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Build a Better Agency Podcast

Scale and grow your agency with better clients, invested employees, and a stronger bottom line, with Drew McLellan of Agency Management Institute.
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Build a Better Agency Podcast
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Archives
Now displaying: February, 2023
Feb 27, 2023

If you’re tired of assessing your agency’s project values based on an average hourly rate and having your team constantly updating timesheets, you’ll want to take some notes on this episode. Today’s topic is all about restructuring pricing models to focus more on the scope value rather than an average billable hourly rate.

Our guest, Jonathan Stark, is a former software developer on a mission to rid the world of hourly billing. He’ll teach us to reevaluate the work scopes we’re pitching to prospects and customize it so you can focus on their actual needs rather than what they think they need.

 

By using this method, you will not only remove the headache of hourly billing but also have better conversations with prospects, establish yourself as a thought leader, and have the potential to increase your profit exponentially — just by changing this small aspect of your sales and discovery calls.

A big thank you to our podcast’s presenting sponsor, White Label IQ. They’re an amazing resource for agencies who want to outsource their design, dev, or PPC work at wholesale prices. Check out their special offer (10 free hours!) for podcast listeners here.
pricing models

What You Will Learn in This Episode:

  • How and why Jonathan became so passionate about eliminating hourly billing from his agency structure
  • Why fixed pricing models based on scope value are both easier and more profitable
  • Asking the right questions to get to the bottom of your prospect’s actual needs and weed out bad clients
  • Talking about the value of the outcome of the work you’re going to do for clients
  • Building proposals with 3 budget options based on a fixed-price value
  • How to engage with a prospect to discover what they need and how to price it out
  • The pros and cons of changing your pricing strategy
  • Productizing some of your services as “off-the-shelf offerings”
  • How to implement this strategy as a smaller agency without too much risk
Feb 20, 2023

One of the most common traps we fall into as agency owners is making decisions based on our fears. Every day we have to make hard choices, and it’s easy to fall victim to a fear-based narrative when trying to make everyone happy while keeping a business afloat.

But fear not — I have some advice for you that will help you see the bigger picture of where you are likely making fear-based decisions for your agency. This week, my goal is to help you identify the most common fear-based business decisions, understand why this happens almost universally, and learn some tricks to rewire our thinking around these decisions.

As you listen to this episode, take stock of when you’ve made decisions out of fear. Fear of losing a good employee, fear of losing money, fear of missing out on a good project or client — and see if you can find a better approach to tackling even just one of these examples.

For 30+ years, Drew McLellan has been in the advertising industry. He started his career at Y&R, worked in boutique-sized agencies, and then started his own (which he still owns and runs) agency in 1995. Additionally, Drew owns and leads the Agency Management Institute, which advises hundreds of small to mid-sized agencies on how to grow their agency and its profitability through agency owner peer groups, consulting, coaching, workshops and more.

A big thank you to our podcast’s presenting sponsor, White Label IQ. They’re an amazing resource for agencies who want to outsource their design, dev, or PPC work at wholesale prices. Check out their special offer (10 free hours!) for podcast listeners here.
fear-based decisions

What You Will Learn in This Episode:

  • The biggest, worst fear-based decision agency owners often make
  • Acknowledging the truths behind our fears and putting action behind them
  • Financial decisions (and mistakes) we make when we’re afraid
  • How we hand over control to our clients when we’re acting out of fear
  • The vital role of client and employee satisfaction surveys
  • The psychology behind fear-based decisions
  • Why you should step away from a problem and ask for help
  • How to rewire our thinking around decisions and get out of the fear narrative
Feb 13, 2023

To continue on the sales theme this week, we’ll dissect everything you need to know about winning and retaining right-fit clients, honing in on your agency vertical, and strategizing your agency growth plan.

Our guest, Corey Quinn, has a 25-year track record of extraordinary success as an entrepreneur, sales leader, and CMO for a $150M+ company. Today, he helps B2B SaaS and Agencies grow from 7 figures to 8 by doing less, not more.

 

In this episode, Corey will share some wisdom from his successful business career to teach us how we, as small agency owners, can implement an effective agency growth plan. He’ll teach us how to keep right-fit clients on our roster and establish a vertical that gets even more customers coming to you for your expertise and fantastic customer service.

A big thank you to our podcast’s presenting sponsor, White Label IQ. They’re an amazing resource for agencies who want to outsource their design, dev, or PPC work at wholesale prices. Check out their special offer (10 free hours!) for podcast listeners here.
agency growth plan

What You Will Learn in This Episode:

  • Growth and retention strategies that are applicable to small agencies
  • Honing in on your agency growth plan
  • The power of niching and word-of-mouth connections
  • Leveraging both inbound and outbound sales tactics
  • The common mistakes people make when trying to increase sales
  • How much time an agency owner should dedicate to biz dev
  • Why specializing in specific customers and industries works so well
  • 2 or 3 things you need to have exponential growth
  • Sales strategies that will have new customers coming to you for work
Feb 6, 2023

Sales — the dreaded word that most of us cringe when we think about it. It brings up thoughts of manipulation, forced conversations, and fear of rejection. It’s one of those necessary evils that come with being a business owner that’s essential if you want to keep growing.

For many of us, we fear hearing the word “no.” Once it’s out there, we drop the conversation, take the loss, and move on. But if you want to sell effectively AND create a pleasant sales experience for yourself and your prospects, you must rethink your sales strategy.

 

Today, I’m talking with Richard Fenton, a seasoned expert in all things sales prospecting, selling styles, and getting to the other side of the “no.” It didn’t always come naturally to him, but after a long time in the business, he’s learned that an initial rejection can be a huge win later in the sales process.
Whether you like sales or not, you have to get better at it to keep new clients coming through the door. So join us to learn how you can rethink your sales process and become a better salesperson, even if it doesn’t come naturally.

A big thank you to our podcast’s presenting sponsor, White Label IQ. They’re an amazing resource for agencies who want to outsource their design, dev, or PPC work at wholesale prices. Check out their special offer (10 free hours!) for podcast listeners here.
sales process

What You Will Learn in This Episode:

  • Richard’s “aha” moment that made him rethink sales forever
  • Why “no” isn’t the end of the sales process
  • The four types of salespeople and the one we should all strive to be
  • The intersection of caring about relationships and caring about results
  • Why you need to ask better questions in the sale process
  • Getting a prospect to know, like, and trust you
  • Staying in touch even after an initial rejection
  • The reason sales has gained such a bad reputation
  • How to sell without being manipulative or shark-like
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