Robin Boehler is a co-founder of Mercer Island Group, a boutique Marketing and Management Consultancy, a pre-eminent agency search consultant to clients and growth advisors to agencies of all sizes in the world. She loves making matches between agencies and clients. She thinks of the review process as a form of dating and loves helping agencies put their best feet forward.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Getting the agency-client relationship right from the very beginning
- Why truly differentiating your agency is so crucial
- The importance of doing your research on a prospect before ever speaking to them and how to do it well
- Why you should never start out a pitch talking about your agency (and when is the right time to do so)
- Why networking is the best way to get the opportunity to have quality conversations with prospects
- How to spark curiosity in communication to prospects
- Robin’s strategy for reaching out to connections that you haven’t spoken to in a while
- Why you shouldn’t hold back a really smart question just because you don’t want a competing agency to hear it
- Why each conversation you have with a prospect is the only one that matters
- Why you must show true interest in a prospect’s business and then learn from what the prospect tells you
Ways to contact Robin Boehler:
- Website: www.migroup.com
- Phone: (206)236-0447
We’re proud to announce that Hubspot is now the presenting sponsor of the Build A Better Agency podcast! Many thanks to them for their support!
Rob Walch was inducted into the Podcasting Hall of Fame in 2016. Rob is the Vice President of Podcaster Relations for Libsyn (LSYN) having joined Libsyn in 2007. Prior to joining Libsyn, he founded podCast411, Inc in 2004. Rob is Co-Author of the book “Tricks of the Podcasting Masters” in 2006, an editors pick as a Top 10 Reference book for 2006 by Amazon.com. Rob was listed as the 5th most influential person in podcasting according to the book “Podcasting for Dummies” Wiley Press 2005. He has consulted on podcasting for Jack Welch, Senator Edwards, Governor Bill Richardson, Noah Shanok (Stitcher), Tim Ferriss, Dr. Mark Hyman, and the Sacramento Kings/Monarchs to name just a few. He is also a monthly columnist for Podertainment: The Podcast Magazine. Rob is a member of the IAB Podcasting Working groups.
Rob started podcasting in 2004, and is the host of the award-winning podCast411 podcast, where he has interviewed such prominent podcasters as Quincy Jones, Walt Mossberg, Colin Ferguson (Eureka), Ronald Moore (Executive Producer of Battlestar Galactica), Phil Gordon (World Series of Poker), Larry Kudlow (CNBCs Kudlow and Company), and Leo Laporte (TechTV, G4 TV). Additionally, Rob is host of Today in iOS (iPhone) Podcast, the first and largest podcast about the iPhone and also the KC Startup 411 podcast which covers the Kansas City Startup scene.
Since 2004 Rob has presented at well over 100 events about podcasting.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How Rob moved podcasting from his hobby to his career
- The biggest and most important trends in podcasting
- Why you should record a couple podcasts before you release your first one -- but not so many that you never release one
- The importance of having a way for your podcast listeners to contact you
- Editing: an absolute must when it comes to podcasting
- How many downloads the average podcast gets and how many downloads you need to make money
- Different ways to monetize your podcast
- How often to release an episode
- Why you should never release an episode if it’s not ready
- How to find great guests
- Why you should edit out when a guest goes into full sales mode
- The things you must do for your guests as a host
- Why you shouldn’t ask the same questions to every guest
- The mistake podcasters make when they feel indebted to their guests instead of their audience
- How to start being a guest on podcasts you like
- Why your podcast has to be about what you’re interested in regardless of whether that is popular or not
- Why podcasts are much better than blogs
Ways to contact Rob Walch:
- Email: rob@libsyn.com
- Website: www.podcast411.com
- Website: www.libsyn.com
- Book: "Tricks of the Podcasting Masters"
We’re proud to announce that Hubspot is now the presenting sponsor of the Build A Better Agency podcast! Many thanks to them for their support!
Justin Christianson is a 15-year digital marketing veteran and #1 bestselling author of “Conversion Fanatic: How to double your customers, sales and profits with A/B testing.” He is also the co-founder and President of Conversion Fanatics, a full-service conversion optimization company, and the host of the weekly podcast CMO Roundtable.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How Conversion Fanatics was born
- Why you have to track and learn why people do what they do
- The basics of conversions
- Big mistakes people make when attempting to get people to convert
- How to start testing for conversions
- How to get your clients to actually do case studies
- Some of the most surprising things Justin has learned from conversion testing
- What makes an employee good for conversion work
- Why split (A/B) testing and conversion optimization are two very different things
- Why you must approach working with other agencies for a client with no ego
- VR and video: why these two technologies are only going to grow in the future
- How Justin stays on the cutting edge
- How to pick the clients that are right for your agency
Ways to contact Justin Christianson:
- Website: conversionfanatics.com
- Book: "Conversion Fanatic"
- Podcast: blog.conversionfanatics.com/podcast
Resources:
We’re proud to announce that Hubspot is now the presenting sponsor of the Build A Better Agency podcast! Many thanks to them for their support!
Drew McLellan is the Top Dog at Agency Management Institute. For the past 21 years, he has also owned and operated his own agency. Drew’s unique vantage point as being both an active agency owner and working with 250+ small- to mid-size agencies throughout the year, give him a unique perspective on running an agency today.
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 — he 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, Entrepreneur Magazine, and Fortune Small Business. The Wall Street Journal called his blog “One of 10 blogs every entrepreneur should read.”
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Reasons to build a leadership team
- Why you should never start a leadership team out of frustration or overwhelm
- Why your leadership team is a great place to mentor employees ready for the next level
- How building a leadership team fits into your succession plan
- What kinds of employees should be on your leadership team (and why you shouldn’t just look at employees with certain titles)
- The huge decisions that you as the agency owner have to make before having your first leadership team meeting
- What leadership team meetings should accomplish
- Why every leadership team member needs to leave the meeting with a goal to accomplish before the next meeting
- How to decide when to include your leadership team in the decision-making (and the three levels of decision-making you can use)
- Why you need to have SMART goals for your leadership team
Ways to contact Drew McLellan:
We’re proud to announce that Hubspot is now the presenting sponsor of the Build A Better Agency podcast! Many thanks to them for their support!
Gene Hammett turns everyday entrepreneurs into FORCES of nature in their market. He sorts through the complexities of business strategies to help you “be THE choice, not just a choice.”
Gene has been a business leader for 20+ years. He started and ran multiple million dollar companies. He succeeded, failed, reinvented himself, and succeeded again. He can pass along to you the key lessons he’s learned in the process so you can have a business that is both successful and fulfilling.
On his podcast, Leaders in the Trenches, Gene has interviewed hundreds of world thought leaders and best-selling New York Times authors. Gene has been featured in Forbes, Success Magazine, Business Insider, and INC Magazine. Gene is also a regular contributor to Entrepreneur Magazine.
In all of his keynotes, Gene uses personal stories and humor to clarify key points. This message is a unique approach to how stepping out of your comfort zone, thinking differently, and innovating can lead to increased market share and trusted authority status. Gene always gives powerful strategies to be implemented right away to create immediate results.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Why Gene became a coach after losing 3 million dollars
- The real reasons you should be speaking (it’s not a speaker’s fee)
- Why you shouldn’t shy away from the “breakout” sessions at conferences as a speaker
- The opportunity for diverse speakers
- Why being a generalist is dangerous for speakers
- Why great content rules over speaking skills
- Giving attendees permission to come and find you instead of trying to sell from the stage
- Why you need to build relationships before filling out the speaker submission form
- How to figure out what to speak about
- Getting on the radar of the conferences by you want to speak at through writing
- Gene’s 5-day “authority gap” challenge
Ways to Contact Gene Hammett:
- The “Authority Gap” challenge: leadersinthetrenches.com/challenge
- Free researched list of conferences and guide typically only available for Gene’s clients: leadersinthetrenches.com/ami
We’re proud to announce that Hubspot is now the presenting sponsor of the Build A Better Agency podcast! Many thanks to them for their support!
Not only does Lisa believe in enduring partnerships that matter, but she actively participates in creating them. Having consulted on and managed agency reviews including Lee Jeans, Panera Bread, and Subaru - just to name three of the reviews AAR has conducted for clients in virtually every major industry - Lisa tackles and solves the most vexing agency search challenges and has enabled hundreds of marketers to meet and/or exceed their business goals. Described as an agency search consultant whose unique perspective is highly valued, Lisa counsels both marketers and communications agencies on their business and branding efforts.
In addition to her role as a consultant, she has created a new business service center for agencies by co-founding Access Confidential in 2005. The comprehensive new business research tool has become the go-to resource helping communications agencies to prospect smart and avoid the pitch!
Lisa also works with the academic world including Wharton's Future of Advertising Program, as well as teaching as an adjunct advertising professor at NYIT. Many of her articles on the subject of client/agency relations have been printed in industry trades such as Forbes, Huffington Post, Advertising Age, Adweek, and HubSpot Blogs Agency Post. Lisa is also part of the industry speaking circuit presenting at national conferences including AAF, HOW Design Live, Mirren, and Ad Age Small Agency Conference.
Lisa recently wrote the book "@AARLlisa: New Biz in 140 Characters (or less)."
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- The simple mistakes agencies make in the new business search process
- Why complacency is a big problem for agencies
- The importance of continuing to court your current clients
- Why chemistry is so vital in an agency-client relationship
- Prospecting smarter with Lisa’s Four T’s
- Building relationships by teaching
- Why you need to know what your agency is -- and isn’t -- good at
- What to do when executives change (both on client and agency sides)
- Finding project work for your agency (and growing that into a larger relationship)
- The danger of coming off as desperate to leads
- Why you need at least one person whose job is new business
- The importance of an integrated new business plan
Ways to Contact Lisa Colantuono:
- Email: lisa@aarpartners.com or l2@aarpartners.com
- Book: "@AARLlisa: New Biz in 140 Characters (or less)"
We’re proud to announce that Hubspot is now the presenting sponsor of the Build A Better Agency podcast! Many thanks to them for their support!
John Heenan is a former Chief Marketing Officer / New Business Leader at a variety of small and mid-size agencies responsible for business development and agency marketing. Before that, he worked on the client side managing advertising and agencies for big global brands like Sony, Phillips, and Uniden.
He has created and managed successful business development programs for small, medium, and large agencies generating millions of dollars in agency revenue. He has managed multi-million dollar ad budgets as a client, hired talent, built competitive advantage, and inspired great outcomes in support of business objectives.
John has also worked with some of the top innovative brands and aggressive advertising agencies in the world in both traditional and digital channels. Having been on both sides of the client-agency relationship, he has a unique understanding of what clients want and what agencies deliver. Today he is putting that experience to work for a small group of agencies who struggle to grow.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- The experiences John had on the client side that led him to working on matching up agencies and clients
- Why cohesive culture throughout the agency matters for clients
- Why you must treat your agency as your #1 client
- Crafting the first impression that leads will have of your agency
- The importance of getting crystal clear on what your agency is selling
- Director of Delivery: an important role inside modern agencies to make sure agencies deliver to clients
- Why agency owners need to get out of the day-to-day and focus on new business
- What John does differently to help agencies with new business
- Why your agency needs to be rapidly changing
Ways to Contact John Heenan:
- Website: www.jheenan.com
- Email: john@jheenan.com
We’re proud to announce that Hubspot is now the presenting sponsor of the Build A Better Agency podcast! Many thanks to them for their support!
C.C. Chapman describes himself as a New England raised storyteller, explorer, and humanitarian. Others have described him as a thought leader in the online marketing space, a grounded futurist and one the nicest guy on the Internet. Over the years of his career, he has worked with a variety of clients including Nike, HBO, American Eagle Outfitters, ONE, Verizon FiOS, and The Coca-Cola Company.
He is the co-author of the International bestseller “Content Rules” and is also the author of “Amazing Things Will Happen.” He travels the world speaking in front of audiences to do more in the world and how to understand content marketing better. C.C. has taught classes for Lynda.com, CreativeLive and now as an adjunct professor at Bentley University (where he also graduated from).
C.C. is an advocate who speaks about building passionate communities and the strategic values of content-based marketing. He is a Samsung Imagelogger, the original ONE Dad and a UN Foundation Social Good Fellow. As a storyteller for hire, his work has appeared on the pages of Rolling Stone and The Wall Street Journal.
C.C. serves as the Chairman of the Board at Wediko and serves on the board of The Hockey Foundation. He happily lives in the woods outside of Boston with his loving family.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Social Good: giving your employees an opportunity to make a difference
- How to pick the right cause for your agency to support
- Don’t be too humble: why you need to talk about the non-profit work that you do
- The International bestseller “Content Rules” C.C. co-authored
- Speak Human: the most violated rule from “Content Rules”
- Differentiation: what makes your agency different?
- Creating content that plays to your strengths
- Why you can’t afford not to have content for yourself (and how to get it produced if you honestly don’t have the time to do it personally)
- Building trust by giving away at least pieces of what you do
- How to make your content stand out from all the other content out there
- Connecting your offline life with your digital presence
- Doing a regular social media audit to make sure your content is presenting your agency the way you want to be presented
Ways to Contact C.C. Chapman:
- Website: www.cc-chapman.com
- Twitter: @cc_chapman
- Book: "Content Rules"
We’re proud to announce that Hubspot is now the presenting sponsor of the Build A Better Agency podcast! Many thanks to them for their support!
Drew McLellan is the Top Dog at Agency Management Institute. For the past 21 years, he has also owned and operated his own agency. Drew’s unique vantage point as being both an active agency owner and working with 250+ small- to mid-size agencies throughout the year, give him a unique perspective on running an agency today.
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 — he 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, Entrepreneur Magazine, and Fortune Small Business. The Wall Street Journal called his blog “One of 10 blogs every entrepreneur should read.”
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Augmented reality and virtual reality: what you need to know about this technology that is coming fast
- Influencer marketing: connecting your client’s brand with their audience through social influencers who have built an audience around a specific topic
- Ratings & Reviews: How agencies can turn a profit by solving this problem for existing clients (and how to use it as a door-opener for prospects)
- Why agencies are developing relationships with more people inside companies than just CMOs
- Why you need to play nice with the other agencies that you share a client with
- If you’re not being offered exclusivity, do you need to offer it in return?
- Selling what you know and what you think instead of “stuff”
- ROI: why it’s not an optional conversation
- Why you need to be transparent on your fees
- Bragworthy benefits like a student loan repayment program
Ways to contact Drew McLellan:
We’re proud to announce that Hubspot is now the presenting sponsor of the Build A Better Agency podcast! Many thanks to them for their support!
Own a digital marketing agency? Learn how to keep content interesting and focused on business issues your clients are looking to solve.
Simon Thompson is the founder of Content Kite, a content marketing company that helps digital marketing agencies increase their quality and number of leads through content marketing.
Simon has held content marketing roles for some of the largest digital publishers in Australia such as Mi9 (Microsoft + Ch9), Daily Mail, and MTV. He’s worked on content projects for major global brands such as L’Oreal, Nissan, BMW, Adidas, Disney, and Mondelez, to name a few.
Whilst he was in a good place in his publisher roles in Australia, the entrepreneurial bug eventually took hold, and he decided to go out on his own and start Content Kite. He now runs Content Kite full-time and hasn’t looked back.
What you will learn about a digital marketing agency in this episode:
- How a digital marketing agency can keep its content interesting and on topic for the business issues and challenges your customers need to solve
- Focusing all your content so it moves toward the same goal
- Optimizing your content to collect email addresses and then regularly engaging with those people
- How a digital marketing agency can effectively repurpose content across multiple mediums
- The frequency with which you must create content
- Why you should spend as much time promoting a piece of content as you do in creating it
- Influencer outreach: how to actually motivate people to share your agency’s content by positioning them as authorities
- Tools for mapping out an editorial calendar for your digital marketing agency
- Why you must share a piece of content more than once
- How Content Kite works with agencies to create amazing content
Alex Berman is the founder and SVP of Operations of a marketing and lead generation firm Experiment27. Alex is responsible for generating over $2.5 million in B2B sales and over $50 million in leads for his clients. He also creates weekly videos to help agency owners grow their businesses and bring in more revenue teaching them how to optimize B2B sales cycles and put inbound marketing strategies in place.
Alex was also Chief Marketing Sumo at InspireBeats, a company valued at over $100 million, former Director of Marketing at three time INC 5000 company Dom & Tom. He is also a network video partner for Entrepreneur Magazine.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- The massive opportunity outbound marketing provides for agencies
- How to know if your marketing strategy is the right marketing strategy
- What to measure with your tracking software to make sure your leads are working
- The best channels for capturing leads
- Tailoring cold calls to the target
- Why cold emails need to be short and to the point
- Partnering with other agencies to take on overflow work/give away your overflow work
- How to capture leads at meetups/in-person events
- Making yourself memorable by connecting people
- How to do the follow-up right (it differs if you’ve actually met them or not)
- Why you need to set a KPI
Ways to Contact Alex Berman:
- Email: alex@experiment27.com
- Website: experiment27.com
- YouTube: b2bsalestraining.org
We’re proud to announce that Hubspot is now the presenting sponsor of the Build A Better Agency podcast! Many thanks to them for their support!
Craig Barnes consults with owners of small to midsize advertising agencies to improve their people, processes and profitably. It’s the sum of a lot of experiences across 30+ years of owning and operating an advertising agency.
He learned early on that operating an agency was both rewarding and challenging and benefitted from seeking the counsel of others to help guide a path to growing his three-location agency.
As a 15+ year member of an AMI owner network group, Craig has fully lived AMI’s mission “to help agency owners increase their AGI, attract better clients and employees, mitigate the risks of being self employed in a such volatile business and best of all — let the agency owner actually enjoy the perks of owning the joint.”
While still involved with his agency, Craig now spends the majority of his time working with owners who seek AMI’s assistance to achieve their goals.
He has a passion for a hands-on, roll-up-your-sleeves approach to analyzing issues and developing actionable solutions.
An amateur chef, Craig enjoys cooking for family and friends and has a not so secret desire to spend part of the year in Italy. He’ll also gladly share recipes with you.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- The key executives (#1s) group Craig facilitates for AMI
- What makes key executives so valuable
- Integrators: the employees that don’t want to be owners and just want to pull the levers
- How we as agency owners make life hard for integrators by not letting go of control
- Having an empowerment agreement with your #1s for setting expectations for who gets to control what
- Setting regular meetings with your key executive that you do not break
- How agency owners can know whether or not they’re ready for a #1 to take things over
- Traits that make for a great key executive
- How to compensate your #1s
- The impact key executives are having on agencies by committing to goals
We’re proud to announce that Hubspot is now the presenting sponsor of the Build A Better Agency podcast! Many thanks to them for their support!
Dave Currie is the CEO of List Partners Inc., the home of: Winmo, Localead, and Catapult. He is a leading entrepreneur in sales intelligence and lead generation for the advertising, media and tech industry. Having joined List Partners Inc., in 2005 when he was 26, he has led the company and its brands on a rapid growth path, one recognized by their customers and the industry at large as one of the leading and fastest growing private companies in America.
Best known as the agency new business implementation go-to-guy, Dave has lead proactive and organic business development programs for regional, national and global agencies for the past 16 years. When you commit to growing your agency, Dave and his team are one of the very first ports of call.
Dave collaborates with agencies, their owners, leadership teams and new business directors, helping them calibrate their agency to market, and most importantly implementing effective new business programs that produce the desired sales results.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How the List has evolved over the years and what they do today to help agencies grow through
- their three brands Winmo, Localead, and Catapult
- The biggest mistake agencies make in their business development efforts: not having a plan
- List’s CMO tenure study
- How successful CMOs keep agency relationships longer than their less successful counterparts
- Why agency-client relationships moving away from AOR engagements is a great opportunity for agencies
- Separating marketing and sales and giving them their own plans
- Building sales plans for both growing business with existing customers and bringing in new customers
- How small agencies can win huge projects
- Why being the one to implement shouldn’t be the goal of your first conversation with a marketer
- Why you must keep your nano list -- your list for sales -- to 25-30
Ways to Contact Dave Currie:
- Email: davec@thelistinc.com
- Twitter: @NewBizDingo
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/davecurrielpi
- The List: www.thelistinc.com
- Winmo: www.winmo.com
- Localead: www.localead.com
- Catapult: www.catapultnewbusiness.com
Resources:
We’re proud to announce that Hubspot is now the presenting sponsor of the Build A Better Agency podcast! Many thanks to them for their support!
Drew McLellan is the Top Dog at Agency Management Institute. For the past 21 years, he has also owned and operated his own agency. Drew’s unique vantage point as being both an active agency owner and working with 250+ small- to mid-size agencies throughout the year, give him a unique perspective on running an agency today. 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 — he 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, Entrepreneur Magazine, and Fortune Small Business. The Wall Street Journal called his blog “One of 10 blogs every entrepreneur should read.”
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Why agency owners are confident again and why new business is easier to come by right now
- The trend where talent inside agencies has become a scarce resource
- What to do about having to hire underskilled employees
- The challenge of providing clients with the right data
- Having an answer when clients ask agencies about diversity
- Opportunities for agencies with old school media
- Why you have to be great at marketing automation
Ways to contact Drew McLellan:
Tim Sanders is a veteran sales, marketing, and HR leader with expertise in sales collaboration, relationship management, leadership, and customer experience design. For almost 20 years, Tim Sanders has closed deals and led B2B sales teams to victory using his Dealstorming methodology. He was an early member of Mark Cuban's broadcast.com and then later, CSO at Yahoo during their best days. Today he consults with leading companies on how to drain their pipeline, secure major accounts, and beat the competition with teamwork. Financial Times calls his latest book, “Dealstorming: The Secret Weapon That Can Solve Your Toughest Sales Challenges” a 'force multiplier.' He gives some unconventional insights that just may get you to the finish line on your next big selling opportunity.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Tim’s start in sales working for a radio station
- Dealstorming: how Tim took dealmaking and brainstorming and put them together
- The difference between collaboration and cooperation
- How to strategically build your dealstorm team
- Turning your peer group into “competimates” that you can collaborate with to make each other stronger
- Why you absolutely need diverse perspectives in the room (and why you should have an external voice on your dealstorm team)
- The secrets to making your dealstorm meeting a magic meeting with results
- New business through rapid problem solving
- The hacker, the chef, and the artist: the three personas for solving different problems
- How leaders lead culture
Ways to Contact Tim Sanders:
- Website: timsanders.com
- Free chapter of “Dealstorming”: dealstorming.net/free
We’re proud to announce that Hubspot is now the presenting sponsor of the Build A Better Agency podcast! Many thanks to them for their support!
For several years Jake owned a video production agency. His business partner was the brilliant technician and he was the guy who got the agency the work. Jake landed multiple Fortune 500 clients and A-List touring artists by running a dream client campaign.
After leaving the video agency, Jake went out and worked as a digital marketing and web consultant for several years and eventually realized that he was much better at getting the work than he was doing it. At that point, Jake started pairing with other agencies to help them win more clients.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Why you need to look at new business as an art form
- How to get started getting better at new business
- How to make the most of your time at conferences as it relates to new business
- How to effectively follow up with contacts you make at conferences
- How to stay top of mind with people who aren’t ready to buy now
- Why your prospect list can’t be too big and why you need to stay very personal with them
- Why strategic partnerships have gotten even more important as agencies become specialists
- Why you need to carve out at least an hour a day for working on new business (and why it’s a good idea to do it away from the office)
- Why you need to figure out what your actionable objectives are and then break them down
- How to get referrals that are exact fits for the kinds of clients you want
Ways to Contact Jake Jorgovan:
- Website: Jake-Jorgovan.com
- Upcoming book: WinYourDreamClients.com
Resources:
- Blog: How to 10x the results from the next conference you attend by Jake Jorgovan
We’re proud to announce that Hubspot is now the presenting sponsor of the Build A Better Agency podcast! Many thanks to them for their support!
John Hall is co-founder and CEO of Influence & Co., a content marketing agency that helps companies and individuals extract and leverage their expertise to create, publish, and distribute content to their key audiences.
In five years, John has grown Influence & Co. into one of the largest providers of high-quality expert content to more than 1,000 of the world’s top publications. Under John’s leadership, Influence & Co. was ranked No. 72 on Forbes’ “Most Promising Companies in America” list in 2014 and was named Empact’s “Best Marketing and Advertising Company of 2014” at the United Nations. Influence & Co. was also recently mentioned in Inc. as the No. 1 company dominating content marketing.
John has weekly columns for Forbes and Inc. and has contributed to more than 50 publications, including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, The Washington Post, and Mashable. John was recently recognized as a “must-see” and one of the most authentic speakers in Forbes. His talks have inspired thousands of leaders, marketers, salespeople, entrepreneurs, and others to improve their performance.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- John’s new book "Top of Mind: Use Content to Unleash Your Influence and Engage Those Who Matter To You"
- How John’s book fits into his thought leadership strategy
- Why staying top of mind is a great strategy for developing trust
- Short-term to long-term memory: consistently engaging people so that they remember forever
- Why you need to make yourself approachable
- Why showing your failings and foibles does not diminish your thought leadership
- Why you must understand what is truly helpful for individuals
- Why you must help people without expecting anything in return
- How to tell people how you helped them without it sounding self-serving
- Why you shouldn’t be too aggressive and should build a relationship over time
- Why you need to start small with changing how you relate to others
Ways to Contact John Hall:
- Email: john@influenceandco.com
- Twitter: @johnhall
- Website: www.influenceandco.com
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/johnhall4
- Book: "Top of Mind: Use Content to Unleash Your Influence and Engage Those Who Matter To You"
Christopher Lochhead is co-author of Harper Collins' instant classic “Play Bigger” and host of the Legends and Losers podcast.
Christopher is a retired three-time, Silicon Valley, public company CMO, entrepreneur and category designer. Fast Company Magazine calls him a "Human Exclamation Point and The Economist calls him "off-putting to some. He can recite much of The Big Lebowski but can't remember his wife's phone number. He's a proud advisor to nonprofit 1 Life Fully Lived, an ass-kicking public speaker, and surf / ski bum living happily ever after in Santa Cruz California with a wonderful tribe and 7 beautiful hens.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Chris’ career journey that took him from Silicon Valley CMO to coach to podcast host
- Chris’ book: “Play Bigger: How Pirates, Dreamers, and Innovators Create and Dominate Markets”
- What category design is and why every agency needs to get great at it
- Why “category” is as important as “product” and “company”
- How to position your agency in a category that you can dominate
- The two kinds of problems that need solving
- The three questions to ask to start creating your category to dominate
- The three ways service-based businesses make money
- Why your client base may change after you define your category (and why that’s perfectly okay)
- Why your agency can still do work that doesn’t fit exactly in your category if needed (the kids gotta eat!) as long as the perception of your agency stays within your category
- Why legendary category designers always expand what they do
- Why becoming a category king is going to take a leap of faith
- And tons of examples of category kings that have done what it takes to stand out amongst the competition
Ways to Contact Christopher Lochhead:
Drew McLellan is the Top Dog at Agency Management Institute. For the past 21 years, he has also owned and operated his own agency. Drew’s unique vantage point as being both an active agency owner and working with 250+ small- to mid-size agencies throughout the year, give him a unique perspective on running an agency today.
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 — he 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, Entrepreneur Magazine, and Fortune Small Business. The Wall Street Journal called his blog “One of 10 blogs every entrepreneur should read.”
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Why you need think long and hard before making employees partners
- Why partnerships will look different if you’re a C Corp than any other structure (S Corp, LLC, etc.)
- Why you need to make sure someone actually wants to be a partner before you offer them a partnership
- Why you need to sell shares and not gift shares
- Why you should only bring on one partner at a time
- Why -- if your employee doesn’t have the skills they need to be a partner -- and they probably don’t -- you need to teach them
- Why it usually takes about 10 years to groom someone to take over for you
- Why you really need to decide if you’re ready for all of your autonomy to go away
- How to finance partnerships (odds are they can’t afford it on their salary)
- How to start having the conversation about funding your buyout
Ways to contact Drew McLellan:
Aaron Agius is one of the world’s leading digital marketers according to Forbes. He is CEO of Louder Online, one of the world’s leading digital agencies with a global reach.
Louder Online is an inbound marketing agency, working globally with clients such as Salesforce, IBM, Coca-Cola, Intel and scores of leading brands, showing them how to technically optimize their sites, perform influencer outreach and link acquisition and produce and distribute content that drives significant lead generation and ROI.
Aaron is a highly sought speaker at Search, Content Marketing and Growth Hacking and many other conferences around the globe including the U.S, U.K, Brazil, London and Australia. His passion to help businesses is driven from his own experience. Aaron was at the cutting edge of the emerging digital marketing field over 10 years ago. He uses that lived experience and now translates it into revenue for clients.
He is also a regular contributor to some of the world’s largest editorial publications, including Entrepreneur.com, Hubspot.com and many more, with thought leadership on marketing and business growth.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Why you absolutely must work on and invest in the business (no excuses!)
- How Aaron established himself as a thought leader through guest blogging and what he would recommend doing today
- Why you need high-quality proposal documents
- Why you need to be cooperative rather than competitive with agencies that you share a client with
- Why Aaron has created smaller sister agencies in other countries instead of using freelancers
- Aaron’s genius strategy for leveraging LinkedIn
- How to prove the ROI of your work to a client
- Why it’s the CEO’s job to stay on top of what’s coming next
- Resources that Aaron himself uses to stay current
- How continually writing blogs, being on podcasts, hosting webinars, etc. helps you keep the clients you have
- Why you have to write for readers, not search engines
Ways to Contact Aaron Agius:
- Website: louder.online
- Welcome page: louder.online/build
- Twitter: @IAmAaronAgius
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/aaronagius
- Blog: How the Pros Track Conversions and ROI With These Content Marketing Metrics
We’re proud to announce that Hubspot is now the presenting sponsor of the Build A Better Agency podcast! Many thanks to them for their support!
Marcus Blankenship is a management consultant, trainer and executive coach for software managers and leaders. He helps companies hire the right people, create the right culture, and set up the right process which achieves their goals. Managing a team isn’t something learned in college. In fact, his clients often tell him “I never prepared for this role, I always focused on doing the work.” If you’re ready to improve your leadership, process and team then you need to know Marcus.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Why you must identify your high and low performers
- Why you shouldn’t be a passive-aggressive leader
- Why you can’t hire anyone you can’t fire
- Structured management: why you can’t set people free without management and why you need to set up strong management systems when your agency is small
- Why consistent one-on-one meetings are so crucial
- What happens in your employee’s head when you cancel a one-on-one meeting
- How to create a safe environment where the people below you are willing to give you the feedback you need
- Why you shouldn’t let feedback sit more than a week
- Marcus’ one-on-one framework guide
Ways to Contact Marcus Blankenship:
- Website: marcusblankenship.com
- Email: marcus@marcusblankenship.com
- Book: "7 Habits that Ruin your Technical Team"
- Marcus’ One-on-One Meeting Framework
- Email list with articles on running your team, daily management tips and guides for running your team: marcusblankenship.com/list
We’re proud to announce that Hubspot is now the presenting sponsor of the Build A Better Agency podcast! Many thanks to them for their support!
John Jantsch is a marketing consultant, speaker, and author of “Duct Tape Marketing,” “Duct Tape Selling,” “The Commitment Engine,” and “The Referral Engine.” He is also the founder of the Duct Tape Marketing Consultant Network. His latest book, “SEO for Growth - The Ultimate Guide for Marketers, Web Designers, and Entrepreneurs,” is changing the way the world thinks about SEO.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- The big changes SEO has undergone recently
- Why you need to re-engineer a client’s editorial approach when you're assisting them with an existing website
- Some of John’s favorite web/SEO tools
- Why content and SEO can’t be thought of as two different things
- Big mistakes people make with SEO
- How to charge for SEO and demonstrate ROI
- How John uses an editorial calendar to plan and write all of his content
- Why you need content built for every stage of the customer journey
- Why SEO is all about consistency
- Why backlinks are still important in 2017 and how to do them right without getting penalized
- Resources that John recommends to grow your digital know-how
Ways to Contact John Jantsch:
- Book: "SEO for Growth: The Ultimate Guide for Marketers, Web Designers & Entrepreneurs"
- Website: www.ducttapemarketing.com
We’re proud to announce that Hubspot is now the presenting sponsor of the Build A Better Agency podcast! Many thanks to them for their support!
Dan Englander is the founder of Sales Schema, where he helps marketing agencies grow by way of done-for-you lead generation and consulting. He's the author of Mastering Account Management. Previously, as the first hire at the animation studio IdeaRocket, he brought the company from zero to seven figures, encompassing dozens of Fortune 500 clients.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How Dan helps agencies fill their sales pipelines
- Why you can’t rely on referrals from your network for sales
- Why creating content is not a sales strategy
- Why you need to systematize pipeline work and why you need to allot daily time for working on your pipeline
- Honing in on a particular niche when generating leads
- Why driving prospects to your website is not what you want to be doing
- Why you need to have a follow-up plan in place for your cold emails
- Why you need to get on the phone with a lead as soon as possible
- How to word cold emails so they actually resonate with cold leads
- How Dan’s company helps agencies hone in on their niche
- Why cold emails have to come from a real person (and which person inside an agency they should come from)
- Why you need to get the right clients for your agency
- Why you shouldn’t overinvest in tools
- Some good tools that Dan likes
- Dan’s book: “Mastering Account Management”
Ways to Contact Dan Englander:
- Free copy of Dan’s book: www.salesschema.com/buildabetteragency
- Website: www.salesschema.com
- Twitter: @DansPalace
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/danenglander
We’re proud to announce that Hubspot is now the presenting sponsor of the Build A Better Agency podcast! Many thanks to them for their support!
Drew McLellan is the Top Dog at Agency Management Institute. For the past 21 years, he has also owned and operated his own agency. Drew’s unique vantage point as being both an active agency owner and working with 250+ small- to mid-size agencies throughout the year, give him a unique perspective on running an agency today.
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 — he 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, Entrepreneur Magazine, and Fortune Small Business. The Wall Street Journal called his blog “One of 10 blogs every entrepreneur should read.”
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- A CPA I recently met in San Diego who built his life around being able to go surfing every day
- An exercise a coach I had about 10 years ago would put me through so that I would envision my future as if it had already happened
- Why my life would not look like it does today if 10 years ago I had not visualized what I wanted it to look like today
- Why it’s okay if everything doesn’t play out exactly the way you visualize
- How to do the Reporter Exercise my coach gave me (linked below)
Ways to contact Drew McLellan:
Resources:
We’re proud to announce that Hubspot is now the presenting sponsor of the Build A Better Agency podcast! Many thanks to them for their support!
Jason Keath is a refreshing voice on creative culture and digital trends. He is a keynote speaker, writer, and entrepreneur.
Jason is the founder and CEO of Social Fresh Conference, the leading social media and digital marketing conference for major brands and agencies. More than 150 of the Fortune 500 have attended Jason’s training sessions, workshops, and presentations.
Rooted firmly in the creative arts, Jason brings an innovative approach to marketing and internal culture. With a BFA in Fine Arts from the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, he focuses on how creative thinking can drive businesses forward and improve employee satisfaction and productivity.
He is routinely quoted by media in the NY Times, USA Today, MSNBC, the LA Times, AdAge, the Washington Post and other outlets. Jason is also the author of the forthcoming book, The Case for More Bad Ideas (revealing the counterintuitive secrets of creative leaders).
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Jason’s background
- Why Jason started Social Fresh
- How to get your whole team to be creative
- Why you need to hear bad ideas and how to manage your team so they aren’t afraid to voice them
- Why you should brainstorm at least 50-100 ideas for every one that you actually put into place
- How having your team prepare ideas anonymously in advance will save you time and result in a discussion that’s more free
- Why creativity comes from having at least one core competency (and how to figure out what your core competency is)
- The filter phase of the process post brainstorming where you take ideas and combine and eliminate ideas until you’ve broken them down to where you’re happy with them
- Why you should try to come up with three great ideas and keep the two that you ultimately don’t go with for later
- Why you need to make the space where your team has creative meetings a different space than where they would sit through boring meetings
- What you can do in your free time to boost your creativity
- Why your brainstorming teams should be a mix of people who have brainstormed together in the past and those who haven’t
- Jason’s upcoming event this summer all about the future of the industry
Ways to Contact Jason Keath:
- Twitter: @jasonkeath
- Social Fresh Newsletter: www.socialfresh.com/subscribe
- Website: www.jasonkeath.com
- Social Media Newsletter: www.SMcurrent.com
We’re proud to announce that Hubspot is now the presenting sponsor of the Build A Better Agency podcast! Many thanks to them for their support!