Agency Blueprint

How do you sell the research phase to clients who don’t see its value? How do you show them that research before launch makes sense for them? Skipping the research phase can lead to a painful outcome for both the agency and the client, which you want to avoid.   

In this episode of The Agency Blueprint, we talk about the impact of the research phase and how to approach selling the idea to a client. We explain the importance of taking the advisor role to teach your client the benefits of the research phase to mitigate risk. 

Listen in to learn more about casting doubt on your client using the third-party selling concept. 

Key Question:   

• [02:30] How do you hold on to what you know is best for the client and be in a place where they’re willing to pay for it?  

What You’ll Discover: 

• [00:40] How to hold your ground by being the advisor to your client rather than the technician. 
• [03:11] The importance of teaching your client the benefit of the research phase.  
• [04:29] Ways to cast doubt in what they don’t know to point out why the research is crucial.  
• [07:30] The importance of understanding the research's impact on the project's ROI and success. 
• [10:31] The third-party selling concept and how to use it to make a client understand the impact of research.  
• [14:03] A summary of the episode!

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How do you shift your mindset from an individual contributor to a manager mindset? How do you split yourself into all the needed buckets for everyone to move the needle forward? As a manager, it’s important to understand what’s valuable to your team members and what you can do differently to help them to perform at their best.  

In this episode of The Agency Blueprint, I’m joined by Allyns Melendez, a CEO & Founder at HR Transformed, COO at a National Public Relations Firm, and a part-time Professor of Continuing Education for Temple University. She has 25+ years of human capital and business management experience and a passion for human capital and business strategy. She helps businesses understand the necessary tactics that will help develop, train, educate, and motivate their employees.  

Listen in to learn how to shift how you manage by starting with directing, then coaching to supporting, and eventually delegating. 

Key Questions:   

• [01:41] What is the experience of a team member being put in a manager position from the start? 
• [07:06] What is the experience of the people being managed, what are they saying to themselves, ad how does that impact the manager?  
• [21:37] What would you suggest for a person in a manager position looking to shift how they’re managing their team and their communication style?  

What You’ll Discover:  

• [01:54] The manager experience and the importance of shifting your mindset into that position.  
• [07:32] The different ways the team experiences the manager and how to create better individual experiences. 
• [15:15] How to identify people’s communication styles to best meet their communication needs.  
• [22:05] How to use the situational leadership model to shift how you manage and approach your team members.  
• [28:27] Things you can do to drop your ego and become a servant leader in your manager role.  

Connect with Allyns: 

• Website
• LinkedIn
• Instagram

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Are you creating a rewarding culture vs just giving people what they want? While money is a great tactic for retaining talent, it’s important to create a culture of value that goes beyond money.  

In this episode of The Agency Blueprint, I’m joined by Allyns Melendez, a CEO & Founder at HR Transformed, COO at a National Public Relations Firm, and a part-time Professor of Continuing Education for Temple University. She has 25+ years of human capital and business management experience and a passion for human capital and business strategy. She helps businesses understand the necessary tactics that will help develop, train, educate, and motivate their employees. 

Listen in to learn how to handle disengaged people, find an accountability partner, collect feedback, and create conduits within your agency.  

Key Questions:   

• [01:35] What is your experience in whether you believe money or culture is the number one reason that someone will stay? 
• [04:20] Do you think a raise will work or motivate someone when they’ve already disengaged?  
• [13:11] How do you do an introspective of what’s going on culturally, and what’s the first step?  
• [22:46] What system would someone want to look at to ensure that things are adequate and fair from a competition standpoint?  

What You’ll Discover: 

• [01:50] The power of money and culture – how to create a rewarding culture with the money you give.   
• [04:48] How to converse with a disengaged person to encourage a value-based relationship. 
• [08:21] The importance of finding an accountability partner to help you see through the weeds as an agency owner.  
• [13:18] How to collect feedback, give people an outlet, and use that data to enhance the company culture.  
• [19:16] How to be authentic and create conduits for you and your organization to push your message forward.  
• [23:13] Tactics to help you reach data of the current fair and adequate pay in your industry.  

Connect with Allyns: 

• Website
• LinkedIn

Free Copy of The Practical Agency Book.

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Profitability Accelerator Call - If you're looking to make a change today schedule your profitability accelerator call to define what is possible for your agency in the next 90 days.

Have you dealt with a demanding client before? How did they impact you and your agency? Demanding clients can be exhausting and often leave you and your team frustrated. 

In this episode of The Agency Blueprint, we discuss demanding clients and how to best manage them without ruining your relationship. We explain the importance of managing your expectations with clients and evaluating your client base to ensure you’re working with A-class clients. 

Don’t miss this episode for more on client relationships, creating alignment with clients, and client evaluation!  

Key Questions:   

• [03:19] What are the impacts of demanding clients on agencies? 
• [15:37] How do we manage and get out of a situation where we have to turn a client around or let them go?  

What You’ll Discover: 

• [01:36] We define a demanding client, their traits, and what makes them frustrating. 
• [04:16] We share our experience with a demanding client and how we dealt with him. 
• [08:17] The importance of setting and reaffirming expectations to avoid client Misunderstandings.  
• [09:54] How to evaluate your client base to ensure you’re working with A-class clients.  
• [14:06] Understanding that sometimes a client isn’t worth the revenue anymore.  
• [15:56] How to have a conversation about creating alignment and a mutually beneficial relationship with your clients.  
• [19:15] The best strategy to let go of a demanding client while still keeping the relationship intact.

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Do you have the right billing model? Do you find it hard to navigate the conversation around pricing as an agency owner? There are factors you should consider when looking into a billing model, but ultimately, what needs to be true, no matter the billing method, is ensuring there’s enough gross margin for you to be set up for success.  

In this episode of The Agency Blueprint, I’m joined by Marcel Petitpas, CEO and founder of Parakeeto, a consulting and technology firm dedicated exclusively to helping agencies answer important questions without wasting time on spreadsheets. He shares his perspective on agency billing in the industry today and how to best price services for profitability.  

Listen in to learn how margin pressure on agencies leads to increased specialization and business complexity.  

Key Questions:   

• [01:10] From a billing perspective, what do you see happening in the industry at the moment? 
• [05:48] What factors would you advise an agency owner to think about when it comes to their billing model? 
• [24:17] What would you say to someone concerned about changing their billing model to a value-based model? 

What You’ll Discover: 

• [01:35] Things that have created margin pressure on agencies leading to increased specialization and business complexity.  
• [06:03] Factors to consider when deciding the right pricing model in your agency. 
• [08:02] How your positioning and value can help you assess your risk profile when choosing a pricing model. 
• [11:00] The tactics to use to navigate the value conversation and get some exposure from the client. 
• [14:09] How to quantify high and low-risk work and sell the agile method of high-risk work. 
• [17:37] Understanding the pricing quadrant and how to position and structure a pricing model that benefits you.  
• [24:39] How to educate yourself and shift your mindset to enable you to change to a value-based model.  

Connect with Marcel: 

• Website
• LinkedIn
• The Agency Profit Podcast

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Profitability Accelerator Call - If you're looking to make a change today schedule your profitability accelerator call to define what is possible for your agency in the next 90 days.

What is the best way to bring in more revenue to your agency in the next 30-60 days? Have you tried reaching out to old prospects and clients to see where they stand now?  

In this episode of The Agency Blueprint, I provide the best formula to reach out to closed lost prospects and generate revenue. I explain why reaching out is a working formula that will get you revenue in the door and allow you to invest in upward growth.  

Don’t miss this episode to learn how to approach this proven revenue-generation method!   

Key Question:   

• [01:17] Have you ever been in a position where you allowed self-doubt to lead you to say NO to an opportunity and later regretted it? 

What You’ll Discover: 

• [01:17] Reach out to prospects that said no and give them a chance to highlight if they feel differently now.  
• [05:30] Get a list of all your closed lost prospects and all the clients you’ve worked with before.  
• [06:21] Reach out every 3-6 months up until the point they say they’re not interested.  
• [07:18] The system of how to reach out to these prospects, plus how the emails should look like.  
• [11:16] The importance of following up with prospects every 3-6 months to continue being in front of them. 

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Profitability Accelerator Call - If you're looking to make a change today schedule your profitability accelerator call to define what is possible for your agency in the next 90 days.

What financial stage is your agency, and how are you managing the growth? Agency growth has four discreet stages that drive decisions: the create mode, build mode, grow mode, and big business stage. 

In this episode of The Agency Blueprint, I’m joined by Ryan Watson, an experienced operations and finance leader for creative agencies and venture-funded startups. As a partner at Upsourced, he helps scaling agencies build better plans, see the future, and drive profit.   

Listen in to learn the importance of focusing on one thing at a time and building momentum rather than a hierarchy of KPIs.  

Key Questions:   

• [01:14] What are the glass ceilings you’re seeing from a financial perspective working with agencies every day?  
• [20:13] Why is it a bad idea for an agency to have a hierarchy of KPIs?  
• [24:47] What stage do you think makes sense for someone to bring in a full-time in-house team? 

What You’ll Discover:  

• [01:43] The four discreet stages of agency growth and the challenges and intentional decisions to make.  
• [06:34] The challenge of creating a repeatable revenue generation during the build mode phase. 
• [09:37] How to find the right way to form a business unit that you run. 
• [13:35] The importance of transparency when communicating your why to your team. 
• [18:47] Why the fear of letting people go at certain stages is a massive limitation in growth.  
• [20:33] The importance of focusing on one thing at a time in your KPIs and building momentum.  
• [25:04] The questions to ask yourself to understand when to bring in a full-time in-house team.  

Connect with Upsourced: 

• Website
• YouTube

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Profitability Accelerator Call - If you're looking to make a change today schedule your profitability accelerator call to define what is possible for your agency in the next 90 days.

Do you find yourself dealing with untimely projects and client incoordination? At the core of avoiding situations like these is proper communication. 

In this episode of The Agency Blueprint, I share the types of stages to consider implementing in your processes to avoid client incoordination and untimely projects. I explain the importance of communicating client responsibilities and having inclusions and exclusions to avoid ambiguity.  

Listen in to learn the importance of consistently reminding your client of the progress and consequences of their project!  

Key Questions:   

• [03:00] Are you communicating client responsibilities or are you afraid of it resulting to a, no? 
• [05:40] Do you have inclusions and exclusions in your scope of work to avoid ambiguity?  
• [07:06] What does your client onboarding call look like, is there a clear understanding of everything to everyone involved?  

What You’ll Discover: 

• [03:00] Client responsibilities - communicate all the things the client has to do to allow you to be successful.  
• [05:40] Have inclusions and exclusions – list what you will and won’t do to avoid ambiguity.  
• [07:06] The onboarding call – covering the outcomes and objectives and then listing the action steps.  
• [09:25] The ongoing management – have someone in your team to consistently remind your client about progress.  
• [12:09] The importance of consistently reminding your client of progress and the next phase of the project.

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Profitability Accelerator Call - If you're looking to make a change today schedule your profitability accelerator call to define what is possible for your agency in the next 90 days.

Have you considered revenue share and equity as ways to build passive income in your agency? Revenue share and equity are great ways to build alignment and accomplish wider goals with the client and your agency.  

In this episode of The Agency Blueprint, I take you through examples of agencies who’ve embraced revenue share, profit share, and equity and how it worked for them. I explain how you can turn your one-off projects or most of your projects into revenue share, profit share, and equity.  

Don’t miss this episode to learn more about this revenue-generation method and its dangers!  

Key Question:   

• [01:40] What is a great way for you to build alignment and accomplish wider goals with your client and agency? 

What You’ll Discover: 

• [01:18] How an agency can exchange services for a different form of payment with one-off projects.  
• [04:40] How an agency can turn most of their projects into equity and revenue share deals and the criteria to follow.  
• [07:15] Why revenue share, profit share, and equity are phenomenal ongoing ways to build passivity to your revenue and profit.  
• [08:22] The danger of this method for younger agencies if not assured in their ability to produce results.  
• [09:46] Make sure you have tremendous corporate counsel when getting into this method.

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Real Life Agency Success Stories

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Profitability Accelerator Call - If you're looking to make a change today schedule your profitability accelerator call to define what is possible for your agency in the next 90 days.

Different stages of growing an agency face different challenges. What sort of challenges are you facing at the stage of growth you’re in right now and how are you handling them? The effort and pressure that you experience at these stages are what allows you to find your way and success.  

In this episode of The Agency Blueprint, I’m joined by Phil Case, President and Chief Client Officer at Max Connect Digital where they are focused on providing real value to clients in the form of business results and revenue growth. He has over 15 years of experience creating curated marketing strategies for top global brands.  

Listen in to learn about smart leadership, talent development, process documentation, and much more!  

Key Questions:   

• [01:37] What sort of things have you experienced at different stages of agency growth and the distinction between each? 
• [07:00] How do you influence those that you recruit to be their best selves and to develop leadership, passion, and vision?  
• [13:13] As you were growing the team, how did you prioritize your time and the investment into team members?  

What You’ll Discover: 

• [01:42] The exhausting stages of a digital agency and the struggle it can be when you’re everything to your business.  
• [06:19] How to develop a leadership team to make a difference in the growth and future of your agency.  
• [09:30] How finding, recruiting, and retaining top talent can make a difference in propelling your agency’s success. 
• [13:39] The importance of documenting processes for easier delegation so you can focus on other growth activities.  
• [20:02] How to be the leader who coaches and supports their team and leans into the unknown.  

Connect with Phil: 

• Website
• LinkedIn

Free Copy of The Practical Agency Book.

Real Life Agency Success Stories

Weekly agency tactics YouTube Channel

Profitability Accelerator Call - If you're looking to make a change today schedule your profitability accelerator call to define what is possible for your agency in the next 90 days.