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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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Now displaying: December, 2019
Dec 30, 2019

Most agency owners hope to sell their agency someday down the road. If that’s you, understanding how agencies are valuated today will help you maximize that opportunity whenever it comes. Even if you aren’t interested in selling, you can and should still be beefing up your agency’s value.

Gina Cocking joins us for this episode to provide an investment banker’s perspective on the valuation and sales process. She’ll walk us through the key items investment firms look for in your agency’s valuation and explain the technical numbers-side. She’ll also help us identify ways you can add value in advance.

Gina is managing director and partner at Colonnade Advisors, a boutique investment banking firm that specializes in mergers and acquisitions in the business services industry. Colonnade has helped many agencies buy and sell, so Gina understands what it takes to help agency owners get the most out of their purchase deals.

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: https://www.whitelabeliq.com/ami/

What You Will Learn in this Episode:

  • A glimpse inside the process of selling your agency
  • How Colonnade Advisors represents business owners selling their companies
  • The importance of enterprise value, recurring revenue, and client relationships when you sell your agency
  • How your key employees factor into a purchase deal
  • The various elements that increase or diminish an agency’s value in the marketplace
  • How to approach the numbers-side of selling your agency

Ways to Contact Gina Cocking:

Dec 23, 2019

Maybe it’s my age, but there’s a lot more talk about the importance of strengthening my core, to improve balance and stability. The same is true for our agencies. Our reality is always a bit unstable and we often expend a lot of energy anticipating the next storm. But if your agency’s core is strong, you can rest a little easier, knowing you can weather whatever comes. Just like you have for years. We forget how much we’ve already accomplished and survived when we’re heads down all of the time.

Recently, there has been a bit of an undercurrent of worry and tension in some of my conversations with agency owners, so I want to tackle that. In ep. 210 we talked about how even on our worst days, life as an agency owner is pretty darn good. In ep. 215, I gave you some action steps to take to recession-proof your agency.

And in this episode, I walk you through some ways to strengthen your agency’s core so you can approach 2020 with confidence and courage. You and your agency are survivors. Let’s set you up to take full advantage of whatever rocks the boat – good news or bad. Because if there’s one given in agency life it’s that there will be a bit of both!

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:

  • How to deal with your worries so you can approach 2020 with confidence and courage
  • How to strengthen your agency’s core
  • How to take full advantage of the gratitude you have for being an agency owner
  • The importance of mentorship and one-on-one time with your employees
  • How to love your clients in bigger, bolder ways
  • Why your agency should serve your life, not the other way around

AMI works with agency owners by:

  • Leading agency owner peer groups
  • Offering workshops for owners and their leadership teams
  • Offering AE Bootcamps
  • Conducting individual agency owner coaching
  • Doing on-site consulting
  • Offering online courses in agency new business and account service

Because he works with those 250+ agencies every year, Drew has the unique opportunity to see the patterns and the habits (both good and bad) that happen over and over again. He has also written two books and been featured in The New York Times, Forbes, Entrepreneur Magazine, and Fortune Small Business. The Wall Street Journal called his blog “One of 10 blogs every entrepreneur should read.”

Dec 16, 2019

There was a time when you spent most of your time learning your craft. Whether it was account service or art direction or biz dev – you had to develop the skills to do your job well. There’s no doubt that our world demands on-going education so we can continue to serve our clients. But at this point in your career, you have the luxury of focusing on something a bit deeper — developing yourself as a leader, professional, and human being. That’s why I love John Jantsch’s new book The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur so much. It invites us to do just that.

John has always been about teaching small businesses how to do marketing. His previous five books were all how to guides for everything from selling, using referrals to grow your business, and SEO. But this latest book offers no step by step instructions. In fact, it’s sort of the opposite. It’s a book about you discovering answers to bigger questions that can’t come with an instruction manual.

Each of the 366 chapters is comprised of a quote from a literary great, a reflection by John on the day’s topic (anything from limited beliefs to seizing risk) and then a thought-provoking question. You can consume the book in one big gulp or you can sip it throughout the year.

In this episode of Build A Better Agency, John and I chat about why he made the dramatic shift in writing purpose and style, how he got the book done and how he recommends readers squeeze the full value from the book.

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: https://www.whitelabeliq.com/ami/

What You Will Learn in this Episode:

  • About John’s new book and why he chose to write a “why to” rather than another how to
  • How to invest in yourself and how that growth can serve your agency
  • The book writing process for “The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur”
  • How to use John’s book to become a stronger, more centered agency leader

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Dec 9, 2019

Have you ever wished that you had a team member dedicated to helping manage your day, your email, your commitments, and your goals? When we have someone in the office, they often get usurped by other teams or the crisis of the day. That’s one of the many advantages of working with a virtual assistant. Many agency owners are enjoying added productivity and peace of mind that comes with someone always having their back thanks to their VA!
My guest Jess Tyson takes a people-first approach to virtual assistant matchmaking. She facilitates the connection and establishes a professional relationship so you can start delegating and focusing on your highest priorities.. Jess is also the author of Panic Proof: How the Right Virtual Assistant Can Save Your Sanity and Grow Your Business, a speaker, and the Director of Calm at Don’t Panic Management. In this episode of Build a Better Agency, we talk about how virtual assistants can help you get your calm on.

VAs are a flexible commitment that ebbs and flows with your agency. Most agency owners I know use VAs to increase their efficiency and effectiveness, and VAs can become trusted members of your team if you approach the relationship the right way. It’s an option worth considering and my goal with this episode is to broaden your sense of what’s possible with a VA by your figurative side!

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: https://www.whitelabeliq.com/ami/

What You Will Learn in this Episode:

  • How Jess’s new operations audit can help people figure out where to best spend their time and relegate, automate, or delegate the rest
  • How VAs work and how the relationships are structured
  • What Jess looks for as she searches for a client’s VA
  • The advantages of hiring a virtual assistant over a traditional admin
  • Why agency owners need to delegate
  • How a VA can manage your biggest time-suck; emails

Ways to Contact Jess Tyson:

Dec 2, 2019

Like every other consumer, your prospects go on a wild and winding journey as they consider whether or not they want to hire an agency and then go about finding that perfect partner. It’s amazing to me that many agencies teach their clients about buying journeys and yet don’t really understand what their prospects go through as they go to market.

Robin and Steve Boehler are the principals at Mercer Island Group and every day, they help brands find that perfect agency partner. They have a unique lens into the emotional roller coaster that prospects ride on their way to hiring an agency. They’ve spent the last few years documenting this journey and now they’re ready to share it with all of us so we can win at each of those milestones.

That’s why I’ve asked Robin back to the podcast, as my first three-peat guest! The Boehlers are just that smart! Take a listen and get a taste of what Robin and Steve have learned through their work with many clients, all on unique but similar journeys that will give us clues on how to win our next sweet spot prospect.

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: https://www.whitelabeliq.com/ami/

What You Will Learn in this Episode:

  • The importance of understanding and anticipating your prospects’ buying journeys
  • The emotional elements in the prospect’s buying journey
  • How to help a prospect mitigate the risk they face when switching to a new agency
  • How to get visibility with your prospects before they’re ready for a change
  • How to make a lasting impression that helps your agency stand out

Ways to Contact Robin Boehler:

 
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