Podcast appearances and mentions of karl sakas

What if you could charge more, and keep your best clients happy?Karl Sakas has spent over 20 years in agency operations and consulting, helping more than 600 agencies shift from reactive to strategic. In this episode, he joins us to break down why pricing isn't just about numbers – it's an ops play, and one that can define your agency's future.Here's what we get into:• Why time & materials pricing is on the way out, and what to do instead• How to use “value anchoring” as a bridge to value-based pricing• How to strategically churn clients that are holding you back• Why you should consider raising your prices annually• Why AI tools shouldn't just make you faster, but more profitable tooWhether you're raising rates, tightening up scope, or exploring performance-based models, this episode is full of sharp, practical insights to help you price smarter and scale with confidence.

In this episode, Nicole sits down with Karl Sakas, a seasoned leadership advisor and operations expert for creative businesses, to explore his latest book, Calm the Chaos. They dive into what it really takes to lead a thriving business or agency without losing your mind—or your weekends. Karl shares powerful insights about managing your energy, delegating intentionally, building strong teams, and yes, surviving meetings that could've been emails. He also tackles:Why leaders must prioritize their own well-being (and how Karl learned the hard way)How to stop being the bottleneck in your businessCreating a culture that balances warmth with competenceA hilarious take on “swoop and poop” leadershipWhy bad meetings are the enemy (and how to fix them)Whether you run an agency, a hospital, or a small business, you'll walk away with practical strategies to stop spinning your wheels and start leading with focus and purpose.Highlights from this episode[07:53] Take Care of Yourself First. “Put on your own oxygen mask before helping others.” Karl shares how his team staged an intervention about his workload—and how that wake-up call changed everything. Start here if you feel burnout creeping in.[14:19] Stop Being the Sole Answer Person. Delegation isn't a bumper sticker—it's a complex process. Karl breaks down how to stop being the "go-to" for everything and why that mindset limits your team and your growth.[24:48] Create the Work Environment You Always Wanted. High warmth, high competence. Karl unpacks a powerful framework to help leaders build culture intentionally. Plus, the difference between being a good boss and just being “nice.”Karl's book: https://sakasandcompany.com/lp/calm-the-chaos-book/Connect with Karl:Karl's website: https://sakasandcompany.com/Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karlsakas/IG: https://www.instagram.com/karlsakas/FB: https://www.facebook.com/karlsakasX: https://x.com/KarlSakasOther books mentioned in this episode:The Human Brand https://a.co/d/1Yu76uURadical Candor https://a.co/d/2S9FwV4Traction https://a.co/d/4LHm4RGWe are grateful to Karl for bringing his passion for leadership and workplace culture to the Build a Vibrant Culture podcast! Listen at vibrantculture.com/podcast or your favorite podcast app!

Are you constantly putting out fires in your agency instead of strategically growing it? In this episode of the Deep Specialization podcast, Corey Quinn welcomes Karl Sakas, known as "the agency therapist" who helps agency owners work less, earn more, and reward their best team members. Karl discusses his new book, "Calm the Chaos: 10 Ways to Run a Better Agency," which offers practical strategies for agency leaders looking to create better work environments, improve team morale, and achieve sustainable growth. Episode Highlights: Transitioning from Doer to Leader: Karl shares insights on how agency owners can effectively shift from being hands-on doers to strategic leaders, explaining the six key agency roles and which ones to delegate first Finding Your #2: Strategies for identifying, developing, and properly compensating your agency's second-in-command The Desire-Competence-Capacity Framework: How to identify potential leaders using this practical Venn diagram approach Streamlining Meetings: Practical tips for reducing meeting bloat and making gatherings more productive The Assistant Effect: Why hiring a reliable assistant is crucial for agency owners and how to find the right one The resources mentioned in this episode are: Escape the generalist trap with my best-selling book “Anyone, Not Everyone” and discover how to become the go-to agency in a vertical market https://www.AnyoneNotEveryone.com Connect with Karl Sakas on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karlsakas/ Free resources for agencies from Karl Sakas Calm the Chaos book, including free sample chapter (available via Amazon worldwide) Work Less, Earn More book, including free sample chapter (available via Amazon worldwide) Save $150 on "Control (and Maximize) Your Agency Exit" training, with discount code COREYQUINN at checkout Save $100 on "How to Stop Scope Creep" training, with discount code COREYQUINN at checkout

I am super thrilled to welcome back today's encore guest, Karl Sakas. If this is your first time meeting Karl, he was the brilliant guest expert back in Episode 79 of Sell With Authority, where we dug into his expertise on helping agencies work less and earn more. In that episode, Karl and I broke down three key pieces of the biz dev process — niche, refining and delegating. In this encore interview, we take it further. We peel back even more layers of biz dev and then connect it directly to operations. Wondering why you and your team should care about this conversation? Recently, Hannah, Erik, and I were working with a client here at Predictive, helping them map out what we call the HERO Offer — and then shaping all the sales language they'd use to tee it up in a conversation with a right-fit prospect. Everything was rolling. Great momentum.  And then — we hit resistance. So we tapped the brakes and asked, “Wait, what's happening here?” After some digging, we realized the HERO Offer wasn't fully aligned with how their team actually operated and delivered work. That moment was a huge Ah-Ha! Had we not paused and had that candid discussion, selling more would've just meant more chaos. So — this episode is about calming the chaos in your agency. Karl breaks down the root causes of chaos inside an agency as well as how to fix it — so you can make it easier to deliver the services your right-fit clients need — and easier to sell more of what you do. What you will learn in this episode: How to identify and define chaos in your agency The root causes of chaos Why the three A's of communication are pivotal for organizational success The importance of syncing your biz dev processes with operations A framework for making delegation effective Strategies to handle leadership challenges and drive profitability Advanced retrospectives for vision-setting and strategic growth Resources: Website: https://sakasandcompany.com/ LinkedIn Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karlsakas/ LinkedIn Business: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sakas-&-company/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SakasAndCompany/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/KarlSakas Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/SakasandCompanyTeam/ Calm the Chaos: 10 Ways to Run a Better Agency: https://sakasandcompany.com/lp/calm-the-chaos-book/ Steps in the Sales Process, with Karl Sakas

In this episode of the AIGA Design Podcast, host Lee-Sean Huang and Giulia Donatello interview author and consultant Karl Sakas ("Say Kiss”). Karl's clients often call him their “agency therapist.” They discuss the challenges agency owners face, including misconceptions about agency ownership, pricing strategies, and the importance of understanding market rates. Karl shares insights on productizing services, revenue growth, and how to escape the daily grind of agency ownership. The conversation emphasizes the need for agency owners to work smarter, not harder, and to focus on their strengths while delegating tasks effectively. They also delve into various aspects of running an agency, including the challenges of client strategy and sales, the importance of visualizing the future of the agency, understanding cultural differences in business practices, and the multifaceted nature of performance in leadership.  Karl's latest book, Work Less, Earn More - https://amzn.to/41n4jvn  Sakas and Company - https://sakasandcompany.com/  Karl's upcoming book, Calm the Chos: 10 Ways to Run a Better Agency - https://calmthechaos.xyz/  Recommended book - Overcoming Underearning: A Five-Step Plan to a Richer Life by Barbara Stanny - https://amzn.to/4i5bptK  Recommended book - Meltdown: Why Our Systems Fail and What We Can Do About It Hardcover by by Chris Clearfield and András Tilcsik - https://amzn.to/3X2WdoY Join us for the 2025 AIGA Design Conference, October 9-11 in Los Angeles, California - https://www.aiga.org/design/aiga-design-conference Listen/Subscribe to the audio version of this podcast on your preferred platform -  https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/aigadesign 

Even if selling your agency is not first on your priority list, you should plan for it long before ever setting the wheels in motion. Karl Sakas is here today to share critical advice for agency owners considering an exit. From planning your post-deal activities to differentiating your agency in a crowded market, Karl provides a roadmap for maximizing the value of your business and ensuring a smooth transition. He also covers the three A's framework for managing your team, the power of vertical specialization, and the existential questions you must address before handing over the reins. This week, episode 240 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about navigating agency growth and exits and calming the chaos.Watch our latest video training, How to Take Charge of Your Agency's Future Revenue. During this training, you'll learn how we get qualified appointments every week using tasteful and highly targeted email outreach.In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Karl Sakas shares the importance of planning for an exit well before initiating it and actionable steps you can take right now to communicate and problem-solve with your employees effectively. Karl Sakas helps digital agency owners ‘Work Less' and ‘Earn More'... while rewarding their best employees. Drawing on his background in agency operations, Karl has personally advised hundreds of agencies on every inhabited continent. An international speaker, he is the author of three books—including "Work Less, Earn More"—and more than 450 articles on agency management. When he's not helping clients, Karl volunteers as a bartender on an antique train. In this episode, Dan and Karl discuss the following:Current trends in the agency business, including slower growth.Emphasizing the marketing efforts you can sustain rather than trying to do everything.Planning for an exit early to avoid difficulties down the road.The three A's framework for navigating team communication.Don't forget to sign up to follow the release of Karl's new book, Calm The Chaos!  Also, head to Karl's website to access his Control (And Maximize) Your Agency Exit training, and use the code SALESSCHEMA for a discount.Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/ and our Video training at http://salesschema.com/takecharge CONNECT WITH KARL SAKAS:LinkedInWebsiteInstagramX (formerly Twitter)CONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:LinkedInSales SchemaStop relying on unpredictable referrals and take control of your agency's future growth. Go to salesschema.com/takecharge to access the free training now.

Welcome to The Businessology Show! In this episode, we dive deep into the intricacies of leadership and operational challenges that agency owners face, especially as we approach an economically uncertain 2024. Our guest, Karl Sakas an expert in agency consulting shares invaluable insights on distinguishing between being a manager and a leader, and how this understanding can dramatically reshape your approach to business growth and personal work-life balance. Jason and Karl discuss the strategic timing for hiring pivotal roles, the effectiveness of combining full-time employees with contractors, and the essential mindset shifts required for delegating effectively without abdicating responsibility. They'll touch on the balance between operational think-tanks and the psychological impact of leading a team, also delving into the necessity of long-term financial planning, which includes comprehensive exit strategies to secure both personal and business financial futures. Whether you're an agency owner wrestling with scaling your business or an enthusiast fascinated by agency dynamics, this episode promises a wealth of knowledge and practical strategies to navigate the complexities of leadership and agency growth. Tune in to empower yourself with the tools to not just survive but thrive in challenging times. Resources: Free resources for agencies from Karl Sakas | https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fsakasandcompany.com%2ffree-resources-for-agencies%2f&c=E,1,jryt707u2EdkFQ-0RR_Gl3AOOlYwhSUTSF8nz-DQ5th9ZJh4JpSibN0qxTuK3xfA2PO5zCd06HFDFdj-yWCqBjJQQjqaGyzghybK5wUlCw,,&typo=1 Article: Should you be a Front-End, Back-End, or Full-Stack agency? | https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fsakasandcompany.com%2fagency-models%2f&c=E,1,A16nThcKeRBRvAIYh2eMPu_QCYFVdoYK1YZu8UWXMwwA3y2ZhNGAHMh2omqnBj8cP74KP8trdrQ-dcpzEOyUjOFmcs-xzz00Uk2nh7I4D3BKYDSITnYMK3E_7LNN&typo=1 Template: Envision your ideal agency, with an Advance Retrospective | https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fsakasandcompany.com%2fusing-advance-retrospectives%2f&c=E,1,9V-_rYlfIp1Wq8QvpjGY_PoO7N3uHrzNzglaXl1xTizdH42KmK9Ftpf7eU8tNdfaPqRCS-48spYLYED4Ye0tqKkfPfbGS6hPEdKPtYAZ1KXLJtLyTmU,&typo=1 Book: Work Less, Earn More: How to Escape the Daily Grind of Agency Ownership | https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fsakasandcompany.com%2fusing-advance-retrospectives%2f&c=E,1,9V-_rYlfIp1Wq8QvpjGY_PoO7N3uHrzNzglaXl1xTizdH42KmK9Ftpf7eU8tNdfaPqRCS-48spYLYED4Ye0tqKkfPfbGS6hPEdKPtYAZ1KXLJtLyTmU,&typo=1 Training: Manager Tools management training | https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fmanager-tools.com%2ftraining%2fvirtual-effective-manager-conference&c=E,1,tzZsBxO94azGgaIR9uiaN7Wq0ymZmDBbms_4PTL22-pGzwzsB9UuNAaQDZZk6ionXvyMiYaopkfVWN5YAMu14JhhzkUTFMwawXPf29AeO7a8R-wbiohRlgPjjy-Q&typo=1 Workshop: Control (and Maximize) Your Agency's Exit | https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fsakasandcompany.com%2flp%2fget-notified-exit-prep%2f&c=E,1,HZAzj1EoHKGJU6Vi1zEBDPtP4u1bKL65mUFa94QtbHizH9bi5361XFFdc9P-oC_hnqPz7wXZKyEF5Gg5bQUXJhhvVgK_W8SwsSmClIh2Bb7i8Fp-YLv7cA,,&typo=1

“When you start the agency, everyone expects you to be the contact. But you probably don't want to do that forever. Maybe initially you delegate implementation work, the subject matter expert stuff, or project management. Then you probably want to delegate account management stuff. Usually you're still doing client strategy, at least in the early to mid-days.The idea here is you're like, ‘Hey, so-and-so is great. They are your account manager. They're your day-to-day contact.' They're running the, say, the monthly call or every other call. But you're still the client strategist. You're involved at the beginning of the engagement, and then things pass over to the account manger. Maybe you're making a quarterly or a semi-annual or annual appearance with those higher-level insights that only you could provide. But importantly, you are not the client's day-to-day contact. You're not the one getting every single email or call. You just show up and share the magic. Your team is taking it from there.” – Karl Sakas The finer details of this episode:Delegation and streamlining processes Understanding time management within an agencyMarketing agency operationsPreparing for an agency owner exit strategy  Episode resources:Summit Virtual CFO by Anders website: https://www.summitcpa.net/Love our content? Sign up for our newsletter: https://vcfo.summitcpa.net/ddc https://www.summitcpa.net/summit-newsletterDigital Dollars and Cents: A Virtual CFO's Playbook to help Digital Companies Create a Financial Roadmap to Success, is now an audio book! Download it here: https://vcfo.summitcpa.net/ddchttps://sakasandcompany.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/karlsakas/  Timestamps:The Creative Agency Success Show (00:00:00)Introduction to the podcast and its purpose. The title of the book (00:00:14)Discussion about the book "Work Less, Earn More" by Karl Sakas and its relevance to agency owners. Workshop during team retreat (00:00:36)Praise for the workshop conducted by Karl Sakas during a team retreat and its impact on the team's perspective on creative agencies. Introduction of Karl Sakas (00:01:30)Introduction of Karl Sakas as a guest on the show and a brief overview of his background and expertise. Starting point of reading the book (00:04:03)Discussion on the reasons why people tend to read the book "Work Less, Earn More" and the relevance of the concepts in the book to agency owners. Equity vs. Lifestyle continuum (00:05:45)Exploration of the continuum between running a lifestyle agency and an equity agency, and the importance of knowing where one wants to go in their business. Financial considerations for business owners (00:10:31)Discussion on the financial aspects of running an agency, including the importance of earning a certain amount as a business owner and the considerations for selling the business. Dealing with day-to-day tasks and responsibilities (00:13:53)Exploration of how agency owners spend their time, their preferences, and strategies for delegating tasks to improve efficiency and effectiveness. Impact of team members on the selling process (00:15:54)Discussion on the role of team members in the selling process and their influence on potential buyers. The buyer's perspective (00:16:26)Discussion about the role of an owner in the sales process and the impact on the buyer's perception. Acquirer's goals (00:17:12)Insights into the goals and motivations of acquirers when purchasing agencies and the impact on the owner's involvement. Top-down approach to planning (00:19:16)The benefits of starting with an ideal future vision and working backward to involve the team in achieving goals. Involvement in client calls (00:22:37)Strategies for owners to participate in client calls without overshadowing the team or affecting the credibility of other team members. Delegating account management (00:27:06)The process of transitioning account management responsibilities from the owner to the team and maintaining client relationships. Reality TV show preferences (00:29:29)Discussion on favorite reality TV shows and the appeal of reality television. Personal experiences with reality TV (00:32:10)Sharing personal experiences related to reality TV, including auditioning for shows and participating in game show tests. The book and its formats (00:33:42)Karl discusses the availability of his book, "Work Less Earn More," in various formats and the recent release of the audible version. Planning for the unexpected (00:33:48)Karl emphasizes the importance of planning for the expected to have time to improvise the unexpected, tying it to operations and enlisting the broader team. Feedback on the book (00:34:50)An unnamed individual shares positive feedback on the book, emphasizing its easy readability and practicality. Contacting Karl Sakas (00:35:37)Information on how to access the book and get in touch with Karl Sakas for further assistance. Recommendation to start with the book (00:36:31)The co-host recommends starting with the book for practical applications and suggests that it serves as a good starting point for many.

“I have long seen myself as: I'm a very good marketer. I'm a very good communicator. I'm a good content creator. That's my lane. I know how to drive in that lane very, very well. And this has been a challenge for me to say: how do I become the best president, owner of a services business? Versus the best marketer anybody knows.”Ali Schwanke is founder and CEO of Simple Strat—a Diamond HubSpot Solutions Partner and premium B2B content marketing agency.You may know them from the HubSpot Hacks YouTube channel, the #1 unofficial source of HubSpot tutorials with over 20k subscribers to the channel.This episode will be a perfect listen for agency operators looking to find their perfect niche; discover content topics and formats that work on YouTube; and become a better leader by leveraging their unique leadership style.It's also full of inspiration for owners considering making an exit from their agency.Episode Insights:

“If you don't like managing people, one of the things to consider is: do you want to run an agency? The management portion will never go away. But it also doesn't have to be so hard.”Karl Sakas, agency advisor and founder of Sakas & Company, has served as “agency therapist” for over 600 clients in 36 countries. He was also our recent guest on Agency Journey. His fourth time on the show!You can guess why we had Karl on so many times—his insights are always on point.If you want to work less and earn more, and be a better leader for your agency through cultivating personal relationships and intentional leadership training, this episode will be well worth a listen.Episode Insights:

Points of Interest0:00-0:22 - Intro & background of guests and their expertise 0:21-1:22 - Four stages of day-to-day involvement in an agency1:23-1:18 - Six agency roles to consider delegating 2:20-5:05 - Clarifying swim lanes to define roles and responsibilities5:08-10:10 - Values, goals, and resources for decision-making10:11-11:00 - Developing high-functioning leadership within an agency 11:01-14:13 - Hiring strategies and delegation considerations 14:14-17:04 - Encouraging trust within the team and ongoing feedback17:05-18:13 - Importance of assuming positive intent and effective communication18:14-22:15 - The power and effectiveness of meetings, and leading by example22:16-23:13 - Resources and training for leadership development23:13 - 34:33 - Clarifying Swim Lanes and Evolution 34:33 - 48:41 - Leadership Coaching and Feedback48:41 - 49:56 - Conclusion and Additional ResourcesShow NotesBook Link: https://sakasandcompany.com/lp/work-less-earn-more-book/Website: https://sakasandcompany.comNewsletter: https://sakasandcompany.comLeadership Training:Home | Manager Tools (manager-tools.com)https://sakasandcompany.com/training-programs/Bureau of Digital Link: https://bureauofdigital.com/Free resources from Sakas & Company (including hundreds of articles, a newsletter for agency leaders, and more)Agency Leadership Intensive (eight-week virtual leadership development program for agency owners and execs)Work Less, Earn More book (including Amazon links, free sample chapter, and companion workbook)Audible edition of Work Less, Earn More

Links Try Benchmarks Explorer Learn More About Databox Subscribe to our newsletter for episode summaries, benchmark data, and more Get insights from our recent survey with Karl Sakas, to learn how 200+ agencies are marketing themselves.Links: Sakas & Company Follow Karl

Welcome to episode 103. This episode will be particularly relevant to agency owners who want to become less hands-on in their agency and just step away from the day to day operations.  I'm chatting to Karl Sakas, an agency growth consultant in the US and author of several books, the latest of which is called Work Less and Earn More a Practical Guide for Agency Owners to help them escape the daily grind of agency ownership. Karl has spent years consulting with agency owners and leaders and, I think because he originally had an operations background, he seems to have a wonderful way of explaining useful concepts and ideas using models and frameworks which are really easy to follow.  Karl shares some practical tips, his views on agency account management and why separating the role from project management makes sense. You can reach Karl, and make use of lots of his great downloadable resources at https://sakasandcompany.com/free-resources-for-agencies/ Book link: http://worklessearnmorebook.com/ If you'd like support with upskilling your account managers, check out my Account Accelerator™ programme. It's a 12 month training and coaching programme that's specifically designed to build an entrepreneurial mindset in your account management team. https://www.accountmanagementskills.com/account-accelerator

What got you here won't get you there.  You've probably heard that phrase before.  And it probably couldn't feel more applicable than it does right now as we round out 2023.So, the question is: Are you going to keep doing more of the same?  Or do something different in 2024?If you're in that latter camp, then you're going to get some encouragement (and hopefully some useful ideas to implement) from today's guests, Pete Caputa and Karl Sakas.You probably already know, but in case you don't:Pete is the CEO of Databox, a business analytics platform that helps agencies provide transparent performance management to their clients.Karl is an author, speaker, consultant and the founder of Sakas & Company, a consulting firm helping agency owners work less and earn more.Their two organizations recently teamed up to survey over 200 agencies about their own marketing efforts. The survey continues to collect new responses even up to the time of this recording, and the insights have been published (ungated, I might add) in their new report, How High Performing Agencies Market Themselves.As we unpack this new report with Pete & Karl, you'll hear:Why most agencies would fire the agency if they had themselves as a clientHow much agencies are investing in their own marketing todayWhat channels your peers are investing in (and which are yielding the highest ROI)Pete and Karl's advice for you to change the status quo in 2024 (remember what got you here won't get you there)Resources mentioned in today's conversation:Read the full report How High Performing Agencies Market ThemselvesGet your copy of The State of Agency Operations Report (2023)Register for the upcoming webinar Lead to Loyalty: How to Optimize Your Client Lifecycle with HubSpot & Teamwork.comConnect with Pete on LinkedInConnect with Karl on LinkedInGet a copy of Karl's book Work Less, Earn MoreJoin the (free) Databox Benchmark GroupsConnect with Tamara Omerovic on LinkedIn Want to get more content to support your agency life? Subscribe to the Agency Life newsletter, check out past episodes & find more content at teamwork.com/agencylife. This podcast is brought to you by Teamwork.com.

I am over the moon excited to welcome our special guest expert, Karl Sakas, on this episode of Sell With Authority. Karl is the author of three books, including Work Less, Earn More, and more than 400 articles on agency management. Karl shares how he has helped agencies work less and make more. Aren't we all looking for strategies, tactics, tips, tricks, the things that we can put into motion to work less and make more? For today's conversation, Karl and I are leaning into some work he's done alongside agencies. Specifically, a very simple — which does not mean simplistic — three-step process he uses to create big wins for agencies. If you take and apply the wisdom and insights Karl shares with us, you will close out your Q4 stronger than ever before. And you'll be well-prepared to make 2024 a roaring success. What you will learn in this episode: Why Karl is the go-to resource for agency owners, coaches, and consultants The three-step process Karl uses to create big wins for agencies Why niche is the very first step in Karl's process The value of honing your approach to make it more understandable and profitable How to delegate for not just efficiency but also team growth Resources: Website: https://sakasandcompany.com/ LinkedIn Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karlsakas/ LinkedIn Business: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sakas-&-company/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SakasAndCompany/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/KarlSakas Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/SakasandCompanyTeam/ Work Less, Earn More Agency Leadership Intensive; Applications open November 8th: https://sakasandcompany.com/agency-leadership-development-program/

Work less, earn more – doesn't that have a nice ring to it? If you're an agency owner who is trying to get out of the day-to-day grind, then this podcast episode is for you! We are so excited to have Karl Sakas as a guest. Karl is an agency consultant who has worked with hundreds of agencies across the globe. He's also an author and recently published his third book: Work Less, Earn More

The key to earning more? Working less. If you're an agency owner, delegation is the path to winning back your time while growing your business.  My guest Karl Sakas is an expert at elevating agency owners to a higher performance level so they can achieve time freedom. In this episode, he'll break down the 4 stages of involvement for agency owners—and how you can take action now to move to the next level. We'll also cover: The 6 roles every agency needs The difference between delegating and abdicating How to know if you're charging what you're worth The path to an owner-optional business And more… 

In this episode, Karl Sakas, Author, Speaker, Agency Consultant and Founder of Sakas & Company, joins Gray MacKenzie to discuss strategies & key metrics that agency owners should start tracking, and how it contributes to achieve sustainable growth and increased profits. Karl Sakas helps people at agencies make smarter decisions for smoother growth. Drawing on his background in agency operations, Karl has personally advised hundreds of agencies on every inhabited continent. He is the author of Made to Lead, The In-Demand Marketing Agency, and more than 400 articles on agency management. When he's not helping clients, Karl volunteers as a bartender on an antique train.In this episode, you'll learn: How to focus on aligning incentives between your agency and clients to build a true partnership.  Why transparency and communication are key to maintaining client relationships.  Why frameworks like the Entrepreneurial Operating System to your agency's unique culture and goals and what not to do. How content creation helps establish your agency as a thought leader. How to empower your team through the right tools and processes to help them work efficiently and collaboratively. Why Referrals and word-of-mouth are important to your agency's success. How to consistently reassess how you can build a more profitable and client-centric agency through your hiring, growth plan, and using the right tools. The important key metrics to track your agency's growth. Presenting Sponsor: ZenPilotCheck out ZenPilot, where we help agencies optimize their operations using our proven systems and processes.ZenPilot knows that you are tired of wasting time on trial and error — that's why we provide tried-and-true solutions that will help you grow and scale quickly and sustainably.So, what are you waiting for?Go to zenpilot.com to learn more.Resources mentioned in this episode: Karl Sakas LinkedIn Agency Articles - Sakas & Company Blog Work Less, Earn More Book Made to Lead Book The In-Demand Marketing Agency Book Sakas & Company Website Gray MacKenzie LinkedIn EOS

Everyone wants to work less and earn more… But what strategies can leaders use to make that a reality? Karl Sakas is here to discuss his new book, “Work Less, Earn More: How to Escape the Daily Grind of Agency Ownership.” Karl will share: 3 questions to figure out your ideal Why & how to get your team to take over tasks for you The benefit of premortems How to set SMART goals The best way to hold yourself accountable And more

Was there an instance where your client made a request you weren't able to deliver on, but you were unable say no, because you didn't want to destroy the relationship? In this episode, “Agency Whisperer” Karl Sakas teaches us how to meet clients halfway with the framework he developed – Reason, Options, Choose. He elaborates on the importance of creating options based on the client's unique and personal and professional goals. Karl also talks about the application of the Pod structure in an agency, and how it influenced how he works with his team members at Sakas & Company. Mentioned on the episode: https://sakasandcompany.com/ (Sakas & Company) https://sakasandcompany.com/agency-pm-training/ (Agency PM 101 Training Course) https://thehumanbrand.com/ (The Human Brand) by Chris Malone and Susan Fiske Connect with Karl Sakas on https://www.linkedin.com/in/karlsakas/ (LinkedIn), https://www.facebook.com/karlsakas (Facebook), https://www.instagram.com/karlsakas/ (Instagram), and https://twitter.com/karlsakas (Twitter).

Are you a project manager, or have hired a project manager, who doesn't have a whole lot of experience or training in the role prior to being hired? You're not alone. The task of project management can be an overwhelming nightmare, but it is a critical role within every successful agency or business. Ian Garlic talks to Karl Sakas, agency consultant and executive coach, about the project management hacks he has learned over time. Karl also explains what can destroy your sales and how to uncover issues before the start of a project.What You'll Learn:The Hacks to Managing a Project Management CalendarThe Iron Triangle of Project ManagementHow to Uncover Project Issues Before the Start of the ProjectHow the Swoop and Poop can Destroy Your Sales and ProjectsThe Six Roles at an AgencyWhat to Delegate First in Your AgencyConnect with Karl:LinkedInTwitterSakas & CompanyAgency PM 101: Project Management Fundamentals CourseResources:Connect with IanBook a Discovery Call Today with Our ExpertsSubscribe to the YouTube Channel See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Karl Sakas is an Agency Consultant and Executive Coach at his firm, Sakas & Company, where he helps digital agency owners take control of their business so they can conquer growing pains and increase profits. Referred to as the “agency therapist” by his clients, Karl has helped hundreds of agency owners worldwide find a passion for their work again. Karl started doing business more than 20 years ago as a high school student, where he helped nonprofits and small businesses in the DC area build websites. Karl is a fourth-generation business owner, which motivated him to turn his skills into an agency. He's also the author of several books, with his most notable work being Made to Lead.  Outside of his work at Sakas & Company, Karl volunteers as a Past President of AMA Triangle and as a bartender on a 1930s railroad car. In this episode of the Smart Business Revolution Podcast, John Corcoran is joined by Karl Sakas, an Agency Consultant and Executive Coach at Sakas & Company, to discuss how to successfully run an agency. Karl explains project management and account management and how to approach each in an agency setting. He also talks about the pod agency model, client concentration problem, and the two possible ways to manage business risks when diversifying.

Karl Sakas is an Agency Consultant and Executive Coach at Sakas & Company where he consults with, coaches, and trains marketing agency owners struggling with various challenges related to their teams, their clients, and their services. His focus? To guide agency owners through risky decision-making, help them overcome constraints, enable them to grow profitably to the next level, and to make them “better bosses.” Karl has a strong agency operations background and has worked with agencies around the world. His team is often called in when an agency: Founder's network runs out and the agency needs to find new customers,  Is slammed by new growth opportunities, or Needs help on a sales process . . . figuring out team member and client onboarding processes, smoothing delivery, or developing strategies for building long-term relationships. In this interview, Karl identifies six agency “roles”: Account managers sell additional services to existing clients and keep them happy; Project managers ensure that work progresses smoothly and profitably; Subject matter experts (SMEs) . . . the craft-focused analysts, developers, designers, and writers; Broadly experienced, client-facing Strategists; Business developers, who provide organizational marketing, sales, and partnership-building; and Support, the overarching leadership, and operations management team that ensures smooth agency function. In this interview, Karl recommends that overwhelmed agency owners offload tasks in a prescribed order (subject to agency-owner preferences);  The SME work. Start using freelancers and later hire full-timers to do the highly visible client execution work. If an agency owner wants to spend all his or her time on “craft,” he or she should either be willing to hire six-figure management talent or shift to being a super-consultant and not own an agency. Project management, which is mostly (client-facing) internal coordination.  Account management, so the agency owner is not the first person clients call when they need something. Sales . . . or strategy . . . depending on what the agency owner wants to “keep.” Or a hybrid, e.g., where another member of the team qualifies the client and the agency owner serves as the “closer.” This person does NOT have to be the expert the agency owner is . . . so he or she can be hired for less than the agency owner would pay for a personal clone.  Karl notes that there is a big difference between delegation and abdication. He warns, “Don't just dump everything on someone and expect them to figure it all out.” The agency owner has to train these “replacements” and help them build the qualification process, so prospective clients, now vetted and talking with the agency owner, will be more ready to “sign on the line.” In 2016, Karl founded a CMOs-only mastermind group, where he guides non-client CMOs through their challenges. He compiles the data he gathers from these CMOs into anonymized insights which he passes on to his agency clients . . . to help them improve.  Karl has built a ranking tool to help agencies assess current and future client value, clarify “fit,” and optimize client satisfaction and agency profitability. He will be running an “Ask Me Anything” session at HubSpot Inbound 2021, sharing scripts for difficult client conversations, talking about commitment to warmth and competence decision-making, and presenting a Reason, Options, Choose (ROC) negotiation framework that guides agency/client conflicts through chosen options toward mutually satisfactory solutions. Karl can be reached on his agency's website at: sakasandcompany.com, where he offers free newsletters and articles. Transcript Follows: ROB: Welcome to the Marketing Agency Leadership Podcast. I'm your host, Rob Kischuk, and I'm joined today by Karl Sakas, who is an Agency Consultant and Executive Coach at Sakas & Company based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Welcome to the podcast, Karl. KARL: Rob, great to be here. ROB: Excellent to have you here. This is a part of our annual Inbound series of podcasts. Karl, you'll be speaking at Inbound, and we'll get to that in a moment. But why don't you start off by telling us about Sakas & Company and what it is that you all do? KARL: Through Sakas & Company, I help owners of marketing agencies grow more profitably. That spans a range of areas. I've worked with agencies all over the world, every inhabited continent, around dealing with growing pains around getting to the next level, whatever that might be for each agency owner or owners. I come from an agency operations background. I actually started in digital marketing as a freelance web designer in high school back in the days of dial-up. Since then, I've been an Agency Project Manager, Director of Client Services, Director of Operations. This is my third business since high school, and I'm a fourth generation entrepreneur. The work that I do, I love that I'm helping agency owners who often are in over their head and they're struggling with different challenges around how to grow, how to grow profitably, major decisions related to their team and their clients and their services. I love being able to help them out. Several clients call me their agency therapist. Let me clarify, I'm not an actual therapist. Everyone ideally has an actual therapist, but when it comes to their agency, I love helping people out – helping them, as one client put it, “calm the chaos.” ROB: When you mention focusing on growth, what I hear is where a lot of agencies end up feeling stuck – one of the transition points; you've probably seen a couple – is they hit a lid in one way or another in terms of founder sales. KARL: Yes. ROB: Is that where people often end up turning to you, in that area? KARL: Sometimes. In that case, thinking of founder sales, often it is the founder's network. Their network lasts maybe a year or two into the business; maybe it lasts three or four years. But eventually it's like, “uh-oh” – they've realized that if their network is going to buy, they've bought. It's funny; the marketing agency needs to do its own marketing. There's a shoemaker's kids problem. Sometimes people reach out. Other times, and more often, given my operations background, they'll reach out when they are overwhelmed by new growth opportunities. They've got more leads than they can deal with. Their salesperson or salespeople are having trouble keeping up, whether the owner is doing sales or otherwise. Often I'm helping on sales process. Given my background as a PM, helping with onboarding, figuring out their onboarding process, both for team members and for clients, how to sort out delivery running smoothly, and figuring out how to build long-term relationships. All of my consulting, coaching, and training is exclusively with agencies. I don't work with any brand side clients. But through a marketing association, in 2016 I founded a CMOs-only mastermind group. No agencies allowed. Through that, I'm helping the CMOs, who are not my clients, through some of their challenges and I get them together. I'm able to share anonymized insights from that to help agencies do a better job, like the CMOs keep talking about revenue attribution through agency, because otherwise you're going to lose your clients to someone who is. ROB: That makes complete sense. In the middle of that, you mentioned process. Does process tend to be one of those Kryptonites and Waterloos of agencies in general? It seems like you have this double effect. First of all, you have someone who has deliberately opted out of some of the structured environments they could work in in a big corporation. Then you combine that, often, with a free-spirited and creative nature to building the agency, which may not turn to process as its first instinct to solve problems. KARL: That is a great point. It varies by agency, but part of my intake process if someone reaches out for my help, I'll ask why they started their agency and how things have turned out compared to what they expected. A very common thread – not for everyone, but very common – is they were working at an agency and they're like, “I can do this better.” Or as one agency owner put it, “If the CEO is going to be a moron, I want to be the moron.” Sort of the “I could do it better.” The problem is that people often find when they are now in charge, they have some new empathy for their former boss. When they saw the boss wasn't always making the best decisions or what have you, now they realize what the boss was going through, juggling all of these different stakeholders, clients, team members, suppliers, and others, and now they often don't have a sounding board. Sometimes if they have a business partner, they've got their business partner as a sounding board, “Is this normal?” Sometimes their romantic partner, who sometimes is also the business partner, which adds its own layer of complications. Bu they're both in the same situation. One of my coaching clients said that our coaching work helped him free up time in his therapy sessions because he wasn't having to tell his therapist all about his agency challenges – which the therapist couldn't really help with. I mean, in pieces, but not “Here are the best practices. Let's customize them to you.” ROB: Right, the therapist can help you with the psychology of being in the role, but it doesn't necessarily get you to what's effective for business. I'm sure in some cases when it's a romantic partnership that are also business partners, you are kind of in a therapist role at times. When we get to scaling past this founder or you have too much business coming in even for the people who are in the sales role, the first lever I see people pull, often, when they get capped out on sales is they'll just go hire salespeople. They'll hire one or two and send them into the world and tell them to go sell things. I think it usually doesn't turn out too well when that's the plan. KARL: By accident, that approach sometimes accidentally works. But usually not. ROB: Sometimes you're scaling the founder-led sales a little bit and sometimes you're distributing. How do you processize and get it so that you have – I think an enemy sometimes in sales is authenticity. You really have to get the right people at least to reflect your own agency's brand in that conversation. KARL: It starts by understanding, should you even outsource sales or something else? In my work, I've identified six agency roles. You've got account management (keep the clients happy, sell them more work); project management (get the work done smoothly and profitably); you've got your subject matter experts (depending on your agency's services, those are your designers, developers, writers, analysts, that kind of thing), who are primarily focusing on doing their craft all day long; you've got strategists, who are sort of like a super subject matter expert (they have broader experience, they tend to have more experience in general, they tend to be fairly client-facing); and then the last two, you've got biz dev, which is really marketing, sales, and partnerships; and then you've got support, which is operations and leadership, keeping things running smoothly. When it comes to getting things off your plate as an agency owner, my recommendation is to follow roughly this order, depending on your preferences. First thing to get off your plate: the SME work. If you are the owner of the agency and you are still in the client execution tools all day long, you probably should outsource that to someone else – maybe initially freelancers, eventually hiring people full-time, that kind of thing. Get that off your plate, the things that are more visible to your clients. The next thing to do probably is project management, the mostly internal coordination, though PMs are indeed client-facing. Then you may want to do account management – not being the first person clients call every single time they need something. And then the question becomes – and this is the piece to your question of getting sales off your plate – depending on your preferences, you might choose to hire someone to help with sales while you keep doing client strategy, or maybe the other way. You want to do client strategy, you don't want to do sales. There is an in-the-middle option, which is maybe you continue as the closer, you're closing the deal, but someone else on your team is doing the qualifying. If this were a really large sales organization, that would be a business development representative. The good news is they don't need to be as much of an expert as you are, which means that you can hire them for less than you would hire a clone of yourself. And if they do their job and you help them build process – they're not going to magically know who's qualified or not – you ultimately will find yourself on the phone solely with qualified, or at least initially qualified, prospects. On the other hand, if you like doing all the conversations but you've outsourced everything else, okay. Do what you want to do, but if you're doing something that you'd rather not do – as the owner of an agency, you're in a lucky spot. Most people out in the world don't get to choose what they do day to day. It's your business. But you do need to take some steps to make it happen rather than just – instead of delegating, sometimes people will abdicate. Don't just dump everything on someone and expect them to figure it all out. ROB: Yeah, I hear two traps in there that are pretty common. One is the abdication. Two is really, a lot of people get into the business not to build a business, but because they enjoy the delivery work. KARL: Yes. And if that's what you love most, you need someone on your team doing the rest, doing the support work, operations and leadership, doing the biz dev work, marketing, sales, and partnerships, and so on. But it is worth considering. Occasionally, out of the over 400 clients I've worked with in 36 countries, some of the clients conclude they don't like running an agency. Sometimes they don't like the sales; other times they don't like managing people. And there are things you can do to delegate aspects of management, though it's not cheap. You're hiring someone with a six-figure salary, profit-sharing, and potentially some sort of equity to take over for you if you don't love doing that. But sometimes people conclude they don't want to run an agency because they want to do the craft, primarily, and in that case, I call that shifting to the “super consultant” model. They might have one administrative person helping them stay on track, but their job is to do consulting, do their craft, whether it's SEO or marketing strategy or PR or something else. If you want to do your favorite craft all day long, you probably should not be an agency owner. ROB: And that might take us a little bit into even your own journey. You were leading in agencies, building a career. There were obviously plenty of places you could've gone from there, but you've got a much more focused scope of services now. How did you come to this conclusion for yourself of how you wanted to help agencies that maybe wasn't managing a bunch of delivery? KARL: Thinking about the moving parts, I realized after working for one agency and then another, while I was at the second agency, there was this opportunity. Agency owners typically start the agency because they love the work. At my first agency, there were three founders; one loved design, another loved SEO, another loved development. At the second agency, it was development and marketing strategy. The challenge is, suddenly you start an agency, you're now a business owner. You're dealing with hiring and firing and office supplies, or making sure someone bought the office supplies so you don't run out, that kind of thing. Often that's not as much fun. In my case, coming from an operations background, I was usually doing the things the owners didn't like doing. For instance, one of my first jobs as a Director of Client Services at an agency – I think they had not mentioned this as part of the hiring process – learned in the first week that I would be telling all of the clients that our prices had gone up about 30%. We'd been at an old rate for a long time. And you know what? Because I had been working with clients as a web designer in the days of dial-up and otherwise, it worked. Out of all of our retainer clients, all but one renewed at the new rate, and the one that didn't continued working on a project basis – and also was kind of a difficult client anyway, so that maybe wasn't terrible. But they delegated that to me and I got it done. Everything down to figuring out health insurance plan options. So operations is often doing stuff the owners don't want – and I have some clients where the owners do do operations, but that gets into a division of labor. But I realized there was this opportunity. Owners often don't love running the business smoothly, but if you don't do that, you're going to go out of business. Someone has to pay attention to that. In my case, business was just normal. My parents are both career army officers, and as they retired and after they retired, they started a small rental property management business and they put the kids to work. I'm the oldest of five, and starting in elementary school I was helping with things like cleanouts during tenant turnover and things like that. So I would see them negotiating with various stakeholders – with tenants, with suppliers and so on. Talking about business was normal. By high school, I was running the web design and technology consulting business that I built solely by a mix of referral and word-of-mouth in the Washington, D.C. area. I was later a business major in college. And it even goes back further than that. One of my grandfathers was a business professor for 47 years and a management consultant, so I'd hear stories focusing on organizational behavior about working with big companies, like GE and Caterpillar and Nestle, helping them work more effectively with their employees. There's a big theme around that today. In a sense, my secret mission is to make agency owners better bosses. Having been an employee at one agency and then another, agency life is often this rollercoaster. If you're the owner, you're at least in charge of controlling aspects of the rollercoaster, but if you're an employee, there are limits. So part of my goal is, yes, make life better for agency owners, help them secure what is typically their number one or number two financial asset, but also make things more stable, make work better for their employees. So I'm helping the owners and their families; I'm helping, more indirectly, agency employees and their families. This is thousands and thousands of people all over the world. ROB: It sounds rewarding to you personally on several levels, up against your own values. You mentioned something in that, and I think it's a good time to transition. You were talking about a client that wasn't such a good client. What you're speaking on – you'll be on a virtual stage at Inbound. Maybe next year we can get back to a real stage. You have an “Ask Me Anything” session, so people are just going to throw random things at you. You're going to be there and ready to respond. Your session description mentions how to keep your best clients happy. There are many different potential definitions for “best client.” How do you think about that before you figure out how to keep them happy? KARL: Best client is going to be unique to each agency, but typically they're clients who pay you reasonably for the work you do. Ideally and most often, your best clients are going to be your highest paying clients. Not always. They are profitable within the relationship. If the client is 3% of your revenue, they're roughly needing 3% of your time, not 10% of your team's time. That isn't ideal. You enjoy working with them. If you see there's an email from them or a text from them or a call from them, you are hopefully excited to see that they're reaching out, and your team is also excited. You're doing work that you can see the impact and the client appreciates the impact. The client is open to new ideas, trying new things that'll benefit them. The client generally trusts you, trusts the advice you have. That doesn't mean they would never have any questions, but generally they assume that if you've recommended it, it makes sense to explore. There could be other factors as well. I've actually built a spreadsheet for that that I use with my coaching and consulting clients. It's the client rating or ranking matrix. You put all your clients in and you look at them in terms of a few key criteria. One is, what is their current value (high, medium, or low)? That'll vary by your client mix. And also, what's their future potential (high, medium, or low)? That'll help you decide, is this a client you want to keep as-is? Is this a client you want to try to grow? Or maybe you should assume that you might lose them. And sometimes, if there's a client, especially if it's a lower budget client, that probably won't grow and you don't like working with them – probably time to fire them. ROB: Do you have any way that you suggest firing a client? Because I think that's one of those things that can probably be a little bit intimidating and feels, to an extent, counterintuitive. KARL: One of the big drivers is whether you're firing them because you've outgrown them or you're firing them because there are major dysfunctions. I was talking with a client about this yesterday. They've grown; they have a legacy client at $2,500 a month. Their goal for new clients is to be $10,000+, but they had some legacy clients. They reached out asking if the client wanted to expand their retainer, and the client declined – which made sense based on where their business was. They certainly couldn't get to $10,000 a month. It seemed like it was time to part ways. My advice to the agency owners that I was speaking with on the call was: frame it as you've enjoyed working with them; “Here's another agency or two that might be a match.” In that case, I said, “Do you have agencies who would be thrilled to get that $2,500 a month client?” “Yes, agencies that are earlier in their lifecycle, things like that, that my client knows and trusts.” I said, “Offer to introduce them.” Whether there's a referral fee or not, that's doing the right thing. Create a smooth transition. Point them somewhere. There's a second category, which is that the client is significantly dysfunctional. For instance, I mentioned the client that didn't renew their retainer but just projects – I really liked my day to day contact. Her boss was kind of terrible. I was on the phone with my day to day contact one day; I made a joke about something. She laughed and she said, “Thanks, I needed that. We don't laugh much here.” So sad. Her boss was terrible. I could understand the environment. That wasn't a client that we tried hard to keep. The work was interesting, but not ideal. But sometimes it's worse. I had a client in Toronto who had a smaller client who she said was making misogynistic comments to her team. In a coaching call – it actually ended up being an emergency support outreach – she was like, “Can I fire this guy as a client?” I knew the backstory on the client's size and things like that. It was a smaller client. I hadn't heard about the employee harassment; that was newer. I'm like, “Yeah, fire him. And you're under no obligation to help him find another agency based on his behavior.” So sometimes I think I'm helping people feel more confident in taking action on things they probably know they need to do, but they're looking for a nudge. ROB: Sure. A lot of times in the lead chair of an agency, or really any organization, you're missing that sounding board, so it is good to have that from a coach, from a consultant, from somebody, for sure. Frequently on this podcast, we talk about lessons learned. It sounds like a lot of your business is defined, almost, by lessons learned and things that you would share. I'd maybe twist the question a little bit and say – normally I say “What have you learned?” I would say, when you prepare for an Ask Me Anything session, I imagine there's an extent to which you already know some of the lessons you're going to put back into the audience. So apart from some things we've already talked about, what are some of the top questions that you end up fielding and teaching back to the audience in these sessions? KARL: One is maybe the owner is really good at account management, but they're like, “How do I get my team to improve at it? They have potential, but what can I do?” There are two things to keep in mind. One is a concept called warmth and competence. It comes from a book called The Human Brand by Chris Malone, who's a former Fortune 500 CMO, and Susan Fiske, who's a psychology professor at Princeton. The idea of warmth and competence – and you can use this to make better decisions – is this: whenever you're interacting with a person or a company or other organization, you're thinking about how is the warmth, how is the competence (high, medium, or low)? High competence is you're getting the job done, you're delivering as expected, everything is according to the specifications. High warmth is, do you make the person feel special? Do you make them feel that you value them? It's not just about the money. You can apply this in your client relationships and also with your team, your employee relationships. If you commit to warmth and competence from The Human Brand as one of your core values, your team can make better decisions. And I talk about this with my team. What's the warmth and competence solution? If it's in line with the overall values and it is high warmth and high competence, do it. It makes the decision-making a lot easier, and that helps with client retention. The second thing to think about is, when you're delegating client services or account management or delegating more of it, what do you do when a client wants something that isn't aligned to what you want to give them? I will be sharing a resource at my Inbound talk, the “Ask Me Anything” on working with clients, which is a couple dozen scripts for different scenarios that may be a difficult conversation. For instance, you have gone over budget and you haven't warned the client. Or maybe the client wants something that isn't in scope, but they seem to think it should be. The solution to that, apart from come to my Inbound session and sign up for the bonus of these scripts for handling difficult clients – and I'm always expanding those; I've added several in the past year – is a concept I call Reason, Options, Choose (ROC). The idea there is as a negotiation framework. A client wants something; you don't want to do that, or at least not under those terms. You cite a reason. Say they don't like the price you've quoted for something. “We'd love to do that. That is the price for that scope.” But then you give them two to three options that you hand-pick. You might say, “We looked at the lower budget you mentioned. Here's the smaller scope we could do. Do you want the full price, full scope (Option A)? Do you want the smaller scope, smaller budget (Option B)?” There's also in that case an implicit Option C, which is client doesn't want to pay anything – great, we don't do anything and we work on a client who will pay us for something. So you give them a reason, you give them two to three hand-picked options, and then you let them choose. You're not making them choose any specific one, and importantly, they're not making you do something you don't want to do. And any of the options are going to be acceptable to your agency because you have hand-picked them. Reason, Options, Choose. ROB: That seems like one of those things – a lot of these are almost muscles you have to exercise and get comfortable with. It's not going to be easy. But it seems like once you pattern them and model them, your team would even get used to it and start to think in that same mindset. KARL: Yes. You want the team to internalize it. Actually, I discovered that in an inside joke way. A client had a birthday coming up and she was really into wine. She was also a big fan of Reason, Options, Choose, and she had told her team about it. So the team decided to make some fake wine labels and put them on wine bottles, and one of the wines the team called “Riesling, Options, Choose.” They included some pairing notes: that it was a bittersweet blend best served with a pep talk from Karl, lots of proofreading, and apparently stress-eating pretzels. The more your team can make better decisions on your behalf through things like warmth and competence, through Reason, Options, Choose – by understanding your values, by understanding what is important – really, it's three things. I call it your VGR: your values, goals, and resources. Values on how you operate, goals on where you want to go, and resources in terms of time, money, people, tools to get things done. Your team can make better decisions on your behalf and ultimately find ways so that you can work less and earn more. ROB: Plenty to digest there. It's so helpful to have these tools. I talk to my team a lot about – I think especially folks in smaller businesses get a little scared; they're in a smaller business because they don't want to be beset by process. But there's a certain amount of process that exists not to avoid intelligence decisions, but to avoid decision paralysis and inaction. That's I think where process is so helpful and enabling. You don't have to decide what you're going to send. For example, you get a resume of someone you want to talk to. How do you decide you want to talk to them, and what do you send them when you decide? Or do you want to freelance that every time and get stuck in the mud? These processes are helpful in a lot of ways. KARL: Absolutely. That also includes making time to think through when to change. You ideally aren't changing processes every single day so your team's like, “Is this version 3.6 or version 4.28?” It makes sense to do an annual review, quarterly review. And importantly, get input from your team. Just because you're thinking about certain priorities and that's important, your team has some concerns. Two examples on that. With my grandfather's consulting years ago – I'm into trains. Turned out he did a consulting project for the New York Central Railroad, and he was interviewing employees about what they liked and didn't like. An employee was in the switching tower one hot summer day, and my grandfather asked him what he liked and didn't like about his job. He said, “The biggest problem is it's really hot. I've asked them to put in some window blinds, and they've even been out to measure them, but they haven't put them in.” And he shared about a safety concern. My grandfather asked, “Did you escalate that?” The guy was like, “Why should I? They didn't care about the window blinds. Why would they care about that?” An example of a small thing at an agency – I did an anonymous culture survey, which I'll sometimes do with my consulting clients, asking all the employees about what they liked or didn't like and a number of other questions. One of the feedback points was about the coffeemaker in the office. Now, the two owners did not drink coffee. They'd heard there were some issues with the coffeemaker, but it wasn't really a personal problem for them. But the feedback was that the coffeemaker was always breaking. This was from an employee who was a bigger coffee fan. My advice to the owners was: this is not going to be the most impactful thing you do, but buy a new coffeemaker, and someone will be thrilled. ROB: Yep. It's so many of those little things that you don't even realize, and it's just such a simple cost, but the intention is where it matters. KARL: Exactly. ROB: Karl, we'll look forward to your Ask Me Anything session at Inbound coming up in October. Between now and then, and maybe after, when people want to catch up with you and connect with you and Sakas & Company, where should they go to find you? KARL: Visit online sakasandcompany.com. I have hundreds of free articles. I have monthly live office hours, answering questions live and free of charge with agency owners all over the world, and also a number of courses and things like that. The latest is Agency PM 101 for people who are stuck as deputized project managers doing PM on top of their existing job and they'd rather not. It doesn't have to be quite so hard. So that's Agency PM 101. But also, again, hundreds of free articles and a newsletter that more than one agency owner has said is one of the only emails they read. That's sakasandcompany.com. Check it out. ROB: The email newsletter is always worth a try. If you don't like it, everybody knows how to find the unsubscribe button. Sounds like it's well worth it to many agency owners. Karl, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. It's good to draw on your wisdom and share with the audience. Thank you for sharing at Inbound as well. KARL: Thanks, Rob. ROB: Take care. Thank you for listening. The Marketing Agency Leadership Podcast is presented by Converge. Converge helps digital marketing agencies and brands automate their reporting so they can be more profitable, accurate, and responsive. To learn more about how Converge can automate your marketing reporting, email info@convergehq.com, or visit us on the web at convergehq.com.

On Today's episode Seth is joined by guest Karl Sakas, an agency consultant and executive coach. Seth asks Karl what the biggest mistakes people make when scaling their agencies. Karl discusses how he got started in his career and how he found his niche helping businesses grow. Karl discusses the importance of being selective in the early stages of scaling, how to focus on what you want during growth, and when to make yourself optional. Seth and Karl discuss the four stages of agency satisfaction and balancing that with client satisfaction. Seth asks how agency leaders and owners can balance their involvement in their company's growth. Karl gives insight as to how owners can control their involvement based on their needs. For more on these topics: 4 stages in the "Firm Satisfaction Index": Powerless, Overwhelmed, Confident, Valued4 stages on day-to-day involvement: Mandatory, Necessary, Needed, and Optional

Karl Sakas is an agency consultant, executive coach and the founder of Sakas & Company. Karl and his company are dedicated to helping digital agency owners grow their businesses through the techniques and practices Karl has learned and developed over his years as a business owner and as a high-level digital marketing agency executive.Join us as Karl tells us how he got into the consultancy game, what his best advice for law firm owners is to level-up their business, and how some lessons from a submariner could help empower your team and free up your time.What's In This Episode Who is Karl Sakas? How business consultancy runs in the family. What are the four stages of running a business? How relinquishing control can help your firm grow. Why are warmth and competence important? How articulating your desired outcomes and acceptable outcomes can relieve stress.

Omi Diaz-Cooper is CEO at Diaz & Cooper Advertising, a digital “growth agency” that focuses on developing tight strategic plans and transforming client websites into top-performing salespeople. Omi says that websites are no longer “set it and forget it”—they are “living things that need to be producing” for clients. Since Covid, even companies that used to have “catalog” websites have found the need to proactively nurture prospects along the customer value journey.  Engaging and locking-in relationships with customers before they are ready to purchase is essential. People may start out merely seeking information. Providing great content and thought leadership will encourage today's digitally-empowered potential clients to “keep coming back” until they are ready to buy. Nurturing them after the sale turns them continues the client-journey as customers become repeat customers and provide references.  Diaz & Cooper utilizes data-backed optimization to build a predictable system of growth for two industry verticals – travel/tourism and online retailers. When Covid struck, travel and tourism revenues took a dive . . . and business for companies that sold things online soared. Omi agrees that “anybody who didn't have an ecommerce store who ever needed to decided they needed one pretty quickly.” Diaz & Cooper is both a Shopify Certified Agency and a HubSpot Gold Solutions Partner.  Omi loves the travel industry and expects that it will rebound. She explains that most people who love to travel will do a lot of online inspirational research before they book. They may be looking for a unique experience or an adventure, seeking something new to surprise them, or to go somewhere where they know exactly what to expect.  During the research phase, Omi says, “You have to get them to sign up for something so you can remarket to them with an email.” She recommends offering such things as destination information or tips on how to pack for a given climate to build value so people keep returning to your site. Engagement needs to be an iterative process where each stage brings opportunities to remarket. If potential customers book outside your brand's website, it is hard to recapture the relationship.  After an individual becomes a guest at your venue, remarket to them for great reviews and references. In this interview, Omi talks about how agency focus has shifted. At the turn of the century, agencies created concepts, gave the concepts away in pitches, backed everything up with an invented rationale, and made money by handing accounts off to lower-paid junior executives, padding time sheets, or through media commissions. In the past five to ten years, the focus has shifted to consumer first, with senior-level strategy development, billing based on value provided to clients, and integration of constantly evolving technological innovations. Omi can be reached Twitter at @diazcooperor on the agency's website at www.diazcooper.com. The website offers a variety of audits and calls to action that visitors may find of value.  Transcript Follows: ROB: Welcome to the Marketing Agency Leadership Podcast. I'm your host, Rob Kischuk, and I'm joined today by Omi Diaz-Cooper, CEO of Diaz & Cooper Advertising based in Miami, Florida. Welcome to the podcast, Omi. OMI: Thanks, Rob. It's really great to be here. ROB: Fantastic to have you here. Why don't you start off by telling us about Diaz & Cooper and where the firm excels? OMI: Absolutely. We really think of ourselves as a growth agency rather than a traditional marketing shop. Our focus is really on transforming our clients' websites into top performing salespeople. How we do that, or rather our secret sauce, is really data-backed optimization. We want to create a predictable system of growth. We believe websites are living things that need to be producing for our clients, especially since nowadays, consumers are just so much more digitally empowered than ever before. The old ways of building websites, of setting them and forgetting them, and the old ways of how you used to reach customers online really have to evolve. So, we're kind of a bunch of data nerds who understand and love the customer value journey. [laughs] ROB: That seems like it can be better for everyone, because so often the website is this giant project that people work on, they get the website out the door, they work with someone to get it done, they don't talk to them for 2 years – maybe they do talk to them 2 years later – and then you rebuild everything from scratch because the universe has changed. Having a framework where the site can evolve and where the relationship between the agency and the brand can continue – I guess if you're cynical, you'd say it looks like you're just keeping them on the hook, but realistically, something has to change every month unless you don't expect anything at all from the website. OMI: Yeah, exactly. That's why we really focus on people who are actually selling something online. We do well with lead gen, but where we really shine and what really jazzes us is seeing our client numbers go up in analytics, making more and more revenue for our clients, but also connecting them to the people who will have some sort of an enhancement in their life experience by connecting to this particular brand. Like you said, it's really not about those brochure sites of “set it and forget it.” It's really about growth-driven design, and that's driven by actual visitor data. And those things change. We saw the huge changes that have happened over the last 6 months in consumer behavior. If you had a dusty old site that you hadn't touched in 2 or 3 years, you bet your bottom dollar that you're touching it now. ROB: Right. Omi, you mentioned being able to tie something back to the bottom line and measurability. Are there particular industries that you find that Diaz & Cooper engages with most often? OMI: Yeah, we have two pretty big industry niches. The first one, believe it or not, is in travel/tourism. We've worked with everything from local attractions of an aquarium in Tampa that's pretty famous and has actually been in a movie to global brands like Regent Seven Seas and Royal Caribbean. I have a lot of faith in the travel industry, even though obviously it got whacked pretty bad 6 months ago. We can talk about that a little bit later. So that's one niche. But again, it's all about generating bookings online. For example, we currently have an airline client, and it's all about generating those bookings. Then the other piece of it is more of a peer ecommerce place, so retail businesses that are selling something online through Shopify, for example. We are a Shopify Certified Agency as well as a HubSpot Gold Solutions Partner. ROB: That's an interesting place to be. Quite often, when people think about HubSpot, they think very B2B, but HubSpot is also a lot about the customer journey. The past couple years – certainly not this year, but the 2 years prior, we recorded this podcast at the Inbound Conference because they get great speakers in there, and the advantage of recording in person is really helpful. It makes for a great conversation. Talk a little bit about how to think about – I think booking travel is a customer journey, much like buying a B2B product. What are the stages when somebody's thinking about travel that might make sense to us but be not intuitive to somebody looking from the outside? OMI: For sure, travel, and especially with more and more people doing so much research online, travel begins at the inspiration. Unless you're traveling for business and you have to have travel and you don't have that much choice in the matter, most people that love to travel really are looking for an experience, something unique – they either want adventure and they want to be surprised, or they want to know exactly what to expect. Either way, they're going to do a lot of that inspirational research online. That's the piece where a lot of companies, like for example tour companies, have really not been doing super well in the past. I'll give you an example. Have you ever landed in a new city and gotten out of the station and seen people handing out little flyers or little postcards for bus tours or an excursion locally? Honestly, that's been one of the largest ways that a lot of these tour companies have marketed themselves, and they've really ignored that pre-travel inspiration research aspect of it. By the time someone's landed nowadays, they might be pretty set with their itinerary and they may not even look twice at whatever excursion you have to offer. So, it's really about trying to capture the imagination of people who are at that research stage and then having engaging content. From there it's a pretty traditional ecommerce journey. You have to engage them with content, you have to get them to hopefully sign up. If they're not ready to book yet, you have to get them to sign up for something so you can remarket to them with email. And then after they become a guest, how do you remarket to them so that they give you a great review and refer you to others? It's really looking at everything from the time that they first think about wanting to travel through turning them into a raving fan. ROB: It seems like it could be getting very divergent. It seems like there would be a pull. A lot of the travel booking sites would probably be trying to pull these brands into their own marketplace to book alongside their travel, to book alongside their AirBnB. But it seems to me if you're doing that, you've lost complete control of the customer relationship. How is that pull working on the tours? Or is it not much of a factor yet? OMI: It's beginning to be. For example, I think Bookings Holdings, which is the owners of Booking.com, they realize the potential of the excursions & tours area of travel tourism, and they actually purchased a booking engine called Fair Harbor. Again, they want to have more control of that customer journey. But you're right; that means the brand themselves loses that a little bit. It's really important to have a mechanism by which you can engage with the potential customers before they actually book so that they're already looking to you for information, whether it's destination information or whether you're giving them tips on how to dress or how to pack for a particular climate. Whatever the case might be, it's going back to good old-fashioned content creation and thought leadership where you really want to be able to establish that relationship before they book. Because if they book outside of your brand's website, you've lost that relationship until you can capture their email again or something like that. It's really about providing touchpoints prior as well as throughout. As soon as they book, what are you doing to nurture them before they show up? Unless it's like a same day thing. Obviously, every brand is a little bit different, but those basics are the same as far as wanting to figure out ways to create more touchpoints throughout the relationship so that you don't lose that touch with the guest. ROB: And they might even be able to capture some of the referral revenue out to the accommodations, out to the plane flights and whatnot, right? OMI: Yeah, that's actually pretty common in the industry. For example, concierges at a hotel, if they book a tour or something like that, they get a piece of the revenue. That's a pretty common practice. How do we do that digitally, and how do we do it digitally effectively so that you're not pushing things on people that don't make sense? That's the rub. ROB: Got it. March 2020 must have been quite an inversion of your business, because you have this travel vertical that undoubtedly was hit hard, but conversely you have this ecommerce side of things that anybody who didn't have an ecommerce store who ever needed to decided they needed one probably pretty quickly. OMI: Yes. [laughs] That was definitely our saving grace, that we did have that part of the business. We had already been Shopify partners for several years and have had a lot of success with some retailers. Because yeah, literally about 60% of our agency's revenue paused within a week or two of March, the terrible Ides of March. [laughs] ROB: Were people looking for any sort of store to sell their thing online? Were there particular types of products that seemed to accelerate faster? OMI: Obviously anything related to health and toilet paper and sanitation and that kind of thing. Obviously all of that was huge. But overall I think it took a little time for people who had never done ecommerce before. They knew that they needed to go into it, but they weren't sure how to go about it. And that's not really our core target audience. It was really more about finding more of those clients who already had a decent ecommerce shop and how do we make it better? How do we do conversion rate optimization so that they capture more of the market? Because the behavior really changed. The behavior changed in that people were less loyal to specific brands and they were looking for bargains and looking for something that was going to make sense for their budgets. Again, yes, there were a lot more people buying online, but there were also a lot more people with less money to spend. ROB: Right. It all flipped very quickly. We had one client who was in a different business who decided to spin up a third party marketplace for challenger and interesting food brands. You can imagine, they're talking to all these companies that are used to selling stuff in grocery stores; now they're not because nobody is stopping and browsing around a grocery store. If they're going at all, they're going to find their toilet paper and their core essentials. The shift from March until now – at the beginning, everyone they talked to said, “No, we don't have a store.” It has come so quickly to now they fully expect this client to integrate with their Shopify store and integrate their order history. The knowledge and sophistication really turned amazingly quickly. OMI: Yeah. I read somewhere that the CEO of Microsoft said that we experienced 2 years of digital transformation in 2 months, and that's exactly what it felt like. [laughs] ROB: Oh yes, it felt like a lot of things, for sure. Omi, when you look back, tell us about the origin story of Diaz & Cooper. How did you decide to get this business rolling? OMI: That's actually a funny story. A little bit personal, but I'm going to go ahead and share it. I had been in the ad agency world for, I don't know, 10 years, maybe 15. I can't even remember. I had decided to step off the hamster wheel and freelance. I wanted a little bit less pressure; I wanted a little bit more intimate contact with my clients and all of that. I also wanted to start a family around that time. After about a year, I was finally pregnant. I was about 7 months pregnant or so, and my husband and co-founder Todd Cooper came home from work – he was an associate creative director of a kind of large agency here at the time – and he said, “Hey, I want to quit my job too. Let's do this for real.” So, I looked down at my pregnant belly, looked at him, looked at my belly again, and went, “Are you crazy?” [laughs] But then I realized, okay, there's a gap in the market we can fill. Why not? Let's try it out. At that time – this was back in 2000-2001 – most local agencies created work in a vacuum. All the agencies we had worked for would come up with creative and then invent a rationale. Nobody was talking about data, nobody was talking about putting the consumer first. A lot of agencies were hyper-focused on getting creative awards – or even worse, as soon as they landed an account, they just dumped it off on a junior executive. Because strategy was not valued and creative was given away in pitches, the only way agencies could make real money was through media commissions. That really misaligns the agency and the client goals. Tim Williams talks a lot about this, how with hourly billing, the agency is penalized for being efficient, so you either have to make up time sheets or just make a lot of money through media commissions. A lot of that has definitely changed in the last 5-10 years, but back then that was the status quo. We really learned how to value what we do based on the value that we achieved for our clients, and that's really what we wanted to do with the agency from the inception. We wanted to provide senior level strategy, access to senior level thinking to all the clients, and be able to feed our intense curiosity for new technologies. ROB: And if LinkedIn is to be believed, it looks like he joined in early to mid 2001. OMI: Yeah. ROB: So you put all of your family eggs in this basket, you have a child incoming, and then you have 9/11. You're now in your third turning of the world upside down, between COVID, the financial crisis, and 9/11. How did 9/11 and that time affect your business? And were you in travel then? Because that was another travel mess. OMI: Yeah, it was. Luckily, 9/11, as horrific as it was, really didn't have the long-lasting effects to the industry that COVID has had. We did have a couple of travel/tourism clients at the time. I think we had a couple of hotels. They didn't really change a lot. That didn't really affect us horribly. One thing that did, though, was the real estate bubble bursting. 2008 was one that really whacked us because we were pretty deep in the real estate market. Probably 10 out of 15 clients were in real estate. So that was another big wackadoodle. We learned a lot of hard lessons. Big agencies treat employees like cogs in a wheel, but for us they were almost like family, so it was hard to sit down and say, “Oh my gosh, what staff do we need to cut? How do we make it so that people can survive this?” That was just a big lesson in making sure that we weren't overextended not just in terms of staff but also in terms of expenses. We had a big fancy office and things like that. All of those things really played a part in us reassessing the model itself and being able to focus more on the team and less on anything extraneous so that we could be more resilient when things like this happen. And inevitably something will happen again. It's almost our 20th year in business. Bring it! What's next, world? [laughs] ROB: Yeah, you're still here. Did you have an office in January, and do you have an office now? OMI: We did. This is another semi-funny story. We were ROWE Certified back in 2012. ROWE is Results Only Work Environment. Obviously, from pretty early on, it made sense for us to focus on results versus somebody spending X amount of time in a seat in an office. So we've been at least hybrid since 2012. By hybrid, I mean some days some people come into the office, some days some people don't. Back in October of last year, we made the decision that we were going to go 100% remote. We looked around and we saw that almost all the big HubSpot partners were either 100% remote or nearly 100% remote, and a lot of our clients are not even in the vicinity. They're not traveling to our offices all the time. If anything, we would travel more to them for presentations. So we said, let's not have an office anymore. Let's go 100% remote. We can always do a WeWork type situation if we have to do a conference or a meeting or find other ways to meet as a team. So we had already made that decision in October. We had already let our landlord know we weren't going to renew our lease in the summer, and we wrote a blog post about how to measure results remotely and things like that, kind of in preparation for announcing that we were going to 100% remote. Then, of course, COVID hit 3-4 months after that, and we were already ready from the standpoint of letting go of the office. That was already in the works. So we were already ready. And of course, we were already hybrid for many years, so all of our systems are online, our management software is online, our servers, everything. It was a really seamless transition. ROB: Do you think it'll be completely remote when the world comes back? Or do you think you'll have some sort of default remote? Some people were 3 or 4 days in the office before. Do you think it'll be 3 or 4 days remote and 1 or 2 in an office if you choose, or are you thinking doesn't matter, probably fully distributed, maybe not even all in the same city or state? OMI: We already don't have everybody in the same city or state. We've had employees as far away as Italy. Today we work with a U.S. designer out of Mexico; I have writers that are in North Florida. So we already have people. I think the beauty is not just the flexibility for employees, that they have a much more balanced lifestyle and they're actually a lot more productive. The real beauty is that you can get the best talent no matter where they are. I have a very long-time employee, someone that's been with us 10 years, who recently let us know, “Hey, since we're going to be 100% remote, I think I'm going to be moving. I want to try out a new city.” His roommate got a job in New Orleans, and he's like, “I'm moving to New Orleans with my roommate. Is that cool?” I'm like, “Yeah, of course. Why not?” So I think moving forward, if we do have some sort of an office, it would probably be more one of those contracted things where you can have a coworking space somewhere. It would have to be pretty flexible because, like I said, we meet with people usually in their cities. So, it would have to be something where we could meet in different cities. ROB: Right. Our team is very distributed as well. When our team still wants to work remote but not in their house, we may try to equip them with some sort of local coworking membership. The bigger challenge, I think, is in relationship and team rapport. Have you thought at all, or have you done, something to bring a distributed team together and to maybe gain some of the benefit of having been in the same place, even if that's not the norm?  OMI: Yeah. Obviously, we do a lot of video meetings. We do little celebrations online. We send each other things. Culture is such a big part of the agency. Culture is so important. But we're playing around with the idea of maybe having quarterly live meetings in, like you said, a coworking membership type of space, and even like a retreat once a year when we can all travel again. I'm really looking forward to doing that. This is our first year, and I'm definitely itching to travel. So that's definitely something that as soon as it's safe for everyone, we would likely have maybe a once a year agency retreat. ROB: That's going to be such an interesting ongoing conversation, I think, the agency retreat. We have one employee in Santiago, Chile, and I'm hoping we all go see him. OMI: Oh, that'd be fun. ROB: That's some logistics right there. OMI: Yeah. ROB: We've talked about some lessons already, but what are some things you've learned in building Diaz & Cooper that you might like to do differently if you were starting over right now? OMI: I will tell you that I would've done the remote thing a lot sooner. Like I said, the benefits of being able to attract talent from all over the U.S. and things like that – I would definitely have done that a lot sooner. I would've pushed harder to go fully remote sooner rather than later. Also, moving to more of a value or performance pricing model versus hourly billing. We did that pretty early on. If I could do it from the inception, I would've. One of the ways we started when we first started our agency was we were kind of a little creative boutique, and we did a lot of ghost creative for bigger agencies. We moved away from that pretty quick, but I probably would've done it quicker, looking back, because we got a lot more out of getting referrals from those bigger agencies and having them rely on us for things that they couldn't do. I probably would've done that sooner and created our customer base larger more quickly. ROB: Right. OMI: The other really big lesson – this is a plug to all those wonderful agency consultants out there – there's some really good ones out there, like Jason Swank and Karl Sakas. I would've invested in a consultant sooner as well. Because you don't know what you don't know. [laughs] ROB: Jason was an early guest. He was once a fellow Atlantan, although I do believe that's not the case anymore. Not that you'd see anybody in your same city right now very much. When you talk about, especially on the consulting and advice consultants give you there, a few different perspectives on value-based pricing, how do you think about arriving at a cost for an engagement? Do you have packages? Are you using some sort of estimated effort but then adjusting so that it's not hourly and you can have comfort giving certainty to the client? OMI: That's kind of a bird's nest. I'll tell you that agencies will fight over this. “No, my way's best,” “My way's best.” We looked at the whole point system that was pretty popular with the HubSpot Partners a couple years back. What we arrived at, what works best for us and most of our clients, is we do have certain packaged programs. However, they're highly, highly customizable. We always, always start with a strategy engagement. It's a limited time. It's a value for the client. It's not exactly a loss leader for us, but it's not exactly a big money maker either. What that allows us to do is, number one, see how we work with the client. Really shape where we think the account should go. Really understand what their customers' journeys are, what needs optimization, and really be able to craft the program that will work best for them. It's also kind of a dating before you marry for both of us. They can see what it's like to work with us, we see what it's like to work with them. We can see if we're a really good fit. And then after that, there are programs at different levels that they can sign onto depending on how fast they want to reach their goals. Everything is goal-based. Everything is all around reaching certain SMART goals that we define during the strategy process. Then where the performance comes in is certain built-in bonuses for going beyond certain expected performance metrics. ROB: Makes a ton of sense. No matter how you approach the price for what's done, I think one of the big unlocks that a lot of agencies struggle with is how to define an initial structured engagement that is paid discovery that also delivers value to the clients. OMI: Yes. And it does have to deliver value. It can't just be a laundry list of B.S. It really does need to be strategic. And what we deliver, they could literally take it and run or go with somebody else and do it. A lot of people are hesitant of that, but I find that the approach that some of the prepackages that I've seen of “Well, you get four blog posts a month and six social media posts and an hour of SEO” – how can you determine that that's what they need before you even get to know their business? They may not need blog posts. They may have somebody that does it internally and maybe you're just reviewing and helping them out with the topic strategy and the SEO. Until you have a good strategic plan, you're really just checking off deliverables, and that's not what we're about. We're about delivering a result, and you can't do that unless you have a good plan. ROB: That's super key. This is probably a topic we could spend a lot of time on with a lot of people. It's a lever to growth, and it's a lever to not seeming like – you don't want to sound like you're asking to bill hours to fill out their RFP. That's where it comes from, this defensive “Somebody asked me to do a thing and I didn't have an answer for them, so it cost me time, so I'm going to throw up a defense.” But that positioning and framing towards value really helps you stand out and it helps people have some skin in the game with you while also you freeing them to go anywhere and also not wanting to. OMI: Yeah, exactly. ROB: Excellent. Omi, when people want to get in touch with you, what's the best way for them to connect with you and Diaz & Cooper? OMI: We are on Twitter @diazcooper. Also our website at www.diazcooper.com. Those are the best ways to reach us. There's all kinds of different calls to action and website audits and all kinds of things that are of value that we provide free on our website. So that's probably the best way to reach us. ROB: Sounds good. Omi, thank you so much for making time to come on the podcast. You have shared some wisdom from the year, some experience, some nuggets to carry forward, some really good stuff. I wish you and Diaz & Cooper the best, especially as you are able to not only keep your ecommerce folks happy, but bring those travel clients back into the world. Sounds like a good season ahead. OMI: Yeah, we're excited about it. ROB: Thank you so much. OMI: Thank you. ROB: Thank you for listening. The Marketing Agency Leadership Podcast is presented by Converge. Converge helps digital marketing agencies and brands automate their reporting so they can be more profitable, accurate, and responsive. To learn more about how Converge can automate your marketing reporting, email info@convergehq.com, or visit us on the web at convergehq.com.

Ep #50 - Do you Want to Work Less & Earn More? - Jon and Dave have pondered this question for some time. Luckily the well sought after agency consultant Karl Sakas joins them to provide some answers so you can get the most out of your business.

While we’ve all been affected by COVID-19, the pandemic has hit digital agencies in some uniquely challenging ways. Especially with recession rhetoric being thrown around, there’s definitely been a degree of panic for many agency owners. That’s why I’m thrilled to be chatting with Karl Sakas about the processes that have helped businesses stay afloat over the past six months – and how you can pivot from “staying afloat” to thriving.  Agency growth is good… unless it gets out of control. Karl Sakas helps agency owners grow profitably, so they can work less and earn more.  Karl has personally advised hundreds of agencies on every inhabited continent. He is the author of Made to Lead, The In-Demand Marketing Agency, and nearly 400 articles on agency management. When he’s not helping clients, Karl volunteers as a bartender on an antique train.  In this episode, Karl dives into what’s really going on with digital agencies as the COVID-19 pandemic rages on. He talks about why some agencies are struggling, and shares how others are thriving by pivoting their messaging.  Tune in to learn: Karl’s cost-cutting tiers designed to identify how to keep your agency afloat. The importance of setting SMART (Specific, Measureable, Assignable, Realistic, Time bound) goals for your business.  Why it’s crucial to communicate your team’s capacity and efforts to clients.

In this Inbound Speaks interview, we chat with Karl Sakas about his INBOUND 2020 session Don’t Just ‘Make the Logo Bigger’: Transform How Your Agency Handles Difficult Clients. He shares who should be in the room and why. A hurdle, myth, and tip along the way as well as seven magical words every agency needs to know.

Karl Sakas, Agency Consultant and Executive Coach at Sakas and Company joins this week's episode of Martech Masters. Karl brings his expertise to discuss how agencies can use certain techniques to apply during these times. Karl talks about his concept of "swim lanes" and how each person at a company should fully understand their role as well as different thought patterns you should think about when running an agency or business.

My very special guest is the man, the myth, the legend...Karl Sakas. If you’re an agency owner, changes are you've been exposed to his genius through his writing or at conferences and webinars. He’s a one-man blogging machine; if there’s a topic related to running an agency, he’s probably written about it (or has it on his list for the future). Through his executive coaching firm, Sakas and Company, Karl has helped agency owners all over the globe. He is a wealth of knowledge and is able to back up his commentary with supporting links faster than you could ever Google it. Yes, I am a fan; I was thrilled Karl agreed to be on my show! In this episode we talk about six key roles within a creative agency, blogging ideas, and the importance of supporting your clients as the hero in their story. SHOW NOTES: Karl Sakas on LinkedInSakas and Company WebsiteAgency Optimization Shortcut - Understanding the Six Agency Roles: Blog Post Team structure: Scale your agency by changing your teamsMade to Lead: A Pocket Guide to Managing Marketing & Creative Teams (paperback and Kindle)PM hiring: Should you hire a Project Manager, Project Coordinator or PM Director? Blog PostNewsletter: Tips for agency leaders, via email - Sign UpThe Hero's Journey - Joseph Campbell: BookVieux Carre Cocktail - RecipeWashington DC Chapter, The National Railway Historical Society - TicketsCONTACT HEATHER:Zeitzwolfe Accounting: https://www.zeitzwolfeaccounting.comSign up for a Complimentary Health Check Analysis for Creative Agencies Get a PDF copy of Ten Pitfalls Entrepreneurs Should Avoid When Growing Their AgencyFollow Heather on Instagram: @zeitzwolfeHeather Zeitzwolfe - LinkedInTo book a Discovery Call (via Zoom) - Click HereNEED PAYROLL?: Gusto is a great solution! Use this link and receive a $100 Amazon Gift CardEach time you listen to the podcast we will we provide a day of literacy and business training to women in Uganda. For each 5-Star review we get on itunes, we'll provide a 1 day business course to support a family in Zimbabwe. Are you an agency owner spending too much time and money building your websites? End your search for the perfect developer. Now you can take on more projects and increase profits with GoWP - Learn More.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

#020:  This episode features leading agency coach Karl Sakas, who spoke with Steve early in the COVID crisis to share his insight into how he's guiding his agency clients. Some quick nuggets for those who tune in: What to expect for agency revenue forecasts in 2020: Take your worst scenario and now make that your stretch scenario. Assume a 10-30% drop in revenue. · How you should respond: Over-communicate with every stakeholder. Not just your clients, but your employees and freelancers too. · What Karl is doing with his new isolated free time: Finally watching his first reality tv series. https://www.verblio.com/ The Verblio Show is your weekly cocktail of content marketing fun and fruitful conversation. Hear the full interview with Verblio's CEO Steve Pockross and talk with more marketers, digital agencies, and an assortment of thought leaders anywhere you get your podcasts! 

In today’s episode of the Digital Agency Insiders, we talk about strategies, frameworks, relationships, branding, among other things that help improve the quality of work in an agency setting and help agency owners and leaders propel their company forward.Karl shares with us some of his best practices and how he was able to help people in the industry through both consultation and the use of his free online resources.Join us in today’s episode of Digital Insider Podcast to learn more about how you can get top-notch expert advice without spending a single dollar.

When is the right time to hire for big pivotal roles? If only there was a snappy answer. There are many variables: your growth level,  team skillsets, market, the complexity of your offering…   While there is no step-by-step blueprint for the sticky issues of scaling, there are useful guidelines developed in the trenches by the […]

Agencies spend a lot of time worrying about their client's satisfaction, but not a lot of time worrying about their OWN satisfaction.  Karl Sakas from Sakas and Company helps agencies move through the four stages of “agency satisfaction”. From powerless to overwhelmed to confident to valued. Here's how you can advance to the next level […]

Agencies spend a lot of time worrying about their client’s satisfaction, but not a lot of time worrying about their OWN satisfaction.  Karl Sakas from Sakas and Company helps agencies move through the four stages of “agency satisfaction”. From powerless to overwhelmed to confident to valued. Here’s how you can advance to the next level ... Read more

Agency growth is good — unless it’s unfocused and out of control. If you aren't setting personal and professional boundaries for yourself, your agency, and your relationships with clients, it’s easy to get pushed around and totally lose track of your growth strategy. Karl Sakas helps agency owners conquer their growing pains so they can increase their profits and reduce their stress. As a management consultant and executive coach at Sakas and Company, Karl has personally advised hundreds of agencies on every inhabited continent. He is the author of Made to Lead, The In-Demand Marketing Agency, and more than 350 articles on agency management.  In this episode, Karl helps you confront the barriers you’ll need to face to grow your agency, explains why you can never stop marketing, and digs into his Agency Satisfaction Index which identifies “The Four Stages of Client Relationships”. Tune in to learn how to: Manage power dynamics within clients. Identify if your marketing approaches are actually connecting you with your ideal clients. Set realistic expectations for yourself, your team, and your clients. Connect with Karl on Twitter, LinkedIn, or at Sakas and Company. Subscribe to his newsletter by clicking here! Get a free copy of his eBook Don’t Just Make the Logo Bigger: Taking Clients from Painful to Profitable when you sign up for his free agency business tips. You can also access here his Agency Satisfaction Index and the Client Ranking Index. Karl has given us a TON of resources based on this epic chat. Browse the links here for references and tools for conquering those agency growing pains! Agency 101: How to start a marketing agency Feeling trapped? How to escape the Agency Doldrums Avoid the "feast or famine" cycle 37 sales tips to grow your agency Extreme Referencing: Be sure they're the best candidate Think, Teach, Do: A more-strategic way to think about your agency's services Why you allow scope creep... and how to stop How to Fire Bad Clients Setting client boundaries: Reason-Options-Choose (R-O-C) Become a "Strategy-First" agency WeCroak mobile app

How to pursue more strategic engagements with the right clients.

How to pursue more strategic engagements with the right clients.

You’ve heard that marketing agencies experience growing pains as they scale, but what if they don’t have to? In this episode, agency consultant and coach Karl Sakas gets into the logistics of balancing revenue and clients as your agency scales from one person to a lot more. Karl took the time to discuss profit leaks, keeping track of your money, and hiring the right people to build the right company. Don’t forget to subscribe to the Operation Agency Freedom podcast to stay up-to-date about the best ways to own your agency: https://dudeagency.io/category/podcast/

The biggest game-changer in professional services is being profitable without staying on the hamster wheel. Why is it so common for agency leaders to throw themselves under the bus by not paying themselves a 6-figure salary? How do we optimize our FTE, and why is this a key metric in profitability? What does it take to get out of the implementation trap?

At 35, Karl thought he had it all figured out—-a virtual business with low overhead, great clients on every inhabited continent, and a model where he could do almost all of his client work remotely. That's the dream, right? Yet over Labor Day 2017, that dream turned into a nightmare. Not only did he have appendicitis... his appendix had ruptured. It was the wake up call he needed—he'd made himself too mission-critical to his company. In the episode, Karl shares how he has started fixing things-- and how audience members can, too.

In this episode, Karl Sakas walks us through the differences in strategy for agencies who want to sell their business vs those who want to own it and fund their lifestyle. We talk specific metrics to measure & optimize, strategy changes and actionable tips to achieve your goals. About Karl Karl Sakas helps agency owners increase profits and reduce stress, by conquering growing pains. As a management consultant and executive coach at Sakas & Company, Karl has advised hundreds of agencies on every inhabited continent. He is the author of "Made to Lead," "The In-Demand Marketing Agency," and more than 300 articles on agency management on what we believe is one of the best agency blogs on the internet. When he's not helping clients, Karl is an award-winning Past President of AMA Triangle and volunteers as a bartender on a 1930s railroad car. Resources from Karl Agency Growth Style (Lifestyle vs. Equity) blog: https://sakasandcompany.com/agency-growth-style/ Making yourself "needed but not necessary" blog: https://sakasandcompany.com/needed-but-not-necessary/ The "pile of crack" analogy, on sales pipeline strength: https://sakasandcompany.com/feast-or-famine/ Preparing to sell, by building a "Dream 100 Acquirer" list: https://sakasandcompany.com/get-acquired/ Free weekly tips: https://sakasandcompany.com/newsletter/ Agency Resource Library (50+ time-saving agency tools, templates, and SOPs): https://sakasandcompany.com/agency-resource-library/ Follow Karl Online Website: https://sakasandcompany.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/KarlSakas LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karlsakas/

Delegation helps you focus on higher and higher value activities, but that doesn't make it easy. My guest, Karl Sakas, has been called "The Agency Whisperer" and has advised hundreds of agency owners to delegate effectively to take control of their agencies.Want the full transcript? Visit the show notes page on our website:https://servedontsell.com/modern-sales/how-to-delegate-work-in-your-agency-with-karl-sakas-part-2-of-2---Get a daily sales insight sent straight to your inbox:Subscribe to the daily sales insights newsletter Don't miss a single episode:Subscribe on SpotitySubscribe on Apple Podcasts Like what you heard?Help us get the word out by leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.

Delegation helps you focus on higher and higher value activities, but that doesn't make it easy. My guest, Karl Sakas, has been called "The Agency Whisperer" and has advised hundreds of agency owners to delegate effectively to take control of their agencies.Want the full transcript? Visit the show notes page on our website:https://servedontsell.com/modern-sales/how-to-delegate-work-in-your-agency-with-karl-sakas-part-1-of-2---Get a daily sales insight sent straight to your inbox:Subscribe to the daily sales insights newsletter Don't miss a single episode:Subscribe on SpotitySubscribe on Apple Podcasts Like what you heard?Help us get the word out by leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.

As your agency scales, you want to continue your growth trajectory, but in a sustainable way that keeps your customers happy, employees satisfied, and your sanity intact. Growing pains often come with accelerated agency growth —  delivering on deadlines, increased production, employee retention, are all added concerns Recently on The Innovative Agency Podcast, we asked Karl Sakas what agency owners can do at a time of intense growth. Karl specializes in this exact field — he helps agency owners who are experiencing growing pains strategize and scale their business in a sustainable way that reaches their goals. Karl has delivered his advice in 31 countries to hundreds of agencies, and he gave away some of his best info right here.

The post EP 22: Managing Creative Teams, with Karl Sakas appeared first on Kelly Campbell.

Ep 32: Getting the Most Out of Your Advertising Agency | Karl Sakas In Episode 32, Karl Sakas, President of Sakas and Company, shares his knowledge on marketing agencies and client relationships. Karl starts off by talking about the different ways agencies fail their clients and vise versa. He discusses the various types of questions Marketing Leaders should be asking, as well as what an ideal case study looks like when utilizing the S-T-A-R framework. He shares his expertise as an agency consultant and emphasizes the importance of maintaining an effective procedure when it comes to budget and keeping the client updated. He goes on to discuss the three different agency pricing models and how it ultimately comes down to the client’s budget, confidence, and desired result. Tyler and Karl continue the conversation by discussing the common trends seen in successful agencies. Karl talks about the onboarding process for new clients and how to utilize a pre-kick off survey to gain a better understanding of their expectations and what they are trying to accomplish. He goes on to talk about the ways to be a good client and partner. Karl shares his tips on growing an agency and the importance of recognizing that successful strategies vary based on the number of clients involved. Karl ends the conversation by giving his key advice on leading an agency or marketing team, which is to focus on making yourself needed but not necessary. Join Tyler, Andy, and Karl in this conversation on agency and client relationships. Timestamps 00:00 - Intro 00:52 - What’s in the News | GDPR 12:53 - Featured Guest Intro | Karl Sakas 13:17 - Where Agencies are Failing their Clients 14:05 - How Clients are Failing their Agencies 15:12 - Types of Questions to Ask 16:17 - Ideal Case Study 17:50 - Red Flags When Talking to Agencies 19:17 - Agency Pricing Models 21:17 - Successful Trends in Agencies 22:55 - Onboarding Process for an Agency 25:16 - How to be Better Clients 27:02 - Time to Cut Ties 28:52 - Abandoning the RFP 33:43 - When a Client Should Use an Agency 38:23 - Tips on Growing an Agency 41:45 - Steps When Starting an Agency 44:25 - Agencies and Underpricing 46:32 - Blood & Sand Cocktail 48:31 - Key Take Away 49:57 - Outro  Featured Guest | Karl Sakas Twitter - @KarlSakas Blood in Sand Cocktail - https://bit.ly/2KSLdmK     IRCE - CHICAGO: https://www.irce.com    10% off conference passes (Exhibit Hall Only passes excluded) and will be valid starting on 1/1/2018.  Code: LIONS18 Lion’s Share Marketing Podcast Learn More About Tyler Music Intro Music – Colony House – Buy “2:20” on iTunes Outro Music – Skillet – Buy “Lions” on iTunes

In this episode, we interview Karl Sakas all about how you can become a better manager and leader at your agency.

Links: http://sakasandcompany.com/ https://twitter.com/KarlSakas

Karl Sakas has worked with hundreds of agencies across 30 countries to solve a set of common challenges with unique solutions. Hear what he’s learned and how he’s helping.

As project managers, we're in the business of managing teams. But are we managing them, and leading them well? Ben Aston chats with Karl Sakas, author of, 'Made To Lead', to discuss how can we lead our teams be more effective, cast vision better, and manage with strategies that are effective for delivery. 

Karl Sakas speaks on agency management to those who lead, and as a consultant, helps digital agency owners and managers make their work fun and profitable. His parents got him on the track to being a speaker. Listen to the KEY5Podcast to learn where it went from there! Using Improv Using his improv comedy training on stage, Karl Sakas invites audience members to introduce the situational challenges they've encountered with agency clients. With two decades of experiences with clients in the agency world, Karl has encountered almost every problem imagined, and he leads what happens on stage with improv as the catalyst to engage the audience. You'll hear his view on how improv works on stage as a speaker, even if it could appear a bit risky. And Karl even covers what he has done when the experience ran off the tracks. Tips Even with the best slides, and the best stories, what do you do when the technology lets you down? Listen as Karl talks about how speakers need to have technology back-ups at hand. Connect Connect with Karl Sakas on LinkedIn, on his website, SakasandCompany.com and on Twitter. MillsWyck Minute How can a speaker deal with a hostile audience? Or, as Alan tags them, "Prisoners"...   The KEY5Podcast is produced by the Team at Your Local Studio  

On this week’s episode of fjorgecast, Tim meets with Karl Sakas of Sakas & Company. Karl is an agency consultant whose worked with over 300 agencies in 30 countries, enabling agencies struggling with growing pains to succeed. Karl helps agencies with specializing, positioning, marketing, structuring, leadership, and more! Tim and Karl delve into the specifics of these mechanisms as well value anchoring when selling and identifying the root cause of issues.

Karl Sakas, Founder and CEO of Sakas & Company, and author of a couple of books, including his latest, Made to Lead, joins me on this episode.

  Growing pains are tough but what if you had a way to eliminate those through operations, strategy, and leadership advice? Karl Sakas is the President and Founder of Sakas and Company and today, he shares with us some great insights into making your company more effective through eliminating growing pains, things which you can […] The post TSE 563: Eliminating Growing Pains Through Operations, Strategy And Leadership Advice appeared first on The Sales Evangelist.

Karl Sakas, Founder and Agency Consultant of Sakas and Company, joins the Social Pros Podcast to share his tips for becoming an influential leader that turns a team of followers into impactful leaders. Special thanks to our sponsors: Salesforce Marketing Cloud (The Future of Ads: bit.ly/salesforceads) Emma (Your Brain on Email: 11 Designs People Can’t Resist: bit.ly/emailbrain)

Karl Sakas is an Agency Consultant and president of a global consulting firm called Sakas & Company. Karl has advised agencies on 6 continents about operations, strategy, and leadership. He […] The post 028 Stop Scope Creep with Karl Sakas of Sakas and Company appeared first on The Creative Agency Podcast.

Background In this episode of Agency Advantage, Karl Sakas of Sakas and Company talks about how you can improve your management expertise as a leader inside an agency. At Sakas and Company, Karl helps agencies grow without the usual pains. By working with hundreds of agencies, he has learned that you don’t need to be a... The post Podcast: Better Agency Leadership with Karl Sakas appeared first on Hubstaff Blog.

I was introduced to Jake Finkelstein (Twitter) of Method Savvy by another guest of the podcast, Karl Sakas, who told me that he considers Jake one of the top 1% of decision makers out there. After this podcast, I understand why. But what sets Jake apart isn’t that he always makes the right decision, it’s... The post Agency Advantage 44: Jake Finkelstein on Avoiding Shiny Object Syndrome appeared first on Hubstaff Blog.

Welcome back to episode 5 of Happy Porch Radio. This week, you'll be hearing from Karl Sakas, an agency consultant who has worked with a great number of digital agencies all over the world. This episode is packed with absolute gold for any agency. Karl's work focuses on helping digital agencies grow at an accelerated rate, without the usual growing pains. The information, the systems and the advice that he shares in this conversation are truly invaluable. 

Karl Sakas has been working in the digital marketing industry since he was 15 years old, and today he draws on that experience to help fast growing agencies scale profitably by avoiding the common growing pains. Through his Raleigh, North Carolina-based consultancy, Sakas and Company, Karl has worked with clients in 19 different countries and... The post Agency Advantage 27: Karl Sakas on the Power of Managing Client Expectations appeared first on Hubstaff Blog.

Karl Sakas is the president of Sakas & Company which is a consulting company that specializes in helping digital marketing agencies grow. I had an opportunity to chat with Karl today, and I found myself nodding my head the entire time. The meat and potatoes of the interview focused on helping businesses grow in a holistic way not just focusing on the technical aspect of what the business offers. Karl emphasizes using a SIT framework which focuses on strategy, implementation and training. Working with agencies, Karl discovered everything they offer fits in the strategies of the SIT framework. The first part of the framework is strategy where the client is saying tell me what to do. The second part is implementation where the client is saying do it for me. Training is the third part, where the client says teach me how to do it. They want to do the project or maintenance in house and they need to get up to speed. Success is more than just completing the project, it is knowing that what you delivered solved the problem at hand. Strategy, implementation and training is a perfect framework for cross-selling and creating the best long term solutions. Communication and understanding client goals can help avoid client problems. Today’s topics include: Getting paid for offering training as a service Benefits of helping the transition of the product hand-off Pitfalls of hiring technical and business employees Being kept on as a trusted advisor is an ideal client situation Questions to ask potential clients and avoid communication issues

Are you an inbound agency owner who is ready to grow your team? If so, this interview with Karl Sakas will help you lay the groundwork for a scalable hiring process. 

Karl Sakas served as the #2 man in a couple different digital agencies before he created the Marketing Agencies community at Inbound.org, which has over 1,000 agencies in 48 countries. As president of Sakas and Company, Karl advises agencies worldwide about strategy, operations, and leadership. He also volunteers as a bartender on a 1930’s railroad car. He has recently published a book entitled, “The In Demand Marketing Agency: How to Use Public Speaking to Become an Agency of Choice.”   What you’ll learn about in this episode: Why Karl launched Sakas and Company High-growth agencies vs. lifestyle agencies How agency owners can do what they love without getting sucked into the day-to-day client work How to turn a high-growth agency into an asset that can actually be sold Things that get in the way of the growth and scaling of agencies and how to fix them Karl’s Time Bucket Template for improving time management How agency owners looking to sell their agency should spend their time Action steps agency owners can take to put these theories into practice Recommended books and resources The In-Demand Marketing Agency: How to Use Public Speaking to Become an Agency of Choice Karl's Time Bucket Template Don't Just Make the Logo Bigger: Taking Clients from Painful to Profitable Don’t Be the Shoemaker: And 11 Other Easy-to-Implement Ideas to Improve Your Agency Escape Plan: Your Guide to Finally Getting Out of the Office Website: www.sakasandcompany.com Email: karl@sakasandcompany.com Twitter: @karlsakas and @sakasandco We’re proud to announce that Hubspot is now the presenting sponsor of the Build A Better Agency podcast! Many thanks to them for their support!

Do you ever feel like you don't know what to do next with your inbound agency? Karl Sakas is an inbound agency growth consultant who can help!

It seemed last year many of our readers had the same questions about websites that kept coming up. So for convenience's sake, we've compiled them neatly right here. Take a look and see if one of your questions topped our list of FAQs: 1. Why Does It Cost So Much? This most frequently asked question opens the golden gate of opportunity for us to explain precisely what the value of your website is. In a previous article on the cost of a website, I likened your website to an employee for your business. Your company's website is working for you 24/7, without ever needing a break. It sells for you while you're sleeping, and it's a constant advertisement/promoter/educator for your products and services. So if you paid $20,000 for your website, that means after 2 years you have paid your website "employee" $10,000 per year. That's an hourly wage of $1.14! Whatever the cost of your company website (and you should expect it to be at least $15k if working with an agency), you can be sure that it will quickly pay for itself and its value greatly outweighs the initial cost. Want further insight on what other agencies charge? Let a global digital agency expert, Karl Sakas, give you his weigh-in. 2. Can't You Just Build on the Website I Already Have? Do I Need to Start From Scratch? I hate this question because no matter how thoroughly we explain why a prospect's current website isn't usable, many clients still come away feeling slighted as if dealing with sleazy auto mechanics pushing to sell them a manual clutch for their automatic car. I addressed this issue in Before You Hire a Web Developer as a caution to clients. Just like you need the keys and title to a car before you can make any changes to it, your web agency also requires a few things in order to touch your website: FTP / SFTP Access Admin Log in Credentials Proof Of Domain Ownership If you rent or lease your site, we do not have the legal right to make changes to it and therefore need to build a new website from the ground, up. Also, if it's been coded in a custom framework such as a privately licensed shopping cart, it's on lock down. Try translating Japanese into English after only taking a year's worth of education in that foreign language. That's why we use and recommend open source code (like WordPress). 3. Why Should I Switch to WordPress? Our favorite reason? No monthly on going maintenance fee to install and run it on your website. WordPress has become the world's most popular content management system (CMS), with over 24% of websites powered by it. That means naturally there are more themes, plug-ins and tech support than any other CMS out there. It's also the most user friendly. More and more entrepreneurs want to learn how to maintain their own website, and there's no better platform than WordPress. It's intuitive, simple and many features require little to no coding. We could go on and on, but I suggest you read the following article on how your business can use WordPress. 4. Isn't There a Plug-in for That? As easy as that would make our job, the answer is not always, "Yes." Even with thousands of plug-in options that exist for WordPress, a lot of times a client needs a custom function that an already existing plug-in won't solve. Also be careful of installing too many plug-ins as they increase the load time of your website and often cause bugs because one plug-in is not compatible with another. They don't always play nice together. 5. Can You Teach Me How to Maintain My Own Website? We sure can. We believe basic website maintenance is becoming the norm of the future, so when we hand over your finished site, we also equip you with the knowledge of how to keep it up to date (unless of course you don't want to learn, in which case we will maintain it for you. We're fine with that, too.) With us, training comes standard. 6. Why Do I Need an Advanced SEO Package? Though we build your website around keywords from the very begin...

https://www.thesaleswhisperer.com/podcast http://MakeEverySale.com * Use process to overcome human nature * Learned coding HTML in the 90's * Served as project manager and director of operations for many years for various digital agencies * Manages growth for those who have growing pains * Most hire for the short term issues but that creates longterm issues * New rope vs wet twine. Great employees vs the drama queens * Recruited his boss to become his first client by showing how she'd benefit * Went from 50-60 hours per week as an employee to just 10 hours as a contractor...so he had to fill his schedule and his bank account * Almost got paralyzed with web design * Realized he only needed two pages: Home page and Blog * Averages 6 posts/month for 4 years * Answers questions for clients * Agencies struggle for three reasons: * Not using processes to overcome human nature. * You can plan for processes * People will leave * Objections will arise * Make yourself needed but not necessary * Not focusing on WIIFM * Not thinking long term * There's an underlying reason for the recurring bad things that are happening * Closed a client on software training while in high school * He was charging $35 per hour for one-off clients * Asked to come in and review their needs * Was comfortable with what they needed * Charged $75/hr...and they asked "When can you start?" * If you're closing 90-100% of your business...raise your prices! Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-sales-podcast/exclusive-content Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy