Smart Agency Masterclass with Jason Swenk: Podcast for Digital Marketing Agencies

In this session of The Smart Agency Master Class I chat with Kim Walsh-Phillips who is going to share with us how to get new business via Facebook, which is one of the most powerful marketing tools out there. Kim is the CEO of IO Creative Group and is a speaker, author, and a ROI enthusiast.

Why your current Facebook engagement is so low.

Because Facebook is free, you may have just jumped on all willy-nilly and started posting. According to Kim, that’s not the way to go about it. After all, you wouldn’t do that with a direct mail campaign, would you?

No, of course not. You would put a lot of strategic thought into what you were going to say. Kim suggests thinking of each Facebook post the same way. Your posts have the potential to be seen around the world, so each should be part of a strategy.

The engagement formula to make Facebook work for your ad agency.

Your Facebook posts should be 85% PBS and 15% QVC. Meaning, you spend 85% of the time offering free, valuable content, and only 15% of the time doing self-promotion. It’s a formula designed to gain trust and position you as an authority figure.

Your page focus shouldn’t be on lead generation. Kim points out that only 2% of people will return to your page after their initial visit. You’re trying to impress the newbies, so put yourself in their shoes. Would you like to see valuable content or a bunch of self-promotional posts?

In other words – brag sparingly. Ideally, you’d have one post per day, and only one of those per week would be promotional.

It’s not that you won’t be promoting at all. Create ads that look like post which show up in the News Feed of your target audience.

Here is the type of content should you be posting on Facebook.

You want to create content that is liked, commented on, and shared. The more of that kind of engagement you get, the more your stuff will show up in Facebook’s feed.

Kim suggests the following types of posts:

* Offering original content – tips, information, and resources

* Celebration – highlight a fan of the week

* Communication – ask a question of your audience

Don’t feel overwhelmed with the amount of posting. Automation is your friend. Kim and her team schedule posts in batches, 30 days in advance. Her tool of choice is Hootsuite.

Kim’s Tips on how to get UNSTUCK and to the next level in your business.

* Read Dan Kenny’s book, No B.S. Direct Marketing: The Ultimate No Holds Barred Kick Butt Take No Prisoners Direct Marketing for Non-Direct Marketing Businesses. Once you’re done reading that, become a member of GKIC.

* And stop being afraid of letting go of clients that aren’t the right fit anymore. It’s okay to out grow them, and it’s okay to say goodbye. If a client doesn’t help you reach your end goal, every hour you spend with them is one you’ll have to make up elsewhere.

* Find the A+ players, get yourself involved with them, and make yourself known as a specialist.

For more information on Kim Walsh-Phillips, check out IO Creative Group, or follow her on Twitter.

In today's session of The Smart Agency Master Class I chat directly with you. That's right - no guest! I wanted to talk with you about putting together the right legal documents before you run into a problem.

I'll admit, this is something I should have done much sooner in my own agency. After all, the time to prepare is before there's an issue. So you'll get to learn from my mistake and pick up some valuable resources.

Now, I am not a lawyer, so this isn't legal advice. These are tips for finding the right kind of legal documents for your business.

Who should you have agreements with?

Hopefully you already have some agreements in place. If you don't start thinking about all of the people you are doing work with and for - clients, partners, contractors, employees, etc.

For these relationships you should have nondisclosure agreements, contractor agreements, and employment agreements. Sure, everything may seem all peaches and unicorns in the beginning, but it isn't guaranteed to stay that way.

Don't be so caught up in trying to close the deal that you forget the agreement!

Prepare before the legal battle.

Before you get into some sort of legal situation, you need to get your ducks in a row. It wasn't until after I had to deal with some legal battles that I began preparing myself. Save yourself the trouble and get your agreements together.

Go to my website, and download the proposal template. Included in the template is the agreement.

What needs to be in an agreement?

• A description of services you'll provide and what you will be responsible for delivering.
• Pricing and payment. Be sure to also include what the client is responsible for with payment (check, credit card, mailing address, etc).
• A termination clause. If the client cancels early, is there a penalty? (There should be.)
• Disclaimers about how your software isn't magic and that you both agree not to share each others' stuff.
• Spell out ownership. The client owns any custom work that they've paid for and you own your tools (i.e. frameworks).
• Limitations of liability to clarify what you are not responsible for covering. For example, you shouldn't be responsible for anything over the proposal amount. (i.e. $10k proposal = $10k cap in responsibility.)
• Governing law. What county and what state is the agreement bound? This is important to keep you from having to trek back and forth across the country every time you have to go to court.

Now I know this isn't the sexiest of topics. It's not going to win you more clients or grow your business, but it's going to help protect you. You've worked hard to get to where you are, so don't let unpreparedness cause you harm.

More agreement resources.

Check out LegalZoom for free and paid agreements. If you use a payroll company, you can also check with them about agreements they offer. A lot of them have good ones, especially for employment. Lastly, get the proposal agreement that I used at my agency.

Discover the best Digital Agency Strategies today. Get Online Training to help you setup the right systems and strategies to help you grow faster.

In this episode of The Smart Agency Master Class, I talk with Michael Gass who is going to share with us his steps for driving new agency business.

Positioning is the foundation of generating ad agency new business.

Historically, agencies have problems when it comes to new business. There’s little differentiation; every agency sounds just like the next. It’s like you’re forgetting your marketing minds when it comes to promoting your agency.

Think having great creative makes you different from the next guy? Michael doesn’t. “Great creative isn’t a point of differentiation, it’s an expectation.” If you really want to stand apart you need to narrow your focus – find that niche – and give the prospects a reason to want to work with you.

Stop being your own worst client and making it harder than it should be!

The paradigm shift.

Let’s face it – it just isn’t how it used to be. Many agency founders, who were once great at working a room are finding themselves pretty inept nowadays. But Michael points out that we don’t need to be mourning the days of chasing new business.

Instead of being the new business hunter, it's now about learning to become the prey.Click To Tweet

He suggests using technology to entice new business to come to you. Don’t worry if you have been slow to start using social media, you’re not alone. Most agencies didn’t start using it until 2010, and then they just did the same thing they were doing in the real world – talking about themselves.

“Credentials, capabilities, and case studies – no one cares.” Prospects are looking for resources, not portfolios.

7 steps to differentiation and driving new business to your agency.

#1 – Identify a target audience. Remember, you want to work with people who fit in that sweet spot. Once you find the target audience, set a clear objective.

#2 – Find your purpose. Think about what your content driven blog is providing. Make sure that you’re keeping your focus narrow. If you try to be everything to everybody, you won’t appeal to anyone.

#3 – Develop content! Michael gives his clients a 30 post in 30 days challenge. Do that and you’ll have a lot of content and a routine for future production. Also, make sure you’re leading with the benefit statement (i.e. put the most important information at the top to hook your readers).

#4 – Include a clear call to action. Give your readers a prompt to keep the conversation going.

#5 – Implement best practices. Keep what works and dump what doesn’t.

#6 – Make use of your analytics to refine and improve your content. You can learn a lot by just looking at the data, so if you’re not currently checking your analytics, you’re missing out.

#7 – Manage the process. Use automation or hire someone to be responsible for making sure posts happen. Even if you’re busy with pitches or away at a conference, someone should be in charge of putting out content.

What you can do right now to start generating new business for your agency?

Michael is a huge fan of social media and is adamant that we get comfortable using it. Tweet a lot, post on Google+, Facebook and LinkedIn. Write blog posts. Share, share, share.

Start building a community. Use social media to promote your blog and share your posts. You can also share posts by others that you think are relevant and interesting. For help building that community, try ManageFlitter.

Sound daunting? Michael suggests using Basecamp, a project management tool. Michael calls it “the ultimate cat herding program.”

 

In this session of The Smart Agency Master Class, I talk with Kyle Porter, founder and CEO of SalesLoft, a software that searches through social profiles to help find prospects.

Kyle is going to tell us the four things that contributed to the growth of his business, as well as some inbound and outbound marketing strategies and how to build culture.

Kyle attributes SalesLoft’s growth to these four areas:

* Focus on product market fit. The more you can understand your customer’s pain, the better solutions you can offer.

* Creating an engine for client acquisition via inbound and outbound marketing, as well as a team of closers.

* Client delightment. It’s about exceeding expectations and taking them beyond just being satisfied.

* Culture. Kyle says this is the area he focuses on most.

By creating these systems, you will have a foundation for success. Each area builds on another: empathy for your customer creates better solutions, which builds the content for marketing, which makes the sale that delights the client, which positively reinforces the culture.

Culture, culture, culture.

Culture is so important, it deserves its own section. “Life is too short to not love every minute you’re in the office,” says Kyle. He’s worked hard at SalesLoft’s core values: positive, supportive, and self-starting. [quote]Have fun. Get shit done. Grow the business.[/quote]

Tips for getting those inbound leads.

Kyle started nurturing those inbound leads by getting to know the thought leaders in his industry. It wasn’t about asking them for something right away. No, he followed their social profiles, promoted them when they did something of value, and began building a relationship. He also does a lot in building a community for sales professionals. And let’s not forget about content. Kyle makes sure that he’s putting out content on a regular basis.

Content Pro Tip – Have trouble finding the time to sit down and produce content? I record my blog on my iPhone, and then shoot the recording over to my virtual assistant. The blog and the show notes are then transcribed for me, and put on the website. I just have to review and schedule.

SalesLoft and outbound strategy.

Identify your ideal customer profile and use SalesLoft (or any tool, but I recommend it because I use it) to build an accurate and targeted list of those profiles. Once the list is compiled, use a cadence of emails, phone calls, and social drips until you get an appointment with the customer. Your initial email should be short and simple. Send them an email, follow-up with a phone call. Also, try monitoring them on social media. See what they’re tweeting about so you can find something relevant to get them to open your email or take your call. There are even some free tools to help you weed through all the social media noise and find the details you want from the people you’re interested in. Try Newsle and Nutshell Mail.

The new school of sales.

The old school way was to have an entire department dedicated to sales, but only the tiniest sliver of that department was focused on prospecting new business. New school sales is broken out into two divisions: the part that’s going after the money and the part that’s going after the appointments.

The part that’s going after the appointments is the sales development process. People target the audience with a specific objective. This allows for a shift in how the business thinks, empowers people to go after their mission, and enables specialization.

In this episode of The Smart Agency Master Class, I sit down with Joe Grano who is going to talk to us about who to hire, getting that next level agency, and making the transition from a small, one person agency to bringing on full-time employees.

Joe is the president and founder of Next-Mark, a full-service marketing, communications, public relations, and business strategy solutions company based in Sarasota, FL.

When to hire full-time employees.

Joe once said to me, "I never want to hire employees." He's since changed his tune and now has several full-time employees on his team. In fact, he prefers them to contractors.

Here are the questions Joe considered when making the full-time leap:

• Can you really afford to do it? There's a level of financial stability needed.
• Are you willing to give anything up to ensure your employees get paid? If you're not, then you aren't ready yet.
• Do you know how to hire? Bringing on just anyone can be a disaster.

Other considerations:

• You need to really think about how you want to grow your business because hiring full-time staff is a big mind shift.
• Understanding that contractors probably don't have your business's best interests in mind. Contractors just don't have the same kind of loyalty as full-time employees.
• You can do so much more for people who are fully invested in the business, and vice versa.
• Have full-time staff and only bring on contractors whose core competencies are things that you couldn't afford full-time.

Who is the right first hire?

Okay, you're making the move to bringing on full-time staff but who is the first hire? Joe and I both brought on people who had been long-time contractors for our businesses. You already know their work style and they're already familiar with your company.

Joe's first hire was his Director of Communications; someone who had been with him for awhile as a contractor and who brought along a lot of agency experience. Mine was a designer, but I also definitely recommend hiring some kind of manager - office or project. You need someone to do the operational stuff while you're out growing the business.

New employees are an investment.

Time is money, and it's hard to commit to spending a lot of your time teaching a new employee. Joe's advice for shortening the learning curve is to hire up. Bring in people with good experience and skill sets, so they can come in and start performing quickly.

But remember - like anything else just starting out, new employees need to be nurtured. It takes time to teach them and help them gain confidence in their competencies. Be patient because it will be worth it.

How to put together a great team?

You may think you want to hire people whose working style is just like yours. You're wrong. A team made up of a bunch of the same people won't be productive. Look for people who:

1. Work well in teams. Joe recommends check out this TED Talk about hiring introverts.
2. Have working styles that would compliment yours. Use this helpful quiz.

Why are setting core values so important?

If you don't have core values, you need to get some ASAP. If you have core values, you need to communicate them to your people ASAP. Make sure you are sharing them with your current and new employees, alike.

Bonus: Want more info on core values? Check out this video from Zappo's CEO about core values and creating awesomeness.

Important steps toward growth.

Take a good, hard look at where you want your business to go to bring it up to a next level agency. Remember, new employees take time, so it's important you consider that in your growth plan. Also, think about their long-term fit within the company. If you can only see them around for a couple of projects or for a matter of months, it's not time for full-time staff.

Finally, be really comfortable with being able to support someone full time. The last thing you want is to have to let them go after only a little while because you can't afford to pay them.

Discover the best Digital Agency Strategies to create a next level agency today. Get Online Training to help you setup the right systems and strategies to help you grow faster.

Creating a Next Level Agency

Are you holding yourself back from creating a next level agency by ignoring problems or issues you aren't even aware of that need your attention? Good, this is where I can come in and provide you support.

In all my years, I have more than likely experienced all if not most of the different struggles you have and can help you from what I have learned. From what to do with your bad agency clients, how to develop agency products and how you can build authority for your agency.

If you want to know how to grow your agency even further, I have agency growth hacks, the best ways to improve management of your business as well as why building a remote team of freelancers can be beneficial in the long run.

As well as this, you can learn more about my career as well as tips, tricks and insights by checking out my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics.

I also hear the experience and advice from other successful agency experts in my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel.

Creating Valuable Content for Your Agency

In this episode of The Smart Agency Master Class, I talk with Ahava Leibtag, and she is going to explain the six steps for creating valuable content to help you reach your target audience and increase your impact. Ahava is the president and owner of Aha Media Group, a content strategy and content consultancy in Washington, D.C.

How can you generate leads for your agency?

If you ask Ahava how to create great content, she will tell you step one is understanding your target audience. You need to know their business, understand their pain points, and know what solutions they are seeking. Know this before anything else because you can't start talking to people without knowing what they want to hear.

You also need to spend time where your target audience is spending time. Don't feel like you need to be on all the social channels. If your target audience isn't on Twitter, why are you wasting your time and energy on Twitter?

Once you've located your target audience make sure you master that technology. "Content and social marketing isn't all that simple," Ahava says, "it's a lot of stuff to balance, so make sure you know how to use the technology."

Checklists are imperative in order to create valuable content that can generate new business for your agency.

#1 - Findable. Make sure that you are utilizing appropriate keywords so your target audience finds you. Also think about how your content relates to other content. If someone is looking for a dresser, they may also be looking for a headboard.

#2 - Readable. We've all seen it - bad web writing. Keep your content short and with the most important points at the top. People just don't read long-form content anymore, so don't have giant chunks of text.

#3 - Understandable. It seems like a no-brainer, but you need to have your content easy to read, and not all about yourself. Make sure it is relevant to your audience. Show them that you understand their pain points.

#4 - Actionable. Include clear calls to action in your content so the reader knows what to do next. Content exists for two reasons: because it supports business objectives and because it helps users accomplish their tasks. You want the person consuming your content to feel comfortable performing the action your requesting.

#5 - Shareable. This does not mean going viral. Shareable content fills a need, is well executed, and simple to understand. It's the kind of content that can jump from the hands of the person that has it, right into the hands of the person who needs it.

#6 - Mobile. It's clear mobile is huge in content and social marketing, but Ahava hasn't quite finalized its place. Since mobile can be standalone and fit within each of the other checklist items look for more to come in the future.

Winning at content on the web.

Be sure to pick up a copy of Ahava's book, The Digital Crown: Winning at Content on the Web. It's full of tips to simplify and refine your processes so you're putting out the best messaging possible as well as creating valuable content.

Bonus: go to Aha Media Group's website and download the first chapter for free!

Take Your Agency to the Next Level

I hope you find my guide to creating valuable content helpful and you are able to implement it within your agency's strategy. There may be other business struggles you need to focus on. Don't worry, I have all you need to get through these obstacles.

I have advice on topics such from getting your agency exposure in the news, the best way to get through a recession or even how to use a social media community to expand your brand awareness. If growth is your focus, I've discussed the four phases of growth within your agency and ways in easing through website issues holding your business back. I have all the information you need to help you.

You can learn more about my life and my experience as well as lots of tips, tricks and insights by reading my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics.

If videos are more your thing, don't worry, i've got you covered! You can check out more from my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel. There you will find advice from myself and other agency experts.

In this session of The Smart Agency Master Class, I chat with Gene Hammett about how to get unstuck so we can each reach that next level. Gene is a business coach who loves working with businesses to find new strategies to move forward. He is also the host of Leaders in the Trenches, a podcast where he offers insights and tips from leaders and today’s entrepreneurs. You should definitely check it out, especially episode 6, featuring me.

Getting your business unstuck.

You probably do a lot of marketing for your clients but hardly any for yourself. Sure, referrals come in because you’re great at what you do, but it doesn’t happen frequently enough to help move to the next level. And the clients coming in aren’t always the right kind of clients.

Being really intentional about the kind of agency you want to be gives you the freedom to create amazing solutions and land those high-profit projects. You want big names; the ones that really allow you to be creative. But you’re not going to get there if you don’t start marketing yourself.

If your website isn’t enticing to you, how is it going to attract anyone else?

Stop making the time excuse.

If the reason you haven’t been marketing yourself is that you don’t have the time, it’s because you’re doing too much. You need to be building your team out and delegating. If you’re putting the right people and the right processes into place, you’ll be able to get out there and grow your business.

You simply can’t do everything, everyday. You need to outsource! Find people with more expertise than you to do the things that they do best, so you can go out and do what you do best – sell your business.

If you’re not doing what you want to be doing because you’re too bogged down in the details, then something is wrong. Try this exercise from episode 22 of Gene’s podcast: write down everything you want to create and then write down what you’re willing to give up in order to do it.

It’s all about finding your passion. It may seem counterintuitive, but taking on a broad spectrum of clients isn’t going to make you money or help you grow. Niching gets you the kind of work you want and positions you for long-term growth.

Foot in the door approach.

Okay, so you’ve found your niche – now how do you get the clients? Gene offers these two points:

* Think of where you can create more opportunity with the people that already know and like you. Remember, people are 20 times more likely to do business with you if they are already a paying customer.

* Look at the people who have been in your pipeline for a long time and identify some small service that can get your foot in the door. It’s not about making a profit at this point. It’s about changing the relationship and turning a prospect into a client.

The good news, according to Gene, is that digital agencies can do the second point really well. Use your niche to find businesses that are absolutely hungry for what you have. Figure out what you can give away to get their attention and then identify the service you can provide to convert them to a paying customer. After that you can introduce your core services.

Get your foot in the door first, and the rest will follow.

 

Facebook Marketing - How You Can Generate New Business With It

In this session of The Smart Agency Master Class, I chat with Kim Walsh-Phillips who is going to share with us how to get new business through Facebook marketing, which is one of the most powerful marketing tools out there. Kim is the CEO of IO Creative Group and is a speaker, author, and a ROI enthusiast.

Why your current Facebook engagement is so low.

Because Facebook is free, you may have just jumped on all willy-nilly and started posting. According to Kim, that's not the way to go about it. After all, you wouldn't do that with a direct mail campaign, would you?

No, of course not. You would put a lot of strategic thought into what you were going to say. Kim suggests thinking of each Facebook post the same way. Your posts have the potential to be seen around the world, so each should be part of a strategy for your Facebook marketing.

The engagement formula to make Facebook work for your ad agency.

Your Facebook marketing posts should be 85% PBS and 15% QVC. Meaning, you spend 85% of the time offering free, valuable content, and only 15% of the time doing self-promotion. It's a formula designed to gain trust and position you as an authority figure.

Your page focus shouldn't be on lead generation. Kim points out that only 2% of people will return to your page after their initial visit. You're trying to impress the newbies, so put yourself in their shoes. Would you like to see valuable content or a bunch of self-promotional posts?

In other words - brag sparingly. Ideally, you'd have one post per day, and only one of those per week would be promotional.

It's not that you won't be promoting at all. Create ads that look like post which show up in the News Feed of your target audience.

Here is the type of content should you be posting on Facebook.

You want to create content that is liked, commented on, and shared. The more of that kind of engagement you get, the more your stuff will show up in Facebook's feed.

Kim suggests the following types of posts:

1. Offering original content - tips, information, and resources
2. Celebration - highlight a fan of the week
3. Communication - ask a question of your audience

Don't feel overwhelmed with the amount of posting. Automation is your friend. Kim and her team schedule posts in batches, 30 days in advance. Her tool of choice is Hootsuite.

Kim's Tips on how to get UNSTUCK and to the next level in your business.

1. Read Dan Kenny's book, No B.S. Direct Marketing: The Ultimate No Holds Barred Kick Butt Take No Prisoners Direct Marketing for Non-Direct Marketing Businesses. Once you're done reading that, become a member of GKIC.
2. And stop being afraid of letting go of clients that aren't the right fit anymore. It's okay to out grow them, and it's okay to say goodbye. If a client doesn't help you reach your end goal, every hour you spend with them is one you'll have to make up elsewhere.
3. Find the A+ players, get yourself involved with them, and make yourself known as a specialist.

For more information on Kim Walsh-Phillips, check out IO Creative Group, or follow her on Twitter.

More About Me

We have talked about using Facebook marketing for your agency but it's also time to focus on the other hurdles and obstacles that are stopping your agency moving to the next level. I have all the advice you need.

No matter what you need advice on, I have more than likely covered it. From topics such as how a poor website design can affect your leads to how your agency can cope while you work through a recession. Or maybe you want to know the four phases of growth within your agency and want extra help in easing through agency growing pains? I have all the information you need to help you through it.

You can learn more about my life and business experience as well as lots of tips, tricks and insights by check out my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics.

And if videos are more your thing, i've got you covered! Check out more from my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel. There you will find advice from myself and other agency experts.

Are you struggling with generating new business and grow your digital agency? In this episode of The Smart Agency Master Class, I talk with Michael Gass who is going to share with us his steps for driving new agency business.

Positioning is the foundation of generating ad agency new business.

Historically, agencies have problems when it comes to generating new business. There's little differentiation; every agency sounds just like the next. It's like you're forgetting your marketing minds when it comes to promoting your agency.

Think having great creative makes you different from the next guy? Michael doesn't. "Great creative isn't a point of differentiation, it's an expectation." If you really want to stand apart you need to narrow your focus - find that niche - and give the prospects a reason to want to work with you.

Stop being your own worst client and making it harder than it should be!

The paradigm shift.

Let's face it - it just isn't how it used to be. Many agency founders, who were once great at working a room are finding themselves pretty inept nowadays. But Michael points out that we don't need to be mourning the days of chasing new business.

He suggests using technology to entice new business to come to you. Don't worry if you have been slow to start using social media, you're not alone. Most agencies didn't start using it until 2010, and then they just did the same thing they were doing in the real world - talking about themselves.

"Credentials, capabilities, and case studies - no one cares." Prospects are looking for resources, not portfolios.

7 steps to differentiation and driving new business to your agency.

#1 - Identify a target audience. Remember, you want to work with people who fit in that sweet spot. Once you find the target audience, set a clear objective.

#2 - Find your purpose. Think about what your content driven blog is providing. Make sure that you're keeping your focus narrow. If you try to be everything to everybody, you won't appeal to anyone.

#3 - Develop content! Michael gives his clients a 30 post in 30 days challenge. Do that and you'll have a lot of content and a routine for future production. Also, make sure you're leading with the benefit statement (i.e. put the most important information at the top to hook your readers).

#4 - Include a clear call to action. Give your readers a prompt to keep the conversation going.

#5 - Implement best practices. Keep what works and dump what doesn't.

#6 - Make use of your analytics to refine and improve your content. You can learn a lot by just looking at the data, so if you're not currently checking your analytics, you're missing out.

#7 - Manage the process. Use automation or hire someone to be responsible for making sure posts happen. Even if you're busy with pitches or away at a conference, someone should be in charge of putting out content.

What you can do right now to start generating new business for your agency?

Michael is a huge fan of social media and is adamant that we get comfortable using it. Tweet a lot, post on Google+, Facebook and LinkedIn. Write blog posts. Share, share, share.

Start building a community. Use social media to promote your blog and share your posts. You can also share posts by others that you think are relevant and interesting. For help building that community, try ManageFlitter.

Sound daunting? Michael suggests using Basecamp, a project management tool. Michael calls it "the ultimate cat herding program."

Discover the best Digital Agency Strategies today. Get Online Training to help you setup the right systems and strategies to help you grow faster.

Grow Your Agency Profits

With this insight, I hope this improves your strategy for generating new business. This can only be successful by focusing on the processes you within your agency to improve it as a whole but I can help you get through all of it.

I can give you advice on what to do when you are presented with new client opportunities as well as the different ways of building agency authority.

Growing your agency can be a major goal for many agency owners. I can show you the different phases of growth you will experience, how placing a process for performance based pricing can be the best pricing strategy for your business and the three questions you need to ask yourself to sell more!

You can also learn about my career and different experiences as well as lots of tips, tricks and insights by checking out my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics.

Check out more from my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel. There you will find advice from myself and other agency experts.

In this session of The Smart Agency Master Class, I chat with Joe Koufman who gives us insights into setting up technology to build leads over time, and tips for winning the big pitches. Joe has been doing business development for digital agencies for over a decade.

What can you do better for your agency's business development?Click To Tweet

Most of us rely on referrals from clients to grow our business. In fact, we get excited when someone from an existing client changes jobs because it gives us a new referral opportunity. Now, I’m not knocking referrals but as Joe points out, it’s not sustainable.

Use technology.

According to Joe, you need to implement best practices and repeatable marketing practices. Utilize CRMs and marketing automation to create content and nurture your leads over time. It’s something that very few agencies do, but it’s an invaluable practice.

In addition to using tech to help you create content, it will also help you determine whether a lead is really dead or not. Don’t just assume! You won’t know if you aren’t keeping track of your leads and interactions with them.

Make sure you have the infrastructure.

You need to put the right infrastructure in place to be able to handle new business. Build a team devoted to building new business. If you don’t have a team, dedicate someone to serving that function for your business. You need to have someone responsible to responding to RFP’s, prepping the company for pitches, and identifying new business opportunities.

You, or someone on your team, needs to be getting out there and networking to find new business. And don’t just go to the same old events every other agency does. Joe suggests trying to go to industry-specific trade shows and conferences to talk to potential prospects. Here’s where you can get a sense of what this specific industry needs and find new opportunities for business.

What does an agency big pitch look like?

Ever wonder what it’s like to do a $1.5-$2 million pitch? Joe shares his experiences and offers some advice as to how smaller agencies can do better.

Joe’s big pitches involved teams of people. People focused on making sure the pitch goes well, people creating content, and so on. Joe’s team usually consisted of 6-8 people in the actual pitch with him keeping everything running smoothly.

Joe’s big pitch tip for smaller agencies: make sure you’re doing something to show the client that you understand them. Not necessarily something that’s solving a specific problem of theirs, but showing you care and aren’t just giving a canned pitch. Make them feel special.

Getting to the next level in your agency.

Joe’s biggest tip for getting your agency to the next level is to make sure you nurture leads over time so when the client is ready, you’re there to work with them. Joe uses social media to maintain a more personal relationships with prospects and clients. He uses their shared interest to help build better, longer relationships over time.

BONUS TIP – Joe suggests you check out the book, The Challenger Sale. It talks about the best way to approach a prospect with insights, teaching and offering solutions.