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

Are you looking to become the authority in your agency's niche? Writing a book can have a tremendous affect on your business by helping you build authority. You can also use your book to start conversations with potential clients and generate new agency business. Check out this simple strategy that is getting one digital agency owner some amazing results. In this episode, we'll cover: Who has time to write a book? 3 easy steps to writing a book. 4 tips for using your book to generate new business. I had the opportunity to chat with Marty McDonald, co-founder and CEO of the full-service social media marketing agency, Bad Rhino. Marty has also authored the book, Great Beer Is NOT Enough. With over 12 years industry experience Marty found his agency's niche at a speaking engagement, where he realized the craft beer industry was underserved in the marketing arena. After building relationships (and a craft beer brand himself which he used as a testing ground), Marty found that he had acquired a ton of information. He decided to use this information to build authority within the niche by simply writing a book. On today's show he shares how he tackled this seemingly daunting task and how he uses it for lead generation, and relationship building. (P.S. It's not as daunting as you might think!) Who Has Time To Write A Book? The quick answer is, you do. (Yes, you!) Does your agency already produce e-books, and you think that's good enough? It's not. Using an e-book as a lead magnet is crap. No one digests them and they are easily overlooked or avoided. BUT an actual book, that a potential client can hold in their hands, that is something. It brings with it a sense of credibility and authority that no e-book can give you or your agency. 3 Easy Steps to Writing A Book The process can be broken down in a few easy steps: The longest part of the process comes in the front end, answering lots of questions in order to acquire enough content. Marty did his on audio, that he broke up into two hour chunks. If writing isn't your thing, then get yourself a ghostwriter. Determine what size of book you are looking to create and hand over the audio with an outline to your writer. Edit the ghostwriter's copy making sure it matches your style and voice after each chapter, until your book is complete. 4 Tips for Using Your Book To Generate New Business Know your niche. When you find potential clients, send them a copy of your book. Do your mailings in short, little bursts. Do your research. Learn about the company your agency is going after and let them know you did your homework. Marty will place his business card in the chapter where he wants the potential client to start reading. The chapter he selects is based on the information he gathers beforehand. Build relationships. Use your book to start a conversation and be sure to add a personal touch. Marty includes a Bad Rhino branded thank you card in the book, with a hand written note. He also very rarely sends a book out if he isn't familiar with the targeted prospect. Be reachable. Consider including your cell phone number on your business cards, if you don't already, so book recipients can shoot you a text, if they are more comfortable. (Because even a text message can open up a conversation - and that's all you need :) ) These three easy tips has netted Marty with an approx. 70% response rate! Need Guidance and Support to Grow Your Agency 3X Faster? Are you overwhelmed by all the information out there on various ways to grow your agency? Do you want direction on how you can grow your agency faster and easier? Then you're in luck! I created an innovative mentorship called Agency University. Agency University is a program which provides the 1-on-1 mentorship and ongoing support that is crucial to the success of your agency. Click here to see if it's the right fit for you.

Wondering how you can use Instagram to generate awareness and build your agency's brand? Look, not all social media platforms are the same, so don't treat them all the same. Are you struggling to build a following and find Instagram success for your agency brand? Then it's probably because you're committing some of the biggest Instagram mistakes. In this episode, learn some tips and tricks on how to utilize Instagram to build a culture and drive new business for your agency. In this episode, we'll cover: The #1 mistake agencies make with social media. 2 Strategies for Finding Success on Instagram. Rules for using direct message on Instagram. What to post and share for Instagram success. Today I chatted with Sue B. Zimmerman, entrepreneur and Instagram expert who consults others on upping their Instagram game. With 18 businesses under her belt and having taught social media, Sue has unlocked and embraced the power of Instagram for your marketing agency. Today she shares with us how your agency can have success in order to start building a culture that cultivates relationships, with both prospective clients and potential employees. The #1 Mistake Agencies Make With Social Media Every platform is NOT the same and should not be treated as such. Your agency should be choosing platforms that serve your audience and which you enjoy engaging in. Social media, as a tool, should not be a "post and dash," scenario. For success with social platforms, your agency must hang out, show up and engage. Automating posts might seem efficient, but it can be your biggest downfall. Interactions need to be personal in order to start building relationships. 2 Strategies for Finding Success On Instagram The magic of Instagram are the micro-communities that exist within. When you invest the time to seek out these micro-communities you'll find more and better opportunities to engage. 1- Search Hashtags Use the explore tab (magnifying glass icon) and type in a word or phrase of relevance for your prospective clients. Tap on 'People' to see who is using that word and view the profiles of people your agency or client would want to do business with. Check out their posting habits and what hashtags are they using. Find out what they want, not what your agency thinks they want! 2- Follow Hashtags When you find hashtags that resonate, you should be following them so they show up in your agency newsfeed. Tap on the hashtag and then hit 'Follow.' Event or conference hashtags are important because it opens a door to connecting ahead of time. You can then use Instagram's direct message to make personal connections prior to an event. Rules for Using Direct Message On Instagram Direct message used to have a bad reputation with people thinking it was spammy, but not anymore. Instagram direct message is an intimate way to connect to people. But, it shouldn't be the first place you go. First, engage. Tap 'Photos' and then like photos and comment on photos. Be sure that your agency is interacting with relevant content you enjoy. Start the conversation in the feed. Then, if you've earned trust and can provide something of value, then engage via direct message. Direct message is where you can get personal by sharing links or sending a video. Add a personal message and, most important, no automated messages! There are two ways your agency can share a video via direct message: On the Left - Record a video message using the camera icon, from 8 seconds up to 1 minute. This video can be viewed once or twice and then it goes away On the Right- Upload a video using the picture icon, from a camera roll. The person receiving the video can then download the video to their camera roll. What To Post and Share For Instagram Success If your agency has built a solid reputation on another platform and is an authority or thought leader, then you have more freedom on what you can share. There still needs to be consistency and the content should align with your core values. The benefit is your agency can reference the account, and what to expect from the content, from the other platforms, where you have credibility. If your agency wants to have Instagram success and doesn't have another platform where you're crushing it, then you will need to start with a more polished look and feel. Build the account around content that showcases your agency and it's point of differentiation. Think of buckets and put what people say about your agency into separate buckets, like: customer service, your processes, and even your culture or humor. Then show all of this on Instagram so followers can get a taste of who you are and what you do. Remember, the photos don't have to be a literal match to the description. Get creative. The images you share need to capture attention and be relevant to the description. And don't forget about the description, if relevant, it can be treated as a micro-blog. Use the hashtag search function for agencies, and check out what other businesses are doing, get

Wondering how you can use LinkedIn to generate new business? Are you sending out generic connection requests that lead with a pitch? Disappointed that you're not getting the results you expected? LinkedIn can be an amazing platform for capturing the attention of your ideal clients if you do it right. Here's what your agency is probably doing wrong and the three simple steps to turn-it around right away. In this episode, we'll cover: 3 step strategy to LinkedIn success. One simple lead generation hack for gaining new prospects. Today I chatted with Dennis Brown founder of Ask Dennis Brown, a LinkedIn marketing and social selling agency. As a serial entrepreneur, Dennis was admittedly a social media naysayer. While starting his third company he decided to try out LinkedIn and with some persistence, he landed a 6-figure client and became a believer. Today he shares his simple and successful strategy for LinkedIn that you can implement for marketing agency immediately. 3 Step Strategy To LinkedIn Success The most important thing with any social media strategy is to have a system and be consistent with it. Dennis's strategy is simple: The 3 C's: Create, Connect and Convert. 1- CREATE First create a profile or customer avatar for the perfect prospect. Then, create a compelling LinkedIn profile. Don't treat this like a resume, instead this should be built like a personal or agency branding page. Follow these 5 steps for creating your agency's LinkedIn profile. 2- CONNECT Use your agency's customer avatar to find new clients and then use the advanced search options in LinkedIn. Research, research, research. Compile sales intelligence, such as personal information, what are their ping points, where do they get their information? Use this sales intelligence to create a customized connection request and make it personal. The key here, is in customizing this connection request, which can double or triple the response rate vs. a blind, automated connection request. 3- CONVERT Do not think of this as converting to a sale but instead convert them into a fan. Get the prospective clients to engage with you, either through content your agency is publishing or through LinkedIn messenger. Put together hyper-focused content and remember, this is not a sales pitch. Your agency wants to create content relative to the prospect, or directly related to that market, so use language the client speaks, and provide information they care about. Think of it in the lines of a drip sequence, without the automation. Lastly, provide value and offer to connect your prospect with someone of value to them and their business. Leverage your agency's network, while ultimately giving value to both parties. Remember: It's not about you, it's about them. One Simple Lead Gen Hack For Gaining New Prospects Do you find when you ask for referrals they don't usually pan out? This can be for one of two reason. Either the client is uncomfortable because you put them on the spot. Or, they are not ready to start referring your agency because you haven't proved yourself yet. That's OK because referrals are not scalable! But, if you have a premium LinkedIn account try this simple lead generation hack. With a premium account: Take a look at your clients LinkedIn connections and see who they know, that you wish you knew :) Search for decision makers of other brands, based on what your agency is looking for and who you hope to work with. Next, create a list of prospects you're interested in and share the list with your client. Then, ask for an intro/referral. By doing the work for them and bringing them specifics it increases your chances of your client passing along the referral or helping make the connection. Mine for the connections --> Create relevance --> Ask for the introduction Need Guidance and Support to Grow Your Agency 3X Faster? Are you overwhelmed by all the information out there on various ways to grow your agency? Do you want direction on how you can grow your agency faster and easier? Then you're in luck! I created an innovative mentorship called Agency University. Agency University is a program which provides the 1-on-1 mentorship and ongoing support that is crucial to the success of your agency. Click here to see if it's the right fit for you.

Are you avoiding third party apps for social media posting? Do you want a better, faster, and easier way to schedule your social media marketing? Do you feel automated social post scheduling negatively affects your reach? Then it's time to hear some surprising and encouraging results from the guy who knows all the ins and outs. Don't stop scheduling, reposting, and automating until you hear all about it. In today's episode, we'll cover: Should your agency repost your content marketing? 3 tests on the big 3: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Does automating your posts hurt your agency's reach? Today I chatted with Emeric Ernoult, Co-founder and CEO of Agorapulse, an international social media management software company, serving over 3500 clients around the world. With over 17 years experience working within communities and social media, as well as SAAS, Emeric brings interesting data and insight into how we should be managing our agency's and/or clients social media accounts. Should Your Agency Repost Your Content Marketing? That is the question, and you're going to hear arguments on both sides of the discussion. Some say reposting content makes sense and keeps a more recent engagement. Some say it is totally worthless and not the point of social media. So what's the right answer? There isn't one. But, that doesn't mean there aren't tests that can be done and data to be had, so that's what Emeric and his team at Agorapulse did, they tested. 3 Tests On The Big 3 Social Media Platforms Facebook Test: Repeat a specific piece of content, 7 times across a 6-7 week period. Findings: The level of engagement on the posts in weeks 6 and 7, were the same as the posts in weeks 1, 2 and 3. Twitter Test: Analyze 3 months worth of data on a Twitter user, who has an extensive schedule of tweeting every 15 minutes and repeating those tweets, every 4 days. Findings: The average number of impressions, the average number for engagement and the average amount of link links were very steady, so much so, that if you look at the data over the span of a year, there was no decrease and the variations being minimal. LinkedIn Test: Take an insightful post, written by Emeric, and repeat the content at the exact same time every 5 days. Findings: The amount of engagement was small at first, but over the course of weeks, the numbers for engagement would spike. The post could go from 139 clicks on day 2, to 1995 clicks on day 5. This just reinforced that you never know when someone will bump into your agency's post on LinkedIn. Do Third Party Posting Applications Hurt Your Agency's Reach? After getting feedback from a group of social media managers, and having 80% of them confirm their fears of utilizing third party vendors for posting, it was time to run another test: Emeric decided to run a test through the Social Media Lab by Agorapulse, with the end result being that a third party management application does NOT affect reach. You can read about his findings here and here. Knowing that kind of information definitely helps put a mind at ease and allows you to start exploring a third party application, like Agorapulse, to help simplify your social media posting needs and so much more. Need Guidance and Support to Grow Your Agency 3X Faster? Are you overwhelmed by all the information out there on various ways to grow your agency? Do you want direction on how you can grow your agency faster and easier? Then you're in luck! I created an innovative mentorship called Agency University. Agency University is a program which provides the 1-on-1 mentorship and ongoing support that is crucial to the success of your agency. Click here to see if it's the right fit for you.

Wondering how you can use Instagram to drum up new business? Want to break through social media clutter and build your agency's brand and authority? Then it's not too late to get on the Instagram train. This is one simple, easy inbound marketing strategy you can start implementing right now to build your community and fill your new business pipeline. In this episode, we'll cover: One easy approach to niching down. Can Instagram work for marketing agencies? A simple Instagram content formula. Today I chatted with Steve Larosiliere, founder and president of the non-profit, Stoked, as well as founder and owner of SawmillBusiness.com, a super-niched marketing agency. With an extremely focused industry specialization, Steve has been able to become the authority in the portable sawmill, wood and lumber industry. He has an easy tactic to find the niche for his agency and a simple Instagram strategy to build a community that comes to him for their marketing needs. Steve shares tips with us on building authority, community and brand through Instagram. One Easy Approach to Niching Down We've discussed niches before and we'll probably discuss this again. Does your agency have a niche? Do you know why you need one? Is your agency holding out, because you just don't know where to start? Steve has an easy approach: Think about an industry that is important to you or your family/friends - something you can relate to. Pick a niche that people are fanatically obsessed with. Encourage great user-generated content. Start calling people, lots of people, in that industry, CEO's, marketing directors, etc Gather information about the #1 problem they are facing. Build your agency's business around solving that problem. Stay super focused on the industry - learn their special nuances, terms of the trade, etc. Think of your agency as the media outlet for this specific field. Make it your agency's business to promote, celebrate and highlight that industry. Can Instagram Work for Marketing Agencies? YES! Building a brand takes a lot of work. Be patient. Your agency can build a lot of authority on Instagram. Combine different mediums and cross-promote, such as use posts Instagram to support your podcast. Use that to filter down into the niche and supplement with back channel conversations, either through direct message in order to find out how you can help people. Use DM to build relationships and trust. Share the best work, the most beautiful things. Repost and use the hashtags your audience is using so they can find you. This will help build a community and a brand. 3 Simple Steps to Growing Instagram Followers To encourage growth, connect with influencers in the niche. Go to a certain set of hashtags and start engaging with the top followed. Put out goodwill content first and foremost. Engage, converse, share/repost. Occasionally drive traffic to a landing page. Grow your lists with a lead magnet to capture the leads you're generating. Put out an offer that solves a problem. A low-ticket foot in the door offer works best. Remember, with Instagram you're creating a story to share. Create memories. Highlight the things that mean something. Be where your agency's clients are. Put out good stuff. Be innovative. Don't compare your agency to what others are doing. Instead build upon what you think is right and create your own path to success. Check out Steve's on Instagram at @stevelaros Need Guidance and Support to Grow Your Agency 3X Faster? Are you overwhelmed by all the information out there on various ways to grow your agency? Do you want direction on how you can grow your agency faster and easier? Then you're in luck! I created an innovative mentorship called Agency University. Agency University is a program which provides the 1-on-1 mentorship and ongoing support that is crucial to the success of your agency. Click here to see if it's the right fit for you.

Ready for your agency sales to takeoff? Want to drive traffic, generate leads, and create new opportunities that will grow and scale your agency? Digital marketing agency guru Neil Patel shares his #1 outbound strategy for scoring the clients you want to work with. In this episode, we'll cover: 3 Steps to growing new agency business. One big growth challenge and advice to overcome it. Neil Patel is a serial entrepreneur focused on helping businesses grow through digital marketing. He is well-known in the digital marketing space as an author, speaker, and agency co-founder at Neil Patel. I'm honored to have him as a guest on the show so he can share his experience as a startup agency owner. Today Neil shares some really valuable tips on getting scrappy so you can scale your agency. Beginning as a self-taught marketer at the age of 16, Neil has become one of the best digital marketing. Like many of us, he's an accidental agency owner who knew how to do something cool that people are willing to pay for, and turned it into a business. In Neil's case, he "something cool" is SEO. 3 Steps to Grow New Agency Business #1- Make your hit list. Make a list of your ideal clients and be specific with who you want to work with. Who can you help that is within your niche and area of expertise? Then use a source like Crunchbase to find out the CEO, investors and decision-makers. #2 - Do targeted research. Use industry resources to know what they're spending on the services you provide. Neil suggested tools such as: Google keyword planner, SEMrush, and his own UberSuggest to research spend amounts. #3 - Reach out. Once you've done the research on your prospect, then make contact. Neil says it's important not to sell services, but instead sell a solution. To do this, explain what they're doing wrong, what could be done better and how you would fix it. I know it's hard, but go old school and PICK. UP. THE. PHONE. Cold calling as an outbound strategy can be a total game changer. Advice for Digital Agency Owners "It's not easy to grow an agency. If you're willing to do the grind, great. If not, you're not going to do well." ~ Neil Patel It's all about the hard work and the hustle. I always tell agency owners that if you're building an agency just to create a job for yourself, you'll struggle the entire time. You've got to be passionate about the agency space, the niche you're in and the clients you're helping. That's the only way you'll succeed and thrive. Neil says his biggest challenge in the beginning was knowing how to scale with a team. He felt the entire hiring and training process was completely trial and error. In hindsight he would advise his old self to hire people who know how to fill their role instead of training up. Need Guidance and Support to Grow Your Agency 3X Faster? Are you overwhelmed by all the information out there on various ways to grow your agency? Do you want direction on how you can grow your agency faster and easier? Then you're in luck! I created an innovative mentorship called Agency University. Agency University is a program which provides the 1-on-1 mentorship and ongoing support that is crucial to the success of your agency. Click here to see if it's the right fit for you.

Are you worried about your digital agency's competition? Don't be! Instead focus that energy on building your agency brand and improving your authority. Learn how to become a major influencer, so you can eliminate the competition and develop collaborative relationships with them instead. In today's episode, we'll cover: Which type of agency owner are you? 4 benefits of building your agency's authority. 3 things you should be doing to increase your agency's authority. Why you need to stop competing and start collaborating. Today I talked with Josh Elledge, consumer expert, speaker and Founder/CEO of his PR program Up My Influence. He understood the importance of the media and harnessed that to $6 million in revenue for his other startup venture, Savings Angel, while spending less than $500 in advertising. He talked with me about some tips and insight to upping your influencer game so your agency can build its brand and authority in the your niche. Which Type of Agency Owner Are You? Artists... These are the agency owners who love to solve problems and create solutions. Leader/Manager... These are the agency owners who love the operations of business. They have an ability to lead people. True Entrepreneur... These are the agency owners who love venture capital and money. They love the ups and downs of owning a business. To find out what type of agency owner you are, Josh recommends this simple litmus test inspired by Tony Robbins: Ask yourself, if you had all the money you needed and you had to pick something to do with your agency/business, what would your gravitate toward? Nearly 80-85% of people will gravitate toward Artist, but it is good to have that Leader/Manager and Entrepreneurial characteristic within your agency. 4 Benefits of Increasing Your Agency's Authority Improves your agency's conversion rate. Decreases the amount of time your clients are in the sales pipeline. Attracts more people/clients to the top of the sales funnel. Builds trust quicker with clients. 3 Things You Should Be Doing To Increase Your Agency's Authority Be helpful on the internet to up your searchability. Blog, do podcasts, have a social media presence, and get involved. Clients will search your agency to gauge its relevance and status in the industry. Get active on Twitter and LinkedIn. It is most important to build up your agency's position in the industry. Do it organically (don't buy followers). Having a limited social media footprint can affect your agency's image in the the eyes of prospective clients. Vanity metrics are important, so you need followers as social proof. Build an impressive website. Make it look amazing - even though you're really busy with client work. It needs to be impactful in the first 3 seconds and indicates your agency is professional. According to Josh, the most valuable currency for agency owners is authority. If you aren't sure where your agency stands, Google yourself and gauge it. Stop Competing and Start Collaborating In the competition game, you'll never win. Your agency can't be all things to all clients and getting OK with that is healthy. Focus on you. When you're busy focusing on the competition, you're not focused on your agency's strength and growth. Concentrate on making your business, team and clients shine without giving a second thought to the competition. You don't need to add additional agency services to grow. Ask yourself: What's the purpose of your services? Who is your agency trying to help? Then, once you know what your agency is all about and have become the authority in that niche you are in a great position to collaborate with agencies also in that space. Partner with other agencies who are strong in areas your agency doesn't cover, to make your services appear more valuable. Find collaborators who offer complimentary services and become strategic partners. When you learn to collaborate, you stop the competition. As you work with agencies, ask if you can refer them. When you build up those contacts, you become very resourceful and clients love that! Need Guidance and Support to Grow Your Agency 3X Faster? Are you overwhelmed by all the information out there on various ways to grow your agency? Do you want direction on how you can grow your agency faster and easier? Then you're in luck! I created an innovative mentorship called Agency University. Agency University is a program which provides the 1-on-1 mentorship and ongoing support that is crucial to the success of your agency. Click here to see if it's the right fit for you. Related: Using Influencer Marketing to Win New Agency Clients

Is your employee training process non-existent or too cumbersome? Do you want your team, contractors and clients to understand the fundamentals of what makes your agency unique? Then don't overlook the power of a solid training process! With these three easy steps you can start onboarding your digital agency's new hires and provide them with a consistent set of experiences and expectations on how you want to work with them. In this episode, we'll cover: Helping your new hires with systemized onboarding. 3 easy steps to build your agency's training process. Measuring the success of your agency's training process. Today I chatted with Tom Kulzer, CEO and founder of AWeber, the successful email marketing platform agency he started over 20 years ago. Tom has built his business to over 100 employees and has helped over 100,000 clients.He is a well-respect expert in building a strong business with core values that are ingrained in every employee. Today he shares three quick tips for building your agency's employee training process so you can grow. Helping Your New Hires By Onboarding Making that first hire, or tenth hire, or beyond, can be scary but it's totally doable! Implementing a solid onboarding process is important to get your new hire(s) acclimated from day 1. This is a way to get everyone on the same page with the value your agency delivers to people. And, since AWeber is an email platform guess what they use for onboarding new hires? That right - a sequence of welcome emails with bite-sized nuggets of information, placed in the right order and sent at the right time. Tom also has all of his new hires participate in a two-week training program. The focus is mainly on customer service but it also allows new employees to understand the fundamentals of what makes AWeber unique. It's similar to the training methods of Zappos.com who's known and globally recognized for their company culture and core values. 3 Easy Steps to Build Your Agency's Training Process 1. Identify your agency's biggest problem. You need to figure out where your agency has hang-ups or issues most regularly. Think of a checklist, like airplane pilots have their preflight check. What would need to be on your agency checklist, so everything runs smoothly? 2. Come up with the training around the identified problem. When you figure out your agency's biggest trip-ups, start documenting a process on how to avoid tripping over them again. It can be as simple as a Word document, or whatever internal tool your agency uses. Your agency just needs to start somewhere. You can't change anything if you don't start somewhere. Then as you gain time and experience, layer on more expertise. 3. Create "bite size" content that is given slowly, over a period of time. A new employee isn't going to read a one hundred page manual, and even if they do, how much will they really retain? You want to break down processes into easily digestible nuggets of information. Then feed them this information over a period of time, be it 2 weeks or 6 months, just NOT all at once. This "small and slow" method is more likely to be read, retained, and allow your agency employees to grow from it. Also, you can use this type of onboarding for your agency's clients as well. Is Your Training Process Successful? Your agency will need to look at each job function separately. Different roles will have a different measurement for success. Use internal metrics to develop a quality score. Then have your agency team leaders review calls, emails, conversions, quality assurance, etc. and actually assign a grade. As you track this information and see how the grades change over time. Wherever you see improvement needed, then you know where there may be holes in your training and you can adjust accordingly. Assessment areas could include: Customer Service - Consider product knowledge and customer interactions Engineers - Escape defects found through quality assurance. Marketing - Conversions, success of split-test launches, etc. Remember, measuring the success of your agency's training process is not a one-size fits all approach. Need Guidance and Support to Grow Your Agency 3X Faster? Are you overwhelmed by all the information out there on various ways to grow your agency? Do you want direction on how you can grow your agency faster and easier? Then you're in luck! I created an innovative mentorship called Agency University. Agency University is a program which provides the 1-on-1 mentorship and ongoing support that is crucial to the success of your agency. Click here to see if it's the right fit for you.

Do you lack the knowledge on how to grow and scale your digital agency? Overwhelmed by not knowing what role to hire first? Afraid to niche down, and afraid what might happen if you don't? You're not alone! Learn how to tackle these very important tasks in order to grow and scale your digital agency. In this episode, we'll cover: Overcoming common challenges of starting an agency. Hiring based on your agency's needs. Why and how to choose your agency's niche. Benefits of an agency mastermind. On today's show, I talked with Jeremiah Smith, President and CEO of Simple Tiger, a digital agency which focuses on SEO for SAAS clients. With over 12 years of SEO experience, Jeremiah has watched Simple Tiger go through many changes and has had to face the difficult decisions we all face with our agencies. He shares some of his big challenges and decisions with us and some guidance on how he knew, it was time to act. He is, admittedly, still working on some aspects, so don't beat yourself up if your agency has some tough calls to make. Let's just get your agency to a place, where you start making the right calls. Overcoming Common Challenges Starting Your Own Agency Jeremiah shared his two main challenges starting Simple Tiger and what you can do to overcome or avoid them... 1- Starting out as self-taught SEO consultant and then moving on to build an agency was difficult. It's tough going from a "lone wolf" freelancer to building a team. It was a transition that took time and has grown the agency because of smart hiring choices. 2- It can be hard to separating your personal life from your business. When you work for yourself you can spend your money on what you want. When you start a business, this isn't the case. It's important to be careful and keep business income and expenses separate, particularly in regards to taxes. (You can even check out this podcast with Jason Blumer CPAs.) Hiring Based On Your Agency's Needs Understanding what your agency's needs are, will then point you in the direction of who your agency needs to hire and when. In most cases, you will hear consultants recommend hiring a sales team first. (Although I tell my clients to hire a Project Manager first!) However, Jeremiah's main role is sales, and the sales role is his baby. He says SEO sales can get scammy and shady, so selling it in a truthful manner is the most important thing. He wants his agency to be seen with integrity and that starts with sales. That's why Jeremiah's first hire was someone who could produce the work he was selling. Hiring the right people can be the difference between feeling like you're a prisoner to your agency, or enjoying running your agency. Why and How to Choose Your Agency's Niche There are many benefits of niching down. Jeremiah says he finally did it because: Your agency's marketing gets easier. You will attract more of other types of businesses. The beauty is you can still say 'yes' and service clients outside your niche if you choose. But, your marketing is targeted at just one specific audience. Instead of casting a wide net, you're getting really specific. Picking a horizontal niche should be based on your background and pretty easy. With Jeremiah, SEO was a no-brainer. Selecting a vertical niche can prove more difficult and can even be terrifying. What got Jeremiah thinking was a client who couldn't identify their target market and instead said "we service everyone." It made him start looking inwardly at his own agency. When you specialize in a particular niche, you become an authority in that segment of business. By becoming a member of my Agency University Jeremiah learned the value in declaring a niche. He starting by asking himself these 3 questions: Who are my agency's most profitable clients? Which clients were an easy sell, they just get you? Who do I love working with? Benefits of an Agency Mastermind Speaking of Agency University…. :) Jeremiah felt like he knew a lot about agencies and how they operate, so he was apprehensive to join Agency University. However, by participating in our mentorship program he realized he was making things harder and more complex than they needed to be. And, he realized he had a lack of focus. He says he learned some real game changing strategies that helped his agency grow and scale. And hey, that's why I do this - so it's a win-win. What's Agency University All About? Are you overwhelmed by all the information out there on various ways to grow your agency? Do you want direction on how you can grow your agency faster and easier? Then you're in luck! I created an innovative mentorship called Agency University. Agency University is a program which provides the 1-on-1 mentorship and ongoing support that is crucial to the success of your agency. Click here to see if it's the right fit for you.

Want to build your agency's authority in your niche? How about a content marketing strategy that delivers high return with little effort? Then adopting this combo blogging/podcasting strategy could be the shift to get quality clicks, organic backlinks and make your agency's service offering more attractive to your ideal clients. In this episode, we'll cover: 7 benefits of being a podcast guest. The blogging strategy your agency needs to implement. 7 easy steps to building a blog strategy calendar. A bonus lead gen strategy. Today I talked with Phil Singleton, founder and CEO at Kansas City Web Design & SEO and co-author of SEO for Growth. With over a decade of experience, Phil has a passion for SEO and has learned the need to include it into a holistic marketing plan to help his clients move the needle. Phil has implemented a really interesting strategy for personal branding and authority campaigns for his clients and today he shares how your agency can do it too, in order to build authority and attract the right clients. 7 Benefits of Being a Podcast Guest Get exposure and quality backlinks on someone else's website in a niche. Be perceived as an expert in the niche because they have been contracted by someone else to speak on a particular topic. Get exposed to someone else's trusted audience. Podcast show notes are all about your agency. Interviews build your agency's brand (or the owner's personal brand) and authority. Receive organically earned backlinks that Google loves. Do a 20-30 minute phone interview and the host does all the work. The Blogging Strategy Your Agency Needs to Implement If your agency doesn't have a steady stream of content marketing, then it is time to start making some adjustments. Guest blogging is getting spammy and harder to do, with all the competition out there. It's not bringing your agency the quality clicks you need. That's where Phil's Personal Branding and Authority Campaigns Strategy comes into play. Blogging is still a cornerstone of inbound marketing, it's benefits are: Growing out your agency's website organically. Targeting long tail keywords. Feed your social media (with proper setup). But blogging isn't going to work if it's one-off guest posts that stand alone. That's why your agency needs to build a blogging strategy around a content calendar and set it up as steps. Ultimately, this should tie in with doing podcast interviews. With all moving parts working together your agency can truly reap all the benefits listed above. 7 Easy Steps to Building a Blog Strategy Calendar Create your agency blogs in a batch of 10-15. Create the blog posts so they can be stitched together into an ebook. Utilize the ebook as a call-to-action on your agency's website. Spin the ebook to Kindle on Amazon. Having an Amazon presence gives the agency/owner the new title of "author." Utilize the author page on Amazon to feed your RSS, which will get your agency's blog posted on the author page. Use this author status to start a podcast guest campaign now that you're viewed as an authority in your niche market. You don't want to use your ebook as a lead generation source. Instead, use it as a branding exercise and let it snowball from there. Building a blog strategy calendar will help your agency avoid the dreaded "SEO fatigue." You know it…. It's that 3 to 6 month period where clients start to panic, because they aren't seeing results fast enough. Providing clients with a set strategy that can reach twelve months out, helps set the tone for allowing enough time for results to come. Your agency is also is providing the bonus of a nice, shiny author page which feeds into client egos and makes them happy. A Bonus Lead Gen Strategy Do you have multiple clients in a niche market? You can use those existing clients to pull in more clients, by teaming them up. Phil says, approach your current clients about authoring a book on their specific niche market. Maybe each client would write a chapter to cover their specialty and they could invite others in the industry (your potential clients) to participate with their specialty and write additional chapters. Then utilize a platform like Amazon and Createspace to publish a physical book for you and your clients to promote. Then, throw a launch party where your agency can work on relationships and building a referral channel for future projects. It's a win for your existing clients, a win for your potential clients and a win for you! Related: https://jasonswenk.com/lead-generation/ https://jasonswenk.com/bs-best-practices/

Want to know the key to finding and retaining the best agency employees? Looking for ways to find and hire top talent? Your team is your agency's #1 most valuable asset. Turnover and training is difficult and expensive. So in this episode, you'll discover some simple tips to hiring, managing and keeping loyal employees who want to stay and grow with your business. In this episode, we'll cover: Hiring top agency talent. 3 Steps to developing loyal employees. How to retain talent that wants to grow with your agency. Today I talked with Scott Love, former Navy leadership trainer (thank you for your service) and current high-stakes headhunter. With over two decades experience recruiting professionals, Scott shares some simple tips you can take build and continue to retain your team. You can start implementing his tips immediately and start building a loyal team that will never want to leave. Hiring Top Agency Talent When going through the hiring process the main thing that you want to think of is hiring based outcomes vs. duties and responsibilities. Ask candidates questions on how they have accomplished outcomes in the past and how they will in the future. Once you find someone that exhibits outcomes you're looking for, remember that there is an emotional context to a potential employee's decision making process. As they decide to work with you, consider two things: What does your agency have that is unique or distinct? We're not talking about desirable culture or team collaboration - every agency has those things. But what really makes you different and desirable? How does this uniqueness improve their situation on an emotional/personal level? To help get these two questions answered go into sales mode. (But not "our agency is so great, let me tell you all about us" sales mode!) Try these 2 sales tricks: Ask the candidate about their current situation and current company. Find out their complaints, challenges or problems. Ask what an ideal situation looks like to alleviate their stated concerns? You are trying to find their intrinsic motivations and speak to those… make it about them! BONUS: Here are the 3 core competencies to look for in an eligible candidate: Influence: How do they effectively influence others? Resilience: How do they bounce back from adversity? Achievement: What makes them keep going? 3 Steps to Developing Loyal Employees #1. Make them feel good by being true and sincere. Nothing puts up walls faster than negative comments and/or criticism. #2. Build up their emotional equity. Do this by making them feel like they have a stake in the agency business. (Not a financial stake, but help them feel some ownership of their projects and clients.) #3. Utilize insights and feedback by obtaining cross-departmental ideas. Allow your employees to not only feel like, but also actually BE part of the solution. How to Retain Amazing Employees Meet their needs! Ask yourself how you can help them achieve fulfillment in what it is you are doing as an agency. How can you show them their work makes a difference in your agency's goal… the noble goal, that goal that goes beyond profit? Find the emotional context of your agency's goal and then show them how they contribute. Remember: As Agency CEO, you are in the business of leadership. Be followable. Your employees need to trust you, so don't let allow walls to go up. These two simple exercises will set you on the path of building a loyal team: Get clear on your core values. Get clear on your personal mission. Figure those out first, write them down, then strive to be that person every day. Check out Scott's book: Why They Follow Related: Where to Find the Right Digital Agency Talent & Creating a Vision and Culture to Attract Top Agency Talent Need Guidance and Support to Grow Your Agency 3X Faster? Are you overwhelmed by all the information out there on various ways to grow your agency? Do you want direction on how you can grow your agency faster and easier? Then you're in luck! I created an innovative mentorship called Agency University. Agency University is a program which provides the 1-on-1 mentorship and ongoing support that is crucial to the success of your agency. Click here to see if it's the right fit for you.

Are you frustrated working with freelancers? Does your agency experience high freelancer turnover that leaves you stuck, or sometimes screwed? The struggle is real! Learn the 5 big mistakes agencies make using freelancers and what you can do to avoid frustration. In this episode, we'll cover: 5 big mistakes agencies make using freelancers. How to avoid pitfalls of working with freelancers. Today I talked with Nathan Hirsch, CEO and founder of FreeeUp, the agency he formed after numerous frustrating accounts with the freelance/hiring process. FreeeUp connects businesses, of all sizes, with vetted freelancers. Today he shares the five mistakes he sees agencies make when using freelancers and is here to help us avoid those pitfalls. 5 Big Mistakes Agencies Working With Freelancers MISTAKE 1: Hiring one freelancer to do a multitude of tasks. It can seem like a great idea to hire one talented person with a large skill set to manage a large portion of the agency work, but what happens when they leave? You are left scrambling. INSTEAD: Diversify. This is important with your clients, finances and also with your freelancers. Split things up and diversify your delegation of tasks as much as possible. This will make replacement costs minimal when a turnover does happen. MISTAKE 2: Sticking with one freelancer for all things. It is easy to get comfortable with employees but freelancers do not hold loyalties. They are working for others so their availability and loyalty varies with their workload. INSTEAD: Build up your agency's freelancer rolodex. It is beneficial to have two to three freelancers available to your agency. That way if a large project comes down the shoot, you can request time from whomever has the bandwidth. When you rely on just one freelancer, you could be left scrambling if he/she is booked when you need them. MISTAKE 3: Treating a freelancer like an inessential outsider. It can be easy in the bustle of agency life to hand over projects to freelancers, get them back and move on; treating the freelancer like a commodity. INSTEAD: You should have a goal of bringing them on full-time. Freelancers are, usually, freelancing until they can get something more stable. So when that opportunity comes along, they're going to say yes to a permanent position. You're goal should be let your agency be the one they say yes to. Turnover is expensive and painful. Anything you can do to reduce it is in your agency's best interest. Until you able to offer a freelancer permanent employment, keep them engaged. Treat your freelancers well and let them know how they're contributing. Keep freelancers involved and a member of your agency community so they want to stay with your agency. MISTAKE 4: Being vague with timing and due dates. A lot of times we unintentionally leave deadlines up to interpretation. Ten hours be one ten hour day, or ten one hours days. You can't know the freelancers current workload when receiving their estimates and sometimes it's unclear which leads to disaster. INSTEAD: Manage expectations up front. Get these two numbers from your agency's freelancers when estimating a project for you: Estimated hours. How many hours it will take to complete and at what hourly rate? Due date and time. Make sure you're clear with the client's due date and build in your buffer. Make sure the date is clear and what time of day you should expect the work to be handed over. MISTAKE 5: Assuming the freelancer knows what you want. Just because they are a freelancer in the agency industry, does not mean they know what your agency or clients expect. Remember, most freelancers are working with multiple agencies, all with different processes and procedures. INSTEAD: Set expectations right off the bat. Days and hours of availability, preferred method of communication,etc… all those things your agency expects to see in it's employees. Have these expectations written down and get the freelancer's sign off. Related: Solving Sucky Staffing Issues Need Guidance and Support to Grow Your Agency 3X Faster? Are you overwhelmed by all the information out there on various ways to grow your agency? Do you want direction on how you can grow your agency faster and easier? Then you're in luck! I created an innovative mentorship called Agency University. Agency University is a program which provides the 1-on-1 mentorship and ongoing support that is crucial to the success of your agency. Click here to see if it's the right fit for you.

Does the thought of committing your agency to a niche market makes you nervous? Are you worried your agency will lose clients and miss out on revenue? Stop the madness of trying to be everything to everyone and start focusing on what it is your agency does best. You will reap major benefits of having a niche market, including increased clients and revenue. In this episode, we'll cover: Finding your agency's niche market and niches within niches. 3 benefits of choosing a niche. Is your agency charging enough? Today I spoke with Raman Sehgal, founder and managing director of the super niche agency, Ramarketing. With over a decade of experience in his agency's niche market, Ramarketing is still servicing their very first retainer client, eight years later. Raman provides great insight into the importance of niching down and the benefits it can bring to your agency. Is It Time To Declare A Niche Market? Has your agency had a painful project with an unrealistic client ultimately ending in dissatisfaction? Were you able to walk away with insights on how to move forward? If not, you need to learn from these experiences and start to understand: How to spec a project properly. How to manage client expectations. How to value what your agency does and communicate that to prospects. Raman offered up a great idea of a "red flag system" that his agency uses when prospecting clients. It could be criteria such as demographic or size, it could be attitudinal or behavioral. Whatever it is, figure out what will and not will not work with your agency and be prepared to say no. Don't force the fit just to make a buck. Most of the time it'll bite you in the ass. Go with you gut when something doesn't feel like a good fit. This just reinforces that you cannot be everything to everyone successfully. Your agency can't know every sector. So find the sector you DO know and stick with it. Learn the ins and outs. Money isn't the best indicator for taking on clients, even if the amount is large, the costs to properly manage the account will probably be large as well. Remember: Once you get your niche market, you can always expand. And, choosing a niche only means targeting your agency's marketing to a specific audience. You are still free to take on work outside of the niche. Therefore, it's a win-win. When Do You Know It's Time To Expand? Finding clarity is key. When your agency is focused, finding clients and hiring talent will all start to click because you will be doing these things with purpose and intention. Expanding can happen within your niche market - you will find niches within niches. Raman uses an 80/20 model, dedicating 80% of agency resources to their niche market and 20% of resources are for fun projects outside the niche. This model allows for some flexibility and keeps things fresh with the ability to change things up once in a while. 3 Benefits of Finding Your Agency's Niche Market Free up time for opportunities that closer align to your agency's expertise. Stop being afraid to niche down because you might push one or two clients away. Losing those clients will free up time to work on better ones. Providing focus allows you to become an expert. If you totally get your clients business, they'll trust you more and when they trust you, it makes it very easy for them to choose to work with you. Finding your niche market will help keep your competition at bay. If you become the authority in one segment of the market, then your competition of "generalists" will be left in the dust. Are You Charging Enough? Having a niche market raises your stock in what you can charge. Being competitive with your rates is important. If you are too cheap, this could cause the client to worry that there will be something wrong with your work. When you know what the market is expecting, you can adjust your agency rates accordingly. Pricing models will vary based on who you are talking to… and that's ok. You probably aren't charging enough. This is the case with most of the agencies I work with, and it's because they don't fully understand the value they provide. My challenge to all listeners is to consider increasing your rates by 25% right now! Related: Start With One Niche At A Time, Being A Leader In Your Agency's Niche Grow Your Agency 3X Faster! Are you overwhelmed by all the information out there on various ways to grow your agency? Do you want direction on how you can grow your agency faster and easier? Then you're in luck! I created an innovative mentorship called Agency University. Agency University is a program which provides the 1-on-1 mentorship and ongoing support that is crucial to the success of your agency. Click here to see if it's the right fit for you.

Want to find a way to interact and engage with your prospects? If you're relying on an old-school "chat box" you could be missing out. Chatbots are the best way to generate more agency new business. They create interact conversational experiences with your prospects so you can engage with them when it matters most. In this episode, we'll cover: What is a chatbot? Why use chatbots? 2 key features of bots. How to use chatbots to generate more agency new business. Today I chatted with Peter Lisoskie, founder of Bot Nation the innovative chatbot agency he created in 2017. He's also the CEO of inViral, a business and product incubator. He has a background neurological research as well as development of hardware, software and firmware for companies like Hewlett-Packard and Nike. Peter's here to bring us great insights into the shift toward chatbots for the ultimate user-experience so you can capture more leads for your agency… No ifs, ands or "bots" about it! :) What Is A Chatbot? A chatbot is a software service or application that allows you to have an interactive conversational experience with your prospects or clients. A chatbot has the ability to take them on a conversational journey far beyond the typical automated chatbox, which usually ends up unread in the user's email inbox. Why Use Chatbots? Did you know more people are using instant, private messaging apps than are using big 4 social networking apps, including Facebook? As agencies, we tend to focus on email marketing, websites, webinars and social media marketing. The problem with these is that they're passive and reactive. For an email campaign, your prospects have too many steps to take: check email, open the email, read the email, click-thru the email… (you see where this is going?) As we know, email marketing has a 20% open rate and maybe a 1-2% click-thru rate, at best. And if you're using a pop-up chat box messaging to capture leads on your website, it's even lower. If that chat isn't answered before your prospect leaves the site, it goes to their email inbox. And we know what happens to email open and click-thru rates. However, chatbots are instant and our society is addicted to instant results. Chatbot messaging interfaces with the users Facebook instant message and has upwards of a 95% open rate! 2 Key Benefits Of A Bot It's user driven. The user choose their journey. Bots are set up with a series of questions and the "conversation" develops based on the users' responses. It's a "choose your own adventure" approach to marketing. It's engaging. Your agency prospects like to be engaged and entertained. Using bots will captivate your audience and keep the conversation alive as they connect or identify with the bot. Using A Chatbot to Generate New Business To do it the right way, use a chatbot to get the conversation started with agency prospects in a fun and engaging way but have a live human take over at some point. Let the bot ask the questions, then use those answers to get the prospects to the right place or as a primer for when a live person can respond. Be honest and let the user know it's a bot. Many brands and agencies will pretend it's a live person, but that's just an insult to the user. Instead, let them know upfront that it's a bot. Heck, I've even named mine Don (as in Mad Men's Don Draper). Giving it a name and a personality helps the user identify with it a bit more. Then, ask a series of questions to gain understanding of where your prospect is at in their buying journey. You can use this as a pre-qualification sequence and/or to get them in to the right place and able to access the right helpful content. The key to using bots to keep the conversation alive and continue to nurture the relationships. Peter's innovative technology has also added in an element of artificial intelligence that can really be mind blowing. You can check it out using the demos at the bottom of the page at: www.botnation.tech

Would you like to scale your agency? Is the thought of hiring a full-time employee overwhelming? Does your agency have a speciality that other agencies might need? Consider this tactic of collaboration and contractors as a means to grow your agency. In this episode, we'll cover: Growing your agency without hiring. Maintaining quality, without overseeing everything. Managing contractors and inspiring the good ones to stay. Today I talked with Mandy McEwen, Founder and CEO of Mod Girl Marketing, which not only manages their own client base in healthcare and technology, but also provides services to other agencies looking to stand out and scale. Not hiring her first full-time employee until over four years of being in business, Mandy found the beauty and benefit of collaboration. Today she shares with us tips on using collaboration and contractors as a growth tactic. How to Grow Your Agency Without Hiring? Collaborate, Collaborate, Collaborate When you are in the beginning stages of growing your agency, it should be pretty easy to realize what you are good at and what you love doing. And with that, you're also able to realize what areas might not be your strong suit, or shouldn't be taking up so much of your time. If you're doing it all, it's time to realize that there are other vendors and freelancers that could be doing some of it for you. This is how the work can start to be broken out, without having to invest in a full-time employee. You can also consider working in partnership with other agencies who white label their services. I'm not typically a fan of straight up white labeling, but it can work if you leverage it into a partnership with mutual benefit. As Mandy points out, "why compete with agencies, when (we) can collaborate? They can hire (us) and (we) can hire them." How Do You Manage Contractor Quality? Vetting, Vetting, Vetting Don't hire a white label agency or contractor based solely on reviews or price. Finding good people is key and will save you money in the long run. Check on their capacity before starting with them. Ensure they have the bandwidth to dedicate the needed time to the project they will be working on. Mandy assigns trial projects, whether directly working for her or one she made up, to get a feel for the person and their work product. It's kinda like going on a date with someone. You need to see if you and that person click before you would ever enter any type of partnership. My former guest, Melinda Byerly, talked about tactics of a contractor courtship. How Do You Keep Great Contractors? Culture, Culture, Culture People will stick around if they are enjoying themselves. Bring in people who not only have the skill set you are looking for but have the personality and vibe that is going to mesh well with the rest of your agency team. Create a desirable agency culture so there's nowhere else they'd rather work; and no one else they'd rather work with. There is something to be said for working with people that you would also enjoy hanging out with. Who Manages The Contractors? Divide, Divide, Divide Divide and conquer. This can depend on the size of your agency, client profile, and definitely, the project itself. One of the best first hires you can make is a project manager. I know a lot of agency owners have a hard time justifying this type of hire because their hours aren't billable, but their skill set is invaluable. My advice is to hire a PM early in the game and adjust your fees accordingly. It's worth it in the long run! If you are doing it all, you can't focus on the growth aspects of your agency. Trust and delegate so you can grow and scale.

Are you asking your client questions? Are you asking the right one? Do you listen in client meetings more than you talk? If you want to land more agency clients, it's time to start asking a lot of questions and identifying what your clients need, rather than just giving them what they think they want. In this episode, we'll cover: Getting over the hump of hiring. Getting to the bottom of what the client really needs. What questions you should be asking every client. When is the right time to hire? Today I talked with Pete Polgar, partner at Clikz Digital which started just a mere 6 months before this interview and is already at a team of five. Pete brings a background of consulting with agencies struggling with operational problems. He sheds some light on those early struggles at Clikz Digital and walks us through the steps he has taken to overcome them and grow his agency. Getting Over the Hump of Hiring There is a high turnover in this industry. You need to stop hiring based on an immediate need and start hiring based on what your company needs in order to achieve long term goals. Ask a lot of questions Vetting your candidates better will allow you to hire people that make you and/or your agency better. Don't aim to hire "mini-me's" and instead find the "yin" to your "yang." Pete is a frequent listeners of our show and recalls this episode where I advised listeners to "always try to be the dumbest person in the room." And that's what he has done whens it comes to hiring for his agency. He tells us we can accelerate agency growth by surrounding ourselves with people smarter than us. Getting to the Bottom of What the Client Really Needs As an agency, your #1 job is to be the trusted advisor your clients need in order to achieve their goals. They rely on your experience and expertise to guide them to the solution to their problem. The thing is, you have to be able to identify the right problems and start solving them. You can't do this if you aren't asking the right questions. Think: "What does the client actually need?" vs. "What do they want?" Keep asking "why?" and keep digging until you get to the root of the problem. Once you find the problem and its impact on the business, that is when you can present what the client actually needs, not what you want to sell them. Asking questions keeps the focus on the client, because, really, this is about them and not you. Learn their business, listen to what they tell you and take lots of notes. This will allow you to visualize the information. Pete's uses his meeting notes to build a process flow that he can later share with the client. Clients are looking for a trusted advisor. They already made the choice to work with you, they don't want to make more choices, so stop giving them so many. Be the expert. Know what their business needs and be able to tell them why. Then they will become your champion. In the beginning it is all about learning - don't sell first, just learn. What Questions You Should You Be Asking Every Client Did I mention that you should be asking a LOT of questions? The types of questions are going to vary based on the client and the problems you start to uncover. But some good baseline questions are: What do you want? Where are you now? What is your struggle? Where do you want to be? Ultimately you need to just keep asking questions so you can drill down to the biggest problem. [clickToTweet tweet="Remember, the client's biggest problem is not necessarily the first problem." quote="Remember, the client's biggest problem is not necessarily the first problem."] If thinking on your feet to ask the right questions isn't your strong suit...then hire someone who is good at it. It's that important. Pete likes to use a whiteboard and draw out a map as they are solving a client's problem. He says to focus on one problem at a time to solve and nurture it to build trust with your client. Asking the right questions upfront also helped Pete start implementing a MAP (Marketing Action Plan) into his client engagements - which is something he learned from my podcast episodes on the 3 core elements of the agency sales process. When Is the Right Time to Hire? Learn from your employees. Find that one employee who is most resourceful, who is able to get things done quickly and do more with less. Then learn from them and incorporate that resourcefulness into your agency operations. Listen to your employees when they feel overwhelmed or frustrated, but don't let them dictate resolutions… because their resolution is usually going to be to hire more people. With that, make sure you are hiring based on asking the right questions, figuring out what is needed and best for the company and using measurable indicators to justify the hire.

Are the unknowns of the agency industry overwhelming? Do you sometimes feel like maybe it's time to close shop? Learn about the 4 phases of successful agency growth from an owner with over two decades of experience. Hear all his ups and downs plus learn what to expect as you scale and grow. In this episode, we'll cover: 4 phases of successful agency growth. How to manage a growing agency. Deciding whether to bring on a partner or not. Today I talked with Chris Emergui, CEO of BAM Strategy, the agency he founded in 1996. With over 20 years of agency ownership experience he's seen his agency grow, deplete and grow again. He learned a couple things along the way and shares with us some of those nuggets of knowledge as well as the 4 phases his agency went through to get to reach the success they enjoy today. Sometimes just knowing what other agency owners have gone through can provide the encouragement and support we need in this lonely entrepreneurial world. 4 Phases of a Successful Agency Journey Phase 1: The Start-Up This is the time when you get things going. You could take this on alone or with a partner (although I don't recommend partnerships - more on that later). This phase lends itself to being more ambitious and more willing to take some risks. This can be a time of quick prosper and scaling quickly, but can also include a downturn in business and can be messy. This is when you learn lessons. Phase 2: Switching It Up This could be when you and your partner part ways. When you realize you have different visions. It's a time when a business model change might take place. If you've been dealt the hardship of budgets getting slashed, this is when you anchor yourself with your client. Start servicing clients in areas that will not be affected if their marketing budget is cut. This is when you are getting more experienced at knowing what to offer. Phase 3: The Romantic Phase This is the time when you have fun. You are at that 20-25 employee marker and you know them inside and out. You are experiencing growth and have a good, solid culture. You understand the impact you can have on the business. This is the phase you would stay in if you could. Phase 4: Continuation of Growth A lot of agency owners think Phase 3 is ideal and want to stop growth there. But, you can't stay there forever, no matter how much you'd like to. You don't have a choice in this industry. You need to constantly go after new business and have a goal to grow. Because in this business, because you're only one client-decision away from being shattered. Phase 4 is where you start laying your infrastructure. Bring in the people to start handling the things you might not be so good at and start empowering them for success. In Chris's case he brought in a new partner at this point. If you hire the right people, put them in the right role and give them the right systems. Then you can start doing less and focus on growth goals. This is the phase when you get out of the day-to-day and take on a new role of heading the ship. How to Manage a Growing Agency When we empower our agency employees we set them up for success. And that is really our biggest role in agency management - helping our people succeed. If they aren't coming to you for all the answers, that's a good thing. It means you are providing them with the right upfront direction so they can make decisions. It feels good to be needed but you need to remember that being their "hero" isn't a long-term solution. You want people who can run things on their own; you don't want your agency to crumble if you get hit by a bus. The transition from Agency Owner to CEO can be tough. And doing so can create both a freedom and a void. However, as CEO one of your five main roles is to mentor your leadership team, giving them confidence and direction. You are there to help them become more successful and grow. This is when you can really start scaling your agency, because now they are making decisions that are good for the agency and not just for themselves! Your number one asset is your team. So invest in them, because that is an investment that will pay for itself. Deciding On A Partner: Should You or Shouldn't You? I always advise against bringing on an agency partner because you either know the bad partner, or you are the bad partner. But, I know it's pretty typical to bring on a partner when you are looking for a lead person to manage an area of business where your skills are lacking. An agency partnership or part-ownership provides a vested interest for that person while strengthening the agency leadership. Chris's advice is to make sure you are hiring someone you can empower, and someone who is smarter than you. Don't be blinded by their prior experience and large network or influence. Most importantly, you and your partner have to have the same view/reaction to any given event. While you can complement each other's weaknesses, your vision needs to be the same. Key Takeaways: No one has all the an

Would you like to grow your agency faster by increasing recurring revenue? Do you feel like your agency is on a constant roller coaster gaining and losing clients? Then learn about innovative agency pricing, a licensing model, that can set you on a stable path. Plus, turn the tables on the industry standard of always fearing losing clients. Instead, discover how to make your clients fear losing you. In this episode, we'll cover: What is an agency licensing pricing model? How and why does a licensing model work? 5 Benefits of the licensing model. Today I chatted with Andrey Polston, a man who has been obsessed with marketing and sales since he was 11 years old mowing lawns. He ended up self taught in SEO and web design, and his motivation and knowledge is impressive. Andrey now plans and operates his own virtual summits, including The Agency Summit. On today's episode, he shares his ingenious licensing model and the benefits it can bring to your agency. What is a Licensing Pricing Model? In short, a licensing model is taking what you do, niching it down in a way that you can flip it on it's head and license it for exclusivity. This model was born from Andrey trying to solve the main challenges agencies face, including: Financial instability and fear of losing clients. Providing all the creative work upfront. Relinquishing ownership of completed assets to the clients. Difficulty proving value later in client relationships. These challenges are what spawned this idea of creating a process that will make the clients fear losing the agency instead of always the other way around. How Does the Licensing Model Work? Generally agency clients have a broad range of customers they could go after. As the agency, you must understand your client's clients. Then select a niche customer that you are going to help them go after. In other words, identify a single type of customer that is ideal for your client. Once you determine this niche customer, pre-build high converting funnels, marketing assets and conversion pathways that will absolutely crush it for that one specific channel of customers. Then charge your clients a monthly licensing fee for the funnel and its accompanying assets. There is also the ability to nano niche the ideal customer you identified and then create even more streamlined funnels, as well as a possible IP that can be included as an add-on to the client. You can also sell an add-on of your marketing services. Why the Licensing Model Works "People will do more things to avoid pain, than they'll do to gain pleasure." ~ Andrey Polston Agencies can play the game of constantly trying to report their worth and value, but the greater incentive here, is the fear of loss. You want the client to fear losing you, your talents, and your expertise. With the licensing model, this is embedded in the beginning. "If you leave, that's fine, but you're losing all this work because it isn't yours to keep." And with that fear comes the underlying understanding that if they leave, you will probably walk next door to their competitor and offer this service to them. When prospecting a target client you lead with the licensing model, exclusive to the niche you have determined. This doesn't work if you don't have a niche and don't identify specific categories of customers your client wants. 5 Benefits of a Licensing Model Andrey has identified five major benefits to a licensing model. 1- Automated Recurring Revenue When you're dealing with a service, you go out there, chase the work down and then try to get them to pay for it. With the licensing model, they're put on a subscription and billed at the beginning of each month. 2- Accumulated Advantage When you start playing deeper into a niche you will start finding new pockets of opportunity you can take advantage of, such as "nano niches" or niches within a singular niche. This is where you can create even tighter funnels and an IP that can also be licensed out to a client or provided as an add-on. 3- Productizing of a Service(s) In order to productize your agency service, look up the ladder to tap into a potential client that would want to sell your license as an add-on to what they are selling. This provides value to them in that you're exclusive to them and their product takes a competitive advantage, because they're now providing a proven marketing system, as a value add-on, with their client. By doing this, you are harnessing somebody else's distribution channel, marketing, and sales efforts and piggybacking off of it. 4- Taking On Multiple Clients Some agencies feel restrained by geographic location. However, you can take on multiple clients within the same location by niching down to those nano niches and licensing all those nano niches out. So different clients can pay per nano niche license, or one client could pay a large licensing fee for exclusivity within their city or location. 5- Potential for Referrals & Partnership A lot of agencies start out as "full service"

Are you "that" agency? Do you tend to talk a lot about how smart you are? The awards you have won? It's easy to fall into this trap of trying to sell your agency as the best, but sometimes it's to the detriment of the client /agency relationship. Not anymore. Learn how to scale your agency by collaborating with your client to make their lives easier. Be the agency that keeps things simple and lets the client shine. In this episode, we'll cover: The best way to scale your agency. Which clients you should be paying attention to. How to make your client shine. How to prove your agency's worth. Today I chatted with Melinda Byerly, founder of her digital consultancy Time Share CMO. She's got over fifteen years experience in Silicon Valley working in tech with start-ups and becoming an expert in digital marketing and analytic attribution. She's also learned a thing or two about clients needs when it comes to data and analytics, as well as how to manage those expectations. Melinda is sharing all this and more with us so you can learn how to set your client up for success and ultimately, setting yourself up for success as well. The Best Way to Scale Your Agency There is a danger to scaling too fast. If you're a service business, it's so important to find the right people that will help you move towards your goals. Instead of proposing marriage first, maybe it's time to try "going on a date" instead? When you're looking for the right person, it can take time to see if you will work well together, so that's when you "go on a date." Don't do a contract, do a project - just one, minimal-commitment-type project together first. If that goes well, do another project together. This will allow you to get a feel for that person, how you work together and how they fit into the agency. Build your agency one person at a time and take it slow, so that it's the right fit. "Dating" is a great concept with clients as well. Find out what keeps them up at night, do they wish they had somebody doing X?" Then focus on X first. Take it one problem at a time to make sure it is going to be a true client/agency partnership. Taking on a bad client can be like a cancer. I like to say: there are no bad clients, only bad prospects or a bad process. If you don't qualify your prospects, you could be letting in the wrong ones. And, if they aren't following your process in the beginning, they are not going to follow your process under contract. Pay attention to those red flags! Either bad clients never should have been let in, or you created them. Clients You Should be Paying Attention To Think about your prospects... Are they responsive? Pleasant and respectful? Do they listen and take your feedback into consideration? These are the clients you want. An agency/client relationship is a collaboration. You need to be respectful of your clients requests, but it's a collaborative effort and they should respect your experience and expertise as well. Agencies tend to talk a lot, touting their awards and boasting their accomplishments. In a desire to impress, agencies are constantly selling themselves. Stop. It's better to listen and ask questions, make the client the focal point. Focus on the needs of the decision maker in order to achieve their goals and ease their pain points. Is Your Direct Client the Hero? They should be. You need to make your day-to-day client contact look good. Don't make the mistake of always trying to make yourself look good and in the process throw your sponsor under the bus. Before doing a presentation to a larger group, meet with your direct client contact. You are presenting on their behalf, so position things the way they would like them positioned and be sure to create moments for them to step in and be the expert. Establish moments to help them shine; allow them to be the hero. People are loyal to people. There is a high turnover in this industry and if your client-sponsor leaves their, make them want to take you with them. Are You Effectively Proving Your Worth? Have you ever had a project where you're totally killing it? But… you're getting great results and all of a sudden your client wants to change directions?! You weren't effectively communicating those great results. First, you need to be sure you are setting expectations with the client. Don't set yourself up to fail by setting unachievable expectations. Let them know what results can and cannot be tracked or quantified. Not everything will be trackable so be honest with them about this and most importantly, help them understand so that your agency is held to reasonable expectations. At the same time you want to make sure you are being authentic and have high integrity about this. Don't just regurgitate analytics reports -- make sure you are providing useful analytics that can help navigate the course of your client's digital marketing. Tell them what those analytics mean and provide them with a recommendation - that is your value add. By doing this, you're prepar

Do you feel stuck in a rut? Overwhelmed or uncertain? You are not alone! A lot of agency owners feel the same way. If you need help finding clarity or getting focused, check out this episode. This is the perfect time of year to look at where you're at and where you're headed. Get re-energized and meet your goals in the new year. In this episode, we'll cover: 3 characteristics you need to build a successful agency. Finding clarity in your agency life. How to find and keep your focus. #1 thing holding you back. Today's guest is Aaron Walker, successful businessman and life coach at the third business he's built, View from the Top. Through his mastermind, Iron Sharpens Iron, Aaron helps people be their best selves and how to carry that into their professional lives. Aaron's passion in coaching and today he shares with us some advice and nuggets of knowledge on how to take that first step towards clarity and success. 3 Characteristics Necessary To Build A Successful Agency Lots of us who are out there trying to build our agency and make a name for ourselves are creators/developers, not maintainers/managers. This can be where the problem is: you can't get clarity. Today we have more opportunities than ever before. It paralyzes us and clouds our judgement. The overwhelm can even cause a leadership crash. That is why you need to have: Determination, Tenacity, Grit to persevere. Be Organized and Intentional to lead. Most importantly, you need FOCUS. With that focus you also need consistency. If you aren't willing to devote two years to your venture, don't even start it. Stay focused on the long game and do what you set out to do. Every. Single. Day. Aaron shares a little phrase his mom used to say to him, that he hated, but now is part of his mantra: "Can't couldn't do it, and Could did it all." You know, inspiration isn't forever, it's really about finding your purpose -- that thing that gets you out of bed every morning. That's what is going to keep you going. How To Find Clarity In Your Agency Life For entrepreneurs, a lot of our clarity is muddled by constantly looking over our shoulder, wondering if we should have done that other thing instead. Stop worrying if the grass is greener on the other side and realize the grass is greener where you water it. Realize that you will never get to a point where you will feel a sense of security, so stop looking for that. Instead, fill yourself with confidence. The first step is -- you gotta launch. Whatever it is - just do it. As my friend Ian says, "Version done is better than version none." He's so right! You need to realize that it's never going to be perfect, so just take that first step and go from there. You will figure it out. Once you find your purpose, it will help bring you clarity. Your purpose will become the thing that really drives you, steers your ship and it's guides your decision-making. When you start doing this, then you will find your significance. How to Find and Keep Your Focus First, if your focus is on making money, then it's not going to keep you focused long-term. You need a purpose for that! Sure, there's definitely a portion of our focus that is tied to money. If it weren't of any importance, we'd be giving everything away for free. It's not wrong to want to make money, just make sure you own your money and your money doesn't own you. You can, however, use money and finances as a measurement tool, not based on how much you make, but on the fact that if people are paying for the products/services you provide, then you're helping people and are providing a valuable resource. Besides, if you gave your stuff away for free, nobody would pay attention to you. It's the same thing if you underprice yourself. By underpricing, you will cause people to undervalue what you provide; thinking what you have to offer isn't very good because it's too cheap.

Having a hard time scaling your agency? Finding it difficult to stop doing it all, all by yourself? Thinking of building an agency team but don't know where to begin? Learn how to find and hire the right people for your agency and how to set them up for immediate success. In this episode, we'll cover: How to avoid common pitfalls of a virtual agency team. How to find top agency talent that fits with your core values. What to look for when hiring and building your team. Today I was excited to talk to Ralph Burns, founder and CEO of Antares Enterprises, Inc. As one of the premier Facebook direct response marketers in the industry, he has built an agency around an interesting business model. Ralph's agency team is entirely virtual, and everyone is certified in his agency's processes before they even start on the job! Learning things the hard way, or the long way, Ralph shares how he overcame challenges by building and leading a successful team. How to Overcome Common Pitfalls of a Virtual Agency Team The biggest challenge, and one where it's easy to get stuck, is getting past the "1-man model" and allowing yourself be OK not doing everything yourself. Once you get someone on board with you and you're able to realize that you both bring unique abilities to grow the agency in different directions, from there you can begin the talent search. The hardest part about bringing on virtual talent is: Teaching them the ways of your agency. Building systems and documenting processes. Passing on the knowledge so someone can duplicate what you've been doing. Once you get through that, you will be able to scale up from there. 1-on-1 Method - personally train the new employee, be in daily contact, coaching and mentoring them. While this can be effective, it also takes a long time and can be inefficient. Mentorship - utilize your current staff to build out documents such as Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to utilize moving forward with future new hires. SOPs are so important and should really become the basis for everything you do. Documenting can be painful, but it's the first step you have to take. Listen, without SOPs -- you're SOL :) A Unique Method for Discovering Agency Talent It is important to have an educational platform on what you do in the agency... Ralph actually took it a step further and decided to use his agency's certification program as a pool for finding ideal candidates to hire as his agency grows. Get this... Their rigorous 5-day training course is a stand alone program for individuals who want to get certified in Facebook Ads, with a practical test at the end. With access to the test results, this gives Ralph and his team a way to identify the best of the best and has opened up a new avenue for potential agency talent candidates. Essentially, these people are trained on the agency's processes and SOP, which eliminates a lot of the learning curve of a typical new hire, which could take another 3-5 months. Now, candidates are ready to roll and can get acclimated much faster to working with actual paying customers. The beauty of this unique recruitment system is that they know people's intentions because they are paying for the training and know how to do things, right when they start! Plus as an agency, you owe it to your clients to have people who not only know how to run Facebook ads (whatever your speciality), but also know how to do it the way you do it - within your systems, inside your agency. Because ultimately, your clients are paying you for your expertise, including those systems you've developed. What's the #1 Account Manager Dilemma? We all know this story... you have a great account manager on a large account and something happens that takes them out of commission, which means you and your clients are screwed. The solution? Large accounts, those that are unwieldy or have a lot of moving parts can be co-managed. You have a lead account manager and a secondary account manager. Another solution is to create smaller teams within your account management department. Have these teams meet once a week, even if they're virtual, and talk through issues going on with their accounts. That way, if an account only has one manager, there are still two or three other managers familiar with that client. What to Look for When Hiring Agency Talent When you are in the process of recruiting agency talent people, don't just go after the folks that are the best with a technical skill. Consider your agency's culture and core values. Then think of some key characteristics that are important to have. Technical skill can be taught, but culture and value is either there or not. Things to consider in your recruitment efforts: Able to collaborate and innovate Collaboration is huge, especially if virtual. Be solution-oriented Hire people to solve problems for your clients. Problems are ok, but need to also work on solutions. Hungry and humble Have the drive to get better and improve without a cocky attitude. ALSO: Cons

Do you feel like your agency sales needs to grow beyond you, the owner? Are you having a hard time recruiting and training successful salespeople? Then it's time to start putting the right systems in place in order to build a scalable agency sales team. In this episode, we'll cover: 2 things to be aware of before a sales hire. Is it the right time to hire for agency sales? Key traits to look for when hiring a salesperson. How long until a new salesperson is successful? Top 7 take away tips. Today I got to talk with Wayne Herring, owner of Herring Coach, where he specializes in coaching and consulting business owners who are looking to scale their agency sales team. Wayne is the guy who teaches business owners to hire, train, hold accountable, and basically build their sales team. Today he's giving us tips on how you can do the same for your agency. 2 Important Things To Be Aware Of Before You Hire Owner's advantage. Even if you aren't stating it when you're selling, if you're the owner and you're selling - you have an advantage. Remember that your salespeople will not have this advantage. There are very few superhero salespeople. It is unrealistic to think you're going to hire someone who is going to come in and kill it, right off the bat. Don't look for it, you may never find it. Is It The Right Time To Hire? It's hard to know when it's the right time to hire for agency sales, as all agencies are in different situations. But, I can tell you when not to: DON'T hire your first sales rep if you're already overwhelmed. If you can't spend time with a new sales hire and you're not prepared to invest a significant amount of time into their on-boarding, coaching, role playing, etc. then you aren't ready to hire. DON'T hire a sales rep if you don't have systems in place. If you're not prepared to hire, train and retain good salespeople you're setting up for failure. What You Need In Place If It Is The Right Time To Hire: You need to have a strong foundation, including a definition of who you are as an agency and where you are going. You need to know this so you can give direction and keep everyone on the same page. Have a set audience for them to sell to. Every business is not your ideal customer, define this for your new salesperson and set them up for success. Start small... Give them one thing, one goal, to focus on. Don't overwhelm by throwing the whole shebang at them. Getting someone oriented and quickly on-boarding them to sell a small first step (such as your foot in the door offer) does a couple of things: It helps to prove if this person is going to make it within your agency. It helps them feel successful quickly and give them a win to start off. Traits to Look for When Hiring for Agency Sales Again, don't go looking for a sales superhero. Instead, help them grow into one. Another trip-up can be hiring based on gut, without really defining the type of person you are looking for. Think ahead about qualities you need, and don't completely focus on likability and personality, this can get you stuck. Pay attention to how they interview. Are they running the show? Are they asking a lot of questions? A good salesperson will do both these things! A lot of times we feel like we need to sell our agency to the candidate by telling them how wonderful it is. This is where there needs to be a shift in mindset... Treat yourself and the interview process as a prospect you would want them to go after. Let them run the conversation, see how they lead and if they follow-up. Let the process demonstrate how they would work with a prospective client. Then decide if there's a fit and a future. Salesperson recruiting is a marketing activity. It is something that deserves serious attention. How Long Until a New Salesperson is Successful? Everyone needs a little time to prove their worth, but for agency sales it usually depends on two things: The length of your sales cycle. Past experience and observations. If you have a long sales cycle then you might benefit from creating "ramp up" report, which breaks down the early steps of the sales process, (contacts, meetings, audits, etc.) and charts them in a grid format and plots progress over time. With this data, eventually you'll discover that salesperson's "ramp up curve" which indicates whether they're following a path you know is going to lead to long term success. Measuring activity can tell you a lot. If they don't start off coming out the gate fast and hard, it's a tell tale sign they're going to struggle. Be sure to avoid "happy ears" or overly optimistic situations. I've been guilty of hanging on to someone because of all the big deals they have "in the works" but never actually come to fruition. See things for what they are and measure the activity. Ask your salespeople the questions: who, what, where why, and when… "What's the next step?" or "When's that going to happen?" When you're consistently coaching it will become abundantly clear whether they're going to be successf

Ever had a client that just didn't feel like a good fit right off the bat? Ever taken on the wrong agency projects out of desperation to pay bills and meet payroll? If it doesn't feel right or there are some red flags, pay attention and go with your gut. Listen to the hard lesson this 25 year agency owner learned, how it knocked him down, and how he got back up again. In this episode, we'll cover: How to avoid the wrong agency projects or clients. Setting up a successful agency structure. Tips on improving your search for inbound leads. Today I got to talk with Jim Stewart, industry pioneer and CEO of StewArt Media and SEO/Digital Marketing Evangelist on his YouTube channel, Jimboot. With more than 25 years experience, Jim has good insight into both the struggles on the business side as well as great information on maximizing search. Avoiding the Wrong Agency Projects or Clients Jim's biggest piece of advice is: Trust your gut instincts! If something doesn't feel right or there are some red flags, pay attention, listen to your gut. If your gut says run - then run! And if you're white labeling or on the receiving end of an outsourcing situation, beware: Being white labeled is tough and you get little to no credit for your work. You don't get direct interaction with the client and receive information through a third party. You're being sourced for your processes, yet the larger agencies don't want to follow your processes. Getting the work done on time can be challenging when your agency isn't the main point of contact. Determining how to charge isn't clear cut when white labeling. Using this type of structure in the beginning for small agencies is not uncommon, I did it. Just make it work for you by: Letting the big agency know up front that you will credit them as a client name. You will have direct contact with the client. Sometimes in these situations, the big agency will start failing on the project and the client could start approaching your agency directly. Don't burn any bridges. Being up front with the big agency is key, but you will find that sometimes, they are aware of their shortcomings and tell you to just go ahead and help the client with what's needed. This can be a great opportunity to build your client base. Creating a Successful Structure You can't change your first hire but if you could, would you? I sure would. Bringing someone into the fold that has the skill set to handle all the stuff you can't, or aren't very good at, is key... So, who should you hire first? It really starts with self awareness. What are you good at? What do you like doing? Where do you want to take the agency? Take all that info and hiring accordingly. Then... Invest in those people. Train those people. Educate those people. As the agency CEO it is important to know your five roles - and daily operations isn't one of them. And, if you have you been thinking of yourself more as an owner than a CEO, it might be time to transition from Owner to CEO. Be the leader. Communicate the plan. Make sure everyone knows the direction the agency is headed. Set goals and clearly outline them. This provides the team the freedom to work within their goal structures and figure out the best tools to utilize to achieve those goals. Even though ours can be a transient industry, we still have to invest in good people. With the client, clearly outline the plan for them as well. Many clients have been burned before which is why outlining and communicating goals is crucial. Tell them what you're going to do, when they can expect it and follow through. Improving Search for Inbound Agency New Business There is one major factor in Search: Trust The way to build trust is by having a strong brand. The best thing you can do for search and your overall business is: Build That Brand. There is no silver bullet when it comes to building your brand. It takes hard work and consistency. You need to be putting out valuable content that either educates or entertains. This content creates an impression of you and your brand; it is what your brand becomes. The ultimate goal is to get people to associate your content, or brand, with keywords in your category and viewed as the authority in the industry. Need Guidance and Support to Grow Your Agency 3X Faster? Are you overwhelmed by all the information out there on various ways to grow your agency? Do you want direction on how you can grow your agency faster and easier? Then you're in luck! I created an innovative mentorship called Agency University. Agency University is a program which provides the 1-on-1 mentorship and ongoing support that is crucial to the success of your agency. Click here to see if it's the right fit for you.

Are you avoiding video? Afraid you're not interesting enough or don't have enough content to produce? Does it look too hard or are you worrying about production quality? Find out how to build your digital communication with a video presence. It's more accessible and approachable than you think! In this episode, we'll cover: Understanding the importance of vlogging. Finding a style that works for you and/or your client. How to avoid getting discouraged. How to turn viewers into subscribers. Today I'm chatting with Amy Schmittauer, a media triple threat as a successful YouTuber, with her channel Savvy Sexy Social, best selling author of Vlog Like A Boss and keynote speaker. If anyone understands the power and importance of video in digital communication it's Amy. She's looked to as the authority in the how-to vlogging space and actually one of the influencers of my vlog, SwenkToday. Understanding the Importance of Vlogging Digital communications is becoming a big need for businesses, both large and small. This need started with social media but is now moving towards video. It is difficult to survive online communications or digital marketing without some form of video. Understanding the way people are consuming content is going to decide your digital communication. People are trying to find the better, faster way of what they want… video accommodates that need. Video and vlogs are growing because they make the host seem approachable. The platforms, such as YouTube, Instagram Stories, Snapchat, etc. are growing and video is becoming more accessible. Because of this, it's time to step outside your box and start asking, "How can we, as an agency, better consider what our customer wants when it comes to video?" Sit down and have a conversation with clients because using the visual of video is going to make a much deeper connection. This will help your agency make more money and serve your clients better, because this is a necessity in business today. Finding a Style That Works for You People can get caught up in feeling uninteresting, but that is the beauty of video… you can make ANYTHING look and sound interesting with video, IF you think about what it's like for the end user! So when you think about your video style you need to ask yourself these 3 questions: 1. What is the Brand of You? How do you want people to be talking about you? Get creative. Stay consistent so your audience can get to know you and care about you. 2. Who are You Talking To? Know your audience. Know what your audience wants. This will make you more interesting and keep them watching! 3. What is Your Audience Size and Loyalty Level? If you are new to vlogging and have little or no audience, you have a lot of work to do to earn trust and interest. This will help you build a solid base audience, which can allow you to take things to another level and take some liberties with your content. If you are more concerned with the number of views than the quality of viewer… you're in trouble. How to Build a Solid Video Presence Don't get discouraged! I get it, entrepreneurs are impatient (myself included!). Remember: It's not about the number of views or number of people you reach, because it just takes one person -- the perfect customer. Don't lose focus on who that person is. It's tough, vanity metrics on Facebook can make it hard to choose a platform. Facebook feels like your content is getting more views, but in reality, the context of that view is not as valuable as on, say, YouTube. Facebook pushes content into a newsfeed, can come without audio, and is logged as a view if it's watched for 3 seconds or more. So of course, views can look higher on Facebook. YouTube viewers are more intentional. They come looking for the content you are providing and a view isn't ticked off until 30 seconds is viewed. Every platform has a different algorithm to make more money and keep people happy. But remember, you are working with the same algorithm as top YouTubers. If you get that one person, that perfect customer to watch you and can build a connection through advising them on something that will help them in a positive way… that's all that matters. Keep 'Em Coming Back The BEST thing to do to get people to come back is: Ask them. DO ask for them to subscribe - the ask makes them more likely to do it. DON'T assume if they watch your video they will subscribe. DON'T assume if you put a visual, without actually calling it out, they'll subscribe. Technology is always trying to get better for the viewer and also the vlogger, but sometimes they conflict. You have to be explicit. Lead off with it, but make it short. You don't want to spend too much time or you will lose them. You want to keep your viewer until the end. If you get them to watch your video all the way to the end, you are considered their thought leader. So tell them what to do next, whatever the natural next step might be (i.e. subscribe, opt-in with email, or visit your site). Say it. You have to

Is your agency using the Foot in the Door strategy? Are you keeping all the clients you want to? Learn the three core parts of a proven sales process that is working to renew client contracts and improve recurring revenue. In this episode, we'll cover: The 3 core parts to every agency sales process. How to create a successful renewal process. How to get out of your agency so it can be a successful agency. Today my guests are Rob Murray and Paul Demarco, cofounders of Intrigue Media, a full-service digital agency servicing B2C clients. In the 11 years they have been working together, they've grown their agency from a $50 project fee to $3 million in revenue this year. They credit their growth to a proven sales process and to always sticking with the process. 3 Core Parts of a Proven Sales Process 1- The Sales Process Itself The key to this part is how you interact with people, i.e. your client or customer. There are two main philosophies to consider: Two ears, one mouth, use accordingly. Listening to your clients, let them do the majority of the talking. Ask lots of questions, your client wants to be understood. Avoid writing a prescription without a diagnosis; that is malpractice. You cannot properly pitch them a successful idea without understanding them. Be mindful and open to needing help. Your sales is what drives agency growth. Rob and Paul realized early on that they couldn't afford not to get help. If you are in the same boat, then check out my Agency Sales Makeover. 2- Financial Commitment for Proposals Traditionally, Intrigue's proposals or plans had been provided up front for free, or virtually free. However, this is where you want to implement the Foot in the Door strategy, and create a fee-based proposal that is clearly outlined. This is the first step in the direction of a long-lasting client relationship. Proposals require work, outlining this work with your fee is totally acceptable. Intrigue's Marketing Action Plan (MAP) includes the research and education necessary to understand what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, how it will be done and creating a plan around that. Thinking the proposal "seals the deal" is looking at it the wrong way. Charging a low, set fee will: Help you win the deal faster. Make the deal less risky. Provide you incentive and enjoyment through the process. Help make it an easier decision for the client to trust you. Can be a qualifier on your merit. Using the Foot in the Door strategy will also help define the type of clients you want to be working with. If the partnership doesn't feel right, you can walk away with little loss, rather than taking on a large retainer and becoming stuck. 3- Provide a Plan that Defines Expectations You need to develop a crystal clear plan that defines crystal clear expectations. Something like: "This is exactly what we are promising you." "This is exactly how we will go do it." This plan needs to be shared with your CLIENT as well as your TEAM so that it can be properly executed. With this thinking, you need to make sure that the team you intend on doing the work is the team you are having scope the work up front. This can prove to be a huge win. Creating a Successful Renewal Process Keeping your clients satisfied can be achieved with making sure they are delighted on a regular basis. They implemented "delightful client moments," where they get to know their clients better. It's those soft touches that make the business relationship more personal. Taking a binary look at satisfaction creates a more black & white answer: If they don't renew they aren't satisfied. If they do renew they are satisfied. Everyone can say your stuff is great, but if they pay you for it, then you know it is great. Using the Foot in the Door method is a stepping stone towards a 1-year retainer. A month or two before the retainer is up, bring the client back in for a renewal. This is when you go for the longer term because you have built up a relationship of trust. How to Get Out of Your Agency So It Can Be a Successful Agency Consider a successful business being a business that can run without you. Leave the details to the team who specialize in the details. Success is all about: The focus you provide for the team. The focus you put on the team. Bring consistency in what they do everyday: Create structure inside the organization. Put your priorities in focus. Get those priorities accomplished. Do updates frequently so everyone is in the know. Providing clarity and context to team members ensures that everyone knows what is going on and can roll in the same direction... sticking to the process and growing your client base. Need Guidance and Support to Grow Your Agency 3X Faster? Are you overwhelmed by all the information out there on various ways to grow your agency? Do you want direction on how you can grow your agency faster and easier? Then you're in luck! I created an innovative mentorship called Agency University. Agency University is a program whic

Is your agency stuck in a "best practices" rut? Are you following so-called industry best practices without seeing results? If you're in a place where excitement and momentum have puttered out and you think your agency has plateaued, you've hit what my guest calls your "crapping point" :) It's time to start asking the right questions and creating your own best practices. In this episode we'll cover: Understanding your context and its three components. How to create your own formula for best practices. How to not fall into the best practices trap. Today's guest is Jay Acunzo, is Sorry for Marketing and shares it all as a keynote speaker, blogger and host of the podcast, Unthinkable. Jay has an impressive background in the tech world and with start-ups, including a career at Google and Hubspot. He also did investing in start-ups for a firm, so his experience and insight comes from both sides of the aisle. Jay understands the importance of asking a lot of questions, the right questions, and turning away from conventional thinking. Today he is in a fight with best practices because "it has never been easier to be average." If you aren't seeing the results you expected and your agency has "Crapped Out," Jay is here to give us some tips on how to better find your best practices by asking the right questions so you can stand out, rather than blend in. Understanding Your Agency's Context Your context consists of three things: Those doing the work - yourself, your agency, your team Those receiving the work - your audience, the customer or client Your resources - the means to make things a reality If you find yourself asking "Why isn't this working?" don't forget to start adding the word "us" to the equation…. Such as: "Why isn't this working… for us?" The best practices that might work for one company, may not for yours because your context is different. "Success leaves clues." ~ Tony Robbins Success might leave clues, but it doesn't leave answers. Best practices are simply a possibility that still need to be put through the filter, that is your context and then add your details to, and find, a best practice that will work for you. It is time to start thinking for yourself and not just following a list. You are the expert of your agency's context. How To Create Your Own Formula for Best Practices One word: INTUITION We aren't talking about the gut feeling you get from emotion and running with it. We are talking about the defined word, Intuition, which has roots in Latin that mean: Knowledge from within In other words, this circles back to knowing your stuff -- knowing your context The best way to know your context is to make sure you are asking the right questions for the three things that make up your context, listed above, Yourself, Your Audience and Your Resources. Visualize your intuition as a thing or tool that is on par with a list article. Understand that Intuition is that compounding return you experience from, constantly asking questions and understanding your context, and making the right call. Trust your INTUITION. How To Avoid the Best Practices Trap It all starts with a shift from the desire of knowing the answer, to caring more about how to find answers. This mindshift begins with asking the right questions of your context points. Each component has two questions and we can look at it like a funnel... The TOP Level is where all the confusion and all the excessive information is found. Sublevel 1 - YOU What is my aspirational anchor? Meaning, your intent for the future and hunger for today. What is my unfair advantage? Do an audit on your team to determine strengths and figure out how to best utilize them. Sublevel 2 - YOUR AUDIENCE What is my first principle insight? Understanding your clients needs/wants and knowing what you can bring to the table to help them achieve those. Who are my true believers? These are the people (even if just a few) who are passionate about what you're doing. Find your super fans. Sublevel 3 - RESOURCES What are my constraints? Is it money, size, time? Understanding these constraints will help you innovate within them. How can I expand? Think big, but understand that you have to start small. Putting a lot of boxes on a field will still cover the field and can build something big The BOTTOM Point is where you find your CLARITY. Be the exception. By identifying and acknowledging your specific context you are in a category of ONE! Related: Creating content that speaks to an audience of one.

How does your agency fit into your life? Are you being very honest and clear on what it is that you want and what success means to you? If you feel like a prisoner to your business or you're struggling with passion for your agency, it might be a time to look within. In this episode, we'll cover: 3 simple questions to gut check whether your agency is working for you. How to reinvent your agency. How to understand your recurring revenue needs. Today I talk with Pia Silva, Founder and Brand Strategist at WorstofAll Designs, speaker, Forbes contributor and author of BadAss Your Brand. Pia and her partner (who also happens to be her husband) had their lightbulb moment over 6 years ago when they'd fallen into a huge funk and some serious business debt. She's here to share with us how to avoid those same mistakes while being true to yourself and your business goals. It was then they realized their agency model wasn't working and that they were trying to front an agency model and be something they weren't and have now come to realize they have had so much more success just embracing what they did have that was different. 3 simple questions could change everything Do a gut check with these three simple questions: Is it UNIQUE? Do you ENJOY IT? Is it PROFITABLE? Does your current business model work for you? Pia uses these three questions as a foundational point of helping other small business owners with their branding issues. She believes your business should really be "the intersection of what you love and what's most profitable." It's that outside-of-the-box thinking that will set you apart and put you on the path of a business model that will work. Is it time to reinvent your business? "If you're gonna spend all your time on this, you better LOVE it!" ~ Pia Silva If the answers to any of those 3 questions are 'no' then it's time to reinvent yourself. You need to attack this and look at it going: "This is us. This is what we want to do. This is what we enjoy doing. This is what we're going to do"...and then figure out how to do it. For Pia and her partner, it meant letting go of employees and redefining their measure of success. Now, instead of being a traditional agency trying to play hardball with the big guys it's just the two of them. By their choice. Instead of taking on lengthy projects and retainer clients their agency runs intense full day workshops with one client at a time where they "badass their brand" through a BrandUp session. How to Reinvent your Agency First, go back to the basics. Look within. You can't compete with the big guys if you think the same as the big guys. Instead, think: What makes us unique? What do we want to do? Next break it down, step-by-step to go after it. If you look backwards, then you are just reacting to the market. Instead be proactive and break down your business growth into smaller decisions. Drill down by determining answers to these: How can I buy an ideal client? How can I buy a pitch? How can I get their attention? Who do I want to go after? Understand yourself and your core service Understanding Your Recurring Revenue Needs Honesty is key. Ask yourself why you're in this and possibly, what your end game looks like. Are you comfortable with a lifestyle business? Are you looking for enough revenue to live your life and afford you extra time to do other things you enjoy? Or, are you looking to catapult your business or eventually sell it? What do you want? What does success mean to you? Need Guidance and Support to Grow Your Agency 3X Faster? Are you overwhelmed by all the information out there on various ways to grow your agency? Do you want direction on how you can grow your agency faster and easier? Then you're in luck! I created an innovative mentorship called Agency University. Agency University is a program which provides the 1-on-1 mentorship and ongoing support that is crucial to the success of your agency. Click here to see if it's the right fit for you. Related: A $3 Million Agency with a Unique Business Model

How can you create an agency culture that continually inspires your team? After all your team is your #1 asset, so keeping them energized and motivated is key. Agency culture and brand are two sides of the same coin. So, it all starts with defining your on core values. Easier said than done, right? In this week's episode, we'll cover: Who to hire first at your agency. How to create a desirable agency culture. One example of core values that set the tone for amazing agency culture. Today's guest on the show is Brad Flowers, founder of Bullhorn Creative. Like many others, Brad and his partner "accidentally" founded their agency. What was just the two of them and some freelancers in 2008 has grown to 2 offices and 14 employees. They learned fast and hard in order to grow, and Brad is on the show to share his tips on creating a desirable agency culture. Who to Hire First at Your Agency Their first hire was a Project Manager which is ideal, because PM's: Pay attention to details and follow-up/follow-through. Create and implement agency systems and processes. Keep track of projects, keeping them on time and in budget. All this frees up the owner(s) for higher level, business growth activities. Things like: identifying your ideal clients and proactively going after the business you want in order to grow. How To Create a Desirable Agency Culture It clicked for Brad when he read a line in Tony Hsieh's book, Delivering Happiness. "Our belief is that a company's culture and a company's brand are just two sides of the same coin. The brand is just a lagging indicator of the culture." ~ Tony Hsieh Meaning, culture is the outside world's perception of the people within your agency. And since the people on your team are a reflection of your agency's core values you need to hire the right people in order to have the culture you want. So, it all starts with setting core values. Here's how: Do honest inward reflection to determine your (and your partner's) personal core values. Write your core values and live them by example every day. Begin hiring based on core values in order to mesh them into your culture. Consider incentives or awards in line with the core values. For more on Zappos' highly acclaimed company culture and core values check out: How to Define Your Agency's Core Values and Set Up Your Team for Success Like Zappos. Core Values that Set the Tone for Agency Culture Bullhorn has 3 pairs of core values they bring to life in their agency's culture. Like Zappos, these aren't just a motto to aspire toward, they're a way of life. 1. Empathy & Honesty Understand where someone else is coming from but be honest enough to keep things on track. Relevant both internally among the team and externally with clients. Empathy is a unique way of demonstrating authority to your prospects and clients. 2. Dissatisfaction & Improvement It's OK to be unhappy but also important to help be part of the solution. Always look for ways to make things better. 3. Creativity & Decisiveness Agency teams are presumably creative, but creativity is encouraged and celebrated in every role - including bookkeeping, business development etc. Indecisiveness is the enemy of good work. Need Guidance and Support to Grow Your Agency 3X Faster? Are you overwhelmed by all the information out there on various ways to grow your agency? Do you want direction on how you can grow your agency faster and easier? Then you're in luck! I created an innovative mentorship called Agency University. Agency University is a program which provides the 1-on-1 mentorship and ongoing support that is crucial to the success of your agency. Click here to see if it's the right fit for you.

Do you want to grow your digital agency with amazing talent, but worried you can't pay top dollar? This unique "reverse recruitment model" for finding, training and keeping incredible talent might make it more doable than you think. In this episode, we'll cover: Why and how to implement a reverse recruitment model. How to develop agency talent with an entry level team. 2 big benefits to reverse recruitment. Today's guest is Morgan Lopes, CEO of Polar Notion, the web and mobile app development agency he co-founded 5 years ago. Like so many of us, he's an accidental agency owner who shares with us some valuable advice about hiring a team to grow your agency. He has created and implemented a new recruitment model that's netting fantastic results. Why Hiring Entry-Level People Can Grow Your Agency Morgan had an amazing mentor when he was young and new to the industry. He developed his craft through the generosity of an older, more experienced person who would not accept payment for his time. Instead, he asked Morgan to pay it forward. Years later, the solution is Polar Notion's reverse recruitment model. How the Reverse Recruitment Model Works: Skills are teachable, personality is inherent. Hire entry level candidates, typically right out of school. Hiring process focused on personality and character instead of skill level. Character traits to look for: teachable, curious, thoughtful, actionable Skills are teachable, character is not. Train skills and develop the craft in people who are already a culture fit. How to Develop Agency Talent from the Ground Up At first Polar Notion had no process and it was messier than it should've been. Now there's a process and curriculum in place. New hires are onboarded and trained based on specific guidelines. Employees follow process/steps and their appointed mentor makes daunting tasks more bearable. Expectations for new hires and existing team are clear so the program is more successful. 2 Big Benefits of Reverse Recruitment 1. A Company Mission Transitions to a Way of Life This isn't a "thing" Morgan wants to talk about all the time or force his team do. They're starting to create habits of mentoring and teaching each other - which is the ultimate goal. Instead of mentorship just being a company mission he aims for it to be something that is naturally ingrained in their culture and lived out. 2. A Super Low Employee Turnover Rate Morgan's agency has only ever let one person go. Ever. When you're hiring based on personality and character everything clicks and people stick. Also, if/when issues arise the team is more apt to talk to leadership and work through a solution. Need Guidance and Support to Grow Your Agency 3X Faster? Are you overwhelmed by all the information out there on various ways to grow your agency? Do you want direction on how you can grow your agency faster and easier? Then you're in luck! I created an innovative mentorship called Agency University. Agency University is a program which provides the 1-on-1 mentorship and ongoing support that is crucial to the success of your agency. Click here to see if it's the right fit for you.

Have you thought about productizing your SaaS idea or tech solution? Is a SaaS company the way to go? It might be! As agencies, we provide solutions and create tools for clients every single day. So, why not monetize them? But first, learn the right way to build a profitable SaaS company. In this episode, we'll cover: How to create a profitable SaaS product. What agencies are doing wrong when it comes to productizing. How to avoid common mistakes creating your SaaS product. This week's guest is Dan Martell, a former agency owner and current coach to SaaS companies. His passion has always been in the tech space and he's here to share insights on how you can get your incredible SaaS idea off the ground and be profitable at it. How to Create a Profitable SaaS Product Successful SaaS creates a technology solution for: customers, so they can do something themselves. the industry, so they can do something easier. B2B SaaS is the most tried and true type. There are 5 categories: Alerting or monitoring tools Reporting tools Workflow tools Collaboration CRM (customer relationship management) 4 Steps to getting your SaaS idea off the ground (without going broke!) Step 1: Create a clickable prototype - create a spec model, no coding necessary in order to test your idea. Step 2: Identify early adopters - techies crave innovation and like to be first to jump into new using new solutions and tools. Step 3: Accept pre-orders - take advance orders from the early adopters by offering an amazing deal (like 50% off) if they order and pay in advance. Step 4: Build your team - usually once you have taken the first three steps, the team falls into place. 3 Mistakes Agencies Are Making with SaaS A lot of agency owners stumble into the business accidentally. When they are struggling or unhappy they often think the "grass is greener on the other side" and want to develop a SaaS product. If that's the case for you, that's OK. But remember: the grass is greener on the side you water. 1- Product: Make sure the idea is something you can get behind. The best products are at the intersection of what people will buy + something you're passionate about + your area of expertise. So the goal is to find a sweet spot between all three elements. Mistake to Avoid: Don't spin your wheels on something you don't love or don't know enough about. 2- People: A lot of agencies decide to productize a solution so they start using their existing team to develop it. This is a bad idea because that same team is also responsible for working on billable projects. Given the choice, billable work will always take priority over the new SaaS project causing a major stall. Mistake to Avoid: As tempting as it is, keep the teams separate. And, find the right person to be in charge of it. Use what you know as a springboard but bring on the right person to actually push the boulder up the hill. 3- Profit: With little to no resources to start, agencies tend to pull funds from the existing business in order to get the SaaS up and running. While focusing on SaaS they neglect the growth of the agency. The end result, is two struggling businesses. Mistake to Avoid: Keep agency and SaaS funds in separate silos. Follow the steps for launching SaaS to the early adopters in order to fund the project. Related: The Ins and Outs of Going from Agency to SaaS Company Software Idea for Agencies? If you would like to talk to me about your software you are developing for your agency or the software idea, click here and fill out the form.

So what can you do when a client refuses to pay? I mean, absolutely refuses! That's the dilemma this new agency owner has with a nightmare client who owes him almost $10K. Listen to his story plus my advice on how to get through it and the processes he needs in order to prevent it from happening again. In this episode, we'll cover: Why you need a prospect qualification process. What information to get in an initial client meeting. 2 ways to get the client's budget every time. How to protect your agency against slow pay or no pay clients. Today's guest is Mike Volkin, a long time freelancer turned agency owner when he founded 800lb Marketing in early 2017. Mike's agency specializes in fractional CMO services for startups that don't have marketing leadership. He was about 8 months into the business when I interviewed him. He caught my attention with a post in our Digital Agency Owners Facebook group about a client who wouldn't pay. In this episode, Mike candidly shares his story about a client who stiffed him on almost $10K while I give him advice to make sure it doesn't happen again. How a Good Client Turns Bad So here's the gist of Mike's horror story... His agency was working with a new client who was investor-funded. They assured him there was plenty of funding - they were even turning investors away. So money wasn't going to be a problem. The deal was going to be 800lb Marketing's second largest contract with multiple-thousands of dollars in recurring revenue. Well, fast forward several months and now the client refuses to pay. Their reason for nonpayment is because they didn't receive investor funding. And they didn't get investor funding because ~ get this~ because, the agency didn't meet their traffic goals. But wait… WHAT TRAFFIC GOALS? The agency was never given traffic goals yet their success and payment are tied to them? [clickToTweet tweet="There's no such thing as a bag agency client. Just a bad prospect or a bad process" quote="There's no such thing as a bag agency client. Just a bad prospect or a bad process"] Why You Need a Qualification Process You might have a similar story. Sooner or later, every agency owner has at least one nightmare client story. In hindsight, usually you look back and realize the signs were always there... Agency owners have to understand they have the right and duty to screen prospective clients. It's not a one-sided process. Agencies need to ask the right questions and really dig deep to understand if the client is the right fit for them, and not just the other way around. Since Mike works with startups, he typically asks about the source of funds -- whether self-funded or investor-funded but rarely… hardly ever... will they give him a budget. In most cases he doesn't budget info until the second meeting, after he presents a proposal. Mike says typically, in the first meeting, prospects ask him to create a plan and they'll "find" the budget... Sound familiar? What Info Do You Need in the Initial Meeting? I always advise my clients to think of N.B.A.T. before engaging in a new project conversation with a new prospect. N- Need. Find out what the client's desired goals are. What do they believe is the specific need in order to achieve the goal? What they think they need might not be what they actually do need. How does this goal tie into the company's vision? And how will success be measured? B- Budget. 99% of your prospects know their budget but rarely will they share it. They don't understand it makes a huge difference in knowing whether you can help them reach their goals or not. Below are my 2 strategies to get the budget from clients who aren't forthcoming with the information. And the 1% who don't know the budget? Those are usually the really big clients who have the money to spend -- you'll know who they are :) A- Authority. Who's involved in the decision-making? Make sure you're working with that person or group of people. You don't want to spin your wheel with people who don't have the authority to give approvals or make decisions. T- Timing. What is the timeframe for this project and how soon does the client expect results? Is the time frame realistic? Can you achieve the desired results in the period of time they're allowing? 2 Ways To Get the Client's Budget Every Time In order to get the client's budget I like to have a little fun… it depends on your personality as to which one of these strategies work best. You could even use: Jokester: If a prospect tells you there is no budget, you can respond with a little sarcasm. Like, "No budget? That's great! I love working with client's who don't have limits on what they can spend. Then we can do a bunch of testing and see what works!" Of course, there is a budget and they'll soon end up giving you a ballpark of it. If not, you can try #2. Reverse Auctioneer: Start with an obscenely high number and just keep dropping it until you land on a number they're comfortable committing to. Say something like, "What's the bu

Looking for a new way to monetize your agency's content marketing? Check out how you can use interactive content to personalize the user experience, engage with your prospects and gain trust by making the content more relevant. Learn what interactive content is all about and how you can use it to acquire new agency business. In this episode, we'll cover: What is interactive content? How can agencies use interactive content? What types of interactive content works best for agencies? Today's guest is Randy Reyess, cofounder of Outgrow, a growth marketing platform that enables marketers to build interactive content that increase customer engagement. He's on the show to share strategies on how you can create interactive content that captures more leads and helps convert them into clients. What is Interactive Content? You know those clever quizzes on Facebook that test your movie knowledge? Or calculators you find online to recommend what type of mortgage loan you need? That's interactive content. It content that requires the participants' active engagement -- more than simply reading a blog post or watching a video. It helps the creator gather information about the user and move them along within the funnel. How Can Agencies Use Interactive Content? Randy says agencies should reflect on all the common questions their sales and support teams always seem to get. The best interactive content usually answers those types of questions. They are the questions that take a lot of explanation, rely on several variables and could not be easily explained in something as simple as a blog post. These are the types of things agencies can handle with a quiz or calculator. [clickToTweet tweet="Everyone is unique but they have common criteria. Use interactive content to understand them quicker." quote="'Everyone is unique but they have common criteria. Use interactive content to understand them quicker.'"] When you offer all your options to prospects it can be overwhelming and confusing. And when you confuse - you lose. Interactive content helps you build a solution and make the recommendation that best suits a prospect's specific needs. What Type of Interactive Content Works for Agencies? Agencies and SaaS companies are loving interactive content for capturing leads and acquiring new clients. Here's how they're using them: Calculators: ROI is huge for your prospects and clients. They want to see what kind of bang they're going to get for their buck. Agencies can use ROI calculators to help clients determine where and how to spend their budgets. Calculators provide useful information and build authority by not only providing a result but also explaining it. Quiz: Agency prospects often think they need one thing, but in reality actually need something completely different. A short quiz can help them (and you) understand their goals and determine how to meet them. It eliminates the confusion and guesswork while also keeping the focus on the client and their needs. At the conclusion of the quiz, you can make a recommendation on which product or service they need based on quiz results. Mistakes to Avoid When Creating Interactive Content Not having a promotion strategy. Some marketers create calculators without any plan for getting it to it's users. Your interactive content can't generate leads if there's no plan for distributing the content. Not fully experimenting enough. If you want your content to be a lead generator it's important to test the effectiveness of the lead gen form. Run testing on having different numbers of fields on the form, as well as where, when and how much information you require from the user. Not understanding where the user is in the buyer's journey. Understand what type of person you're targeting and where they are in the funnel. Randy suggests starting with your end goal in mind and then determine your target and whether you want to be educational (calculator strategy) or entertaining (quiz strategy). Need Guidance and Support to Grow Your Agency 3X Faster? Are you overwhelmed by all the information out there on various ways to grow your agency? Do you want direction on how you can grow your agency faster and easier? Then you're in luck! I created an innovative mentorship called Agency University. Agency University is a program which provides the 1-on-1 mentorship and ongoing support that is crucial to the success of your agency. Click here to see if it's the right fit for you.

Wondering how you can get the attention of your ideal clients? It's a noisy marketing world out there, but you can break through the noise. Learn how one digital agency owner is growing a social community with tens of thousands of prospects. In this episode, learn the ins and outs of creating a Facebook group that provides value and connects people so you can beat out your competition and stay top of mind. In this episode, we'll cover: 2 benefits to building a Facebook community. Tips on creating and managing an engaging group. How to avoid common pitfalls when creating a Facebook group. Today's guest is Arne Giske, a digital agency owner whose business sky rocketed after creating a Facebook community has over 29,000 members in just one year (and still growing!). He's here to share tips on creating and managing an engaged group plus pitfalls to avoid so you can generate new agency business. 2 Big Benefits to Building a Facebook Community It took Arne 6 months to take his Facebook group from 0 to 1,000 members but just another 6 months to jump from 1,000 to 18,000! (It's called Millenial Entrepreneur Community - check it out here.) It's better than an email list because people choose to see and engage with their Facebook communities every day. 1- Eliminate Your Competition Creating a community and helping to connect and serve others. In a very busy, digital world your prospects want to feel seen and heard. You can help them by creating a community of like minded individuals where they can ask questions and idea-share. The best way to break through the noise and clutter of your competition is to help, not hype. Doing this will make you stand out from the "me too" agencies. 2- Member Development Builds Revenue As your community grows it's members are more likely to work with you. Members become aware of you and your brand. As an active member of the group you'll be building trust and authority with your comments, answers and helpful posts. When you provide value first, it will come back to you. Tips on Creating an Engaging Group So, there are millions of Facebook groups out there. What can you do to make sure yours is different? The key is making sure people want to join and engage in the group. You can't even begin to monetize your group until you have active members participating in it. First, set the mission for the group. What is the intention for bringing these people together? Why would someone want to join this group? Arne says he has started some other groups that flopped entirely. Looking back, it's because his other groups were self-serving. People could see through his motives and chose not to be involved a sales platform. Also, understand the basics of Facebook's algorithms and use it to your advantage. Facebook groups grow because of engagement. Every like, share, comment and post counts! The more engagement, the more Facebook suggests your group to non-members. It becomes very cyclical: member growth = more engagement = more growth = more engagement, and so on. Naming is important, so take your time. The first three words in the group name will determine whether people want to join or not. Arne suggests making the group name keyword heavy. People will join groups that are relevant to their life, so reach your target audience by identifying them in the group name. (This is another reason why your agency must have a niche!) How to Manage a Successful Facebook Community Arnes says the best way to manage a Facebook community to to give the members freedom while providing them structure. Here's how: Be selective. Consider your criteria for membership. Facebook allows you to ask new members a few screening questions before they're allowed to join. Determine how you'll screen group members in order to keep the integrity and intentions of the group. Set guidelines. Set rules and make sure you or community manager enforces them. For example, you want to keep your group spam-free. So set a rule about no self-promotion and then make sure there's a system in place for enforcing it. Decide what kind of penalty rule breakers will receive and then follow through: Will you delete their post? Will you block them from the group? Pin important posts. A pinned post is the one that stays on the top of the group discussion at all times. It can only be pinned or unpinned by an group administrator. You can use pinned posts to explain rules and guidelines, draw attention to Facebook Lives, make special announcements, or provide special member offers, such as affiliate links. How to Avoid Common Pitfalls Low membership: Some groups just never take off and membership doesn't grow beyond a couple hundred. That's because the creator is relying on organic growth. Instead, Arne says to update backlinks from your other social channels and point people toward the group through other media. Help grow membership by promoting it. Branding the group: You are connecting and serving like-minded people. Remember, Arne learned the hard

Being an agency owner can feel isolating and lonely. But it can be a whole lot better when you hear from others in the same boat. So, check out the stories of not one but two super successful agency owners as we cover everything from overcoming their biggest challenges, to increasing prices and growing their teams. In this episode, we'll cover: Overcoming the pipeline problem. 4 tips on increasing prices. What agency role to hire for first. What to do about a weak link on your team. I could not be more excited to share this episode with you because it's my first three-way! :) Today's show guests are two digital agency owners Zach Williams, of Venveo, and Todd Earwood, of Money Path Marketing. These guys have been super successful - Todd's agency doubled their business in 4 months and Zach's did 4X revenue in one year, so listen close! They're here to talk about the similarities and differences in their journeys as agency owners, as well as share some golden nuggets of wisdom and inspiration. Overcoming the Pipeline Problem One of the biggest challenges as an agency owner is continuing to find new clients and sell, while serving your existing clients. Both guys agree, it like it's a vicious cycle! You're a marketing agency, but there's never enough time to practice what you preach… You work hard on your own marketing to attract new clients, then you get busy with them and end up neglecting your own marketing, so when those projects dry up you end up scrambling to procure new clients again… and the cycle repeat itself over and over. The solution? Todd and Zach both say defining a specialization and positioning the agency to a specific audience greatly helped their pipeline problems. Todd said it made a major impact on business when he identified and communicated: who they are, the market they serve, and what they stand for. 4 Tips on Increasing Prices Are you charging enough? Zach says he didn't fully understand the value his agency was providing to their clients… in some cases it was up to 100X! They were under valuing services by not charging enough. 1- Measure and quantify value Chances are, you're not charging enough! Clients should see a 10X return on their investment working with you. So, the key is to work backwards to determine the value of your work and divide by 10. One of the best ways to determine value is to understand their 3 I's - issue, impact and importance. Once you know what a project is worth the client, you can better estimate it's value. 2- Ask the right questions upfront. As Todd said, there's nothing worse that estimating a project at $50,000 only to find out the client was prepared to spend triple. So you've got to ask all the right questions to qualify your client, scope the project and determine what the outcome is worth to them. You can't fully understand the scope of a project without all the right information. You have to gather as much information as possible from your client so you can fully understand what they need or rather, what they think they need and how you can help. Here are some of the questions you should ask new clients to determine value. 3- Sell outcomes and ROI. A lot of agencies try to sell based on their portfolio and what they've done for others. Zach adds says past work can very subjective but outcomes and ROI are concrete evidence of value. It's so much easier to sell on black and white facts. 4- Report and remind often. Clients usually have short term memory, right? They tend to forget where they started and have a hard time remembering or realizing the value your agency provided. Todd says it's super important to report results to clients regularly. Help them remember where they were and where they are now so they can realize your value. Do this often and in person, rather than just via email. Data reporting can be your secret weapon to growing your revenue. When to Hire (and Fire) for Your Growing Agency What Role to Hire for First? In the early stages of agency growth, it's hard to know when and who to hire first. Most owners want to get out of the account management and project management work… how did Zach and Todd do it? Zach says he's horrible with process and he knows it. Know your strengths and He knew right away that he needed to hire someone who was process driven and his first hire was a Project Manager. Todd agrees, and says it's important for the owner to know their own skillset then hire what's missing. His first hires were specialists and he learned the hard way that he needed people to own the accounts. It's hard to give up that control but when you do it can be oddly refreshing. As Todd put it, "there's pleasure in knowing people pay our firm money and I don't have to personally work with them." Recognizing a Weak Link on Your Team Hiring is hard - firing is even harder. That's why they say: hire slow, fire fast. Growing from 0-5 employees is different than 5-10 and 10-20… When your team is small each person needs to be nimble. As your age

Have you ever considered closing your agency because you feel like you're failing? Cash flow problems, employee issues, bad clients… the struggle is real! You don't have to throw in the towel. Just check out what this agency owner did to turn things around to become profitable and happy again. In this episode, we'll cover: How an agency goes from good to bad. 6 Steps to turning around a struggling agency. One regret from an agency owner. Our guest today is Jack Jostes, President and CEO of Ramblin Jackson, the SEO agency he started in 2009. In his video The Good, The Bad and The Ugly he talks about his eight year journey as an agency owner and the valuable lessons he learned in order to go from almost close to thriving. Jack's on the show to talk about the steps he took to turn around his agency so he and his team could enjoy it again. How Does an Agency Go from Good to Bad? Like many entrepreneurs, Jack fell into the business by accident. He was working in sales and started to learn SEO as a trade from someone in the business. He decided to start a digital agency to marry those two skills but he admits he had no idea what he was getting into. The Good At first, things were great and it was super fun taking on new clients, challenging new project and hiring contractors to help with all the new work. After a couple years, though, he decided to bring on a partner with 20 years experience in the agency business. It turned out to be a great decision because they grew 50% for several years after forming the partnership. The Bad & The Ugly Jack says it was fun and growth at great at first. But then things got bad - and ugly. Cash flow was terrible. Jack and his partner went months without getting paid and vendors were paid late. The team morale was low and clients were getting frustrated. Jack got to the point where he considered closing. That's when he reached out to me the first time and told him not to give up! I told Jack about the Navy Seal's 40% rule which is, when your mind thinks you're done, you're really only 40% done. And that was Jack's turning point. 6 Steps to Turning Around a Struggling Agency So how did Jack turn things around? Here are the six steps he took. 1- Get really clear about company vision. Jack was unhappy and ready to throw in the towel. I get it. I considered closing my agency when we were struggling too. When things are hard and it's not fun it seems like giving up is the answer. However, Jack said he took a step back and got really clear about what he wanted and didn't want for the agency. Then he had an honest, respectful conversation with his partner where they realized they wanted different things. That's when they made the mutual decision to part ways. Jack bought his partner out and since it was an amicable split, they still work on some projects together. 2- Understand and be transparent about financials. Jack says part of the reason they had such bad cash flow was because he was embarrassed of the state of the financials and kept it a secret. He used to feel as President, the accounts receivables and collections were his responsibility. No one was aware or incentivized to help achieve better cash flow. After going through my Agency Playbook he discovered ways to incentive his team. Now there are key employees are get bonuses based on accounts receivables and attaining agency financial goals. 3- Change payment terms. Like most agencies, Ramblin Jackson's payment terms were 50% to start and 50% upon completion. However, the problem with this payment structure is when the client stalls on a project the final amount can't get billed. That means the agency is stuck holding the bag while the client drags their feet on providing information, feedback or approvals. Now, they require full payment up front for smaller projects or use my date driven payment terms for larger engagements. As a result they're they've reduced project cycles since prepaid clients are motivated to receive the value they've already paid for. 4- Hire slow. Fire fast. It's imperative to have a A players on your team - even in roles that might not seem integral to the outward success of the agency. In Jack's case, it was the bookkeeper who was awful and incompetent. He was always slow to send invoices and didn't have a pulse on agency finances. Once Jack fired the bookkeeper and hired a new one things turned around quickly. In fact, the new bookkeeper found over $10,000 of unsent invoices! She has also streamlined bookkeeping and created systems to make it easy. 5- Tie others to the same bomb. By holding everyone accountable to the same goals, there is more cohesiveness among the internal departments. For example, Sales doesn't get commission until the client pays the invoice. With common goals everyone is motivated to work together to achieve them. 6- Invest in mentors. Agency ownership can be lonely! Jack says he has worked with some incredible coaches over the years who each specialize in different aspects of

As Agency CEO one of your 5 roles is to be the face of the company. A great way to do that is to use speaking engagements and presentations to build your brand and grab the attention of your ideal clients. Here are 9 tricks to keep the audience engaged and leave them with an unforgettable first impression. In this episode, we'll cover: What makes the best presentations? 9 Tips to a unforgettable speech Today's guest is Mike Pacchione, one of the public speaking experts at Duarte. As Mike puts it, he gives "workshops on giving workshops" and "talks on talks.":) No matter how you explain it though, Mike is the pro on giving memorable speeches. He knows what to do to keep your audience engaged so you can use your presentations to build your agency business. Mike shares his experience and advice on making the most of your speaking opportunities. What Makes the Best Presentations? Two things. It might seem obvious but most importantly you need to start with a good idea. It doesn't have to be earth shattering but it does need to be somewhat thought provoking and worth sharing. Next, you have to understand your audience. Like, really understand them. Why are they interested in your topic? How can they relate to or use the information you're presenting? You also have to be relatable, like not to using technical language to a non-technical audience. 9 Tips to an Unforgettable Speech 1- Grab attention with a strong first line. Mike says you want to say something that makes them put down their phone and pay attention. A great technique is to start by dropping them in the middle of a story and then frame the rest of your presentation around filling in the blanks. How NOT to start: Don't start with your name and the title of your presentation. Super boring! Besides, they already know who you are and why you're talking. Don't start with "I'm really nervous". Your audience will focus on your jitters the entire time and could undermine your authority. 2- Be a little vulnerable. You can share personal experience or say something like "I used to think this but now I realize that's wrong because of that." Just insert something that shows the audience you're human and not perfect. This creates empathy between you and your audience, which can have a major impact on how they react to your talk. 3- Build evidence based authority. Too many people give advice based on what worked for them. Everybody is not everybody and not everything works for everyone. Avoid anything that sounds like: "Here's what I did and you should too..." Instead add data or case study evidence to back the advice/strategy in your presentation. 4- Share anecdotes and stories. The best, most memorable presentations are those told in story form. You can use personal, real life stories or even industry case studies. Did you know the most viewed TED Talk is Sir Ken Robinson "Do Schools Kill Creativity?" with over 42 MILLION views? His talk is simply a collection of stories strung together to make a point. However, don't just tell a story for the sake of storytelling. Use it to demonstrate transformation or change mindset. 5- Craft short and long term calls-to-action. Most presentations end with a closing statement and a CTA, such as: "Text 123456 to receive my PDF of XYZ," but that's such a finite ending. Mike suggests adding an additional long term goal or CTA which leaves the discussion more open ended. Challenge the audience to be doing "X" by next week or give them a 90 days to achieve "Y". You want to have two CTAs to leave a longer lasting impression. 6- Warn the audience about traps. No one wants to fall victim to a trap but everyone loves a good story about it. Point out potential pitfalls, mistakes or traps to create a little tension in your talk. Pointing these out and explaining the resolution can be another way to build your credibility. Saying things like, "you might be tempted to X, but here's why you shouldn't…" or "one of my clients did Y and here's why that didn't work." 7- Develop an impactful closing statement. A lot of people end their talks with Q&A. This is great for credibility but you can't control the final question which means the last thing the audience hears may not be on point. Mike says to craft a closing statement that leaves a lasting impression. Then, deliver the closing statement before and after the Q&A 8- Have fun. Your audience will mirror your emotions when you're on stage. Your demeanor will set the tone for the entire time you're up there. If you're nervous, fidgety, distracted, etc. it will transfer to your audience. So just have fun and they will too! (There's a difference between fun and funny. Only be funny, if you are a funny person. Forced humor is not fun or funny.) 9- Rehearse until it becomes part of you. Some people practice until they get it right. I think you should practice until you can't get it wrong. You want your speech to become second nature and flow easily. When it does you'll notice you're far less nervo

How can you turn your agency into a highly sought-after brand? Today's guest knows how because he's done it for the OxiClean and the George Foreman Grill. In this episode, learn the 5 key strategies to build a brand that gets clients beating down your door. In this episode, we'll cover: How the right positioning can drastically change your business. 5 things you can implement right now to build a successful brand. Today's guest on the show is Rick Cesari of Cesari Media, the agency he founded over 20 years ago. They specialize in building brands that sell products direct to the consumer. Over his career, Rick has worked some amazing brands such as OxiClean, George Foreman Grill, Rug Doctor, and Sonicare to name a few. He's here to share the secrets to building these amazing brands so you can apply them and grow your agency. "Figure out a good way to position so you're different than everyone else." ~ Rick Cesari Why You Might Need to Reframe Your Brand Positioning Have you ever heard of The Fajita Express? No, you haven't. But I'll bet you have heard of the George Foreman Grill. When Rick was first approached to help with branding it was for grilling product called The Fajita Express. It was a slanted grill so the meat could slide right into taco shells. It didn't sound too groundbreaking to Rick but with his help repositioning, that grill became the George Foreman Grill. As you probably know, it is marketed for its ability to drain grease away from the meat. They've sold over 30 million grills since then! 5 Keys to Building a Better Brand With over two decades in the direct response business Rick has discovered some consistent themes to building brands. These are easily adaptable from product to service-based agency business. 1- Develop a Unique Selling Proposition A USP is the foundation of building a better brand. It's the single most important factor clients use when deciding to work with you over your competition. The best type of USP for an agency is a niche or specialization that helps you stand out. When you show expertise in a specific area you develop a reputation for being the best. You will become "the choice" rather than just "a choice." 2- Position to Stand Out Rick says he tells his clients to sell benefits or results rather than features. In the agency industry that means you should be marketing the ways your agency can serve your clients. Show clients what you can do for them and how you are the trusted advisor who helps achieve their desired results. 3- Deliver More Value When you are laser focused on particular niche you can drill down and really understand the intricacies of that industry. Then use that understanding to exceed expectations. For example, when Rick's agency was helping OxiClean he says they always sent a larger container than what the customer expected and included free samples of other products. This is a great strategy for growing revenue from your existing client base. 4- Always Listen to Your Clients Speak to satisfied clients - the people who have already had success working with you - and see what they liked and disliked. Use the positive feedback when crafting your marketing messages, in your new business proposals, etc. When you get input from existing clients you can use that information to understand and then market toward the benefits of working with you. 5- Procure and Use Authentic Testimonials Today's decision makers want to hear from others in their same boat. Talk to your clients that are getting great results and ask them to share their story as a testimonial. Social proof such as testimonials (particularly video testimonials) will go a long way with your prospects. It's a very powerful message when existing happy clients share their story of success. Above all else, Rick's best advice is to be unique. You can't be everything to everybody so focus on an industry or segment of the population that you help best.

If you know a ton about your agency but aren't winning all the clients you think you should be, you might be plagued with the curse of knowledge. In this episode, you will learn how you can clarify your message and use it as a competitive advantage. Win more clients when you communicate in a way that makes clients feel educated and helped. In this episode, we'll cover: What is the curse of knowledge? How to break the curse of knowledge. How to use explanation to separate your agency from the competition. Today's guest on the show is Lee Lefever founder of Common Craft and Explainer Academy and author of The Art of Explanation. His businesses and his book center around the idea of making explanation a business growth strategy. He's on the show to share ways to clarify your agency's message so you can win more clients... because when you confuse, you lose. "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." ~ Albert Einstein What is the Curse of Knowledge? Ever wonder why no one "gets" what you do? Do you get puzzled looks when you describe your agency work in detail? That's the curse of knowledge. It's the theory that the more you know about something the harder it is to understand what it's like not knowing. You spend all day engrossed in the technical side of the industry, surrounded by people speaking a language very specific to your agency's skill set. However, outside of the agency setting you might continue to use technical jargon that makes other people (like prospective clients) feel confused, overwhelmed, or inferior. It's not intentional but it happens! Lee compares it talking to a mechanic when you have car trouble. They use technical phrasing to explain the problem but you don't understand most of what they say. You don't want to look stupid by asking questions so you smile and nod... Then, you either trust them and agree to the repairs or shop around to find someone you can understand. That's what your prospective clients are doing when you don't clearly explain how your agency can help them. Working this way might makes you (and your agency) feel and sound smart but creates a set of problems: It makes clients feel inferior when you talk above their level of understanding. When you water it or simplify too much, it sounds condescending. Your client doesn't want to ask questions for fear of sounding stupid. How Can You Break the Curse? The goal is to explain in a such a way that it makes your client feel a sense of familiarity. You can adjust your assumptions on what you think people might know about your business. Lee says you have to avoid getting stuck in a loop where your client doesn't understand and is afraid to ask questions, so you continue to use language they don't understand and they continue to be confused. What you can do is start using phrases like: "I don't know how much you already know about XYZ…" before you simplify an explanation. Framing the conversation this way allows you to "dumb down" the explanation without sounding condescending. How to Use Explanation as a Competitive Advantage There's a difference between "understanding" and "convincing." Understanding is a higher level concept and it's not the same as convincing someone they need your service. Your agency's job is to help your prospects/clients think conceptually and understand why. When they understand how you can help they are more apt to want to buy. For example, if you're an SEO agency… clients might not care about SEO but they do care about what SEO can do for them. If you have the curse of knowledge it seems obvious to you why someone should work with you. However, when you have a shift in mindset and break the curse you will win more clients. Take a step back and think about what questions you can answer for your clients before they even ask them. Things like: "Why is this relevant to me?" or "How will this affect me?" Consider the struggles and pain points your clients have, then explain how you can help ease them. People don't buy what they don't understand - so help them understand! You will stand out from your competition when your agency tackles the WHY for more directly. Win more clients when you help them understand why your agency's work is important instead of just convincing them it's something they need. 3 Questions Your Agency Website Must Answer Your website is the central hub of everything you do. Your homepage is where your prospects go first and how they'll compare you against other agencies. STOP worrying about what other agencies sites look like and make sure yours answers these 3 questions: Who do you help? What do you offer? How do you help? Too many agency websites skip answering #1 and assume their services are for everyone. Be a specialist and announce it on your website. Use language that is familiar to your clients and phrases that are specific to their industry. You will win more business when your prospects realize you "get" them and the nuances of their industry. S

Are you trying to land bigger clients for your agency? It's hard to communicate value when a lot your agency work invisible to clients. In this episode, discover how you can build better relationships and win bigger agency clients by stepping up your communication game. In this episode, we'll cover: 4 Ways to communicate to win bigger clients. How to avoid feeling like an imposter when you land big clients. Dylan Baskind is today's guest on the show. He's here to share ways agencies can step up their game to land bigger clients. Dylan is the CEO and Co-founder of Qwilr, a software solution for for creating attractive proposals and sales documents. He's on the show to share ways to notch up your client services and win bigger agency clients. Dylan spent 8 years in the digital consultancy space growing his business from small, local clients to larger, multinational ones. He found the one consistent pain point was always the time suck of creating impressive proposals. So he created Qwilr as a solution for replacing aggrevating, time consuming cut and paste PDF or Word doc proposals/presentations with interactive and trackable web pages. 4 Ways to Use Communication to Win Bigger Agency Clients It all comes down to better communication with your existing clients. Dylan says when you put more effort into your existing clients you will start getting noticed by bigger ones. Disclaimer: you cannot rely solely on referrals because they aren't scalable! However, if you're giving excellent service to existing clients you will build a reputation… and sometimes small fish know dolphins, and some dolphins know whales. 1. Communicate beyond expectations. Be concise, prompt and polite. When a client asks 3 questions in an email, respond to all 3. Don't sit on emails too long, be prompt by replying in a timely manner. And keep a friendly but professional tone in all communication. 2. Consider the client's user experience. Digital agencies spend so much time considering their clients' customers UX that they sometimes forget about their own users... the client. Little things can really wow your clients in big ways. For example, I've seen amazing results just by sending my new new clients a personalized video (using a tool like Covideo). 3. Demonstrate value. A lot of agency work is invisible to the client. However, if you outline the invisible tasks and correlate them to results, the client can connect the dots and have a better appreciation for your work. 4. Eliminate the mystery. Clients tend to view agency's as a magic box where they put money in, wait awhile and hopefully, eventually get results. Use reporting tools to communicate analytics regularly. Clients can get a better understanding of what and why you do what you do when the see regular updates of the results. How to Avoid Feeling Like an Imposter It's totally normal to feel like an imposter the first time you take on bigger project or bigger client than you're accustomed to. You feel like you've got to fake it until you make it and just pray no one figures you out. If you're at the point where you're ready to jump a rung on the ladder it's time to step up the quality your communications. You can and bigger clients and increase your agency's perceived value. Your agency's reputation rests on your confidence and ability - you DO NOT need to fake it :) Avoid feeling like an imposter by leading conversations and presentations in a more professional manner. Consider your prospects experience and knock it out of the park from day one. Save time & win more work Replace your proposals, quotes and presentations with interactive + mobile-friendly webpages that plug into your systems and are as easy to build and reuse as they are beautiful. Check out Qwilr or head to JasonSwenk.com/proposalsoftware. Sign up now for FREE and get 50% your first three months using the code smartagency while upgrading. Grow as a Business I hope you found this information helpful in finding the best ways to land those bigger agency clients and achieve the business growth you aspire to. If you are looking for advice on what you need to do as an agency owner or learn how to fast track growth for your agency, I can help. On my website, I have a bank of tips, tricks and insights that as an agency owner, you might find helpful. Head on over to the blog section of my website where you can find everything you need covering a wide variety of topics. If videos are more your thing and you find the more beneficial, you can check out the videos on my Youtube channel!

Do you feel like your agency spends more time being an order taker than providing insight and value to your clients? If so - listen up. It's time to show your clients how much value you bring their business. You can increase revenue by measuring your client's success and finding new opportunities for them. Data reporting done right can be your secret weapon to growing your agency. In this episode, we'll cover: How agencies can retain their clients. What KPI's agencies should measure in their data reporting for clients. How to use data reporting to grow agency business. Steps to acquiring and growing retainers. Today's guest is Peter Caputa CEO at Databox, a SaaS tool to simplifying analytics and reporting for agencies. He joined Databox after serving as the VP of Sales at Hubspot, so in this interview he brings us a ton of knowledge on retaining and growing clients. How Agencies Can Retain Clients It's all about reporting. And we're not talking about just going through the motions of reporting. More like, actual face time with the client to present them with an analysis of metrics and provide insightful value. Most agencies start out a new client relationship by going over their analytics reports but after a few months it turns into a mundane task, the client loses interest and no one pays much attention to it... That's where agencies are losing out! Pete says it's super important to start every client relationship by selecting the metrics that are important to the client and show them a return on their investment. He suggests agencies also benchmark where the client is at the beginning of the engagement and measure changes that are resulting from your work. That's how you'll prove your agency's worth and value. Data Reporting: The KPI's Agencies Should Measure for Clients Most agencies are pulling data from several sources. Then, they do a cut and paste of data into their own slides or template, which is a major time suck. (And a big reason why most agencies just "go through the motions" when it comes to reporting!) Databox offers a unique solution to that problem by integrating with CRMs and marketing automation tools to pull and format data from several sources all into one place. KPI's most agencies are pulling for clients are: traffic, leads, customer counts, revenue, and CRM stages. How Can You Use Data to Up-Sell Existing Clients? Don't just pull the data - analyze it. Good agencies pull and present data every month. Really great agencies go a level deeper and show the impact of their activity on the data. Report the effectiveness of blog and social posts, Adwords and landing pages to set your agency apart from others. The key is to analyze the data, find holes or areas for growth. Use that information as a springboard to pitch areas for improvement. Turn monthly reporting from a chore into an up-sell opportunity. Pete says you do have to be comfortable having the "it didn't work" conversation. Don't be afraid of it - agencies don't get fired for campaigns that don't work; they get fired for not catching it or not owning up to it. It happens. Sometimes email campaigns don't get any clicks, blog posts don't rank high, etc. An agency should always have a pulse on what's happening and know about issues before the client. Be truthful and have integrity. If the report isn't good, the client probably already knows it and just needs to hear it from you. Glossing over bad news only makes matters worse in the long run. It's your job to report the good and the bad, the innovate a solution to overcome the bad. [clickToTweet tweet="Don't just sit idle with blog or social posts for your clients. Use innovative technology to add value!" quote="Don't just sit idle with blog or social posts for your clients. Use innovative technology to add value!"] How to Prove Your Agency's Value to a Client Too many agencies don't know the results they're achieving because they aren't benchmarking from the beginning. Clients care about one thing - their bottom line. So, the agency has the burden of proof and must to tie activity to results. Pete says agencies need to ask the tough questions from the start, such as: "How much is a lead worth?" "What's the average deal size?" "How many deals are you getting per month?" "What are you trying to achieve? Why?" To skirt around some the tough questions, you can use an inbound marketing calculator. But it's SO important to get a baseline at the beginning of an engagement so you can document improvements. Equally important is frequent conversations with the client about results. Agencies are good at selling visions but not always good at revisiting the topic. Prove your agency's value by showing them a direct correlation to their ROI. Steps to Acquiring and Growing Retainers At the beginning of an engagement, meet with the client and agree on the key metrics to measure and monitor success. Get a benchmark on the key data from the beginning and measure success against it. Meet with the cli

What can you do to stand out from your competition? How can you avoid costly business mistakes that make it harder to grow and scale your agency? In this episode, you'll get some great advice on this and more from an amazing pro who's owned three successful agencies over the past two decades. In this episode, we'll cover: How the agency space has evolved over time. How to avoid costly business mistakes in your agency. Why specializing is more profitable for agencies. What is 48in48? So get this! Today's guest is Jeff Hilimire who also happened to be my guest on episode #2 of The Smart Agency Master Class more than three years ago! With nearly 20 years of experience owning 3 different agencies, he says his worst mistakes were made over the past 3 years. He's back on the show this time to tell us how you can avoid those mistakes to successfully grow, scale and enjoy your agency. Jeff started his first agency in 1998 and sold it 10 years later. He stayed with the acquiring agency until it sold again another 5 years later. In 2014 Jeff started Dragon Army, a mobile gaming and app studio. A couple years later, he added an agency component to it. Today, Jeff and his team of 25 employees work with some amazing brands such as Coca-Cola, Red Bull and The Home Depot. How Has the Agency Space Changed Over the Years? There's been an evolution in the industry. Full service agencies just aren't a thing anymore (except the really huge ones who truly can offer a full range of services). Due to differing client needs and new technologies, there's a larger demand for specialty shops. Most brands are moving away from having one agency manage everything. The real opportunity lies innovation. I always tell my clients to make decisions based on the future, not just what's happening today. That means always trying new things and not being afraid of making a mistake. As Wayne Gretzky put it... "skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been." How to Avoid Costly Business Mistakes Jeff has made plenty of mistakes over the years, but the 3 biggest came within the last 3 years owning Dragon Army. It all boils down to clarity and having a long term vision for your agency… In hindsight, that's what was lacking and lead to these big business mistakes: Mistake #1 - Upon entering a new industry, Jeff didn't do enough research. If he could do it all over again he would have started the agency side at the same time as the studio. His prior experience is with the agency model and he knows how to operate and scale an agency. Jeff estimates this decision set Dragon Army back about 2 years. Mistake #2 - Dragon Army took on a project (a new mobile game) that took 3X longer than he expected. This means all their resources were tied into one huge engagement. Looking back, Jeff realizes he didn't do his due diligence on what would be involved in completing the project and how much it would tie up his team. Mistake #3 - Jeff acquired a partner agency as a means to grow but didn't dig enough into their financial and operational systems. He says he trusted his gut without the purchase with a business mindset. What's the common theme here? It's lack of clarity and vision. Jeff's advice - take your time to and look at decisions from all angles. Entrepreneurs can be impulsive (i.e. like chasing the next shiny red object!) but it's important to hold back a little, research a ton and understand the impact your big decisions have on the long term vision and goals. And, once you have a vision the values, principles and beliefs fall right into place - consider Zappos.com. They operationalize their core values and use them to set company culture. Why Specializing is More Profitable Dragon Army is super specialized and it's working. Jeff says the best way to separate yourself from the other "me too" agencies is to be the very best at one thing. Know your strength and only sell that service. A lot of agencies are so afraid of turning off potential clients or turning down a potential sale they end up saying yes to things that aren't in their wheelhouse. If you're saying 'yes' to the wrong things, you won't have time for the right ones. And if you don't have time for the right things - you can't grow or scale your agency. Can you use your professional skills to do good for the community? In addition to his agency, Jeff is also the co-founder of 48in48. The premise of the organization is building 48 non-profit websites in 48 hours in a hack-athon style event. In 2015 the team of volunteers built 48 sites in 48 hours in Atlanta. In 2017 it's grown to 4 U.S. cities and by 2018 it'll be an international event! And, the ultimate goal is to eventually growing to 48 cities worldwide, 48 websites in 48 hours. It literally takes thousands of designers, developers, content writers and other marketing professionals. If you're interested in learning more, sponsoring or volunteering check out 48in48.org. Need Guidance and Support to Grow Your Agency Faster? Most agenc

Are you overwhelmed with tasks that keep you in the weeds instead of working on growing your agency? Are you paying salaried team to do things an hourly assistant could accomplish? STOP IT! Learn how you can increase productivity and save boatloads of time and resources. Plus, learn how to help your sales team be more effective so you can grow. In this episode, we'll cover: Ways to save time and increase productivity. How to help your sales team be more effective. How to get unstuck from doing everything yourself. Today's guest on the show is Jeff J. Hunter, founder, and Chief Freedom Officer at VA Staffer, the outsourcing agency he created to help businesses build virtual teams. With a background in IT and virtual project management he knows the ins and outs of getting projects done virtually. He's here to give us strategies on saving time and ways to help salespeople be more effective. How to Save Time and Increase Productivity Agencies are always trying to land more clients, right? However, there always comes a point where they can't take on more new business because they're too busy servicing the clients they already have. Jeff's a big proponent of "don't hire until it hurts" so his advice is to make more time for servicing clients and growing your business by understanding what you do and how it impacts your business. He compared it to Pareto's 80/20 Principle from 1865 ~ the trivial many 80% and the vital few 20%. However 150 years later, in a technology age, Jeff believes it's more of a 90/10 split. He advises his clients to list out all the tasks and activities they do. Then decide which are the trivial many and which are the vital few. The vital few are the ones making the most impact on the business. For most entrepreneurs, Jeff finds 90% of what they do can be delegated while they focus on the 10% which impacts their business. Similarly, I tell my clients to make a list of everything they do and then rank each item as to how much it impacts the agency - low, medium, or high impact. This is how you can find the major time sucks (check out my productivity worksheet here). and then work on becoming more productive with daily tasks and increase productivity overall. I find that most will usually tackle the low-impact items first because they offer immediate gratification and make us feel good in the short term. The hard stuff usually seems to get procrastinated, yet that's the stuff that makes the most impact on business growth. How to Make Your Sales Team More Effective A solid outbound strategy is one of the three sales channels you need to grow your agency. (The other two are inbound sales and strategic partnerships, by the way.) But are your or your sales team spinning their wheels on mining the information and making connections? That's a major waste of time and resources. Why spend your own time or pay the sales team top dollar to do the leg work, when you could use a $7-$8 per hour VA? Instead, let a VA do the mining. They can do the research, make contact and set up introductions. This frees you or your team up for setting sales strategies and building relationships. Jeff says knowing what not to outsource is just as important as knowing what you should outsource. And relationship building is definitely not something you can farm out. How to Get Unstuck from Doing Everything Stop doing the things you suck at by eliminating, delegating or automating. Try doing the 90/10 exercise above outline above or check out Jeff's webinar at 9010Life.com. Jeff says he guarantees you'll find that 10% of what you do is actually the stuff you should focus on. Also, a lot of the things you're stuck doing because you're the only one who knows how. So, start documenting what you do and how you do it. Use a tool like Screencast or TinyTake to record the what and how you do things. Because, the first step in delegating what you do is teaching others how to do it. Need Guidance and Support to Grow Your Agency Faster? Most agency owners struggle to scale. We've developed an amazing mastermind to guide you through the journey of implementing the right systems so you can scale your agency — instead of feeling overwhelmed by it. We do this by bringing together successful agency leaders to share strategies, offer advice, and reveal what's working (and what's not working) in their agency. The truth is, whatever you want to accomplish in life, nothing will help you go further, faster than getting the right adviser in the context of motivated peers. If you want to GROW fast and smart, Digital Agency Elite mastermind will help. Improving as a Digital Agency Owner When you increase productivity, you will be surprised at what you can achieve for your digital agency and it will help you improve as an agency owner. Is this the only struggle you are facing at the minute? No matter what challenges your agency is facing, I can help you get through all of it. Through my experience running my own digital agency and helping other dig

Hopefully you already know your agency employees are your biggest asset. But, is your agency "employee-centric"? Do you have the right people in place to find, lead and retain an awesome team? In this episode we'll hear from a 15-year agency owner about why and how he brought in an HR Director and an agency President to accelerate agency growth. In this episode, we'll cover: How to know when it's time to hire an HR Director. Why you might want to bring on an Agency President. When and how to get help growing your agency. Today we have our first ever three-peat guest on the show! Founder and CEO of BrightWave Marketing, Simms Jenkins is making his third appearance and this time he's sharing the strategies he has used to make sure his team remains his #1 most valuable asset. (You can find his first and second interviews here.) Since the first couple times he was on the show in 2014, Simms says BrightWave has continued to innovate in the email marketing arena. His agency business has doubled and he's authored two books on the subject. Today, BrightWave is working with huge brands like Chick-Fil-A, Panera Bread, CarMax and Mattress Firm. He's the first to admit their success is largely due to having and keeping the right people on his team, plus adding a few key people in his executive team. When to Hire an HR Director Simms says the real key to his agency's success is the team and company culture. Those were the driving forces behind bringing in someone dedicated to attracting, engaging, and retaining agency talent. He hired for an HR position when his team reached about 25 and it's been a great investment. In my case, I hired an HR person when my agency got to 50 employees but in hindsight, we'd have done better to have one as we reached 15 employees. "We hired at a key turning point in the business. We needed to position [our agency] as an employer and make it a great workplace." ~ Simms Jenkins Most agencies are completely client-focused as they climb the growth ladder. However, they forget their biggest asset is their human capital. An HR position is particularly important when your agency is in a growth phase. In most cases, human resource functions fall onto the owner and/or office manager which is time suck. And aside from saving the agency owner's time and energy, having a dedicated HR person creates a better experience for candidates and new hires, leaving a favorable impression and smoother transition. Besides, as an agency grows it's important to have a process for finding, hiring, engaging with, and retaining talent. Even though it's a non-billable position, this role is huge for agency growth. Why Hire an Agency President? Simms didn't set out looking to add an agency president, it just sort of made sense. He had hired a consultant to counterbalance some of his own leadership weaknesses. After 6 months of consultancy, it was a natural fit with the team and culture, so Simms brought him on permanently. Simms remains the CEO, focused on external factors such as: developing strategy, positioning and sales. His agency president is focused on internal processes like delivery, operations and creative. He says they collaborate very well together and having clear, defined roles helps the team understand the individual roles. The Main Roles of an Agency CEO CEO Simms says his role as CEO is threefold: Set the strategic vision for the agency. Also, communicate the vision, goals and values to the team. Provide resources to execute the vision. This includes providing the necessary leadership, skills sets and tools to get the job done. Understand agency financials. Provide a stable business environment by understanding where they're at and where they're headed financially, as well as identify potential obstacles in achieving financial goals. I couldn't agree more! In fact, I've found there are actually just 5 roles for an agency owner to transition into an agency CEO. Simms' final piece of advice for all agency owners is to know what you don't know. He says it's important to have some sort of trusted advisor to help you make decisions and get your agency to the next level. Whether it's a Board of Directors, business coach, or mastermind group he stresses that every agency owner needs help knowing how to get where they're going. And, if you need help, I might know a guy :) Ready to Discover the Best Agency Strategies Working Today? Most agency owners struggle to scale. We've developed an amazing mastermind to guide you through the journey of implementing the right systems so you can scale your agency — instead of feeling overwhelmed by it. We do this by bringing together successful agency leaders to share strategies, offer advice, and reveal what's working (and what's not working) in their agency. The truth is, whatever you want to accomplish in life, nothing will help you go further, faster than getting the right adviser in the context of motivated peers. If you want to GROW fast and smart, Digital Agency Elit

How can you protect yourself and your clients from brand copycats? I recently had some major issues with a copycat and had to take action FAST in order to protect my business and brand. In this episode, learn what you can do to proactively defend your agency and clients' intellectual property. In this episode, we'll cover: What is and what isn't intellectual property? Why register your agency's brand assets? Tools and tips to keep your assets protected. Today's guest is Cheryl Hodgson, founder of Hodgson Legal and BrandAide.com. She's an attorney, advisor, author and expert on everything related to brand protection. Cheryl specializes in intellectual property and brand assets. And, she shares advice protecting your and your clients' brand assets. Cheryl touches on everything from copyrights and trademarks to goods/service names and domain names. What Is and What Isn't Intellectual Property? Cheryl says often the term "Intellectual Property" is misunderstood. Legally, this term only applies to assets in five specific areas: Brand Names: This is one of the most important assets a business owns. It's a unique identifier with a long life and requires protection. Cheryl says most businesses don't put enough time into developing names. They settle on it with little thought. But Cheryl advises seeing what's already out there to avoid conflicts before you settle on a brand or business name. Copyright: Any artistic expression of an idea is copyright protectable and includes things such as programs and content. Without the registering you have rights but no remedy. Patents: Things like inventions and software are patentable. Patents are exclusive rights granted for a product or a process that provides a new way of doing something or offers a new technical solution to a problem. Confidential Information: Any private or classified business information can be intellectual property - things like lists, non-disclosure agreements, confidentiality agreements, etc. that should not be shared without your permission. Domain Names: In most cases, a web address is more important than a physical address. Domain names are a business asset and need protection. Why Register Your Agency's Brand Assets? The biggest reason to register is because it adds value to your agency. No matter whether you're considering selling in the near future or the long distant future, owning your intellectual property increases your agency's value. That's what buyers care about most - sales, revenue and assets. Another great reason to register is to protect your turf. Cheryl shared a story about a former client who failed to register his brand and lost out big time! He started AmazonNetworks.com back in the early 90's on the cusp of the internet boom. A short time later, a business named Amazon Book Sellers was founded. Initially there was no conflict but as Amazon Book Sellers grew they decided to register their brand. As you can imagine, eventually AmazonNetworks.com was sued and forced out of business. [clickToTweet tweet="Why register your brand and services? Without a trademark, your brand identity becomes diluted." quote="Why register your brand and services? Without a trademark, your brand identity becomes diluted."] Tools and Tips to Protect Your Agency Your brand assets and intellectual property are your unique identifiers. When it becomes popular the value becomes diluted and it no longer distinguishes your goods or services from others. Registering and monitoring use of your brand names protects your brand's identity. When naming goods or services, do your due diligence to see what else is already out there: Search the United States Patent and Trademark Office database and find what is already registered. Monitor Google Alerts with brand/product names or terms specific to your brand. If you discover a copycat (like I did) of your registered assets, there's a few different courses of action you can consider: Simple, careless plagiarism can start with a direct phone call or email to the offender. Handle blatantly egregious or fraudulent activity with a letter from an attorney. Can You Force Someone to Release a Domain Name? This is always a tricky topic. Cheryl says a domain name on it's own is just like your street address... You can't do about anything if someone is just parked on it. However if someone is using a name you own for commercial use, you do have rights and protection. Likewise if you have a successful product or service, competitors or related businesses will try to duplicate what you're doing by using a similar domain name with a different extension (.net, .org, etc.) A Domain Dispute Resolution is a cost effective way to recapture your rights and avoid expensive court proceedings. Cheryl suggests speaking to a law professional or checking out the National Arbitration Forum or WIPO. #1 Biggest Branding Mistake Agencies Are Making There's one major mistake Cheryl sees over and over - a lot of marketing agencies and brands do not us

Leadership is seriously hard work. There's a ton of pressure, juggling and personal sacrifice. Don't let burnout get the best of you! Learn the signs of a major leadership crash before it happens and how to be a better agency leader by knowing how to stop self-sabotaging. In this episode, we'll cover: What is a leadership crash? How to identify the signs of an impending leadership crash. How to be the leader your agency needs. Today's guest is Stephen Mansfield, a leadership consultant to CEO's, celebrities and politicians in crisis. He is also a speaker and author; and his specialty is helping with the recovery of leadership crashes. After years of handling things like major corporation CEO's affairs and politician's misuse of power, he has identified 10 signs of a pending leadership crash that will help us stop self-sabotaging traits. Stephen's on the show to describe some of these signs in a proactive attempt to help us identify and avoid our own leadership crash. What is a leadership crash? A leadership crash, in Stephen's words, is a high profile mistake - an affair, embezzlement, misuse of authority or credentials, etc. - that sabotages the career and life of someone in a leadership role. Stop Self-Sabotaging: What are signs of a leadership crash? Being out of season. A "season" is a predetermined, self-imposed period of time. Continuing to work in the same capacity outside of your season sets you up for a crash. Stephen's examples of a season include: a retirement age, a political term, a period of time living abroad, etc. He says to abide by your commitment to your season. Choosing isolation. Friends know you best, so right before a major crash people tend to isolate themselves and avoid the issue. Isolation may be due to shame, insecurity, or embarrassment. If you find you're starting to isolate, figure out why and prevent your own crash. Harboring an unresolved episode of bitterness. We all have issues from our past that have shaped who we are today. However, harboring unresolved issues with intense bitterness can lead to a serious crash. Holding onto issues only breeds resentment and anger, so Stephen's advice is to reconcile it and learn how to move beyond it. Forgetting fun. The pressures of leadership can be soul crushing and mind numbing. It's important to sprinkle some fun within your intense, hectic schedule. Stephen says boredom causes most crashes (particularly by men). So make time for vacations, adventures, sports or activities you love in order to build in some fun. Evading confrontation. Those who do not engage in low level confrontations end usually primed for a huge blow out in the form of a leadership crash. According to Stephen, many crashes are a result of no one speaking up when early signs indicate an issue. Serving artificial images. Social media can play a big role in your perceived image. All it takes is one exaggerated social post or embellished article and the bar gets set so high, you can't live up to it. The result is tons of pressure that lead to disastrous decisions causing a leadership crash. Loss of poetry. Leadership starts as a vision but usually turns into being about processes. The loss of vision, passion and poetry is what leads to a crash. An uninspired leader cannot inspire his/her team. Stephen's advice is to stay engaged in your business; remember your passion and your "why". Read more about the 10 Signs of a Leadership Crash in Stephen's ebook for on Amazon (it's just $4). How To Be the Best Agency Leader "Great leadership is a connection between vision and possibilities with the practical processes to see those possibilities fulfilled." ~ Stephen Mansfield Your main job as your agency's leader is to inspire your team. There's a big difference between inspiring and motivating... An inspired team doesn't need motivation :) Stephen's best example of a great leader is Winston Churchill in WWII. During the war, Churchill first rallied his troops around his vision for winning it and then showed them how it could be done by embodying the vision and enabling them to achieve it. Inspiring your team and communicating vision is one of the 5 roles of an agency CEO. The key is not to inadvertently de-inspire them. One bad decision can destroy years of building inspiration. [clickToTweet tweet="A leader is someone who is not only showing what can be done but inspiring and enabling people to do it." quote="A leader is someone who is not only showing what can be done but inspiring and enabling people to do it. ~ Stephen Mansfield"] Need Guidance and Support to Grow Your Agency Faster? Most agency owners struggle to scale. We've developed an amazing mastermind to guide you through the journey of implementing the right systems so you can scale your agency — instead of feeling overwhelmed by it. We do this by bringing together successful agency leaders to share strategies, offer advice, and reveal what's working (and what's not working) in their agency. The truth is, whateve

Do you know what you need to do to stay relevant and significant to your clients? Let's face it, marketing is an ever-changing industry. And in the agency world, it's survival of the fittest. So we must adapt or die! Here's a great story about how one agency transitioned their business model in order to continue to thrive. Think about Blockbuster video - they didn't adapt to the needs of the industry and are now extinct. Don't be the next Blockbuster -adapt or die. In this episode, we'll cover: Why it's important to adapt in the agency space. 3 Keys to an agency transformation strategy. Why and how you can use vlogging to generate leads. Elizabeth Sosnow is Managing Partner at Bliss Integrated Communications, a 50 person agency in New York City. She's on the show today to tell us how Bliss transitioned from PR to an Integrated Marketing agency in order to stay relevant in a changing industry. Plus, she shares some great tips on vlogging. Why It's Adapt or Die in the Agency Space Bliss was founded over 40 years ago as a PR agency with a specialization in health care, financial and professional services. Elizabeth says, though, in recent years they faced challenges during the collapse of the traditional news media industry. They quickly released it they needed to make a change in order to adapt to the needs of the industry. That's when Bliss reinvented themselves from traditional PR to Integrated Marketing. Their game plan was to use their in-depth knowledge and insights in their niche to pivot the agency. If they'd been generalists, they'd never have the expertise to fall back on. Consider this just another reason why your agency should have a niche :) 3 Keys to an Agency Transformation: It's hard to change - especially when you're already an expert at what you do. But, along with the decision to transition the agency from PR to Integrated Marketing, came the realization that Bliss was entering a new playing field. Elizabeth says the theme of the transition was "know what you don't know." Meaning, they weren't going to bulls*t themselves, their clients/prospects, or competitors into thinking they could do things they couldn't do. Instead, she says agency leaders did these 3 things: Hired an outside source to educate their team on everything from operations to pricing. Worked hard and put in additional non-revenue generating hours for agency growth. Understand their limitations and concentrate on keeping control of the top level marketing. How a Vlog Can Be an Agency Growth Strategy People don't want to read anymore. That's why I've had a lot of guests on the show talking about the importance of video marketing and live streaming videos. But what about vlogging? It's a smart content vehicle that isn't being used much. I just started my vlog - you can check it out here. Elizabeth recently started one too, so she and I chatted about why and how. Why vlog? Well, people like to consume information in multiple ways, all at once. Think about it - do you usually watch TV while also on your tablet or smartphone? So we have to reach and garner awareness when and how we can, right? This interview alone can be watched in video form, listened to in podcast form or read as a blog post so we are able to reach people in a variety of formats. The goal of a vlog is to give your audience a authentic and genuine glimpse into your world. Elizabeth compares it to a lesson she learned as a high school actor. She says actors are translators for the audience trying aiming to tell a story and garner a reaction. The same is true of a vlog - if it's done well you'll get attention or a reaction from your audience. How to Structure an Agency Vlog Very few agencies are vlogging. In fact, the only one I know of who's doing it right is Gary Vaynerchuck and his show, DailyVee. Gary vlogs to promote his personal brand as a growth strategy for his agency, VaynerMedia. If you're working on building your personal brand, it might mean footage of your daily activities and what makes you, you. Like my new vlog here. If you're using a vlog strictly to promote your business, it might mean more of a candid and unrehearsed snippet full of business tips, like the one Elizabeth does for Bliss. Her vlog, Marketing Espresso Shots, is a 90-second bi-weekly, "quick jolt" of integrated marketing tips. Need Guidance and Support to Grow Your Agency Faster? Most agency owners struggle to scale. We've developed an amazing mastermind to guide you through the journey of implementing the right systems so you can scale your agency — instead of feeling overwhelmed by it. We do this by bringing together successful agency leaders to share strategies, offer advice, and reveal what's working (and what's not working) in their agency. The truth is, whatever you want to accomplish in life, nothing will help you go further, faster than getting the right adviser in the context of motivated peers. If you want to GROW fast and smart, Digital Agency Elite mastermind will help. Wh

If you're looking for a unique, innovative and low-cost lead gen strategy check out this story. Live events can go far but one agency is using Meetup to find new prospects and turn them into leads while building the know-like-trust factor. Best part is, it's totally FREE. In this episode, we'll cover: What is Meetup and how does it work? 6 Steps to creating your own Meetups for lead gen. Using Meetup to capture the attention of big brands. Our guest today is Ali Salman, co-founder of Rapid Boost, a lead gen agency in western Canada. He's here to share a unique lead generation strategy that generated over $165K in just a few months and continues to keep their pipeline full with new prospects. What is Meetup and Why Use It? Meetup is a social network that facilitates in-person group meetings in various locations worldwide. It's primarily used to connect people with common interests so they can idea-share, network and help one another. Meetup groups get together in their specific geographic location for social gatherings as well as educational and workshop-style events. Meetup members join for free and find groups that align with their personal areas of interest, spanning everything from politics to pets to careers. By entering their postal code the Meetup system suggests events and groups and helps find place/time to meet. There are a bunch of benefits to using Meetup but the biggest one is that you're it's an innovative way to build your list. As members join your group(s) you're essentially creating a list of warm prospects who have an interest in or need for the services you provide. [clickToTweet tweet="With Meetup, you can build relationships with people who are already interested in your topic." quote="With Meetup, you can build relationships with people who are already interested in your topic."] 6 Steps to Using Meetup for Lead Gen 1- Create a regional group. First, determine what type of group you want to create (this is an example of why niching is so important!). You'll also have to decide on the purpose your group - is it a mastermind, workshop, etc.? 2- Name your group. Start by researching what groups already exist in your city. The group name should be creative but also specific to your target audience. Think about what type of group they'll search for and what types of events they'll attend. 3- Join groups and attend events. Ali suggests getting a feel for what's out there by attending some local events. Get your toes wet first before jumping in! Look at groups and events both in and outside of your niche. 4- Plan and schedule your first event. Consider the topic(s) that will be of most interest to the attendees. Ali says he gets 30-40 people to attend his events, of those 4-5 have serious potential. The key is to provide value at the event. Try different styles to see what works for your group - presentations, workshops, partners/guest speakers, casual mingling, or a mix of any/all styles. 5- Promote your events. Use social media channels to promote your events in advance. You can also promote your event for free using Eventbrite and creating a Facebook event. Post photos from the event during/after for added emphasis and to gain interest in future events. 6- Be patient while your group gains momentum. Ali says it takes patience and lots of practice. But, it does take awhile to build momentum and he cautions us to stay patient and focused. Like anything else, consistency is crucial to success. The whole point is that you're putting yourself out there and it takes time to get it right. 7- Work smarter, not harder. You can do the same presentation in multiple cities. This will help your lead gen efforts grow exponentially. Don't Start by Pitching! Ali says he's hosted dozens of Meetup events and learns a little more each time. The #1 most important lesson is not to sell right off the bat. The people who are in attendance are not there for your agency's infomercial. Ali suggests preparing a couple of different presentations that provide value to your target audience by helping them with a common problem. Whether they're interested right away or not, you are building a relationship. Instead of pitching - what you can do is follow up after the Meetup by pulling the group member list. You can send an email with more information - like a cheat sheet or other takeaways from the event. Or, you can introduce a Foot in the Door offer to this select target. You Can Target Big Brands Using Meetup Ali says often times younger Marketing Coordinators or similar will join Meetup groups and attend events looking for the next big thing to show their boss. They want to learn new strategies and innovative ways to solve their problems. That's where you come in and save the day! Remember, big brands aren't just a logo - they're people too. Be specific in who you're targeting, and be authentic and genuine at the event. Provide enormous value without selling or pitching. Then you will stand out against the "me too" a

Top 5 Tips to Accelerate Agency Growth If you have your sights set on your agency breaking 8-figures this episode is a must. Do you want to know how you can accelerate agency growth? Today's guest is an agency owner who's gone from $0 to over 8-figures and he shares his top 5 tips so you can grow too. In this episode, we'll cover: Why you must niche down to accelerate agency growth. How to reward key employees without giving them ownership. Ways to stop doing all the agency stuff you hate. Our guest today is Chris Spears, co-founder of Arke Systems the agency he started in 2006. Eleven years into the business he's seeing steady growth, has 80+ employees and loves his job! Chris and I go way back to my digital agency days when we were working as strategic partners. His agency has crushed the 8-figured ceiling and he's on the show to share how you can do it too. 1- The More Niched, the Faster the Growth Chris attributes a lot of his agency's growth to an early appreciation of niching down. If he could do it all again, he'd specialize even sooner. Once Arke became #1 in a specific technology and marketed themselves as the pros in that arena, they had a full pipeline with tons of inbound prospects. A lot of agency owners are afraid to become too specialized because there's a fear of "losing" clients or "turning off" prospects. However, Chris believes buyers are much more sophisticated than we give them credit for. They won't be your guinea pig for a project you've never done - they want an agency that's proficient in a specific skill or experts in an industry. 2- Get the Right People in the Right Seats Surround yourself with people smarter than you and you will grow. Most entrepreneurs don't think any one can do it (whatever "it" might be) any better so they end up being control freaks about everything. But when you get the right people in the right positions their skills and experience will help your agency grow beyond what you could do alone. When you have key people in the right roles, you can stop doing the things you suck at and spend time on your business, instead of in it. Equally important to having the right people, is empowering them to do their good job. First, make sure they understand their role within the agency. Next, make sure they're educated on all facets of the business so there are no missed opportunities for up selling, cross selling or obtaining referrals. 3- Keep Your Team Motivated Once you're surrounded by all the right people it's important to keep them motivated. Chris says it goes beyond just having fun together at happy hour. An engaging culture plays a big part in keeping a team motivated. And a motivated team produces efficient, effective work yielding faster agency growth. In terms of employee incentives, Arke Systems has a Stock Appreciation Rights Program. This program protects both the agency and the employee with built in contingencies if either party terminates the relationship. It's also a great way to publicly recognize stellar employees without offering regular equity in the agency. (That's a BIG no no!) 4- Stop Doing Things You Hate How many hours do you spend doing things you hate? Invoicing, chasing payments, scheduling meetings, etc. Whatever those things are - eliminate them by delegating to your team or outsourcing. And if it's something you can automate, even better! Chris also says not to build things from scratch if they already exist. Don't make more work creating a solution for a problem if a solution already exists elsewhere. Things like this are a distraction and derails your focus from the important things. You can't grow your agency when you're spending time reinventing the wheel. 5- Know Your Exit Plan Getting focused and staying focused is important. What does your end game looks like? If you know your long term goals and avoid distractions while trying to achieve them, you can grow your agency much faster. I like to tell my clients: build your business to sell, but treat it like you never will. Need Guidance and Support to Grow Your Agency Faster? Most agency owners struggle to scale. We've developed an amazing mastermind to guide you through the journey of implementing the right systems so you can scale your agency — instead of feeling overwhelmed by it. We do this by bringing together successful agency leaders to share strategies, offer advice, and reveal what's working (and what's not working) in their agency. The truth is, whatever you want to accomplish in life, nothing will help you go further, faster than getting the right adviser in the context of motivated peers. If you want to GROW fast and smart, Digital Agency Elite mastermind will help. What Happens After You Accelerate Agency Growth? With these tips, you should be able to make changes and accelerate agency growth for your business. However with this increase in growth, unless you are prepared it can cause more issues for your agency. This is why reviewing your agency consistently for areas

Facebook Live is one of the hottest ways to generate new agency business. You can spend tons of time and resources sending a hundred emails to your perfect prospects but you'll earn more trust in just one live video than all those emails combined. Live streaming video is where it's at... and your competition is not doing it yet, so you will stand out from all the "me too" agencies. So what are you waiting for? In this episode, we'll cover: Why you need to be on Facebook Live. 6 Steps for starting live video. Tips to set you up for successful live videos. Today's guest is THE expert on Facebook marketing, Amy Porterfield - an entrepreneur, bestselling author, and social media marketing trainer. Following an amazing career at Harley-Davidson and working with Tony Robbins, Amy decided to give it a try on her own. After overcoming tons of obstacles, she's become one of the most well-respected Facebook marketers today. She's on the show to tell us all about why Facebook Live is one of the hottest new ways to generate new agency business. Why You Need to Be on Facebook Live When you put yourself out there in video format, you build trust with your clients so much faster than with the written word. You'll get more traction with 1 video than in 100 emails or blog posts. But recorded video can be overwhelming, stressful - the equipment, scripting, lighting, editing. Ugh! The difference with live streaming video is most of the overwhelm and stress is eliminated. It is what it is - no script, no editing. And your viewers get to know the real you. Sure, it opens you up to vulnerability and criticism but the more you practice the better you get. There aren't many people who love seeing themselves on video but still, Amy says you've got to embrace it. Social media channels like Snapchat, Instagram Stories, Facebook Stories, Facebook Live, etc. are not going away anytime soon! And, your competition isn't there yet so now's the time to jump in and build your following! The best part is, Facebook prefers video right now. Your live videos will jump to the top of your prospect's news feed and you'll be seen far more than regular social posts by your competition. BONUS - When you are doing Facebook Live videos, you're also creating amazing audiences for Facebook retargeting. You can segment your audience based on the percentage of videos watched and then market to them accordingly. There is a super low barrier to entry and the rewards are huge! 6 Steps to Starting Live Video: Go live from your business page, not your personal profile. (A typical rookie mistake!) That's where your prospects will be watching you and where you want the videos to live forever. Do some prep work in advance by creating a rough outline of what you're going to talk about. This will prevent you from losing your train of thought or rambling :) Give the post a descriptive title so your audience knows why they need to watch. Name it something like: "How to Do {something cool} Without Doing {something that sucks} Take your time. Facebook seems to prefer longer videos, like 20-30 mins. It might seem long, but it's easy to do if you prepare in advance. Just share a few nuggets of advice, a story and answer questions/comments. If questions aren't posted by viewers, just ask and answer typical ones yourself! Be patient while you build an audience. Don't worry about the number of people who are watching the live stream… just act like people are watching and eventually they will. Go live on a predictable schedule and at least weekly. Promote your live videos in advance with social posts so people know when to tune in. Going live regularly will help create a watching habit for your audience. Tips to Set You Up for Live Video Success Facebook Live is for everyone - no fancy software or equipment is necessary! Here are Amy's tips for success: Go live from your desktop through your web browser, instead of your smartphone. Use your smartphone or tablet to read questions/comments that pop up during your live video. Have someone on your team give you a signal (like text or PM a thumbs up) when the audio and video is up. Use a window for natural lighting instead of messing with artificial light. Technology glitches are going to happen. Keep your emotions in check and handle it with grace. Don't let tech issues hold you back from trying again. When you're ready to go pro - Amy uses a Logitech webcam and subscribes to Wirecast screen sharing software. Need Guidance and Support to Grow Your Agency Faster? Most agency owners struggle to scale. We've developed an amazing mastermind to guide you through the journey of implementing the right systems so you can scale your agency — instead of feeling overwhelmed by it. We do this by bringing together successful agency leaders to share strategies, offer advice, and reveal what's working (and what's not working) in their agency. The truth is, whatever you want to accomplish in life, nothing will help you go further, faster than ge

We have all gotten them. The bad cold email that makes you feel better about yourself :) Here's a fun interview I did with a buddy of mine from Proposify about the WORST and the BEST email he has ever received when it comes to lead generation. In this episode, we'll cover: Mistakes to avoid making in your cold sales emails. How to write an amazing cold email. 4 Tips to crafting an effective cold email. Today's guest is Kyle Racki co-founder of Provposify, a SaaS product for helping agencies streamline proposal writing, get approvals faster and close deals quickly. He tells us how to improve the effectiveness of cold emails in order to keep the conversation alive. Mistakes to Avoid in Cold Sales Emails We've all been on the receiving end of some pretty terrible sales emails, right? Whether in your inbox, LinkedIn mail, or similar space they tend put us off. Here's one from Julie, which Kyle shared as a typical bad sales example… This is one of the WORST cold emails because: It's too vague. The email says they were referred by a digital agency but doesn't mention which one. It says it's from a tech company but doesn't mention which one. It also says doing business together could "...create a significant revenue stream…" but what's the measure of "significant"? This email contains too much generic information with no regard to the intended recipient. It's irrelevant. Kyle received this email and he runs a SaaS company for agencies, yet the email mentions the company's positioning with attorneys and schools. This information is immaterial and has no bearing on the sales decision. It's too presumptuous. The closing in this email assumes the recipient has learned enough and is interested in a phone call. It's a giant leap to go from introduction to a phone meeting in one email. The purpose of a cold email is to see if there's a fit, not close a deal. Making assumptions like that can be a real turn off. How to Write an Amazing Cold Email Here's another example Kyle shared in comparison. This one has all the attributes of a great cold sales email…. This is one of the BEST cold emails because: It's direct. There's no guesswork - you know exactly who sent the email and what they want you to do. The next steps are clear and there's a specific call-to-action. (It's the opposite of vague!) It's personalized. The sender did their research and . The email is not only targeted but Notice the thumbnail of the video? That's Proposify's site embedded into the customized video. It's short and to the point. Just four sentences is all FullStory needed. This email says in just 30 words what the other one takes 102 words to say. 4 Tips to Crafting an Effective Cold Emails Know who you're targeting. Be narrow and specific instead of broad and generic. You'll get more traction by sending custom emails to 10 solid leads rather than form letters to 100 cold leads. Do your homework to pull data and research on your target. You can use tools such as Rapportive to determine a business' size, revenue, etc. and then import it into your CRM. Create an intriguing email or lead magnet provides unique or innovative information. What clients really want is for you to bring something new to the table. So, create a custom report or branded email. (Hint: you can use Proposify templates to do this! Use your CRM to monitor your leads' engagement with your email. Then circle back to follow-up based on their level of interest and/or to handle objections. Need Guidance and Support to Grow Your Agency Faster? Most agency owners struggle to scale. We've developed an amazing mastermind to guide you through the journey of implementing the right systems so you can scale your agency — instead of feeling overwhelmed by it. We do this by bringing together successful agency leaders to share strategies, offer advice, and reveal what's working (and what's not working) in their agency. The truth is, whatever you want to accomplish in life, nothing will help you go further, faster than getting the right adviser in the context of motivated peers. If you want to GROW fast and smart, Digital Agency Elite mastermind will help. How Can I Help You Grow Your Digital Agency? If you have more questions about how you can improve your agency, I have covered topics including how to start an agency from scratch to reasons you should sell your agency. Have other topics you want advice on? Check out all my tips, tricks, and everything you need to know in my blogs. I have covered a wide variety of topics as well as answered your questions in more from my AskSwenk series. Are videos more your thing? You can check out my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my YouTube channel for advice from myself and other agency experts.