Many agency owners tell us that they can close business as long as they get in the room with the right prospects. They’re confident in their abilities and the skills of their teams.

But how do you get those right prospects in the room (or on the Zoom)?

That’s what Chip and Gini tackle in this episode.

When your agency starts working with a new client, chances are they have some existing activities already underway. They have a way of doing things that you need to become part of — or change to make it more to your liking.

In this episode of the Agency Leadership Podcast, Chip and Gini talk about what happens when you find something that goes against your strategic and tactical judgement.

They look at a real-world example of an agency who found a contractor using a content and social media strategy that seemed nonsensical on the surface. But what might the new agency learn from the existing practices that might help them work more effectively for the client?

Most PR and marketing agency owners have thought about the possibility of selling their business someday.

But what should you be thinking about today if that’s an outcome you might want to achieve?

Chip and Gini talk about some of the things to focus on, as well as the potential pitfalls on the road to a sale.

Resources

* Exiting Your Business the Right Way by Rick Gould* Five Ways to Prep Your Agency for Sale (Spin Sucks article by Drew McLellan)

Timestamps

* 0:00​ Intro * 2:58​ Resources * 3:50​ When to sell * 5:25​ Earn-out and owner’s role * 8:15​ Make yourself less essential* 9:18​ Positioning your agency * 11:12​ Client concentration problem * 12:30​ Agency finances * 19:05​ Expect surprises * 22:45​ Timing of the sale * 24:50​ Life-changing money? * 26:25​ Post-sale control * 28:50​ Outro

Chip and Gini know that you love to hear about business development. So we’re fulfilling that wish with a look at what agencies can do for business development in the reality that is 2021.

Despite continuing challenges, there’s a lot of opportunity to be had. Lots of agencies are getting creative — not just with their clients, but with how they are generating new leads and closing new accounts.

We have all been there. Clients complain about something that your agency is doing. It might be the quality of the work. Or the timeliness of a deliverable. Or something else.

When it is about something that we control ourselves, that’s painful — but easier to address. What do you do when it is one of your team members that is the target of the client’s displeasure?

Chip and Gini take a look at this very common challenge and offer some strategies on how to make sure that you keep the client happy while also being fair to your own team.

The smart folks at RSW/US recently surveyed agency owners and marketers to understand their outlook for 2021.

Chip and Gini dig into the data — and they don’t like a lot of what they saw. They believe there is a significant disconnect between the agencies and their clients.

The pair look at some of the highlights from the report, but you can download your own copy from the RSW/US website.

Chip and Gini will also be panelists along with Drew McLellan of the Agency Management Institute at the RSW/US Agency New Business Virtual Conference in February. More info here.

Can you — should you — run a PR or marketing agency without leveraging the PESO Model in 2021?

Gini obviously has a bias since she created the PESO Model, but it has since become the standard approach for integrated marketing. It brings together Paid, Earned, Shared, and Owned media to help organizations achieve their communications goals.

In this episode, Chip and Gini talk about why this integration is so important for winning business and achieving results — but also how agencies can achieve the benefits of the PESO Model without having to build out a giant team that has expertise in all of these areas.

Gini noticed that Agency Leadership Advisors rebranded as the Small Agency Growth Alliance (SAGA), so she asked Chip to explain himself in this episode.

You’ll hear Chip explain his thinking and how some of the decisions he made may be useful things for agency leaders to consider in the post-pandemic world.

Chip and Gini get asked all the time about hiring project managers. When to do it, how to integrate them with the team and clients, and whether it needs to be a standalone role or one combined with other functions.

The co-hosts take several questions from the community together to lay out their views on how to effectively use project managers and the pros/cons of different models for the role.

Transcript

Chip Griffin 

Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Agency Leadership Podcast. I’m Chip Griffin,

Gini Dietrich 

and I’m Gini Dietrich.

Chip Griffin 

And if you’re watching us on video, you can see us right down below. We’ve got our little caricature heads. So underneath and if you’re listening to us, you can’t see that so you don’t think it’s funny.

Gini Dietrich 

But he was padding our heads for a while there, it was kind of amazing. His head also keeps hitting the edge of Agency Leadership Podcast, calm on the graphics. But if you’re listening again, can’t see it.

Chip Griffin 

Right. But but but if you haven’t ever seen us on video, you really should, you should you should go over to Agency Leadership podcast.com, click on one of the episodes. And you can see us in video and maybe what maybe one day we’ll even do this live so that you can chip in with your own two cents while we’re recording. Yes, it would be it would be a vast improvement, I’m sure if we got some input from the audience.

Gini Dietrich 

If we’d be more than a vast improvement,

Chip Griffin 

well, but I mean, right now we get input from our third co host and the hamster. We occasionally get to hear from your dog.

Gini Dietrich 

January 19. January 19, January 19.

Chip Griffin 

Yeah. delusional delusional, delusional. That’s that’s all I have to say is the

Gini Dietrich 

light at the end of the tunnel and you’re not going to ruin it for me. You know, if school January 19, if

Chip Griffin 

you want to believe that they are resuming in person classes on January 19. In Chicago, you by all means I believe it embrace it.

Gini Dietrich 

I’m embracing I believe it happening January 19.

Chip Griffin 

Well, the good news for our listeners here is that we are the as you’re listening to this this is this is right before the holiday break for most of you. So most of you will will hopefully be taking some time off I think I was talking with a client this morning. I think that that more people than usual are going to take time off between Christmas and New Year’s this year then. Then you would usually see I think most people are just spent I know I already spent

Gini Dietrich 

Yeah, I mean, even the this and this is this will make you laugh but for roll your eyes one of the two maybe both. But I’m a morning person I get up at 445 every morning you do to like it doesn’t that’s just what I do. I have slept in the last few days didn’t even hear my alarm. Like that’s not usual. Typical for me at all.

Many agencies provide e-books, guides, or even free consultations as a way to connect with potential prospects.

These giveaways can be a good way to break the ice — as long as you don’t break the bank in the process.

Chip and Gini review some real-life examples of things that agencies do and some questions that owners have had for them recently about what to give away and how to promote it. They also examine potential pitfalls along the way.

Transcript

The following is a computer-generated transcript. Please listen to the audio to confirm accuracy.

Chip Griffin 

Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Agency Leadership Podcast. I’m Chip Griffin,

Gini Dietrich 

and I’m Gini Dietrich.

Chip Griffin 

And she you got your name right and you got it in the right timing. I am I am so so proud of you. Thank you little clap there. Thank you. Thank

Gini Dietrich 

you curtsy.

Chip Griffin 

And for those of you who are watching on video, we’ve tried to address some of the the video issues that we’ve had with Jenny’s feed. So let us know if this looks better than it has in past weeks. It does to me. It does to me, it seems like she’s a little less pixelated. So hopefully that will be the case when we actually publish. And and because of the different way that we’re trying this week, she can use her fancy microphone. Yes, I can read everything. So even if you’re watching this on video, if you’re listening to this, you hopefully can hear Jenny’s voice in much more professional style tones or something like that. I don’t

Gini Dietrich 

Yeah, something, though, sits tones or something? I don’t know. But yes, I can use my fancy mic now. So yeah.

Chip Griffin 

You know, and it’s fun to experiment. That’s that’s what this technology stuff is all about. We like to try to figure out what the best way is to deliver great content to you every week. But with that, let’s get into that great content, instead of talking about the behind the scenes stuff that you all probably don’t really care about. So So today, we’re gonna be talking about some lead generation tactics for your agency and more specifically, things that you might give away. And what are some of the implications of that. And this comes from two different posts that that we’ve seen recently, about this one was about free consultations that an agency was offering and the other is more about lead magnets and things that you can give away white papers, ebooks, those kinds of things that might serve as lead generation tools for your agency. And so there’s a number of topics to discuss in here. So where would you like to get started with it?

Gini Dietrich 

Um, so I think we should start with the whole idea of providing some sort of free offer. And in this case, the question was, you offer free marketing consultations to prospective clients. And one way you seed your offer is by promoting it within specific targeted groups online, which makes sense. And you include a link to a scheduling app where people can book a meeting time, great, I’ve done that we do that for Spin Sucks stuff. The question then goes on. But a business coach gets a hold of your offer, and they publish it in their private coaching group.