to increased revenue streams and a more stable financial foundation for the business.

Cultivating Independence by Building a Self-Reliant Agency Team

As your agency grows and you bring in new team members, you'll find that your role shifts to that of a leader who nurtures and develops others. It becomes essential to empower them to embrace your vision and handle challenges independently. By doing so, you can free yourself from the pressure of making every decision.

When you invest in training a proficient team, they become equipped to tackle any obstacle, allowing you to step back from being involved in every single decision. For instance, Sarah entrusts her team to handle minor decisions and seek guidance for major issues. It's not about her making the final call, but rather ensuring that all written materials leaving the agency are reviewed by a second party.

Her team knows to come prepared with multiple options when seeking her input, akin to the 1-3-1 rule recommended for mastermind members. By teaching your staff to consider various solutions and choose the best one, they can gradually take charge of decision-making.

For Sarah, one of the most important things is that her team keeps her up to date about the temperature of each client. Unfortunately, she also thinks temperature checks are something people don’t necessarily learn until they’ve had the experience of getting that call from a client who is leaving. As an agency owner, patience is key as your team gains the necessary experience, ultimately surpassing your expectations.

Only by adopting this mindset of letting go of small tasks that your team can handle on their own can agency owners finally let go of some of the things they used to do and start doing the things no one else can do.

Shaping the Agency’s Client Communication Strategy

As someone who runs a communications and PR agency, Sarah has seen with concern that most agencies have a very close-to-the-vest approach to how they handle their media. These agencies won’t give clients access to the emails and connections they have and keep those as their value.

According to Sarah, the primary reason clients seek her agency's services is the time and effort it saves them. She and her team handle tasks that clients simply don't have the bandwidth for. This understanding has shaped her client communication strategy, emphasizing transparency.

Sarah prioritizes open and honest communication with her clients, sharing media lists, expenses, and other pertinent information. This commitment to transparency not only fosters trust but also ensures that clients are well-informed and aligned with the agency's goals and objectives.

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

Can your agency employees make decisions without you? Are you frustrated that you keep putting out fires or re-explaining yourself over and over? Documenting processes isn't the glamorous part of being an agency owner. However, it’s a necessary part of growing your and the first step to exiting daily operations. Today’s guest runs an advisory agency where they help customers achieve profitability by documenting processes. He’ll talk about the biggest mistake agency owners typically make when it comes to documenting processes and how you can tackle this daunting task.

Chris Gwinn is the founder of Great Lakes Advisory, an agency that helps digital agencies implement EOS by creating more consistency, productivity, and profitability by documenting their processes and developing KPIs. They also offer customized training to ensure all processes are up to standard.

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

• 3 ways to identify your agency's core processes.
• How to start documenting agency SOPs.
• The biggest mistake people make when documenting processes.

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Sponsors and Resources

E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service.

 

The Benefits of Having Clearly Defined Processes

In 2015, Chris’ dad was struggling with his business; constantly putting out fires and dealing with personnel issues. He asked Chris to take an objective look at their operations and financials. As he started to dissect operations and interview employees, he quickly found out they had NO did not have any documented processes or training, and didn't measure any KPIs. “It was essentially throwing them in a room and see if they’d figure it out on their own." There was no way to verify whether or not anyone was following processes.

His first instinct was to clearly define all the processes and organization. They needed clarity with step-by-step processes that lead to a specific result. It was also important to tie those results to specific KPIs so they could measure outcomes and build training around it. He felt that this plan would help all employees be better prepared to fulfill their tasks.

Dissecting the company’s financials and operations to build a process playbook helped him see how processes impact an organization. Employees feel the organization is investing in their professional development. The team becomes less reliant on their managers. At the same time, managers have better visibility into the operations and filled less of a technician role. Finally, having processes in place help the owner step away from daily operations and reduce hours working in the business.

3 Steps for Prioritizing Your Agency's Core Processes

If you’re not a detailed, process person, the thought of developing and implementing processes might give you some anxiety. However, you don’t necessarily have to put all the processes in place at once. According to Chris, the idea that you have to document absolutely every part of the operations is wrong. Instead of trying to document every single process, he advises focusing on the highest-impact items.

A good way to prioritize your core processes is to separate them according to these categories:

1. Impact. What are the 20% of processes that represent 80% of your agency’s activities and results? For most agencies, this is the sales process and client onboarding. Be sure to standardize these core processes.
2. Priority by headcount. How many people are performing certain processes? If it’s 50 people, then that would be a priority over a process only one person is performing.
3. Frequency. If it’s an ad-hoc process performed quarterly or annually, it ranks lower on the priority list than processes performed weekly or daily.

https://www.agencymastery360.com/agency-blueprint How to Start Documenting Agency SOPs

If you ask a salesperson to document what they do, they might not know where to start. Once you have a list of priorities and break it down by the different departments, identify the subject matter expert. Who owns that particular process? It is usually the head of that department.

Basically, identify the process owners, the name of the process, how frequently it is performed, and how long it takes to perform. From there, you can share additional information, applications, or resources and outline the simple steps.

The idea is to create a resource that one person can follow from beginning to end without having to reach out to another person or another department. The goal of an SOP is to always achieve the same result or outcome by following the same steps.

Biggest Mistake People Make When Documenting Processes

Overall, the biggest mistake Chris sees when it comes to documenting processes is thinking it has to be perfect from the start. In those cases, people spend way too much time trying to perfect their SOPs rather than making them available.

Documenting your processes is an evolving process. The agency processes when you have 5 employees won’t necessarily be the same as when there is a team of 50. Set clear expectations of how the processes are likely to change and create areas of accountability for the people responsible for documenting their core processes.

Finally, set a cadence of reviewing those processes every year or every six months to ensure they’re all up to date.

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Are you struggling to connect the dots between agency services and the results you drive for clients? Do you produce leads for clients without being sure if they're following up? What about your own marketing efforts? Do you have a process in place for outreach and follow-up? Throwing money at marketing initiatives without correctly measuring their performance can leave agencies with unanswered questions and uncertainty. An effective CRM is the answer; which is why today's guest has specialized in helping agencies enhance their sales process with the right tools. In this interview, he talks about some common mistakes agencies make with follow-up and processes and how they can improve.

Jason Kramer is the founder of Cultivize, a marketing technology company that helps B2B businesses and digital agencies streamline their sales and marketing process and retain more clients. He’s one of the world's few certified strategists and implementers for the SharpSpring platform.

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

• What to look for in a good CRM platform.
• Why agencies should insist clients use a CRM.
• How to improve your agency sales follow-up process.

 

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Sponsors and Resources

E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service.

Podcast Takeover!!

Get to know your Smart Agency Guest Host: Dr. Jeremy Weisz is the co-founder of Rise25, an agency that helps companies launch and run podcasts profitably. He followed Jason’s podcast and eventually joined the mastermind and has been a guest on the podcast before. Today, he’s helping Jason bring something new to the Smart Agency podcast audience by interviewing a special guest and getting a new perspective to the show.

 

Changing Your Niche to Adapt to the Market

Back in 2001, Jason Kramer was working at an agency in New York with big clients like Virgin Atlantic Airways. After 9/11, the agency went from 60+ people to 14 people very quickly. At the time, he was already doing some freelance work on the side so his choices seemed clear. He could either go work for another big agency or he could start his own business. That decision led to starting his first agency, focused on web development services.

After a while, it became harder to sustain his business with the emergence of new tools that made website design more accessible. He eventually sold that agency.

In his new agency, Jason and his team help B2B businesses and agencies streamline their sales and marketing process and are top Sharpspring integrators.

Technology alone doesn’t solve problems, so Jason's secret sauce is leveraging his experience in order to identify pain points in his clients' processes. Next, they pair clients up with the right technology to meet their goals. The challenge is having the right team to adopt the technology. It’s a lot of moving parts and Jason’s key to success is his team’s hands-on approach. They’re involved from the very beginning and have a deep understanding of how to customize technology to reach clients' goals.

What to Look for in a Good CRM Platform

When they first start working with Cutlivize, many clients don't have CRM technology in place.  So the first step is to analyze whether or not a SharpSpring is a good fit. Their criteria for a good CRM include intuitive adoption for new users, affordability, and fully inclusive of add-on capabilities.

Most of their clientele doesn't have a CRM and is starting from scratch with SharpSpring. About 30% of their clients transition from another CRM platform to SharpSpring with their help. However, that 30% usually needs some convincing to consider the idea of migrating to a new system.

When clients are using another platform, they’ve usually stuck to that technology simply because they’ve been using it for a long time. Some clients are using dated systems and worry they won’t be able to export their data. Another big concern is training the client team on a new CRM.

In those cases, Jason asks to see how the company uses this technology on a daily basis. The majority of clients discover they’re not actually using the technology as much as they thought. Whatever the concerns, the most important element to ensure a successful migration will be that the sales team is a part of that conversation.

 

https://www.agencymastery360.com/agency-blueprint Why Agencies Should Insist Clients Use a CRM

The Cultivate team has worked with over 30 agencies helping their clients get more out of a CRM for their clients. Jason says those agencies are leaving money on the table because any agency is only half the equation. They’re normally getting leads into the organization. However, it’s up to the client to actually talk to those clients, close the deal, and report the results of those leads. You can effectively track your results for clients if they aren't tracking things on their end as well.

According to Jason, agencies that don’t offer a CRM platform service struggle because the clients don’t follow through on those leads. This ultimately affects the results clients see and they will continue to shift agencies. In reality, the problem is the client doesn’t have a system in place to track everything.

For these cases, Jason’s team offer to help with strategic planning and integrating the CRM so they can have transparency to show what’s actually working.

Additionally, based on their model, it can work as an additional passive revenue stream for the agency. The agency offers value to the client and gets an additional revenue stream for something their team doesn’t even have to touch.

How to Create an Effective Agency Sales Follow-Up Process

Typically, when Jason’s team comes in to assess a company they find there’s some sort of follow-up process. However, it tends to be inconsistent. Most have no rhyme or reason for their outreach efforts. On the other hand, there are some who are too aggressive with their outreach. They make multiple attempts every week, making phone calls and sending emails, which quickly turns people off.

Generally speaking, follow-up should be done in a way that is ethical but also friendly and not overbearing. Additionally, these interactions should be tracked. If you sent 50 quotes, how many of those are likely to close? Which ones do you still need to follow up with? At the end of the day, you want to sell, not be stuck with mundane emails forever. That’s why a follow-up process is so important. Prepare templates to ensure you’re sending emails that provide value and a reason for reaching out. This empowers the sales team and makes their outreach more effective.

What Can You Do to Improve?

1. Understand their goals. The best way to help your client make a decision is to understand them and their business. It can take a few months to get a client going and excited to work with you. If that client usually has a very busy summer season, for instance, explain that your process can take up to three months to get ramped up. Therefore, it's important to get started three months or more before that busy summer season.
2. Providing value and education. Instead of sending back-to-back messages asking when they’re going to make a decision, you can explain a little bit about your process, how it’s done, and why you’ll need a certain amount of time to do it. Educating the client and providing information is helpful without being pushy.

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program enables you to take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Do you lack a clear vision for your agency? Communicating the vision is the best way to empower your agency team. An unclear vision leads to a lack of direction and makes it more difficult to scale your digital agency. Today's guest has grown his agency to nearly 8-figures and admits only recently things have become more clear. He expands on how a lack of direction was one of his first mistakes with the agency and how he has been getting through rough times thanks to the support of other entrepreneurs.

Ryan Kutscher is the founder and CEO of Circus Maximus, an advertising agency focused on brand narrative and content creation. They are entrepreneurs, branding, and advertising specialists led by a constant team of proven professionals. As an entrepreneur, Ryan’s passion is building brands, telling unique stories, and creating scalable systems that help brands grow long-term.

In this interview, we’ll discuss:

• How to be the beneficiary of your own hard work.
• An unclear vision leads to a lack of direction for the team.
• 2 ways to stop being the problem solver and empower your team.
• Finding the right support to get your agency through hard times.

 

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Sponsors and Resources

E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service.

  How to Be the Beneficiary of Your Own Hard Work

Prior to starting his agency, Ryan had freelanced and worked at several good agencies as a creative, so he knew the industry. At some point though, he felt he had to at least try to have the American dream of owning his own business. This way he would be the benefactor of the hard work he’d been putting in. Additionally, at that point his career was about smaller goals like selling ad campaigns, being a Creative Director, and becoming a CEO. It seemed all those goals were leading to him wanting to own the business that generates the ideas.

Initially, Ryan had a business partner who specialized in strategy. They figured a strategist and a creative would make a great agency partnership. However, it wasn’t as successful as they’d thought because they didn’t create a pipeline based on their specialties. Instead, it felt like they were running two separate businesses under the same name. This wasn’t the vision he had for his agency and he wasn’t able to do the things he enjoyed and is good at. He realized he needed to give it a try on his own.

An Unclear Vision Leads to a Lack of Direction

The first couple of years after starting the agency Ryan had no real vision. When you go into a market you should have a clear message, target audience, and specific offer. Ryan didn’t have any of this and just jumped in knowing he is good at advertising.

He realized in order to build the agency he wanted, he needed processes, pipelines, and people that would bring his vision to life. The first step was clearly defining the vision, followed by communicating that vision to everyone in the agency. He found that communicating the vision led to attracting the right people for his team.

He’s made a lot of progress since taking that first step. However, as the owner, he still felt he was constantly making adjustments and imprisoned by the agency.

Defining lack of direction. Making so much progress but still feeling trapped in the business is a sign of a lack of direction. For Ryan, having a lack of direction felt like the agency was running him. He had no way to identify what was going right or wrong and had no clarity on all the moving parts. If you don’t know what’s going wrong, what to do to improve it, and how to measure it, you don’t have a clear vision. Good or bad, you should know why certain things at happening at your agency.

2 Ways to Stop Being the Problem Solver and Empower Your Team

A lot of agency owners make the mistake of solving their team's problems rather than empowering them to make decisions. To prevent this, start showing your team how to be more proactive in looking for solutions. For instance, Jason recommends using the 1-3-1 rule. That is, when an employee comes to you with a problem, they should prepare three possible solutions and the one option they like best.  Practicing this enough will help them learn they already know the right answer and they can stop coming to you for it.

The Socratic Method. Ryan uses this method which basically consists of asking questions. The idea is that, through these questions, you can guide someone to see they already know the answer. It's a way of walking them toward it on their own rather than providing it for them. For this method, you have to fight the instinct to just give your team the solution.

Once you empower your team, you’ll be free to start acting as the agency’s CEO and exit the day-to-day operations.

https://www.agencymastery360.com/agency-blueprint Where to Find Support to Help Overcome Hard Times

After ten years of being an agency owner, Ryan admits some things are just now becoming clear. It’s definitely not been a linear journey. In fact, this year has been difficult so far with things that were working very well last year but no longer work anymore.

So what is he doing to get through rough patches? Speaking with other CEOs has helped him feel reassured. Joining an entrepreneur group provides reassurance that you’re not the only one struggling. It can also provide you with different perspectives on ways to attack the problem.

Plus, these are conversations you wouldn’t be able to have with other executives at the agency. It also helps Ryan feel even more committed to his decision of becoming an entrepreneur. He could go back to working for somebody else but despite tough times, entrepreneurship is what he really wants.

2 Strategies to Get Your Agency Through a Rough Patch

Owning an agency and dealing with all the unpredictability can be all-consuming and overwhelming. However, Ryan advises that when you find yourself in a rough patch in your agency journey, take your time before making a big decision. It’s important to step back, take a breath, and assess instead of overreacting. This allows you to create a strategy and feel confident executing it. Outcomes are never guaranteed, but having a plan gives you a much better chance of success.  And being proactive is better than just waiting for things to turn around.

Another good way to get through tough times is to ask yourself if your agency is bought tomorrow, what would the buyer change? That’s what you should be focusing on. Agency owners are often reactive to the concerns of the moment and forget to be proactive to get ahead. Growth and challenges come in phases that are often unpredictable but resourceful people will always figure it out.

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Have you considered hiring remotely to help cut costs? Where would you look for remote employees that are still a good culture fit? Finding the right talent can be very challenging even if you’re looking locally. Trying to find great talent in a different country could be next to impossible without the right help. Today’s guests run an agency that offers white-label services and runs highly efficient recruitment services for US companies. They’ve perfected a process to find the best talent in Latin American countries and connect them to small and medium US companies looking to source top talent. They’ll reveal the basic parameters they consider as part of their recruitment process and how they match candidates according to their clients’ needs.

Carlos Corredor & Antonio Santana are the co-founders of Condor Agency, a digital marketing agency that helps US companies become more competitive by leveraging the best talent in Latin America. They serve as an agency partner that offers managing services and also recruits talent directly for their clients.

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

• Finding a gap in the market and providing high-quality services.
• Tapping into the Latin American market to source top agency talent.
• Understanding clients' needs and best interests.

 

Subscribe

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Sponsors and Resources

Dot & Co: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Dot & Co, client management specialists that will help digital marketing agencies keep their clients happy. With the help of their knowledgeable account managers, agency owners can step away from the day-to-day and focus on driving results. Check out dotandcompany.co/smartagency and get 20% off your first month working with them.

Podcast Takeover!!

Get to know your Smart Agency Guest Host: Dr. Jeremy Weisz is the co-founder of Rise25, an agency that helps companies launch and run podcasts profitably. He followed Jason’s podcast and eventually joined the mastermind and has been a guest on the podcast before. Today, he’s helping Jason bring something new to the Smart Agency podcast audience by interviewing a special guest and getting a new perspective to the show.

 

Finding a Gap in the Market and Providing High-Quality Options

Over ten years ago, Carlos and Antonio were on the client side of the business, unimpressed by the quality of the work from agencies. Some didn’t understand their business and took forever to deliver results. Fortune 1,000 companies and other big clients get most of the agency's attention. Seeing the low quality of service agencies provided for small and medium businesses, they realized there was an opportunity to serve that sector.

Their agency, Condor, began as a managed services agency that worked with B2B companies in consulting, finance, and IT. They leveraged Latin American talent to help small and medium US companies grow. Years later, as things changed with the pandemic and people seemed more open to the idea of hiring remote talent they also started recruiting directly for their clients. Their recruiting service is targeted at agencies, offering an opportunity for smaller agencies to find skilled talent at more affordable rates.

Connecting US Companies with Untapped Latin American Talent

Coming from Venezuela where salaries were much lower, Carlos and Antonio were struck by the cost of agency work. This was especially shocking considering how little attention agencies pay to small and medium clients. However, they had a lot to learn from the US market.

Living in Chicago, they could see agencies delivering top-notch, specialized work. Nonetheless, they paid much more attention to the bigger clients. As a result, smaller clients were not seeing the same level of service or results. They were built to serve Fortune 1,000 clients, charging around $200 an hour or more. They were also very well structured, with dedicated teams handling the different service areas.

Hence, if they were serious about entering the agency space, Carlos and Antonio needed to play in the same league. They needed to offer quality and speed in order to be competitive in the US market.

Additionally, they understood Latin America is a great source of untapped talent that most US agencies hadn’t considered. At first, they struggled with employee retention and learning to be leaders. With time, they developed a solid recruitment system.

Prioritizing Soft Kills and a Good Culture Fit for Agency Roles

As an agency constantly looking for talent, Condor has a scoring system to assess candidates’ skills. One of the most important factors is proficiency in the English language. These candidates are referred to American companies so they must be able to maintain conversations and provide clear explanations.

Soft skills are also highly valued, as well as being a good culture fit. They’d rather hire someone who is passionate about learning and improving than someone with the right skills who’s just going through the motions. Ideal candidates are excited to be challenged and willing to learn from their mistakes. They look for a winning mentality, not necessarily about never losing but taking the right lessons. For the technical skills, they have a number of tests based on the needed skills required by clients.

Condor's clients are agencies looking to fill positions such as account managers, paid media analysts, designers, email marketers, and SEO experts with 3+ years of experience. However, sometimes clients are willing to take candidates with less experience but with great personalities and a willingness to learn. It just depends on their urgency to fill the position and how much training is necessary.

https://www.agencymastery360.com/agency-blueprint The Five Steps to Source the Best Agency Talent in the Latin American Market 

Carlos and Antonio developed a layered process meant to assess many aspects and weed out uncommitted candidates.

1. LinkedIn messages. To start, they have a dedicated team to contact people through LinkedIn. This team messages about 1,000 people yielding about 100 responses.
2. Basic information. Before an interview, candidates fill out a form with basic questions like salary expectations.
3. First interview. Candidates get scored on a scale from 0-5. Those who pass the first interview with a score of 3 or better go on to the next step of the process.
4. The test. Selected candidates are tested in a simulation scenario in order to demonstrate their skills or solve a complex issue.
5. The panel interview. The leadership team interviews the candidate in a panel format. They ask them situational questions and it's a much more candid-style interview where candidates tend to be very honest and transparent.

They weed out candidates who are not a good fit by following this 5-step process. This way, they’re able to refer at least five great candidates to their US clients. Their process has come a long way; 3 years ago it would take them a couple of months to find one qualified candidate. Now that they’ve perfected the process, it takes them about two weeks to get 5.

Understanding Clients' Needs and Best Interests

Once a client comes to them, how do they know whether to stick to offering recruiting services or offering agency services? A big factor for them is whether they have the bandwidth and expertise the client needs. If they do, especially when it comes to management, then it makes sense to offer their in-house services. If not, they offer to build a team ready to perform and dedicated to that client.

Ultimately, the goal is to help clients save time with a plug-and-play team that knows what they’re doing to achieve successful results.

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Are you letting fear stand in the way of success? Have you ever lost a big opportunity because you wanted it too badly? Are you guilty of skipping your own processes only to have it bite you in the ass down the road? Often time entrepreneurs get overly focused on a specific outcome and ignore the bigger picture. Today’s guest has started many businesses with more than half being lessons on what not to do. He shares several of those lessons and the most important, million-dollar lesson that helped him get over his fear, trust the process, and double the agency's MRR.

Derrick Kuhn is the Founder and Managing Director of Brillity Digital, a full-service digital marketing agency. He’s had a total of eleven businesses over the years and considers Brillity to be the culmination of everything he has learned. Now he leverages that experience into an agency that combines business consulting with a true digital marketing strategy.

In this interview, we’ll discuss:

• The $1 million lesson of not niching down early enough.
• Losing a big opportunity and respecting the process.
• Listen more and talk less to increase agency sales tenfold.

Subscribe

Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher | Radio FM

Sponsors and Resources

Dot & Co: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Dot & Co, client management specialists that will help digital marketing agencies keep their clients happy. With the help of their knowledgeable account managers, agency owners can step away from the day-to-day and focus on driving results. Check out dotandcompany.co/smartagency and get 20% off your first month working with them.

 

Growing Up with a Passion for Business

Derrick always wanted to be an entrepreneur, taking after his dad, who was a mega-success in the corporate world. Growing up seeing his dad’s business success infused a passion for becoming an entrepreneur.

His first opportunity came right before graduating from college. Some of his friends were programming geniuses but had no idea how to run a business. They had around $100,000 in uncollected Accounts Receivables and needed his help. He collected most of it in about a week just by taking action. It didn’t take massive business skill but he knew he had what it took to make it as an entrepreneur.

The Million Dollar Lesson of Not Niching Down Early Enough

Derrick warns us to be careful of getting overly focused on a specific outcome versus the larger picture. Some agency owners put on horse blinders and will step over a $1 Million opportunity while looking for the $100,000 one.

Opportunities in the digital space are infinite. There’s no use in saying only one tool or path will get you to success when that is constantly changing. People who focus on only one way to do things and don’t adapt will not find the success they want. However, on the opposite side are the agency owners chasing 1,000 things at once. This was one of Derrick’s mistakes.

In his last agency, he found great success in the healthcare space. They grew tremendously within that niche accumulating a lot of expertise and a good reputation. However, he didn’t recognize the golden opportunity to stay in a high-demand niche market. On the contrary, after separating from his agency partners and starting his current agency, he decided to cast a wide net to land clients in a variety of industries. Looking back, walking away from the equity he built in an established niche was a wasted opportunity.

Derrick says he abandoned his niche because it was the first time he was a solo agency owner without partners and felt fearless. Being responsible for his team he knew immediate cash flow was super important, but in his haste to grow the new agency, he overlooked the value he'd already built in the healthcare niche. In his mind, once he figured out the new business he’d go back to the idea of specializing. Nonetheless, he did end up losing valuable time establishing his new agency's expertise.

A Lesson on Respecting Your Agency's Sales Processes

After analyzing strategies for engaging new prospects, Derrick decided to put them through what he calls the Apex Strategy Process. Basically, this is a stage to set expectations, do research, map out the ROI, etc. Unfortunately, when the agency had an opportunity to get what would’ve been its biggest client in years, the team got too excited and skipped this step. They went straight for the close on a big contract and wound up losing it.

At that moment, Derrick decided every sales process, marketing, etc. needs to be funneled in through this strategy. Prospects who don’t want to go through the process are not ideal candidates to work with the agency. It soon paid off.

By committing to the strategy, agency sales increased tenfold. The lesson is -- respect your own processes!

https://www.agencymastery360.com/agency-blueprint Why Asking a Lot of Questions is a Key Part of Sales

Part of Derrick’s strategy to succeed with clients is asking a lot of questions. When it comes to sales, success increases when prospects spend more time talking and you spend more time listening. There’s value in asking questions and actually listening to clients. The more they talk, the greater chance they’re likely to buy.

A lot of agency owners will chat with the prospect and think they immediately know what they need. However, if you jump to tell them what they need to do right away they likely won’t believe it. Instead, ask detailed questions and try to understand their business first. Naturally, the conversation will lead to saying, “Based on what you told me, I believe we should do…” That way, they’ll see you’re coming from a place of authority in the business and follow your lead. In fact, taking the time to listen will lead to more insightful questions.

A correct diagnosis only comes from asking the right questions and really listening to the answers.

Harness the Fear and Trust the Process

Derrick has learned to take his time before making big decisions and letting his panicked mind settle down. Taking the time to consider big moves helps you feel more empowered to hold the course after the decision. After losing that big deal, the pivotal point in Derrick's mental shift was a conversation with Jason that regained his confidence. Derrick realized he had a great process in place but he hadn't fully committed to it. He let his fear of losing the prospect cloud his judgment of how he knew things should be done.

Does this mean he now leads his agency without fear? There will always be moments of self-doubt. However, fear, like stress, can be very powerful when harnessed correctly.

Taking the time to think about your response to a situation and trust your processes is how you can harness the fear.

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Are you considering adding video services to your digital agency? Do you use video as part of your agency marketing strategy? Do you know how to leverage the power of video for you and your clients? Video is an integral part of any successful marketing strategy; particularly when video case stories are included. Nothing engages an audience as effectively as video content. Furthermore, it’s a great way to showcase your brand's personality, build authority, and improve SEO. As a video marketer, today’s guest understands that people remember, share, and buy stories. He shares what many people get wrong when they roll out video content and the best way to get fast results with video marketing.

Ian Garlic is the founder of Story Crews, a video marketing agency that helps clients tell their stories in video. His team focuses on collecting, crafting, and delivering emotional video stories that help his clients get more leads, better clients, and more sales. He’s also the creator of the Garlic Marketing Show and Authentic Web Agency.

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

• Why is video the best foot-in-the-door offer for your agency?
• How video helps with client retention.
• The best approach to add video services to your agency.

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Sponsors and Resources

E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service.

 

Leveraging the Power of Video Stories to Sell Results

Fifteen years ago, Ian was working for Thomson Reuters as an SEO consultant in Long Island. He had left his career in commercial real estate to pursue his passion for marketing but was not doing well at all. Looking at what the best consultants in the company did, he realized they all collected stories they would later use while selling. To change things up, Ian decided he would collect those stories in video. With video, it's easier to convey emotion and more easily show people what they need to see. This strategy was the move that transformed everything for Ian. He was no longer selling websites or SEO, he was selling results.

After adding video to his strategy, Ian quickly grew to be among the top-ranked in the company for the next few months. However, he started noticing all marketing looked the same, which made clients hungry for something different. Luckily, this was back in 2007-2008 after Google purchased YouTube, and Ian knew this would change everything. Shortly after, he left the company to start his own digital agency.

What Makes Video the Best Foot-in-the-Door Offer?

Ian believes video is one of the best foot-in-the-doors offers that exist. With video case stories, the client talks about themselves. Most like video format and it is approved quickly. Clients get results quickly from the video too. It just comes down to having the right systems.

When done the right way, video as a foot-in-the-door offer is an effective way to gain more clients because the content is 100% unique. Furthermore, doing shoots with a client means spending the day with them strategizing, which will make them feel like you’re an extension of their business. It’s an opportunity to improve your clients’ results by really diving deep into their business.

How Video Helps With Client Retention

At his agency, Ian started selling websites and SEO, with the video strategy as just part of the package. However, slowly his clients began to realize the power of video. They feel video built their authority in the industry and helped elevate the know, like, and trust factor by being genuine.

Videos can quickly become the best metric to measure success. Ian's agency sends clients very detailed reports – which most don't read. However, bringing eager customers to your clients thanks to video content is what keeps them coming back.

https://www.agencymastery360.com/agency-blueprint Starting with the Right Strategy to Get Fast Results with Video

Many people start uploading videos to YouTube one day because they have a great idea and want to try it out. Very few, however, have a strategy behind that video content, which means they ultimately don’t see results.

According to Ian, people don’t get results fast enough because they start too far from the right place. Even Gary Vaynerchuck made nothing from YouTube for a couple of years. However, he had the determination, money, and time to keep going. Most people give up after not seeing results for the first six months. That’s why Ian starts with video case stories, which get people results faster.

Nonetheless, faster results don’t mean clients get an influx of cold traffic right away. It can be six months before they start seeing results and one year until they have a successful YouTube channel.

For agencies, one of the most common issues is speaking to the real problems of your target audience. Agencies tend to go for videos aimed at the masses in order to get a lot of views. However, the masses aren’t the ones who hire digital agencies.

The Best Approach to Add Video Services to Your Agency

You don’t need movie-level production equipment to start adding video to your services. According to Ian, you’re better off starting with a partner when it comes to adding any service. This way, you can focus on what you do best and have the proper guidance to integrate the new service into your agency.

There are 3 ways to add video services:

1. Build a production team. This is what Ian calls the hard option. You’ll need to have a strategy to sell it and hire at least five people to form three departments for production. You need a pre-production team to take care of timing, scheduling, location, etc; videographers for your production team, and a post-production team. It’s overwhelming and it's a process that took Ian years.
2. Hire film contractors. The second way to approach this is to hire videographers to handle all aspects of the process. You can find a few good ones in your search. The problem, however, is figuring out how to sell or package the offer, knowing timelines, and how to price it properly.
3. Find a partner. This is usually the best way to start out with a new service. Find the support of a partner with experience in the field who can help you integrate it into your agency. You can focus on what you do best and use the new service as a differentiator.

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program enables you to take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Are you trying to grow your agency fast? Trying to posture as a big agency to impress clients? There are a lot of big decisions to make when you're growing. However, you could be making mistakes that actually hold back agency growth. Today’s guest learned some lessons from growing too quickly the first time. He shares what he learned and how he overcame it to grow more consistently. He talks about leaning too hard into vanity metrics and hiring a team too soon as well as which roles to hire first.

Christopher Marrano is the founder of Blue Water Marketing, a digital agency that works with direct-to-consumer brands to generate sales using SEO, Google ads, and Facebook ads. Chris started his agency focusing on SEO and grew quickly solely with referrals. However, he did not know which systems to implement to scale and it almost failed as a result. He soon learned from his mistakes and now has a successful agency that continues to grow.

In this interview, we’ll discuss:

• The downside of growing too quickly.
• Why you shouldn’t get sidetracked by vanity metrics.
• Why sales should always come first.
• A strategy to fill your agency’s pipeline by trusting your results.

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Sponsors and Resources

Dot & Co: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Dot & Co, client management specialists that will help digital marketing agencies keep their clients happy. With the help of their knowledgeable account managers, agency owners can step away from the day-to-day and focus on driving results. Check out dotandcompany.co/smartagency and get 20% off your first month working with them.

 

The Downside of Growing Your Agency Too Quickly 

In 2010, Chris was fresh out of college and into a job market still feeling the impact of the '08 crash. Finding his first job after studying advertising took longer than expected, he ended up working at a pretty prominent agency. He worked on big accounts like Lending Tree, Match.com, and National Geographic. It was the perfect preparation for the complexities of agency work.

Since the digital revolution hadn’t taken the world by storm yet, he was still working on traditional media. He later worked on the client side while learning more about the new digital technologies. Eventually, he needed a break from the corporate ladder and started to freelance, which led to his starting Blue Water Marketing in 2016.

Chris’ agency broke the six-figure mark very quickly. After reaching that milestone, he went straight to renting an office, hiring a team, and focusing on a niche. However, within a year everything came crumbling down. He was forced to lay off his team, working alone in that office space with the one client he’d had from the start. This led him to question the decision to even start the agency.

Are You Getting Sidetracked by Vanity Metrics?

Vanity metrics have always been a thing. Even when Jason was growing his first agency, conversations with other agency owners would eventually lead to asking “How many employees do you have?”. If they didn’t have 50 or 100 employees, they would posture based on media spend or revenue. Looking back, it never really mattered -- it's more about the value you provide not the size of your team. That said, there are still people that see a big office and a big team as indicators of a successful agency. However, the move to virtual meetings has made it so that in-person client visits are few and far between.

The problem wasn’t his vision but rather giving too much value to vanity metrics. Nowadays, his vision hasn’t actually changed much since that first attempt. In fact, maintaining that vision is what helped him get through the difficult times. He let himself get carried away by the vanity of being perceived as a legitimate business. Having a team and an office made clients take his agency seriously and, he thought, would help attract more clients. It was sort of the Field of Dreams approach of “if you build it, they will come.”

Chris still values having his team work in the office, for at least part of the week. But now it’s not about the vanity metrics but rather because he likes the camaraderie and relationships the team can only build while working in the same space.

https://www.agencymastery360.com/agency-blueprint Defining Your Worth as Agency Owner

When everything was crumbling at his agency, Chris took a step back to figure out what went wrong. He brought in a person to work with him on an effective way to grow and scale the agency. They knew there was something there but first, they had to figure out the why behind the failure. This person is now his agency business partner and they’ve continued to focus on things they can improve each quarter. They also work hard to identify and speak to a unique audience and develop effective processes for their teams.

From that experience, Chris learned measuring his self-worth based on competitors' and clients' perceptions isn't good for the business. Currently, he focuses more on team unity and growing effectively while providing the best service.

Who to Hire First and Why Sales Are the Key to Agency Survival

One of the first mistakes Chris made after growing quickly was focusing on hiring for the wrong roles. Once he had an office space, he hired four people. The first was a graphic designer. Looking back, he realizes this was a big mistake because his agency did not offer those services. He also hired a website designer, a Google Ads expert, and an account manager.

If he could go back and do it all over again, now knows sales is the key to survival. At the time, it felt important to hire for fulfillment but that is pointless if you don't have any clients. He realizes he should have approached it differently, focusing on getting the clients first and then hiring the staff as the work grew. Sales always need to come first, followed by delivery.

A Strategy To Help Fill Your Agency's Pipeline

Another thing that really helped the agency grow is having enough confidence to ask clients for testimonials. Chris needed to learn to trust the relationships he has with clients and that they would feel comfortable recording testimonial videos.

They start with a list of ten questions and let the client focus on the ones most important for them. The end result was some very powerful videos about the results achieved by the agency. They have built custom landing pages based on what the topic of the client videos and post them on Instagram and Facebook.

This strategy was a game changer when it came to the agency's pipeline. Now they have a predictable pipeline of prospects that they can pick and choose. One month they may onboard five big accounts and the next they may take no new clients while they focus on the new ones.

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Do you charge for strategy or give it away for free? Are your prospects aware of the value of your thinking and research? Charging for strategy benefits both the agency and the client but so many give it away. However, when you charge for strategy, you'll grow faster and easier. Instead of giving away value for free, you can improve your processes and offer a highly detailed offer and a productized option. Today's guest found himself in this situation as his agency started to grow. He feels one of his biggest mistakes was not charging for strategy sooner. Now his team gets paid for thinking as well as doing. Here's how you too can charge for your brainpower right now.

Spencer Powell is the owner of Builder Funnel, a strategic marketing agency focused on helping design-build remodelers and custom home builders achieve sustainable business growth. With a combination of inbound marketing, software, and proven strategy, they shorten their clients' path to revenue and profit goals.

In this interview, we’ll discuss:

• Why giving away strategy is a mistake.
• Agency and client benefits of charging for strategy.
• Giving your sales team tools for success.

 

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Sponsors and Resources

E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service.

 

Why You Should Get Paid for Strategy

Spencer’s journey in the agency industry started twelve years ago. Not knowing a lot about the business, he made mistakes early on. One of his biggest mistakes was not charging for strategy. Building a highly specialized offer and charging for strategy completely transformed the agency. So how did he turn it around and start getting paid for the thinking and the doing?

Like any new agency, the first years are all about gaining clients’ trust and figuring things out. That is why giving away strategy didn’t seem like a big mistake at the time. A couple of years down the line, however, they became much more focused and experienced. Spencer realizes now they should’ve started charging for strategy.

Their process includes looking into clients’ Google Analytics and putting together a custom game plan which took significant “thinking time”. So they add that time into the proposal. According to Spencer, it is part of the plan they present and it makes sense to include it in the proposal. He wants his proposals to have some element of customization to them. Adding "thinking" and research is a logical part of creating a really good plan.

The Agency and Clients Both Benefit When You Charge for Strategy

The shift to charging for strategy is fairly recent for Spencer's agency. It all started with setting the goal of becoming the best agency for remodelers and custom builders. They picked a very narrow niche and started working towards that north star.

Spencer knows ensuring that #1 spot would take a lot of groundwork to create a sound strategy and great execution plan. As they listed all the things they should do to create the best possible plan, the steps kept increasing. It was a good opportunity to justify charging for strategy. When strategy is billable, they’re able to spend an appropriate amount of time on it.

In hindsight, their free strategies weren’t customized enough. All their clients got similar steps to follow. Now, they take a few weeks to review a clients’ analytics and come up with a custom, detailed 12-month plan.

https://www.agencymastery360.com/agency-blueprint Building a Sales Team and Giving Them the Tools to Success

Two or three years down the line Spencer realized the need for salespeople selling custom marketing plans. But what level of knowledge and experience would his agency sales team need? Do they need to know the remodeling industry? How to sell and market within it? He was convinced he would never find salespeople with this specific expertise, so he decided to productize.

Now, Spencer is three months into hiring his first salesperson. When hiring, he didn’t look for agency experience. He specifically searched for a person with experience in their niche The new addition to the team worked out perfectly and he can already see the benefits. However, you can take someone who’s really good at sales and teach them the industry and services if you have the right systems in place.

With a productized offer, salespeople learn how to manage sales objections and value points. Eventually, as CEO you only need to assist with sales to add color and track progress. The key is to provide them with a solid process and the right tools.

Stories as part of the toolkit. Why is the agency owner always so good at sales? Because they have the stories and can use them on sales calls to draw in prospects with details on how they helped past clients. When you start sharing those stories with your sales team they’ll start seeing results right away. Eventually, they’ll have their own stories.

Shorten Your Sales Cycle and Increase Your Closing Ratio

Back when they improved their processes and stopped offering strategy for free the agency’s sales cycle was around 3 to 4 months. Their closing ratio has definitely improved since then. According to Spencer, this is most likely thanks to the positioning of a blueprint. Prior to the change, they were positioned from a brand perspective thanks to their niche. However, they still offered a list of deliverables similar to everyone else. Now, they have a $20K offer that includes an extensive questionnaire and a 4-week period to get a detailed plan with 12 months of deliverables.

That blueprint is presented to the client who has the option to implement it themselves. They get access to the agency’s training videos and SOPs to execute the plan. Companies under $2 million and over $15 million end up executing the steps in the blueprint internally. But the middle sector is Spencer's target. They’ll almost always move forward with the agency to implement the blueprint.

Filling Your Pipeline by Creating a Community

Overall, Spencer's agency is closing the same percentage of retainer deals and unlocking another option for people who want to self-implement. The feedback has been great because many people actually want to learn to do their own marketing. As an aside, they’ve also launched a website theme for their target industry based on conversion principles, layouts for portfolios, about us, etc. It’s modeled as a design-build approach mirroring their industry.

These options have also led Spencer and his team to create a community of companies learning to market with their tools. This fills their pipeline with prospects that can afford to pay for the agency for marketing services in a couple of years.

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program enables you to take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Could your ego be standing in the way of your agency's success? Do you want to perform at peak level but struggle to break through an invisible ceiling? It might be time to reinvent and put energy into a mindset that helps you get there. There are a lot of people claiming to know the “secret to success” but most ignore the core issues of the mental game. Today’s guest has been the coach to pro athletes, public figures, and leaders by helping them improve performance by starting with improvements to their mental game.

Todd Herman is a global leader, speaker, author, and mentor who helps amazing talent, like Kobe Bryant, reach a new level in their careers. He coaches elite pro athletes, leaders, and public figures on the topics of performance, strategy, mindset, and execution. Todd is an insider in the thought process of not only elite performers but legends in their fields.

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

• Overcoming ego death by developing an alternate persona.
• Separating the different sides of your identity.
• Being authentic and intentional as your identity superpower.

Subscribe

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Sponsors and Resources

Dot & Co: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Dot & Co, client management specialists that will help digital marketing agencies keep their clients happy. With the help of their knowledgeable account managers, agency owners can step away from the day-to-day and focus on driving results. Check out dotandcompany.co/smartagency and get 20% off your first month working with them.

 

The Path of the Mental Coaching Game

Todd got his start in 1997 coaching high school football players and got really good results by helping them with their mental game. Back then, mental game coaching wasn’t really an industry, a market, or even a niche. Nevertheless, he got results and parents started reaching out to pay for private coaching lessons.

Since his coaching career started in the world of sports and being a big believer in mentorship, he reached out to Harvey Dorfman, a giant in the mental game industry. With Harvey, he got to go behind the scenes and see what it’s like to work with professional athletes. This is how he started moving more into the world of peak performance and mental game coaching.

Since then, Todd has improved his methods and moved on to coaching Hollywood and Broadway talent, and top CEOs. Whatever his clients are trying to conquer, he usually goes back to the principles of the inner game, strategic game, and execution game. With this, he builds programs and systems to tackle their goals.

As Todd's coach, Harvey had a huge impact on his career. His best advice was that you don’t need to act a certain way in order to deliver value. He didn’t need to be the kindest or the most aggressive or appear a certain way to help his clients. He just needed to be honest and use everyday words, without the need to posture with big words.

Overcoming Ego Death by Developing a New Persona

Todd met Kobe Bryant when the athlete reached out to his coach Harvey while going through a difficult time due to a public scandal. It was 2003 and Harvey described it to Todd as Kobe's “ego death” or an identity challenge. Harvey referred Kobe to Todd at that time, as he specialized in that kind of crisis for athletes.

As Todd explains, when an athlete needs to step into a new world or new type of challenge, like a college athlete going to a professional league, they need to shed some of their old identity. The longer it takes them to do that, the greater the chances they’ll never succeed in that new area.

At that time, Kobe was going through a moment that forced him to shed his image as a young, naïve player. This was the source of his crisis and he needed to figure out a new identity to get back in the game. Todd worked with him to cultivate a new image of Kobe, both ON and OFF the court.

With Todd's help, Kobe developed an aspirational persona of a stone-cold killer who never gives up -- The Black Mamba. Naming the persona is an important part of the process that helps people tap into their alter ego. Kobe attributes his moment of clarity to the movie Kill Bill where he discovered the black mamba and instantly felt inspired and connected to it.

Developing Your Own Alter Ego Persona

People tend to think they can get to the same success level by modeling their life exactly like celebrities. In reality, the idea is to look at them as sources of inspiration. If you take Kobe and The Black Mamba as the source for your alter ego, you won’t see similar results. An alter ego has to inspire you with its attributes and qualities; then customize that to your current ambitions.

Any person looking to build their alter ego should be very honest about what they want. The problem is that many people don’t know how to articulate it. This is the basis of the alter ego you end up creating. In Kobe’s case, the black mamba was created to help him get through a very specific moment in his career. It was meant for a specific role -- not every aspect of his life.

If you think about the roles in your life, which one is giving you the most challenges and struggles? Which one do you feel the most trapped by? There should be some element of playfulness and creativity in building your persona.

If you’re an agency owner who's feeling trapped, what’s an area in your life where you could be more playful?

https://www.agencymastery360.com/agency-blueprint The Importance of Separating the Different Sides of Your Identity

The black mamba was only one part of Kobe’s identity created exclusively for the basketball court. This is how we should approach high-performance alter egos. They are meant to help us excel in a specific area where we’re struggling and remain separate from other facets of our lives.

Your alter ego helps you reach very specific goals in one area but it is not who you are.

If you’re an agency owner, maybe you need an alter ego for that side of your identity. Maybe you need an alter ego for being an author or podcast host. Seeing yourself as just an entrepreneur is what makes it so difficult for some people to exit the business and give up control. This mindset gets in the way of agency growth because owners don’t know who they are outside of the business.

As human beings, we love to attach labels to ourselves and label others, as well. Labels can be very empowering. However, when you’re about to make a shift make sure you have the right narrative of yourself. For instance, Todd recommends switching the entrepreneur label to “I am entrepreneurial”. This way, if you sell your agency you don’t lose your identity. An entrepreneurial nature is something you can take anywhere, into anything.

Being Authentic and Intentional as Your Identity Superpower

Nowadays we hear a lot about authenticity and how it's the best way to succeed. However, Todd believes there’s an argument to be made about the results you get when you adopt a persona that helps you get ready to perform at the level you want to be.

Todd believes intentionality with identity is a superpower. If you’re a public speaker, the person who’s on stage catching the audience’s attention won’t necessarily have the same energy as the one answering their questions after you leave the stage. And that’s okay.

In a study conducted at the University of Minnesota, a group of grade 1 and 2 kids were tasked with grabbing a set of keys and finding the correct one to open a padlock. In reality, the test was about resilience. The key was not there but how long would it take them to give up?

The second part of the test included the same exercise but this time, the kids got to dress up as either Batman or Dora the Explorer. The time they spent trying to open the door increased drastically. In their normal clothes, they gave up quickly. However, as a dressed as a character they had a mindset shift. That is the power of an alter ego.

As you step onto the stage, in front of a camera, or whatever your platform -- adopt the identity of a winner or a fighter who gets the job done.

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Do you feel stuck on how to unlock your agency's growth potential? Are you struggling to communicate your agency's competitive advantage in order to stand out? Most entrepreneurs hit a point where the old strategies don’t work anymore. There’s when growth requires a different skill set to take your agency to the next level. Today’s guest has centered his career and agency around figuring out the secrets to rapid growth. He shares some of the common mistakes he sees clients making, and how you can prepare your team for quick growth.

Mark Patchett is the founder of Growth Shop, a digital agency specializing in growth marketing. His agency provides brands with a proven methodology that removes the guesswork with the firepower of a team that will help them grow. They’ve helped build brands like Victoria Beckham Beauty and hundreds more. Today he’ll break down his thought process around growth and how to understand your position in the market.

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

• How positioning creates a competitive advantage.
• 3 mistakes that prevent you from understanding growth.
• Preparing your team for rapid growth.
• Using reviews to understand your position in the market.

Subscribe

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Sponsors and Resources

E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service.

Podcast Takeover!!

Get to know your Smart Agency Guest Host: Dr. Jeremy Weisz is the co-founder of Rise25, an agency that helps companies launch and run podcasts profitably. He followed Jason’s podcast and eventually joined the mastermind and has been a guest on the podcast before. Today, he’s helping Jason bring something new to the Smart Agency podcast audience by interviewing a special guest and getting a new perspective to the show.

 

How Positioning Creates a Competitive Advantage

Positioning is a tricky beast. Mark's competitive advantage is that his agency team has actually built companies in the past. Most performance agencies do some Facebook ads and maybe ad creative. However, when you have experience building a  company you know this is just a fraction of it. Having in-depth knowledge of entrepreneurship means Mark's team can take the conversation beyond just Facebook.

Furthermore, his agency offers a platform where clients can see all relevant data in one unified view. Clients get an executive view with all the key data in order to pinpoint why their business is performing well or not.

3 Mistakes That Prevent You from Understanding Growth

As someone who’s looked under the hood of many big companies, Mark has seen some of the biggest mistakes they make when it comes to understanding growth:

1. Not understanding attribution across different platforms. They may say Facebook isn’t working because they’re not making as much as they’d like to from it. However, once they learn about the blended metrics they understand it might be doing more than they think.
   
2. Neglecting conversion rate optimization and positive reviews. Their clients learn if they increase the conversion rate, lifetime value, and average order value by 26% they’ll be making more money without spending more money.
   
3. Assuming customers understand the brand. In these cases, they use a reverse elevator pitch. Basically, as soon as someone lands on your homepage, without even scrolling, they should be able to tell exactly what you do uniquely. Most companies don’t pass that test.

https://www.agencymastery360.com/agency-blueprint Using Reviews to Understand Your Agency's Position in the Market

As part of their onboarding research, Mark’s team uses what he calls one of the easiest hacks in marketing. Instead of expensive brainstorming sessions to answer the question “Who are we?” companies should be looking at their customer reviews.

For starters, export all your reviews and run a Wordlab analysis. You’re looking for positive and negative reviews so you can extract common themes. How are your customers talking about your brand? What’s resonating with them? They will be things that stand out or patterns you'll find.

Next, do the same thing with your competitor's reviews to find out what they're doing well and not. Learn what your clients really care about and use that information to build your next ads instead of doing expensive consulting activities.

Preparing Your Agency's Team for Rapid Growth

Not everyone is ready for fast growth and it can break a business. Rapid growth can be exciting for many, but client service and operations people usually just see it as a tsunami coming at them.

To prepare client services for the onslaught of new business, his team does a lot on the automation front. There are options like AI chatbots that get great results. However, the biggest hurdle is in delivery. Most client service problems are under control if your product is good and on time. If you really want to grow quickly, you’ll find money comes out as quickly as it’s coming in.

The key is to plan for growth and be proactive, rather than reactive.

Hiring People with the Ambition to Start Their Own Business

At his agency, Mark handles a team of people working from all over the world. Their core values are “smarter, faster, happier”; which stands for being able to build big things while getting better at it and enjoying the process.

This goes back to his days working at venture-backed companies where the mission was hitting the goal, or "crash and burn." As a result, people dealing with that type of pressure were completely burned out. It was that negative experience that helped Mark discover the kind of culture he’d create at his agency.

Mark still handles all first-round interviews where he gets a good sense of someone’s ability to fit in with the agency's culture. He learns this fairly quickly by finding out how they deal with problems in their lives. Next, he has the candidate work on a paid test project where they get access to anonymous data. They mostly look for entrepreneurial people that have the drive to start their own businesses. This may seem counterintuitive, but Marks sees it as helping build phenomenal talent that can later become a client or the agency could even invest in their startup.

 

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

What does it take to be truly remarkable? Do you struggle with imposter syndrome? Even uber-successful entrepreneurs like Guy Kawasaki have had those moments. Transitioning from corporate giants like Apple, Inc. to crafting a legacy of remarkability, he has devoted the latter part of his career to unraveling the essence of extraordinary achievements and the secrets of remarkable personalities.

Learn more from Guy Kawasaki’s reflections on navigating the dichotomy of being undervalued and overvalued throughout his career, his unwavering commitment to paying it forward, and his enduring quest to craft a legacy that transcends generations.

Guy Kawasaki is a world-known marketer, author, speaker, and podcaster whose career has lately focused on empowering and inspiring people to reach their full potential. His expertise spans innovation, entrepreneurship, and social media, and he has worked with esteemed clients such as Apple, Nike, Audi, Google, and Microsoft. Currently serving as the Chief Evangelist at Canva, he is fervently committed to helping people become extraordinary through his latest book. Learn about his fascinating life story and insights on career progression and personal growth.

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

• What is an evangelist and how does it relate to marketing?

• Overcoming self-doubt and hidden benefits of imposter syndrome.

• Guy’s advice on growing a successful marketing agency.

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Sponsors and Resources

E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service.

The Evolution of Success: an Entrepreneur’s Career in Thirds

Throughout his career, Guy has experienced the spectrum of financial success, from feeling undervalued in the early stages to being pleasantly surprised by the substantial offers he received later on. Now, he views his career path in thirds. For the first third of his career, he felt underpaid for his accomplishments. However, in the second third of his life, he found himself being offered significant sums of money for his work. He knew how much he wanted but was surprised to see people were willing to pay that sum. Now, in the final third of his life, he is financially stable and focused on giving back.

Looking back on his journey, he reflects on the importance of not having everything handed to him as a way to build character and resilience. He had to work hard, prove himself, and continually strive for more to reach the level of success he has achieved, something for which he is now thankful.

With such an interesting and successful career, Guy now aims to leave a legacy of empowering others, which he actively pursues through his podcast and writing, solidifying his commitment to positively impacting people's lives.

Chief Evangelism Officer: Spreading the Word on Innovation

Guy is currently the Chief Evangelist at Canva, a position he previously held at Apple as well. According to the definition of evangelism, this means he is dedicated to spreading the good news about products that can benefit others, emphasizing their value in enhancing creativity, productivity, and communication.

To him, evangelism goes beyond traditional sales tactics because it’s about genuinely believing in the value of what you are promoting and wanting to share that value with others. It is about making a positive impact on the lives of others by introducing them to something that can improve their quality of life.

Whether it is through promoting a product that enhances creativity or sharing a personal success story, spreading the good news can have a ripple effect, encouraging others to pursue their own goals and dreams. This is why being an evangelist is very close to his heart and something that influences the rest of the work he does.

Overcoming Self-Doubt and Finding the Hidden Benefit of Imposter Syndrome

Thinking back on his career, Guy reflects on the things that held him back at times and finds that most people are held back by their mindset. You can have people in your life who don’t believe in you and, as much as it sucks it’s also a relatively easy thing to ignore as long as you believe in yourself. However, if you don’t believe in yourself, then that’s a real problem.

In his experience, this kind of mentality can slow your progress, as it did for him back when he was writing his first book. Filled with self-doubt, he wondered if he had what it took to publish a book. Thankfully, he was able to overcome this by realizing that he didn't need external validation or permission to pursue his passion. It’s a thinking he carries with him and advises anyone to adopt, whether they wish to write a book, make a movie, or try anything new.

Doubts about one's capabilities often stem from imposter syndrome, a common feeling of inadequacy experienced in new or challenging situations. However, Guy asserts that imposter syndrome can signify awareness and humility, catalyzing growth, rather than a barrier to success. He contrasts this with entitlement syndrome, emphasizing that while imposter syndrome can be overcome and lead to personal development, entitlement is counterproductive to growth.

Guy’s Advice on Growing a Successful Marketing Agency

The most impactful companies in history are those that continually revisit their customers' preferences and adapt to industry innovations. They go back and ask what it is their customers most enjoy about the product they offer and adapt using new technologies. According to Guy, Kodak could have realized they were in the preserving memories business instead of the chemicals and film business and pivoted to adapt to that new technology.

Likewise, successful agencies must keep ‘working backward’ and never lose sight of what it is clients want and how they can help them. Moreover, the best agencies are the ones that can solve the biggest problems the fastest. For instance, agencies that integrate AI into their services and embrace new technologies outperform their competitors. This forward-thinking approach ensures agencies remain relevant and capable of addressing clients' most pressing challenges.

The Paradox of Remarkability and the True Path to a Remarkable Career

In his latest book, Think Remarkable, Guy delivers a practical and sometimes radical discussion on how to transform your life and make a difference. It is an extension of the work he has done on his podcast Remarkable People, where he has interviewed the likes of Jane Goodall and Marc Benioff. Through his conversations with high achievers, he shares valuable insights on how to become remarkable.

First off, as counterintuitive as it may sound, Guy’s #1 advice to creating a remarkable career is not striving for remarkability. To him, the real way to be remarkable is by striving to make a difference. People like Jane Goodall didn’t stop to think how she could get people to think she was remarkable. She just went ahead and did remarkable things. The natural outcome of adopting this mindset is that you don’t need to position yourself as a visionary; people just conclude that you are.

In today's rapidly changing world, where technology and artificial intelligence are transforming industries and job markets, the importance of making a difference becomes even more crucial.

So how can agencies be in the game long enough to make a difference and find success? From his experience in tech, Guy’s advice is to keep throwing stuff at the wall and be ready to highlight your success. “One thing Silicon Valley is very good at doing is declaring victory and hiding defeat”, he says jokingly. He acknowledges that navigating the path to success in business is often humbling and emphasizes the importance of perseverance and resilience.

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

What key metrics are you tracking for your agency? Do you know which KPIs are crucial for making proactive decisions to benefit your agency? There are 4 key metrics that enable you to see into your agency’s future and make smarter growth decisions. Today’s guest runs a CPA advisory firm that provides agencies with the tools they need to come up with original solutions for their unique challenges. He shares the four key metrics every agency should be tracking to predict their future moves.

Jody Grunden is the founder of Anders CPAs + Advisors, a virtual CFO group focused on the creative agency space. His team serves as a catalyst for those striving to achieve their highest potential and carry this mentality on to their clients and community.

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

• Crucial metrics to track for your agency.
• The target average utilization rate for agencies.
• Assessing profitability and gross margin to make adjustments to your prices or staff.

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Sponsors and Resources

Dot & Co: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Dot & Co, client management specialists that will help digital marketing agencies keep their clients happy. With the help of their knowledgeable account managers, agency owners can step away from the day-to-day and focus on driving results. Check out dotandcompany.co/smartagency and get 20% off your first month working with them.

 

The 4 Crucial Financial Metrics You Should Be Tracking for Your Agency

Jody and his team help their clients focus on their goals and achieve their highest potential. They help improve their client's business by teaching them to focus on four main metrics:

1. Cash metrics
2. Production metrics
3. Financial metrics
4. Pipeline metrics

Keeping track of these metrics makes a huge impact on your agency allowing you to predict your cash position every month and make key decisions ahead of time rather than being reactionary.

1. Cash Metrics

This is annualized revenue; something all agency owners should have knowledge and control over. Keeping track of how much cash you have in the bank determines your next steps in the business.

The goal is to have at least 10% of your annualized revenue in the bank at all times. So if you have a $3 million agency, you should have $300,000 in the bank. Why ten percent? This amount covers 2 months' worth of expenses for a service-based business. Of course, this is the minimum. It's better to strive for 30% or six months' worth of expenses.

There’s no right or wrong answer. Some agencies are fine with 4 months' worth of expenses in the bank, some need less. How do you decide on the percentage your agency requires? Just look at your different risk factors. Are you focusing most of your resources on just one client? Do you have older, retiring partners? In those cases, there is high risk and you need a higher percentage. Do you have high recurring revenue? If so then 10% is fine. Anything over 6 months might be overkill and money you could be using to reinvest in the agency.

Why You’ll Need at Least Three Different Bank Accounts

Jody usually advises clients to have three different bank accounts; a tax account (for 40% of net income); an operating account (money to pay bills), and a cash reserve account (a money market account or a high-interest savings account). Just keep in mind that if that money is sitting in your operating account, you’ll be losing opportunities. The name of the game is making money on your money.

Jason and Jody agree that you should also get a line of credit when you don't need it. Treat it as a safety guard and preferably have it renewed every two years instead of annually. It’s not designed to be used on a daily basis. That’s what your cash reserve is for.

2. Production Metrics

This is the metric agencies use to build a solid forecast. This forecast should be dialed into your non-financial metrics and may change every month. There are two very important metrics to getting that forecast right:

• Utilization Rate -  what your team is working on and the percentage of their total hours spent on billable work.
• Average Build Rate - which is not what you’re charging clients but rather the work being done. If you charge by the hour and you’re not accurately tracking the time spent working that reduces your average build rate.

These two metrics will help build a dynamic forecast because it’s all based on people. You’ll be able to build a month-by-month forecast and break down exactly what your agency should do on a monthly basis to achieve your revenue goals.

Average Utilization Rate for Agencies

How many hours does an agency typically work? This varies from agency to agency but on average they expect to work 30-32 (billable) hours per week. This is a benchmark of the number of hours you expect your workers to put in each week.

Basically, the number of billable hours (work hours minus culture hours) divided into the number of available hours will give you your utilization rate. The average utilization rate for agencies is around 60%. However, your agency should strive to achieve your forecast projections.

https://www.agencymastery360.com/agency-blueprint 3. Financial Metrics

Assessing profitability and gross margin. Compare your agency to the competition and to your forecast. Comparing to everyone else will give you an idea of whether you’re in the ballpark but more importantly, how well you're forecasting.

To assess your overall profitability, first look at your net revenue. This is basically revenue minus hard costs. Once you have that, subtract all costs associated with production (anyone who works in the business), including fully-burdened costs like 401K and health insurance. Your goal as an agency should be about 50% net revenue.

Additionally, your overhead costs like marketing expenses, business development, and facility costs should be no more than 35%. So, net revenue (50%) minus overhead (35%) = a gross margin bottom line (15%). Ideally, you’ll want to get gross margin up from 15% closer to 25%.

Try to focus not only on things you can cut back but also if it’s time to increase prices. Planning to increase staff by 5%? Then you should probably also raise your prices or your margin percentage will shrink.

4. Pipeline Metrics

The cash, production, and financial metrics will help you build a great model to predict exactly how much you’ll hit each month. However, it can all crumble pretty quickly without the pipeline metric. This metric helps keep an eye on what you have under contract for the next three months and when you’ll need to make adjustments according to the amount of work.

For instance, if you have 65% under contract for the next three months that’s fine and it’s the typical number for your agency. However, if you’re at 80% or 20% capacity then you’ll need to make some adjustments.

 

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

How often do you look at your agency's churn rate? Do you know the lifetime value of a client? What are your client retention strategies? Do you dedicate time to client retention like you do to client acquisition? It all starts with monitoring the right metrics, understanding what clients really want, and being proactive in client services. Today’s guest is an agency sales and client service expert who manages end-to-end sales activities for a white-label agency. She shares the key metrics you should track and tips to help you master client retention.

Kushbu Doshi is the VP of Sales and Customer Service at E2M Solutions, a white-label agency with clients around the world. She is a customer service specialist with a passion for strategizing, making realistic action plans, and following up on their implementation to get real results for agencies. Kushbu has been on the show before to talk about how to improve your customer service.

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

• How to calculate client retention rate.
• Questions that lead to better client retention.
• Dedicating time to retain existing clients.
• Important KPIs to improve agency-client relationships.

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How to Calculate Your Agency's Client Retention Rate

The team at E2M Solutions has created metrics meant to track their performance in terms of client retention. The most important step to start getting a sense of how your team is doing with client retention is establishing your client retention rate. You can figure this out by establishing how many clients you have at the start of the quarter (S) and at the end of the quarter (E).

Client Retention Ratio = (E ÷ S) x 100

So basically, if you have 100 at the start of the quarter and 80 at the end of the quarter, your retention rate will be 80%. Ideally, your client retention should be above 75%. Any number below should be something you address with your team to find out what’s not working out.

Effective Ways to Master Client Retention

Client retention starts with the sales conversations and setting the right expectations from the very beginning. There are many things you could start doing at your agency to increase retention level.

For instance, after calculating your retention rate, you can appoint a client service person to start tracking client success. E2M decided client service has to be a stand-alone role instead of something handled by the project manager or the team working directly with the client.

This person ensures the client is happy and the agency is matching client expectations. They have keynotes for every client containing their goals for the next 1-3 years. These details help the agency determine how to work with the client, what may not work, and how to upsell or cross-sell new opportunities to extend the relationship.

Additionally, they also do periodic calls in which they go over expectations and progress. Basically, it’s about keeping an eye on your clients and staying curious about their plans for the future. Are they open to expanding services? What kind of niche do they want to target next?

Ask Bold Questions and Improve Client Communication

Kushbhu's team is trained to ask bold questions in the sales call to find out why clients want to be associated with their white-label agency. What are the major pain points her team will solve? If you can get clients to talk about their whys, you’ll come out confident about exactly what they want. Many times these conversations help reveal what the client thinks they want is not actually what they need.

Additionally, in most cases, clients are pleasantly surprised to receive this type of personalized attention. This type of action helps win trust and mutual respect.

Do You Dedicate Time to Retaining Existing Clients?

Kushbu strongly believes the time spent getting more leads should match the time spent retaining existing clients. After all, if your churn rate is high then what’s the point of just focusing on getting more clients?

The E2M Solutions team dedicates a specific day of the week to review existing clients' challenges. Are those clients working well with the current team? Are they matching the delivery times of previous weeks? A review of these metrics determines whether they’re on the right track to retain clients. The rest of the week is dedicated to new client acquisition.

Many people don’t focus on retention until they lose a few clients. Once they think they figured it out, they move on to the next issue. With a client service team in place, E2M always has dedicated efforts to client retention.

Using AI to Figure Out What Clients May Like

Kushbu and her team are starting to experiment with AI to see how to best utilize this tool. For now, they have been using ChatGPT to create personas and ask them about specific scenarios.

For instance, they have tried the command: “if you were a client success manager what would you do in this scenario?” They also share a client’s characteristics and preferences to then ask what it thinks their client would like. In Kushbu's experience, AI comes up with really good recommendations.

Important KPIs for Improving Agency Client Relationships

Other important KPIs are the Lifetime Value (LTV) and Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) ratios. Keeping track of these has helped the E2M Solutions team understand where they’re at and the kind of positioning they need. Another important metric is the average amount of time clients stay with you so you can increase the duration of the relationship.

Kushbu suggests agency owners use these metrics instead of relying solely on churn and retention ratios. It's important to always be looking at these numbers by calculating them every quarter instead of just at the end of the year.

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

How are you branding your agency? Do you treat the agency like a client and market purposefully? Your agency’s brand is much more than just a name or logo. The way you brand your impacts the type of clients you attract. A rebrand can be daunting. However, sometimes it’s the best way to regain control and attract your ideal clients. Today’s guest purchased an agency and decided to strip it down and rebuild the agency she envisioned. She shares the reasons for the rebrand and some of the surprising results in her team and marketing efforts.

Avril Tomlin-Hood is the CEO and Founder of boa, a Vancouver-based digital marketing agency specializing in media buying. After committing to elevate companies that want to effect positive change, boa now works exclusively with plant-based and sustainable brands. She recalls why she decided to rebrand her agency after six years and her surprising new role at the agency she enjoys more than expected.

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

• Rebranding to build the agency you really want.
• How a mastermind helps combat isolation.
• The surprising way a podcast can change your agency.
• Why you shouldn't forget to invest in your agency.

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Sponsors and Resources

Dot & Co: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Dot & Co, client management specialists that will help digital marketing agencies keep their clients happy. With the help of their knowledgeable account managers, agency owners can step away from the day-to-day and focus on driving results. Check out dotandcompany.co/smartagency and get 20% off your first month working with them.

 

Rebranding to Build the Agency You Really Want

Ten years ago, Avril worked at a media buying agency. After four years there, the owner was ready to move on to other things, so Avril took over and bought the agency. The agency has gone through a few iterations doing white labeling services and branded agency work.

A year ago, after a failed employee acquisition, she realized it was time to invest in the agency’s brand to be in more control. In hindsight, the acquisition was never going to work because the structure didn't allow for independence. Once the deal fell through, she knew it was time to try something different and focused her energy on an agency rebrand.

Years after acquiring the agency, she had never really invested in the brand. It was sort of just there while the actual work had shifted to white labeling services. Hence, despite having owned the agency for many years it never felt like it was actually hers.

She renamed it boa and decided to focus less on white labeling and more on media buying. The shift also includes working exclusively in a niche of brands that want to have a positive impact on the planet.

Finding an Agency Community to Help Set Goals and Combat Isolation

Lots of agency owners feel like they're making decisions on an island. The game changer for Avril is following a friend’s advice to get a coach. This way, she got the help she needed to figure out her goals, strategy, and the support she needed to get there.

Furthermore, joining a mastermind like Agency Mastery made a big difference when it came to combating isolation. The community really helped her work through her feelings of being stuck. It also helped her see the options and opportunities for the future, by meeting people who were three or five years ahead in their agency journey.

https://www.agencymastery360.com/agency-blueprint Finding an Integrator and Focusing on Building a Leadership Team

We all know how hard it can be to find great people. One of Avril's most significant successes in this area was hiring a trusted "right-hand" person who has been moving into an operations position. This person fills the role of the Integrator and her addition to the team has been a game-changer for the agency operations.

Avril's own role as Visionary has helped her have a clear and defined vision for the agency. She is no longer in the weeds and can focus on the agency rather than being stuck in it. This is something she now communicates to her team. She focuses more on reaching the agency's goals and measuring KPIs that matter in the process.

Avril believes growth is all about building a leadership team. Right now, she requires all hires to have leadership potential so they can manage a team in the future.

The Surprising Way Starting a Podcast Can Change Your Business

Recently, Avril has added podcast host to her role. Starting a podcast wasn't in the original plan but she has found it is a great way to grow her agency's audience. It was hard to get her head around the concept and she didn’t know what she would talk about on the show.

In the end, she realized the podcast didn’t have to focus on what the agency does. It should focus on her target audience, which is why she interviews innovative and sustainable brands.

The podcast has actually made it easier for her to reach out to her ideal clients. Instead of sending a cold email, she invites them to the podcast as a thought leader on sustainable brands. It’s a smart strategy for business development. It has also helped her understand the importance of branding herself, which wasn't a priority at first. Now she sees branding herself can be very beneficial for the agency as well.

Growth Takes Investment and Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone

For a long time, Avril was really good about keeping solid profit margins. However, this also meant she was limiting the agency’s growth. Staying in your comfort zone is not necessarily best for agency growth.

If you’re feeling too comfortable, you’re probably not pushing enough. Growth takes investment, which is something Avril is taking seriously by treating the agency like a client. Now when they look at investments like media planning, marketing planning, etc. the agency is included.

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Do you have a personal brand? Did you create your brand with purpose and intention? Does it speak to who you are and your mission? Do you know how you can use it to create the opportunities you want to access in your career? Today’s guest is a branding expert who created an agency focused on one-on-one brand development, coaching, and consultation for women leaders. After 20 years of helping create and fine-tune brands, she shares the right questions to ask yourself in order to unlock your brand. She also explains why the process could even make you uncomfortable.

Laura Barnard is the founder of Breakthru Brands, a brand-building agency that empowers women leaders. Her team works to empower women and the LGBTQIA+ community to break through barriers and close gender gaps in leadership. Laura breaks down her agency’s process to help unlock their clients’ brands, and why it’s so important to know yourself and your purpose to create a successful brand.

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

• Lessons on branding from big corporate brands.
• 3-Steps to unlock and activate your brand.
• Finding inspiration and purpose in your agency's vision.

Subscribe

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Sponsors and Resources

Dot & Co: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Dot & Co, client management specialists helping digital marketing agencies keep their clients happy. With the help of their knowledgeable account managers agency owners can step away from the day-to-day and focus on driving results. Check out dotandcompany.co/smartagency and get 20% off your first month working with them.

Podcast Takeover!!

Get to know your Smart Agency Guest Host: Dr. Jeremy Weisz is the co-founder of Rise25, an agency that helps companies launch and run podcasts profitably. He followed Jason’s podcast and eventually joined the mastermind and has been a guest on the podcast before. Today, he’s helping Jason bring something new to the Smart Agency podcast audience by interviewing a special guest and getting a new perspective to the show.

 

Lessons About Branding from Working On Big Brands

Laura’s impressive background includes an MBA from the University of Chicago and a degree in Psychology from Harvard. However, if you ask her what influenced her journey the most, she’ll say it was basketball, both playing in college and then coaching. It provided her with the discipline and leadership skills she uses in her career. Basketball was also how she got to know the first female leader that inspired her current path.

Looking back at her career, Laura spent over 15 years working in corporate America focusing on brand management. Business school is when she first understood brand management. She was eager to apply her passion for psychology in her desire to understand why people think, act, and behave in the ways they do. Brand management emerged as a way for her to bring psychology into sales, strategy, and business management.

Leading strategy for iconic brands like Skittles and Wrigley's, she worked to help big brands create an impact. It was a great opportunity for her to learn as much as she could about the business. The #1 lesson she took from that time was the importance of knowing your consumer really well. Understand what motivates them. Find out what they need and what benefits they are seeking. Laura also learned to manage large businesses with cross-functional teams, five-year plans, etc.

Later on, working with Haribo, she had the chance to step into a leadership position and help a big brand establish itself in the US. By the end of that experience, it was that her future in the industry was to break out of stifling corporate America and make her own path as an entrepreneur.

Finding Inspiration and Purpose In Your Agency's Vision

After fifteen years of climbing the corporate ladder and improving her skills, Laura relocated with her family. New jobs, new schools, and new surroundings required some time off. She took the pause she needed to reflect on her next chapter.

This was an opportunity to work in brand management but do it with more autonomy, more ownership, and ultimately with more purpose. She was inspired to use everything she had learned about brand management to start her own company advancing women leaders.

This thinking led her to one of her first inspirations, her former basketball coach, Kathy. She wanted to help Kathy increase her impact as a woman leader and get her messaging to a wider audience. This experience helped shape her agency's vision of growing a network around sports leaders and eventually in other industries as well.

 

https://www.agencymastery360.com/agency-blueprint 3 Steps to Unlock and Activate Your Own Brand

Laura’s team has helped over 100 women leaders define and activate their brands. In time, they’ve refined and adjusted what they do to form a very effective 4-week process that is clear and effective. Overall, the process is divided into three basic phases:

1. Discovery. During the Discovery phase the team works to help people get to know who they are. This process helps them get clear on who they to themselves and for others, as well as what they want to stand for. It may be uncomfortable for some clients. In fact, Laura believes if they’re not making the client uncomfortable, they’re not doing their jobs. It also includes interviews with key stakeholders who can speak to the clients' strengths and abilities and say things clients will probably not tell about themselves.
   
2. Defining. The interview and discovery process helps Laura’s team determine the clients’ purpose, mission, and vision. This is what they call brand values which become somewhat of a north star.  Furthermore, many times a leader will come to them at a time of inflection and change. The agency helps define the paths they can take and opportunities to position themselves to have a greater impact.
   
3. Unlocking. This is the deliverable phase where they craft the brand story. Once the values and paths are defined, how do you brand yourself and tell your story? A brand story is a 2,000-word narrative that clearly states why they do what they do. This way, they can start shouting it to be world by speaking about it, writing about it, going on podcasts and interviews, etc.

Gaining Intentional Growth By Knowing Who You Serve

For Laura, intentional growth starts with knowing who you are and who you serve. Be clear on your clients' needs and try to match that as uniquely as you can. For Laura and her team, the way to make the business their own was to focus on building leadership brands for women.

Of course, this also means they can't help everyone. This is why they also grow through strategic partnerships. They know sometimes they must refer clients to agencies that will be better equipped to help them. They are also always on the lookout for partnerships with larger organizations that can help them grow their networks. These can be big organizations that have large groups of women leaders and get curious about what they do and how the agency may fit into that.

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Are you driven to grow your digital agency fast? Are there drawbacks to growing your agency too quickly? One agency went from chaos to $5 Million by doubling every year. However, growing too fast without the systems and processes to support it makes agency owners feel like they’re always trying to catch up. Today’s guest is the founder of one of the fastest-growing businesses in Dallas in 2022. Quickly reaching many milestones in a short time made it difficult to build the structure for that growth to continue. She shares some of the aspects she focused on, the roles she sought to fill, and the systems put in place to ensure her agency’s success without growing too fast.

Antonella Pisani is the owner of Eyeful Media, a digital marketing agency focused on paid social, paid search, SEO, copywriting, and digital strategy. Antonella’s agency reached a 1000% growth rate in just one year. Although it was an incredible achievement, it also meant she constantly felt like she was trying to catch up to their growth and couldn't really focus on setting the agency’s structure.

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

• The chaos of growing too quickly.
• Which agency roles to fill to create the right infrastructure.
• How to avoid scope creep to keep projects within budget.
• Why you need to focus on leadership training.

Subscribe

Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher | Radio FM

Sponsors and Resources

Dot & Co: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Dot & Co, client management specialists that will help digital marketing agencies keep their clients happy. With the help of their knowledgeable account managers, agency owners can step away from the day-to-day and focus on driving results. Check out dotandcompany.co/smartagency and get 20% off your first month working with them.

 

Overcoming the Chaos of Growing Too Quickly 

Antonella’s agency grew very quickly, reaching a 1000% growth rate in just a couple of years. She constantly felt behind because they experienced 10 years' worth of growth in just one year. Looking back, that level of growth and chaos kept her so busy she failed to implement this structure much sooner. There are some things she wishes she had structured from day 1.

It’s not uncommon for entrepreneurs to thrive and even get energy from the chaos around them. However, not everyone thrives from chaos. Some people need more structure to be successful in their roles. So it's important to create a structure to allow employees to onboard quickly and get up to speed.

Three years ago she decided it was time for a “year of infrastructure”. As a first step, she and her team thought about the software pieces they needed in order to grow. They had some things figured out, like the software for billing clients and time tracking.

As she looked at the available solutions, she realized the choice was about what type of business she wanted to build in terms of culture and values. It’s not necessarily something you want to rush. Infrastructure can be created over time as you figure out what you want and what type of business you're creating.

Who to Hire to Create the Right Agency Infrastructure

After putting the software solutions in place, Antonella knew she needed to find solutions to help the agency scale. Her focus was adding people to the agency in a way it would not end up diluting the quality of work they did for clients. Of course, you have to get to a certain level before you can afford hiring managers. So once they started to grow, it was time to make some hard choices. Instead of hiring someone for SEO, they would focus their efforts on finding a group director or project manager.

For Antonella, setting up the proper infrastructure started with implementing the software, hiring the managers they needed, and going back to check if they needed to make changes to the initial software.

That year she focused even more on hiring people with experience to then build teams underneath them. She knew it was important to create the right hierarchy rather than having too many direct reports herself.

https://www.agencymastery360.com/agency-blueprint Avoiding Scope Creep In Order to Keep Projects on Budget

Coming from a role as VP of Global eCommerce for a big brand, Antonella had an idea of how much she needed to charge clients. She started charging $250 an hour on their first few projects. The biggest challenge was learning how to charge fixed-rate strategy projects, where she became her worst enemy.

Pro tip: When clients keep coming with requests and it’s not clear to them whether it’s out of scope or not, it’s best you take control of the situation. Say “it’s no problem but this is out of scope." Clarify this one time you’ll do it for free and send a $0 change order that they have to sign. This way, they’re aware they’re getting something they should be paying for. Next time they come to you for something like that, they’ll know it’s out of scope and expect to pay.

Boosting Efficiency by Focusing on Leadership Training

Right now, Antonella and her team are done with setting up the systems to increase efficiency. The current focus is on automation and giving the team time to analyze and interpret data. Her agency does a lot of training, which is a point of pride for her. They’re trying to lean more into that with a focus on leadership development. Training the next generation of leaders is something that helps the agency be stronger and more efficient.

Sometimes you hear the people who got your agency to a certain point won’t get you to the next level. However, if you invest in leadership and training, this isn't necessarily true.

Antonella believes in making this kind of training available at every level in order to help create a common language that helps boost efficiency. It hasn’t been easy focusing on these things while growing so fast, but they know it will be critical to continue to scale while maintaining their client and employee experience.

Growing Too Fast and Saying No to the Wrong Clients

Is it necessary to pull the brakes when your agency is growing so fast? For Antonella, her agency grew entirely from word of mouth. For a long time, when they got to the conversation of “should we start to market ourselves?” they decided to put it off. Essentially, they wanted to wait until the agency’s structure was in place and all operations were running smoothly before starting to think about other marketing channels.

As the agency grew, they also learned to get comfortable saying no to the wrong prospects. It was their way of making sure they didn’t implode. Saying no is a very powerful way to set your agency up for success.

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

2023 recession talk: pull back or grow? For the first time ever, Jason Swenk, agency owner, advisor, podcast host, and speaker, is interviewed on his own show! Darby turns the tables on him in this episode, where they discuss mistakes, regrets, and the path to becoming an advisor. Jason also talks about why he feels recessions offer opportunities. He shares his views on an economic downturn and how you can grow when others give up. Don't let fear take over, be proactive and tune in!

Jason Swenk is an Agency Advisor, speaker, and podcast host who literally wrote the book on growing and scaling a successful digital agency. Jason started, grew, and sold an 8-figure agency and today is a shareholder in another multi-million dollar agency. For the first time ever he’ll be interviewed on his own podcast to talk about some of the mistakes he regrets and the path that led him to become an advisor.

In this interview, we’ll discuss:

• Ways being reactionary gets in the way of growth.
• How a recession is an opportunity for growth.
• How to get ahead of difficult conversations.
• The 3 best reasons to sell your agency.

Subscribe

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Sponsors and Resources

E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service.

Podcast Takeover!!

Get to know your Smart Agency Guest Host: Darby Copenhaver is the Agency Scale Specialist at the Agency Mastery 360, which provides agency owners with the coaching, community, and tools needed to scale and find their freedom. He helps agency owners scale through a proven framework for growing their agencies faster and connecting with other amazing agency owners. Today, he’s helping Jason bring something new to the Smart Agency podcast audience by interviewing a special guest and bringing a new perspective to the show.

How Being Reactionary Gets in the Way of Growth

Jason's journey to success in the agency industry was not without its challenges. In the early days, he found himself being reactionary, a major roadblock to growth. However, he learned from this mistake and discovered that having a clear focus and target clientele was key to achieving growth.

As with many business owners, Jason had to grapple with the decision of whether to sell his agency or continue to run it. He started his agency during the dot-com era, hoping to grow it for a year and then sell it. But after the market crashed and he came to enjoy the business, his feelings changed. He realized that the desire to sell or keep going depends on where you're at in his life and the agency's growth trajectory.

Why Recessions are an Opportunity for Growth

Interestingly, Jason also saw recessions as an opportunity for growth. In the early 2000's dot bomb and again in 2008, as the market was crashing, his agency was reaching new heights. He and his partner invested more and found strategic partners, which helped them weather the storm and come out even stronger.

Overall, Jason's story serves as a reminder that success in the agency industry requires a combination of strategic planning, adaptability, and perseverance. By staying focused, taking advantage of opportunities, and being willing to evolve, agency owners can achieve long-term success.

Are you ready to tackle the tough conversations and come out on top? Jason, an agency owner, knows how difficult it can be to approach clients with their concerns and hesitations. But with a little transparency and a lot of courage, Jason was able to ease their worries and showcase the many opportunities that lay ahead.

Being Proactive with Difficult Client Conversations

But what if your clients just aren't ready to take the leap? Jason suggests making a top 100 list of ideal clients who share your values and can afford your services. Back in 2008, when his agency was struggling to stay afloat during a market slowdown. This strategy proved to be a game-changer. Jason was able to catapult his agency to new heights by targeting clients who were willing to invest and grow despite the challenges.

Of course, there were some bumps in the road along the way. Some clients froze or reduced their budgets, which meant Jason had to make some tough choices. But by freeing up resources and replacing those clients with new ones, he was able to weather the storm and come out stronger than ever before.

3 Big Mistakes as an Agency Owner

Looking back on his 12 years as an agency owner, Jason knows there are a few things he would have done differently.

1. Firing Sales Too Fast. He regrets firing a salesperson too quickly without offering more support and guidance.
   
2. Talent from Big Agencies Doesn't Equal Growth. He also learned the hard way that hiring people from bigger agencies doesn't always translate into success at a smaller agency. They are often not very resourceful in a more intimate agency setting. He learned it's more important to hire based on core values instead of just bringing people from the top.
   
3. Not Delegating the Manager Role. Perhaps most importantly, he recognized management skills are crucial to team success. Now he knows he needs to hire people who are good managers and can get by with some guidance and coaching.

3 Reasons It Might Be Time to Sell Your Agency

If you're thinking about selling your agency, Jason has some advice for you too. He urges you to take a step back and ask yourself why you're considering it in the first place. Is it because you're burned out and no longer enjoy the work? Or is it because you need the money for other reasons? Maybe there's a bigger opportunity waiting for you out there. Whatever the case may be, make sure you're clear on your reasons for selling before you take the plunge.

Jason warns against being too reactionary to the market forces that come your way. Instead of simply reacting to the challenges and opportunities that arise, agency owners need a clear vision. It's important to be clear on where you're headed and goals you want to achieve. By designing your agency around your goals and values, you'll be better equipped to weather the ups and downs of the market and come out on top. So why not take a chance, make that top 100 list, and see where it takes you?

  Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Are you an in-person agency with office space? Are you a fully remote agency? Both models have benefits and drawbacks for the agency and your team. However, one agency is thriving on a hybrid office model that provides flexibility and freedom while maintaining culture and inspiration. Overall, most talent wants the flexibility of working from home but also appreciates the importance of in-person work. Today’s guest ran a traditional in-person agency for 20 years. After going remote during the pandemic, shares how he made the decision to remain flexible with office attendance while maintaining collaboration and connections.

Dean Trevelino founder and co-CEO of Trevelino/Keller, a boutique PR, and marketing agency based in Atlanta. As one of their core values, they believe focusing on staff should be part of the agency’s DNA. Part of prioritizing their employees’ needs has been deciding on a structure that works for everyone. Full-time in the office, fully virtual, or the option to do both.

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

• Will your team lose passion if they're fully remote?
• Benefits of a physical office.
• How a hybrid office model increases employee retention.

Subscribe

Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher | Radio FM

Sponsors and Resources

Dot & Co: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Dot & Co, client management specialists helping digital marketing agencies keep their clients happy. With the help of Dot's knowledgeable account managers, agency owners can step away from the day-to-day and focus on driving results. Check out dotandcompany.co/smartagency and get 20% off your first month working with them.

How an Established Culture Made an Easy Shift to Virtual

Dean and his team had built their agency's culture over 20 years of in-person operations before the pandemic hit and forced them to go fully virtual. The debate about the best environment for running a successful agency was ongoing. Some advocated for personal contact and focus on work, while others emphasized the benefits of remote work and flexible schedules. Dean believed in the importance of connectivity and community that an office environment provided, as it had helped retain staff better than any other agency in the industry, losing only two people in two decades.

Moving to a virtual setting was not an easy decision, but they had to make the change all at once due to the pandemic. Initially, they adopted a hybrid model where staff was expected to be at the office at least 60% of the time each month. However, the conversation later shifted towards more remote work, and rather than changing policies incrementally, Dean decided to go fully virtual.

Will Your Team Lose Passion If They're Fully Remote?

Dean's biggest fear was that losing in-person contact would result in everyone losing their passion for the business. To prevent this, they leaned more into education and encouraged staff to stay ahead of industry trends. They also introduced programs designed to leverage the benefits of remote work and promote team building, such as sending a random employee on a trip anywhere in the world every quarter.

Ultimately, Dean's team successfully adapted to the new virtual setting, and the agency continued to thrive. The focus on education and team building helped maintain everyone's passion for the business, and the shift to fully virtual work proved to be the right decision.

https://www.agencymastery360.com/agency-blueprint Benefits of Having Physical Agency Office

Having a physical office to go back to can offer several benefits for employees. These benefits are challenging in a fully virtual model. While remote work provides flexibility, it can be counterproductive when urgent meetings are necessary. It is even more difficult across different time zones. Not everyone has an ideal workspace at home, which can lead to difficulties in taking client calls or having meetings. This can result in people feeling like they are always working, which can cause burnout.

Dean established a compromise that employees may be required to be present at the office for a week if there are important meetings or clients visiting. This ensures that the agency continues to function as a high-performance team. This is decided by the senior staff, and every employee is expected to uphold this compromise.

However, Dean also found it essential to be clear the team should not behave like they're remote when they are in the office. It defeats the purpose of having a physical office if employees forget how to act when they are there. Dean addressed this by reminding employees of previously established rituals. Things like joining the staff meeting in the conference room when they are at the office.

Overall, while remote work offers flexibility, it is important to strike a balance. That balance maintains a high-performance team and ensures employees have access to an ideal workspace.

How a Hybrid Office Model Helps Increase Retention

One of the challenges of fully remote work is retaining new hires, particularly younger employees who value in-person connection and community. To address this, a hybrid model that includes a physical office can be beneficial. Larger companies can establish structured days for each department to be in the office, which can provide a sense of community and help retain vulnerable employees.

Dean also emphasizes the importance of maintaining a strong company culture, even in a virtual setting. Agency owners should make efforts to inspire employees to come to the office. You can offer unique benefits and programs accessible only in person. Additionally, leaning heavily on agency values and reminding employees of the company's vision can help ensure everyone is working towards the same goals and prevent deviation from them. Stagnation occurs when the agency is just reactive to market changes. So it is crucial to communicate a clear vision for growth and scaling.

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Are you at the crossroads of deciding how big to grow your agency? Bigger isn't always better; in some cases, it makes more sense to create a lifestyle business. It's important to have a clear vision for your agency. For some, that means growing to 7- or 8-figures. However, for others, it means keeping a small, nimble team with lots of control over processes. This is why some agency owners decide to either wait until they feel ready to take on that challenge or continue to thrive as a boutique agency. Today’s guest made the decision to run a small operation where she still feels in control of the agency operations.

Rebekah Edwards is the owner of Clara, a digital marketing agency in the SEO and content space. Her agency niche is in the health and wellness space. Clara creates the clearest, highest-value, and most trustworthy SEO on the market. Since 2019, their team has been propelling clients to become expert voices in their fields. About a year after starting the agency, she realized she could start growing the operation, hire more staff, and take on more clients. However, it would’ve been a huge undertaking that didn’t fit with her busy personal life. She is sharing why she decided to remain in control of her agency operations by keeping it small. In the years since the agency has actually dropped clients and is doing better than ever.

In this interview, we’ll discuss:

• Deciding to stay small and retain control of your agency.
• Dropping clients and saying no to the wrong clients.
• Common mistakes when trying to grow.

Subscribe

Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher | Radio FM

Sponsors and Resources

E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service.

Podcast Takeover!!

Get to know your Smart Agency Guest Host: Darby Copenhaver is the Agency Scale Specialist at the Agency Mastery 360, which provides agency owners with the coaching, community, and tools needed to scale and find their freedom. He helps agency owners scale through a proven framework for growing their agencies faster and connecting with other amazing agency owners. Today, he’s helping Jason bring something new to the Smart Agency podcast audience by interviewing a special guest and bringing a new perspective to the show.

 

Rebekah had never worked in the agency space before. However, she had worked as a freelancer in different areas for many years and was the managing editor for a website that saw tremendous growth. She decided to build an agency as she needed help and didn't have the time to fully invest in each of her clients. Together with her husband, they developed a system for hiring writers and editing things on the backend. They did this by doing white-glove work for people who would benefit from content-led SEO without Rebekah having to do all the work.

Using SEO as a Lead Generation Platform

Rebekah's agency uses SEO as a lead generation platform by creating long-form educational content in the health and wellness niche. This strategy enables them to create the type of results that appear when people Google questions like "why do I get headaches in the morning?" Companies can then convert those people to leads, sales, etc.

Staying Small to Retain Control Over Agency Operations

Despite many agency owners aiming to grow into one of the best agencies in the US, Rebekah doesn't necessarily want her team to be passionate about their jobs. Instead, she values them being good at their jobs, so they can finish and get home to their families. After creating the agency, Rebekah had to decide whether to continue scaling or carry on as a boutique agency. Being a boutique agency suited her role as an adoptive mother to two teenagers. She and her husband decided a lifestyle business was better suited for their needs. Rebekah can still act as a project manager and ensure that every client gets the promised results. She is open to scaling in the future, but the point of having an agency was to be with her family and have a more flexible schedule

.

Dropping Clients and Saying No to the Wrong Ones

To prevent the agency from taking over her life and decisions, Rebekah plans to drop some clients this year. This way, the agency will be operating with fewer clients than they've had in a long time. Building a social media presence has helped her find her audience, and this way, she can scale without having to say yes to every single client.

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Trying to Grow

In the past, Rebekah made some common mistakes by trying to expand her service offering and train in-house staff to take on some of her tasks. However, this didn't resonate with what she ultimately wanted for the agency, and the team performed poorly in those cases. Rebekah feels more freedom to say no to the wrong clients now that she's back in her role as a project manager. There's a clear direction for the agency, and she's in control.

  Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Why do your clients hire your agency? Do you know the struggle or challenge that led them to you? Many agency owners think they know these answers. However, a deeper search could lead you to change your entire strategy. It starts with simply asking clients what they expect and need. Armed with this information you can rethink who and how you're marketing to your prospects. Today’s guest talks about two mistakes he made at his agency and how he learned the importance of defining the client's north star in order to know what they really want.

Valentin Radu is the CEO of OnmiConvert, an agency that provides e-commerce services to improve conversion rates and grow faster with their AB testing platform. The agency also has software, which helps them serve as a bridge between agencies and clients. Valentin also runs the CVO Academy, which seeks to democratize the way people grow in retail and e-commerce.

In this interview, we’ll discuss:

• 2 Mistakes to avoid early on.
• Learning to target the right prospects.
• A shift in mindset that helps you realize results.

Subscribe

Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher | Radio FM

Sponsors and Resources

Dot & Co: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Dot & Co, client management specialists that will help digital marketing agencies keep their clients happy. With the help of their knowledgeable account managers, agency owners can step away from the day-to-day and focus on driving results. Check out dotandcompany.co/smartagency and get 20% off your first month working with them.

 

2 Early Mistakes to Avoid in Your Agency

Starting a business is a challenging venture. It requires patience, dedication, and most importantly, a willingness to learn from mistakes. Valentin's company learned this the hard way. Initially, his company consisted of just a software division. However, they soon discovered that their ideal customers needed not only software but also services. This led to building a consulting arm within the company to work like an agency for large companies. It was a hard moment, but it ultimately improved their services.

Valentin's agency encountered two mistakes that nearly ended their agency. However, learning from them ultimately improved their services.

The first mistake was venturing into consulting services without fully understanding the results-oriented nature of the agency world.

The second mistake was trying to serve all types of customers and markets, which burned a lot of money on a go-to-market strategy that ultimately led to increased churn rates.

Learning to Target the Right Prospects

After realizing that going after every prospect they could find wasn't working, Valentin's team began to put all their existing customers under the microscope. Customer research became the basis of their methodology to improve customer lifetime value. They found out who their best customers were and why they were buying from them. This allowed them to position themselves as the solution for similar prospects.

https://www.agencymastery360.com/agency-blueprint Defining the Client’s North Star Metric

Valentin's agency developed what they call the "North star metric" for each of their customers. They reinvestigated existing clients, even after two years, to have a direct account of what they expected to get from the agency. Some of the responses were surprising. They found out that many customers appreciated their creative solutions and saw them as an extension of their teams. They weren't really after the numbers but rather stayed for the innovative ideas.

Interviewing existing customers can be a great way to unveil hidden struggles and lead to real progress. It can change not only reporting but also marketing once you understand what your ideal client wants.

Why You Need a Mindset Change to See Real Results

Clients want a partner that will help them figure out their business model. It's essential that agency owners are willing to adapt to these changes. Valentin's agency handles data that show how much agencies are struggling to work as a bridge between clients that are using their technology and agencies looking for customers.

Valentin believes the entrepreneurial journey is, in part, a spiritual journey. It's not just about the likes and the zeros, but also about who you are becoming in the process. Many entrepreneurs get comfortable and don't make any more progress. This means they end up with a mediocre company or struggling to find reliable people that would take their business to another level out of fear of change.

Preventing Costly Mistakes

Valentin's company learned the hard way that starting a business requires patience, dedication, and a willingness to learn from mistakes. They had to adapt to the changes in the market and redefine their ideal customer. They had to redefine their reporting and marketing strategies to meet the needs of their clients. Above all, they had to change their mindset to see real results.

If you want to start a business or take your existing business to the next level, it's essential to understand the importance of adapting to changes in the market, defining your ideal customer, and interviewing existing customers to understand their struggles. You must also be willing to change your mindset and embrace the challenges of entrepreneurship to see real results.

 

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Are you delegating effectively in order to grow your agency? Do you have a satisfying work-life balance? Or are you working yourself to death? A lot of agency owners hit the early milestones by hustling hard. Many believe they are the only ones capable of doing specific tasks the right way. But this superhero syndrome ultimately gets in the way of your growth and results in being burnt out. Today’s guest saw rapid growth with his agency, hitting the $1 million mark in just one year. However, he shares the toll it took and what he would do differently.

Daniel Englebretson is the co-founder and CCO of Khronos, an account-based marketing agency helping B2B companies create demand generation from the ground up. His team assists clients as they validate, refine, and execute their go-to-market strategy by running targeted account-based programs that deliver a real pipeline. Daniel has spent most of his career in B2B marketing and is passionate about helping businesses solve problems.

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

• Value-based pricing and charging what you're worth.
• Key roles to hire in order to boost agency growth.
• Staying motivated after working around the clock.

Subscribe

Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher | Radio FM

Sponsors and Resources

E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service.

 

Value-Based Pricing and Charging What You're Worth

Daniel began his career in B2B marketing immediately after college when he was recruited to work on a demand generation project. Over the next few years, he honed his approach and skills while working on similar projects. He met his future co-founders as they collaborated on several projects. Together they developed their methodology for scaling up demand generation. Their goal was to revolutionize the sector by assisting businesses that had an old-school approach.

The agency's first retainer was for $3,000 and was signed three months after Daniel quit his job to focus on building the business. However, it wasn't until two months later that the agency signed what he calls their actual first retainer, in the $15,000 range. From that point on, it took them only a year to reach $1 million. They have grown the agency 2X every since then.

Daniel envisioned building and selling Account Based Marketing programs for the same price it would cost to hire an ABM director, around $15,000 per month.

Related: How the Right Foot in The Door Offer Helps Land Bigger Retainers

Key Roles to Boost the Agency’s Growth

Since the agency aimed to be its clients' fractional ABM team, the most critical role to fill was operations to help document processes. From there, their most significant hires were for process execution and staffing customer services.

Daniel and his partners initially had reservations about hiring more leaders, but they recognized their blind spots and brought in an account manager to help define what customer success would look like for them and the roles they needed to fill. However, they later realized they had leaned too much on expensive leadership, which did not work out.

https://www.agencymastery360.com/agency-blueprint Staying Motivated After Working Around the Clock

While reaching $1 million in just one year was impressive, Daniel and his partners paid themselves the bare minimum that first year, allowing them to reinvest in the agency. Daniel handled all client-facing tasks and worked around the clock. He eventually realized the importance of work-life balance and separating his personal and professional identities. This led to reorganizing the company and having all client-facing roles roll under him, giving him the chance to focus on his role as the visionary.

Daniel recommends having a coach, partner, therapist, or adviser to bounce ideas off. Often agency owners struggle to find someone to advise them when they start their agency journeys on their own. Turning outside the agency to find a coach or adviser can help owners get through the low points.

  Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Have you considered the potential for growth through a strategic acquisition? How do you anticipate the agency owner's role evolving during an acquisition process? What steps can be taken to ensure a seamless integration once the deal is finalized? Our featured guest today has undergone a significant transformation, transitioning from white label to a more comprehensive service offering and shifting from project-based to retainer-based services. Now, she embarks on a new journey for her agency as she navigates a strategic acquisition. Tune in to hear about the evolution of her career and what she’s learned about setting the course for a smooth agency transition and post-acquisition planning.

Leah Messina is the founder and CEO of Sinuate Media, a full-service digital marketing agency that works as equal parts data analytics, creative genius, and strategic mastermind for its clients. Leah recounts her transition from the entertainment industry to establishing her own agency in New Mexico, highlighting key milestones such as the shift to a retainer model and the expansion of services through a strategic acquisition.

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

• The downside of the white label model.

• Shifting to a retainer model.

• Seeking to grow through a strategic acquisition.

• Post-acquisition planning and integration.

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From White Label to Reinvention: Adapting to Market Shifts

Leah always wanted to have her own business and, after working in digital publishing and working at a small digital agency, she fell in love with this evolving industry and felt drawn to the emerging technology.

Leah's agency opened for business in 2006 and initially operated as a white label agency, providing services to larger media agencies who would then resell them to clients. While this arrangement allowed her team to work on prestigious projects, it also relegated them to the background, handling the day-to-day marketing tasks and creative execution.

The economic downturn revealed the drawbacks of the white label model, with clients delaying payments and seeking to internalize services. This shift led to a substantial loss of business, as white label clients accounted for approximately 70% of their revenue at the time.

Determined to overcome this setback Leah thought about some of the requests they sometimes got from customers, and identified an opportunity to diversify their services.

The shift was not easy, as it meant redefining the agency's business model and finding new ways to generate revenue. By embracing it, she showcased her willingness to embrace change and steer the agency towards a more sustainable and diverse future.

Transitioning to a Retainer Pricing Model

As she reevaluated her service offering, Leah also started thinking about the direction of the business and making strategic changes to adapt to the evolving needs of clients and the industry, which included a shift from project-based work to retainers.

With projects, the focus was on delivering work efficiently and quickly, while retainers required building long-term relationships and serving as advisors to clients. This shift necessitated more integration with clients, being involved in early conversations, and offering solutions to operational issues that could impact marketing efforts.

During this transition, Leah’s agency was able to keep some key clients who were in the process of launching new businesses, which was a definite win. Apart from that, attracting new clients and retaining existing ones demanded additional sales efforts, such as public speaking and marketing training.

One of the primary challenges encountered in this shift to retainer-based work was persuading clients accustomed to giving orders to seek advice instead, which took positioning themselves as trusted advisors by showcasing their expertise. Additionally, Leah's team had to find a balance between providing valuable resources and not undermining the positions of marketing directors or CMOs.

Charting a New Course for Growth with a Strategic Acquisition

After two years of putting a heavy focus on the sales side of the business, Leah has been able to step away from the day-to-day operations and the role of project manager. Now she’s focusing on the business development side.

Looking ahead, her plans for the agency include integrating AI into their work and expanding through acquisition, specifically a web development company to enhance their services and capabilities further. In terms of fit, Leah focused on cultural fit, niche expertise, profitability, and the retention of key personnel as the main features to ensure a smooth transition. She also looked for an agency with a good process that didn’t require immediate huge changes. This way, they could just get to work and optimize it over time.

Right now, her mayor concern is how to integrate the teams and manage client expectations. In some cases, this requires keeping the acquisition a secret from clients for a period during the transition. By maintaining continuity and gradually introducing changes, businesses can mitigate potential concerns and ensure a positive experience for all parties involved.

Post-Acquisition Planning and Navigating Integration

During the acquisition process, Leah has learned the importance of good documentation and having a solid set of books and proper records when considering buying a company. Without accurate and comprehensive documentation, it becomes challenging to justify the acquisition and make informed decisions about the business's financial health and potential for growth.

Agency owners can run into a few gotchas once the past owners leave and the hard part starts with the integration so it’s important to ensure the sellers are coming from a place of transparency and accuracy in financial reporting.

Finally, being very conscious of the need for ongoing business development and strategic planning post-acquisition, Leah is now thinking about developing new retainer opportunities. This will involve taking a fresh look at the industry after the acquisition and finding new opportunities to establish a business that drives recurring revenue and complements its existing services.

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

Have you used LinkedIn to generate leads for your agency? Do you know how to access your ideal prospects on LinkedIn? A lot of people get LinkedIn messaging wrong their results show it. It can be a very valuable platform when you use it the right way and master the type of messaging that gets engagement. However, very few do it right. Today’s guest has a lead generation agency that specializes in creating targeted messages that generate responses from your ideal prospects. He shares common mistakes agencies typically make on LinkedIn and tips for improving your LinkedIn outreach.

Nick Verity is the CEO of Cleverly, a LinkedIn marketing agency that uses data from thousands of outbound B2B campaigns to send proven, personalized messages to your dream clients on this platform. His team leverages high-performing data to engage your most qualified decision-makers, driving them directly into your sales funnel.

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

• Common mistakes with LinkedIn messages
• How to get LinkedIn messaging right.
• Accessing your ideal prospects on LinkedIn.

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Sponsors and Resources

Dot & Co: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Dot & Co, client management specialists helping digital marketing agencies keep their clients happy. With the help of their knowledgeable account managers agency owners can step away from the day-to-day and focus on driving results. Check out dotandcompany.co/smartagency and get 20% off your first month working with them.

 

Starting Out as a Lead Generation Agency

Nick got into the agency world figuring if he learned how to market he would always have a job. His business partner used to work in lead generation for a big tech company and had successfully used LinkedIn to create leads for himself. Of course, experience with lead generation came in handy when they decided to create an agency.

Their original offer was a ton of volume on LinkedIn with fully done-for-you copywriting and targeting. It was very successful and they were soon charging $800 per month to send 2,000 connection requests on LinkedIn. However, things have changed since LinkedIn has limited connection requests to 400 per month.

The Unusual Path that Led to Scaling the Agency

Looking back, Nick sees they failed to work on filling their sales pipeline faster. Basically, they stuck to the same 20 clients for about a year. They were doing so much for these clients that it was difficult to focus on bringing in more business. This meant their agency growth plateaued.

The eventual solution was dropping prices and making a switch to fully backend scalable operations coupled with a lot of automation. This was the solution they needed in order to scale. It was the key to pulling themselves out of the business. For Nick, making those changes and being delegating work is what made the difference between scaling and staying at the same level as other agencies.

Many agencies take the opposite route of having fewer clients and charging more, but this is the change Cleverly needed in order to scale.

The Most Common Mistake People Make on LinkedIn

Most people ignore the "salesy," persistent messages we normally get on LinkedIn. You can see them from a mile away. According to Nick, most people get on LinkedIn thinking they’re just going to pitch and sell, which leads to the many irrelevant messages we all know. With automation, it becomes even worse as they start to spread the same irrelevant messaging even more. It fills inboxes with the same type of generic messages and drives people away from the platform.

Like cold calling and cold email, there are ways to make it work, there are just very few doing it right.

https://www.agencymastery360.com/agency-blueprint How Can You Get LinkedIn Messaging Right?

• Step 1: Targeting. People usually look for copy hacks to improve their LinkedIn success. However, Nick says it all starts with targeting. Half the reason people assume the message is spam is because they see “I’m an insurance agent or real estate broker” and think “I don’t need this.” Think about targeting first. Don't just target everyone. Instead, niche down and make sure to hit relevant people. List your clients and try to target similar individuals. This way, you're saying something credible and relevant which increases the chance of success. At his agency, they use Sales Navigator to build a hyper-niche list of around 1,000 prospects.
  
• Step 2: Mindset shift. You’re not on LinkedIn to sell. Instead, your goal is to start conversations and build a network. When you change your mindset to starting conversations, your messages are shorter and you'll learn to ask good discovery questions. Instead of pitching, lead off by providing value for free and see where it goes.
  
• Step 3: The conversation. You can start the conversation by boosting their ego. Complement them on the work they’re doing and be specific on where you think they’re doing really well. Next, you make a low-friction offer that’s not a sales pitch. For instance, invite them on your podcast or offer to send a video with valuable information. After that, it’s all about the delivery. If it’s a video, for example, make sure it’s really well done and actually offers valuable, relevant information.

What Makes Engaging LinkedIn Posts?

Most LinkedIn posts get little to no engagement but Nick says there are a couple of types of posts that outperform others.

First, if you want to go viral, focus on HR and stories. Most people on LinkedIn are not big CEOs, they’re employees. It may be corny, but people really resonate with stories about overcoming failure; like “started from the bottom and overcame all obstacles” or “I was fired and now I’m a top performer”.

Nick also likes to post value-added content, like a post about his agency’s strategy and then offering a complete guide for people who comment. These posts can include video and images as long as it’s not just a repost and you’re adding something exclusively for this platform.

It’s worked so well for them that they managed to scale their agency to 1 million with just LinkedIn outreach and Google ads.

Tips for Accessing Your Audience on LinkedIn

If you’re not getting the results you want on LinkedIn, Nick suggests using the search bar to look for ideal prospects. Send at least 15 connection requests per day. Customize each request by saying something personalized based on the prospect’s profile. Usually, three to eight of your new connections will accept, which validates that your ideal audience is accessible.

It’s also a good idea to stick to the channels you master as you grow your agency. His agency expanded to a total of 8 channels only now that they’re over $4 million. They get leads off Twitter and do SEO but he recommends getting very good at maybe one or two as you start off.

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Does your agency have a defined niche? Do you serve a specific industry or work in a specific vertical offering? We always hear the riches are in the niches, but it's all about balance. Growth comes from serving the right clients with the right offering. Boost client retention when your agency's positioning is clear on who you serve and the solution you provide. After all, you can’t be everything to everyone -- you'll just end up a generalist, 'me too' agency. However, choosing a vertical and horizontal niche might be too limiting at first. Niching down too much and too quickly can leave your business vulnerable to the whims of the market. Today’s guests learned this after seeing exponential growth and then panicking once a change in the algorithm threatened their business niche.

Adam Smith and Laura Hanlon are owners and Co-Directors of Pink Leopard, a growth acceleration agency that helps e-commerce brands grow and scale through the power of paid social, search, and email. The majority of their clients are female-owned e-commerce brands with a primarily female clientele. This wasn’t always the case, however. In its early days, the agency was exclusively focused on Facebook ads.  However, a shift in the market forced them to reconsider if they perhaps niched down too, much too soon.

In this interview, we’ll discuss:

• Discovering a niche is too limiting.
• Growing from 1 hire to a team of 20.
• Boosting client retention with the right offering.
• Time tracking to increase profitability.

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Sponsors and Resources

E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service.

 

Starting an Agency and Selecting a Business Partner

Initially, Laura worked in network marketing and used social media to launch and grow brands, as she had done with her own. It was a very different time and organization was the only thing you needed to grow. However, she quickly identified that paid social ads were the key to helping brands get to the next level.

During that time, she also found a passion for e-commerce and started her own e-commerce store. In hindsight, it was too much on top of her agency work, but it helped her understand her clients’ struggles. As her business grew, she was still a one-woman show getting more and more business thanks to referrals. This is when she thought about Adam.

They had known each other for years, he also wanted to start a business, and his experience in business development and employee engagement complemented her own experiences. He was an ideal match for a business partner.

Growing from the First Hire to a Team of 20

With Laura selling and Adam handling operations, the agency grew quickly. After just six months they hired an account manager to alleviate the handover from sales to delivery.

This meant Laura could focus on running accounts while the account manager handled the back-and-forth with clients. However, when the pandemic hit, as it happened to many, agency growth soared. They quickly went from a 2-person operation to a 20-person team.

Not every new hire was successful. In fact, they made the common mistake of hiring someone very junior when they didn't have the time to train him. Adam and Laura learned they needed to hire skilled experts, which proved to be a great move. Now, they have specialists leading and growing the teams while they focus on growing the agency.

Can an Agency Be Too Niched? 

At first, Pink Leopard worked exclusively with Meta (Facebook) in the e-commerce space. They felt confident to be starting out with a clear idea of their niche and audience. They grew significantly during the Covid pandemic when a lot of brands moved to an e-commerce model or stepped up their e-comm presence. However, growth during the pandemic was very hard to maintain two years later, when things got back to normal. Additionally, the Apple/iOS changes removing data sharing were catastrophic for them as a Facebook agency.

They actually lost a few clients, who were cutting costs after growing too fast during the pandemic. A lot of this had to do with taking on the wrong clients, Laura admits. In 2020 and 2021 they were taking on many businesses without properly vetting them. They later discovered these clients weren't a culture fit.

In the end, they learned relying on a single platform like Facebook was just too risky. They pivoted to being all-in with e-commerce and diversified their services to include email marketing and Google ads.

How to Boost Client Retention with the Right Offering

Diversifying their service offering actually turned out to be a massive client retention piece. It has also helped with growth as they established trust with their clients.

Their new expanded offering helps attract partners who understand the value of a marketing mix including discovery, intent, and retention. Their services are much more robust, now. Which helped improve client retention because they’re no longer reporting on just one channel's performance. Now that they’re working on email, Facebook, and Google, their reports are true reflections of the results they're getting for clients.

How Time Tracking Helps Track Profitability

If they could go back, Adam and Laura would take a closer look at their pricing model a lot sooner. Most agencies are guilty of starting out with lower pricing to attract clients and grow. But it’s important to implement time-tracking to really track where your team is spending time and which projects/clients are actually profitable. The next step to being profitable is saying no to the wrong clients.

It's a risk many agency owners are afraid to take however it's very liberating when you turn away clients that you know aren't the right fit.

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Not sure why you're stuck trying to scale your agency? Growth vs Scaling? What's the difference? There are four main reasons some agencies never scale. Today’s guest has accumulated nearly 15 years of experience in the agency business and shares how he stays focused in order to scale. He also shares lessons that helped him get through difficult and why is usually the agency owners standing in their own way of scaling.

Wayne Mullins is the founder of Ugly Mug Marketing, a boutique agency with 14 years of experience. The agency's design approach places a lot of emphasis on content and understanding the audience to convey an effective message. Their core value is that results should never be compromised for the sake of "good" design.

In this interview, we’ll discuss:

• Why your agency needs a north star to stay focused.
• The difference between scaling vs. growth.
• How agency owners sabotage their growth by not adapting.

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Sponsors and Resources

Verblio: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Verblio. Check out Verblio.com/smartagency and get 50% off your first month of content creation. Our team loves using Verblio because of the ease of their process and their large pool of crowd-sourced writers.

Why You Need a North Star 

Don't let the name fool you; Ugly Mug represents the agency's philosophy of prioritizing results. It originates from a quote by David Ogilvy, where he said “I rather you show me an ad that’s ugly and effective over one that is beautiful but isn’t." This quote became Wayne's north star, keeping him from getting sidetracked by awards and accolades. Instead, he believes that agency owners should focus on solving clients' problems and getting results.

What's the Difference Between Scaling and Growth?

Scaling a business and growing it is often confused, with the latter becoming a buzzword. According to Wayne, scaling involves having more free time and working only in the areas you choose. However, growth leads to time constraints and doing things you hate. To scale, you need to have the right mindset, systems, and processes in place.

4 Reasons Why Some Agencies Are Not Scaling

1. The owner's mindset is the main reason why agencies fail to scale. In the beginning, Wayne's ego played a significant role, and he enjoyed being the hero who saved the day. However, he realized that he needed a clear vision of where he wanted the agency to go to communicate it to his team. That way, they could make better decisions, and he wouldn't become a hindrance to growth.
   
2. Many agencies fall into the scale hustle trap when they hit certain levels of revenue or employee numbers, believing that they only need to work harder to get to the next level. However, the key to scaling is having the right systems and processes in place, documenting them, and trusting your team to have autonomy.
   
3. To scale, you need to balance alignment and authority. Without autonomy, everything is controlled, and without alignment, there's chaos. Everyone must be aligned with the agency's vision, and team members must have autonomy to make decisions.
   
4. Ideally, you want to stay around the complexity line, which indicates that you're growing. The faster you scale, the more chaos you feel, but if you pull back, you're sabotaging future growth. Feeling overwhelmed means that there's too much on your plate, and you need to adapt your processes to grow.

Wayne's philosophy is that agencies should focus on delivering results and solving clients' problems rather than just winning awards. Scaling requires the right mindset, systems, and processes, as well as a team aligned with the agency's vision and autonomy to make decisions. Don't be afraid of complexity, adapt to it, and keep growing.

 

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.