Build a Better Agency Podcast

Remote and hybrid work environments are here to stay. While some agencies have successfully returned to the office full-time, and some may have never even left, many agencies are still struggling to crack the code on hybrid work without upsetting their employees. It's a difficult balance, but it has become ever-important as these demands begin cementing into our work culture. And if you're working with creatives, the conversation around a hybrid workplace has probably been even louder. So this week, we're joined by Felice Ekelman and Julie Kantor, authors of Thrive With a Hybrid Workplace: Step-by-step Guidance From the Experts, to teach us how to approach these conversations and transitions from a legal and psychological point-of-view. We all know that as agency owners, there's nothing more expensive or as valuable as our employees, and we just want them to be happy working with us. So tune in to learn how to have these conversations and set expectations around hybrid work environments so we can all have a better agency together. 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 making of the Thrive With a Hybrid Workplace book The shifts and trends of hybrid and remote work post-covid Creating a balance in a hybrid work environment The challenges for agency leaders in creating a collaborative hybrid work environment and maintaining communication What type of training agency leaders need to build a thriving hybrid work culture How to develop productivity benchmarks without the ability to observe in person Getting agency leaders out of the fear mindset and setting appropriate boundaries with agency employees

Agencies are under more pressure than ever to be innovative. While it used to be easier to solve your clients' problems and wow them with a great solution, these days, it's much harder to do that with the bar constantly moving. This is why it's essential to develop an innovation strategy. Wouldn't it be nice to bring a lofty, innovative idea to a client and have them be over the moon and excited to be a part of the process? With the right innovation strategy, that dream can be a reality. An innovation strategy can help your team jumpstart the creative and problem-solving process while leaving room for co-creation and collaboration with your clients. This streamlines the creative process and takes the pressure off you and your team to have all the answers while you search for the solutions to their problems. Tune in to learn how your agency can become problem-solving and innovation experts by asking the right questions, enacting decisive decision-making, and building out a creative workflow. 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 hardest part of innovation Collaboration is key for driving innovation Boiling down the "how" of problem-solving and innovation Creating an upstream methodology — the question-asking stage Getting a client to buy into an innovative idea The importance of collaboration and outside input for an innovation strategy The landmines to be aware of in the upstream production stages Workshopping ideas to produce quicker outcomes

Lee McKnight Jr., agency owner, discusses the challenges faced by agencies in 2023, including lower-budget prospects and dried-up client referrals. He shares insights on how to dial in your biz dev strategy for a more successful 2024. Topics include AI in agency operations, hiring considerations, and building a realistic business development strategy.

As 2023 comes to a close, agency owners are urged to create their game plan for 2024. The episode offers action items to improve your agency, such as tightening your budget, growing existing clients, and reevaluating your team. Prioritizing existing clients for growth is also highlighted. The importance of providing a vision for employees and expressing gratitude is emphasized.

Finding right-fit clients, especially in a slow economy, is always a frustrating task. For the past year or so, agency owners have been expressing more and more frustrations over finding and keeping good clients at the right price point. In this episode, Jason Swenk shares some tips and tricks about what he sees agencies doing right when it comes to client acquisition that keeps them profitable even in the toughest economies. He shares the 3 main channels where agencies can find right-fit clients — hint: it's got nothing to do with referrals — that position your agency as a must-have problem solver for prospects. If you're ready to find the perfect clients, get paid what you're worth (or more), and make them feel like they can't live without your services, this is your episode. You'll learn some tangible tips for impressing clients and staying ahead of the curve to keep them interested. 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 the agencies who are getting new clients are doing right Getting clear on the types of clients you want to go after Why you shouldn't rely on referrals as your main client go-getter Figuring out how to solve your clients' problems innovatively The 3 main channels you should be resourcing to find right-fit clients Why podcasting is one of the greatest inbound sales channels Creating an attractive offer ladder without using retainers What does the agency of the future look like? 2 of the biggest challenges agencies need to anticipate for the future

We've all lowballed ourselves when going into negotiations. Whether it was for a raise, a proposal to a new client, a request to be a keynote speaker or a promotion, we've probably left opportunity on the table without even realizing it. The good news is that it's extremely common, so you're not alone. But the bad news is that you could probably be getting so much more than you realize, but you're not asking in the right way. This week, Dia Bondi teaches us how to ask like an auctioneer in negotiations. At auctions, you're not looking for an immediate yes. You're searching until you ultimately find that no, and that's where the fun really begins. You never know what you can get until you ask, but if you never receive that initial "no" and start the negotiation process, you'll never know where the ceiling of potential is for your ask. So, in this episode, Dia encourages us to step out of our comfort zones and challenge ourselves to maximize our potential to further ourselves and our careers by learning to ask like an auctioneer. 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 means to ask like an auctioneer Finding your ZOFO Why you should always look for a no to maximize the potential of your proposals The 4 different types of asks you can make What to do when you're met with a no The Boomerang Effect that can turn a no into a yes later on The 6-step framework that will build your confidence in negotiations Letting go of asking for what you think you deserve What to do when the "no" is a hard no

Usually, a sabbatical is for people who need time to rest and recharge. But did you know that sabbaticals are important for your agency operations, too? This week, we're taking a different approach to the ongoing conversation we've been having about systems and processes, agency operations, and ways to optimize your business growth. From Alyson Caffrey's perspective, it's not just employees and agency owners who need time to rest and recharge — your business does, too. Blocking out time to work on biz dev and improving systems and processes is the break your agency needs in order to grow. Like training for a marathon, an agency needs time to rest and create muscle memory around new agency operations. With these dedicated mini sabbaticals, not only will your agency be more optimized, but it will increase your agency value when it's time to start working on succession planning. You literally can't afford not to try this method out. 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 two traditional forms of sabbaticals people take What is an agency sabbatical? How we can weave sabbaticals into our daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly routines Setting boundaries that help you weave rest into your work routine What it means to allow rest for the agency How to retrain your team to protect their time and use it purposefully Getting agency operations to function flawlessly without bottlenecks Identifying which systems and processes to document and how to break them down into more manageable pieces Starting where you're at without pressuring yourself to be perfect

Productivity means profitability. One of the key ways to boost your productivity is to hone in on your systems and processes to get things done faster and more efficiently without bottlenecking your creative process. This week, we're chatting with Michelle LaBrosse, a systems and processes expert, about how agency owners, teams, and even clients can work together to be faster and get projects done in as little as two weeks. Sound too good to be true? It won't after the hour is up. Michelle has been perfecting agency systems and processes for decades, and her methodology has become standard practice for many. Her tips and tools for boosting productivity and project efficiency will leave you wondering why you haven't adopted these systems and processes sooner. 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: Breaking deliverables and projects into 2-week deadlines Getting everyone on the same page about what "done" means How having more systems and processes can aid creativity How to get the client on board with your process Getting away from overcomplicated systems and processes The process behind creating simple processes Making tools fit the workflow, not the other way around How agency owners and leaders can respect new systems and processes Owning your distraction issues that stifle productivity

Many agency owners want to see 20% growth (or more) year over year while staying profitable. This goal isn't entirely unrealistic, but the bigger you get, the harder it is to maintain such impressive numbers if you're not investing resources in the right things to support that growth. For this week's solocast, I have some homework for you to do to help you see if you're prepared to meet your growth goals in 2024. Don't worry; we will do it together while I walk you through how to crunch the numbers step-by-step. If you want to follow along, grab your P&L statement and our growth goal worksheet linked below, and get ready to do some math. By the end of this episode, you'll have a much clearer picture of where your agency is at financially and what level of growth you can support next year based on the numbers we calculate today. 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. In This Episode: The basics of staying at 20% profit while doubling in size The mistakes we often make when setting end-of-year growth goals How to set a healthy growth goal based on your agency stats Why attrition affects your growth goal, and how much Emphasizing the role AEs play in growing clients What your agency needs if you plan to grow more than 15% year over year Which tough decisions agency owners need to make to hit growth goals The importance of niching down to boost growth

One of the most common questions we still receive is about how to decouple yourself from the day-to-day grind of agency life and finally get to focus on being an agency owner. Many of us became accidental entrepreneurs and owners, and now that we have teams to lead, it can be hard to stop doing the old work that got us started on this journey. This week, Lien De Pau is giving us a roadmap for successfully decoupling ourselves from the daily grind so we can start focusing on biz dev, sales, admin, and other tasks that often get put on the back burner in favor of things that we could easily delegate or outsource. The key to growing (and eventually selling) an agency is to get out of your own way and become irrelevant to the business. Join us to learn how to start advocating for your own success as an agency owner and get out of the daily grind holding your agency back from reaching its peak potential. 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 mindset work that begins the process of removing yourself from the day-to-day Hiring out your weaknesses to others Letting go of your ego getting in the way The 5-step roadmap to decouple yourself from the agency How creative agency owners can productize their services to facilitate SOPs The roadblocks agency owners face when stepping away from the day-to-day Acting like an entrepreneur vs. an employee Leveling up as an entrepreneur How agency growth is linked to your success in the decoupling process