Build a Better Agency Podcast

Ron Baker is the founder of VeraSage Institute, a leading think tank dedicated to educating professionals internationally, and a radio talk-show host called The Soul of Enterprise: Business in the Knowledge Economy. Ron is the author of seven best-selling books, including "The Firm of the Future," "Pricing on Purpose," and "The Soul of Enterprise: Dialogues on Business in the Knowledge Economy," co-authored with Ed Kless. What you'll learn about in this episode: Why Ron believes that the billable hour and the timesheet need to go Value pricing: the differences between different pricing plans Ways to add in additional value that isn't more "stuff" How to start a value conversation The typical agency objections of value pricing and why they're false How to succeed at the transition to value pricing Other kinds of mistakes agencies make when shifting towards value pricing The major benefits for focusing on value and the customer Action steps that agencies can take when deciding whether or not to utilize value pricing Ways to Contact Ron Baker: Website: www.verasage.com Email: ron@verasage.com LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/ronbaker1 Twitter: @ronaldbaker Radio Talk Show: www.thesoulofenterprise.com Ron's Books: "The Firm of the Future" "Pricing on Purpose" "The Soul of Enterprise: Dialogues on Business in the Knowledge Economy" 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. He has also owned and operated his own agency over the last 20-years. And all through the year, he straddles the fence of working in his agency and working with 250+ small- to mid-size agencies in a variety of ways. 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 a lot of 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: Common ways internal fraud is committed and ways to prevent it from happening How agencies are targeted with email scams The ways Drew has seen agency employees embezzle hundreds of thousands of dollars from agencies The systems you need to put in place to prevent fraud Ways to contact Drew McLellan: Email: drew@agencymanagementinstitute.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!

When Google wants to explain innovation and marketing to the top brands in the world, they bring Mitch Joel to the Googleplex in Mountain View, California. Marketing Magazine dubbed him the "Rock Star of Digital Marketing" and called him, "one of North America's leading digital visionaries." Mitch Joel is President of Mirum – a global digital marketing agency operating in 20 countries with over 2500 employees (although he prefers the title, Media Hacker). He has been named one of the top 100 online marketers in the world and was awarded the highly prestigious Canada's Top 40 Under 40. What you'll learn about in this episode: Mirum's unique structure Generalists vs specialists: the philosophical and financial reasons agencies should specialize instead of generalizing How to figure out if a client is a good fit for your agency Mad Men vs Math Men: how to blend creative and data Why it's more important than ever to stay hungry and keep learning everything you can Do your homework: how to balance learning time with time spent on client work "Algorhythm": Mitch's upcoming book Tools Mitch uses for consistent learning Ways to Contact Mitch Joel: Website: mitchjoel.com Agency website: www.mirumagency.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!

Jody Sutter started her career in sales and ended up working in agencies leading the new business teams. Today she runs The Sutter Company, a business development consultancy. She spends a lot of time working with agencies to take a more proactive approach to growing their business with a special emphasis on how they communicate and tell their unique story. What you'll learn about in this episode: Why strong writing is more important than ever in our digital age The major mistakes that agencies make when presenting themselves in writing How to avoid making the big mistakes agencies make when responding to RFPs Why editing is so important for improving your team's writing, how to get good at it, and what you should keep in mind if you are outsourcing the editing How agencies can differentiate themselves through storytelling The Pixar pitch The "5 things that you can do to make your writing better right away" checklist What you need to do to assess whether or not your writing needs improvement Ways to Contact Jody Sutter: Website: www.thesuttercompany.com Email: jody@thesuttercompany.com Twitter: @jodysutter Resources: Points of Contact Matrix Pixar Pitch/Writer's Checklist 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!

Nick Westergaard is a strategist, speaker, author, and educator. He is the chief brand strategist at Brand Driven Digital, where he helps organizations build better brands online. He teaches at the University of Iowa in the Tippie College of Business, is a regular columnist on The Cedar Rapids Gazette, and is also the host of the popular podcast, "On Brand." What you'll learn about in this episode: How Nick took his traditional agency and transitioned it to becoming a digital powerhouse The differences and similarities between traditional and digital marketing and why they really aren't all that different Social Brand Forum: Brand Driven Digital's yearly live event The business strategy behind having a live event Why you should get out and attend events The importance of prioritizing your agency as a client Why experimentation is so important for your agency's success Ways to Contact Nick Westergaard: Website: www.branddrivendigital.com Twitter: @NickWestergaard 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!

Lee McKnight Jr. is the Director of Business Development for RSW/US in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are a new business development firm that works solely with agencies and marketing services firms. After graduating law school, he ran away as fast possible from that profession and worked for an internet healthcare start-up until the bubble burst and his magical stock options disappeared in the late 90s. Fast forward through some interesting marketing and sales positions to RSW/US where Lee has spent the last 8 years working with agencies of all types to help drive their new business efforts. A big fan of history, comics and horror novels, he's currently in a few bands in Louisville and Cincinnati and likes to pretend that chicks dig married, 44-year-old guys with kids that play in cover bands. What you'll learn about in this episode: How to prevent your agency from making the major mistakes that agencies make all the time Why agencies need to specialize instead of generalize New business: how to develop a better, simpler process How to use a delicately balanced process that uses all different kinds of marketing Why patience is so key in closing on new business The importance of having one person who is the leader on a project Why there needs to be a balance between showcasing the figurehead and the agency The tools you're going to need to put into practice the objectives discussed in this episode Ways to Contact Lee McKnight Jr.: Website: www.rswus.com Email: lee@rswus.com Twitter: @LeeMcKnightJr 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. He has also owned and operated his own agency over the last 20-years. And all through the year, he straddles the fence of working in his agency and working with 250+ small- to mid-size agencies in a variety of ways. AMI works with agency owners: By leading agency owner peer groups Offers workshops for owners and their leadership teams Offers AE bootcamps Conducts individual agency owner coaching Does on site consulting. Because he works with a lot of 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: Stale employees: how to recognize them and why they're holding your agency back Can these employees be saved? It's a firm maybe. How to have the necessary conversation with stale employees -- you owe them honesty The kinds of goals to set to see measurable change and growth before determining their place inside your agency The costs to you as an agency owner for working with stale employees to up their game How to recognize if you really do have to let the employee go How to make a decision while realizing that you aren't the only person it affects Ways to contact Drew McLellan: Email: drew@agencymanagementinstitute.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!

Art Boulay is the owner of Strategic Talent Management and offers common sense solutions for hiring better employees and making current employees stronger. Art has partnered with AMI for years and has created (through testing A players) profiles for the ideal candidates for most agency specific positions. What you'll learn about in this episode: Assessment tools for hiring the right employee lead to more objective and effective hiring How Art's tools can assess agencies, what makes them unique, and how that will help to find the right future employees From hire to retire: what employers and employees should do to ensure that employees don't leave right away How to use assessments to counteract biases that we bring to the table during the hiring process Why asking specific types of questions and having at least two people conducting an interview will reveal what you actually need to know about interviewees Tips for making ads as attractive as possible to the people you want to hire and unappealing to people you don't even want to interview Why age is not an indicator of knowledge and skill: hire leaders, not experience Ways to Contact Art Boulay: Website: www.strategictalentmgmt.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!

Ann Handley speaks and writes about how you can rethink the way your business markets. Cited in Forbes as the most influential woman in Social Media and recognized by ForbesWoman as one of the top 20 women bloggers, Ann Handley is the Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs, a training and education company with the largest community of marketers in its category. Her book, "Everybody Writes: Your Go-to Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content," is a Wall Street Journal bestseller. She is a monthly columnist for Entrepreneur magazine, a member of the LinkedIn Influencer program, and co-author of the best-selling book on content marketing, "Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, eBooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business." She currently has 290,000 followers on Twitter and writes about content, marketing, and life at AnnHandley.com. A pioneer in digital marketing, Ann is the co-founder of ClickZ.com, which was one of the first sources of interactive marketing news and commentary. She started her career as a business journalist and editor. What you'll learn about in this episode: How agencies can educate their clients The MarketingProfs B2B Forum Strategies for working on better content instead of lots of content Why you need to focus on writing during the hiring process and throughout your agency's work Resources for editing whether you have the budget for a human editor or not Why you need to find writers with an audience-centric point of view (and the pros and cons of hiring journalists) Tips for creating spaces for creating your best writing Ways to Contact Ann Handley: Website: www.annhandley.com Twitter: @annhandley Twitter: @marketingprofs Company website: www.marketingprofs.com B2B Marketing Forum: mpb2b.marketingprofs.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!

Jami Oetting is the editor of Hubspot's Agency Post, which is a blog for advertising and marketing agency professionals. She led the launch of the publication in 2011 and its growth before Hubspot acquired it in 2013. Hubspot works with about 2,500 agency partners and about 15,000 customers worldwide. Now, Jami's blog is one of the largest blogs for agency professionals. It offers incredible content to help agency leaders grow their business. What you'll learn about in this episode: How agencies can and should be getting clients now that we're not bound by geography Why getting business through referrals is still viable -- but why the source of those referrals is changing Why buyers have as much if not more information than sellers and what that means for your agency Using inbound marketing to attract the right kind of clients (and turn away the wrong ones) Why you need to stick with inbound marketing content creation Why you absolutely must specialize on a niche if you want to survive Why you will struggle to attract great employees if you don't have a strong new business plan Why you need someone on your team who is responsible for marketing your agency How to come up with content for your blog Why interviews are a great way to create content What agency owners can do right now to get the ideas from this podcast into place Ways to Contact Jami Oetting: Website: blog.hubspot.com/agency Email: joetting@hubspot.com Twitter: @jamioetting 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!