Agency leaders have some of the most important roles in the agency. They’re key team members supporting the agency owner in the agency’s day-to-day operations and taking on roles that allow the agency owner to focus on business development and other key tasks.
The truth is, it can be a lonely position.
As agency owners, we need to consistently work on being more supportive to these key leaders — whether they’re our COO, creative directors, department heads, account leads, or even the company president.
These positions are mission-critical and will support the long-term growth and success of the agency all the way to its succession. So naturally, it’s our job to create opportunities for growth, career development, and constructive feedback that support our agency leaders to be better at their jobs.
This episode is a great one to sit down with your agency leaders and go through the different points we discuss so you can learn what opportunities you and your agency leaders can create together for their continued growth and development.
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.
What You Will Learn in This Episode:
- Which agency leader positions typically qualify for leadership peer groups
- Why Del found value in sending his agency leaders to peer groups at least twice per year
- How agency peer groups help agency leaders feel less lonely in their positions
- Why money isn’t always the solution to keeping agency leaders happy
- The value of mentoring and coaching leaders, and how to structure time for it
- How to give your agency leaders more autonomy in their roles
- The importance of workshops, peer groups, and other leadership training opportunities
- Helping your agency leaders grow in their roles within the agency
- How agency leaders want feedback presented to them
Agency owners and leaders are no strangers to proposal writing. But despite our vast experience, there are things we still get wrong, and there is always something we can improve — especially as the industry shifts and changes so quickly.
I got to sit down with Robin Boehler and Emily Shapiro from Mercer Island Group to talk about the often-overlooked pitfalls in our agency proposals. This conversation is a game-changer for anyone looking to level up their agency’s pitch game.
You might even see yourself in some of the examples of what not to do in an agency proposal, cover letter, or bio, but don’t be too hard on yourself. This episode is all about unlearning the bad habits so we can replace them with ones that will get you to that next conversation with a prospect.
Quality over quantity is the name of the game when it comes to winning new business with agency proposals. So, if you’re ready to transform your proposal process and start landing those dream clients, this episode is a must-listen.
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.
What You Will Learn in This Episode:
- Unintentional errors agencies make that cost them new business opportunities in their proposals
- Framing your proposal as client-centric instead of agency-centric
- Crafting a story with an agency proposal
- How to show a client you’re a good listener
- The most common reasons why clients move on to a new agency
- Using case studies to talk about other clients without going overboard
- Making sure it’s not too hard for prospects to work with you
- What we get wrong about our agency bios
- Misunderstood agency proposal best practices
- The most glaring mistakes we make with our case studies
When I was an agency employee, I admittedly hated being told what to do or how to do it. So naturally, systems and processes really rubbed me the wrong way.
Now, as an agency owner, I’ve learned to embrace the same systems and processes I used to rebel against because I know they help me run my agency better. Despite how constricting they can feel at first, they’re there to help you get a zoomed-out look at how your agency is running and collect data on how to make strategic improvements.
For Misty Larkins, systems and processes have really helped her grow and scale her agency from 4 employees, to just over 20. This week, she’s joining us to share how she and her team started documenting systems and processes from ground zero to get them the well-oiled machine they have today.
Even if you hate the idea of systems and processes, they can really be helpful in the case that you lose a top employee or have someone essential out sick for a month or two. So join us to discover what Misty learned about establishing systems and processes in her agency and how we can do it, too.
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.
What You Will Learn in This Episode:
- What it looks like when you have no documentation of systems and processes
- Starting to define your processes from ground zero
- Implementing tools and project management software after establishing a baseline
- Having a person or team take ownership of documentation
- Making changes stick with your team
- Knowing when the established systems and processes are scalable
- Balancing the desire to be creative and innovative with following systems and processes
- Setting expectations about what success looks like in the agency
- Creating an environment for employees to learn and grow
Finding right-fit clients is one of the never-ending juggling acts of agency ownership. We need to keep the pipeline full, but we don’t want to rely only on referrals or say yes to clients who don’t fit our niche or values.
The solution lies in how you build and maintain relationships. Not just any type of relationship — relationships that are aligned with the mission, vision, and values of the agency.
On this week’s episode, Matthew Kimberley shares his expertise in finding right-fit clients through tactics like the Red Velvet Rope Policy, which makes it clear who you are (and aren’t) for. His strategies make it simple to get clear on your right-fit client criteria so you can focus on working only with those who excite you.
As any good agency owner knows, we’re in the relationship business. So Matthew also shares how to nurture relationships with clients and prospects once you dial in on who you want to serve.
This episode serves as a good reminder that even though building and nurturing relationships with right-fit clients might seem like a simple concept, we can always take the opportunity to reevaluate who we want to work with and how to go after them.
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.
What You Will Learn in This Episode:
- The core tenets of attracting right-fit clients
- Determining who your ideal right-fit client is
- The Red Velvet Rope criteria
- Setting boundaries that make it clear who you are and who you want to work with
- Diversifying your offers to different tiers of clients
- Maintaining and nurturing client and prospect relationships
- Prioritizing who to keep in touch with
- Identifying your outreach network of 90
Every agency should be able to run at 20% profitability on a consistent basis. But as agency owners, sometimes we get in our own way and become the bottleneck to our agency growth.
For this week’s solocast, I’m breaking down the five biggest things agency owners do to stifle their agency’s growth. Whether it’s not being able to get out of the day-to-day operations, or not trusting what your numbers are telling you, these are all things most agency owners encounter at least once while growing and scaling the business.
The good news — you’re not alone. These five issues are very common. The bad news — they can be a tough pill to swallow and difficult to course correct once you realize what’s happening.
This episode will give you a detailed guide to recognizing these common patterns and behaviors for agency owners and what to do to get your agency back on the path to growth and profitability.
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.
In This Episode:
- Why doing everything your way won’t work forever
- The impact of this on agency growth and profitability
- The importance of documenting SOPs and systems and processes and updating them regularly
- How to start documenting SOPs if you don’t do this already
- Why serving clients instead of the agency will leave you stuck
- The 3 S’s of growing an agency
- Why you need to listen to what your numbers (AGI) are telling you
- Prioritizing performance-based growth over selling on personality or individual reputation