Do you have the right systems and processes the will allow you to work only with your ideal agency clients? Have you identified your ideal agency clients and niched down enough for them? Are you concerned about turning away clients that aren't the right fit? Being the best in the business requires discipline, but it also helps you determine whether a client is right for you.

In this episode, we'll cover:

• Why determining your niche helps you land ideal clients.
• How discipline is crucial to your agency's success.
• Why it's important to put people over profit.

I talked to Lindsey Groepper, President of Blast Media, a B2B SaaS PR agency she and her two business partners started 15 years ago. Lindsey and partners decided the agency's goal is enriching people's lives. From there, they set out to determine a niche to achieve that goal. Lindsey is here to talk about the discipline needed to grow a successful niche agency. She also shares how your niche can be used as a tool to develop a well-rounded and resilient client list.

Why Determining Your Niche Helps You Find Better Clients

While many agencies struggle to determine their niche, Lindsey says that Blast Media knew early that they wanted to provide PR for tech companies. However, over the fifteen years in business, Blast Media has distilled its client offerings down to just one specialty. This began five years ago when they realized offering a little bit of everything was not as successful a path as providing one service extremely well.

Refining their focus required some tough decisions. It meant the partners had to say goodbye to some clients they enjoyed working with, as well as the revenue from the clients that no longer fit their model. On the other hand, though, it led to the creation of a 30-day onboarding process all

Blast Media's clients are required to undergo. During this process, the client learns about how the agency works and the entire team learns all about the company before they begin doing work.

The theory, Lindsey says, is "you come to us with a goal and we can tell you how to get there. But the client can't do both. If you want to tell us how then you will have to have a different goal." Clients who can't stick to the process are not the right clients.

Why Processes and Discipline Are Crucial to Success

The client onboarding process is required for all clients, with no exceptions. The result of that process helped the agency find and land ideal agency clients. It also helped that agency retain amazing team members. Last year, Blast Media had zero turnover. Team retention "really goes back to staying disciplined with the clients you're bringing on," Lindsey says. "If your main goal is profit, then your culture suffers because you're too busy scaling to champion the culture that brought your team to you in the first place."

Discipline means not making decisions based on short-term situations. Your policy for determining which clients to work with should not have any exceptions. If you're worried about losing a client, remember what Lindsey tells her team: "Every client will someday no longer be a client. That is the life of an agency. As long as they didn't leave because of a failure on our part, we are OK because we have a pipeline of clients to bring in to replace them."

Why It's Important to Put People Over Profit

Knowing when to say no to a prospect doesn't mean you can help in other ways. Lindsey says Blast Media regularly refers prospective clients to other agencies who are better able to meet their specific needs. The ability to place people over profit helps build relationships. It helps another agency and a client to find each other. That good karma always comes back around. By developing a relationship with other agencies, you will find they will reciprocate.