Podcasts about smart agency master class

Are you an agency owner or an entrepreneur who wants to take your business to the next level? Do you want to learn how to grow your revenue, profit, and impact in the world? Have you found yourself chasing only the money and feeling dissatisfied later? Today's guest grew her agency from zero to seven figures in just two years, while also making a positive impact in the world through her social responsibility initiatives. She has transitioned from being a consultant to being a leader and aligned her business with her personal goals and values, and has used her agency as a platform to create social change and help others. Natalie Hogg is the founder and CEO of Method Q, a marketing agency that offers a unique combination of services, including traditional marketing, talent placement, and fractional CMO work. Under her leadership, Method Q has achieved remarkable growth, evolving into a seven-figure enterprise within just two years of its inception. She reveals how she started her agency with a vision and a press release and explains how she faced and overcame the challenges of scaling her business. In this episode, we'll discuss: A press release setting a clear vision. Allowing room for solutions to emerge. The key to building a scalable business.  Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources Gusto: Running payroll and benefits is hard. Especially when you're a small business. Gusto is a tool that helps make payroll, benefits, and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits, and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3 months FREE once you run your first payroll with them. Making the Best Out of an Unexpected Layoff Natalie's journey into the world of marketing and agency ownership is marked by a blend of strategic foresight and a deep understanding of the digital landscape. Her career began in the bustling world of digital marketing, where she was getting ahead until an unexpected layoff derailed how she'd seen her path thus far.  The idea of starting her own business had been in her mind as something she'd do further down the line. However, this shift made her question “Why not now? Why should I have to wait years until I'm more experienced?” She found a gap in the market, with many companies laying off their marketing and sales teams and later falling behind in reaching their goals. This is where she comes in to help them figure out who to hire. It all started as consultancy work, but soon evolved into a growing team and officially having her own agency. One of her signature services is fractional CMO work, where she acts as a part-time chief marketing officer for her clients, providing them with strategic guidance and direction. This service has positioned Method Q as a trailblazer in the marketing world, offering a novel and valuable solution that sets them apart from their competitors. With every success she tries to give back by taking on non-profit clients and she herself is on the board of StandUp for Kids, helping youth at risk of homelessness. How a Clear Vision Will Take You All the Way to Success Natalie's vision for the agency started with a press release she wrote in 2020 about her future and her retirement. Everything she wrote there became a reality, even faster than she could have expected. Growing an agency is a very complex endeavor that will have many ups and downs. For her part, Natalie has been able to pull through the hard times and not let fears of failure get to her. In fact, she says she'd never go back now that she's had her taste of entrepreneurship. Her success is the proof that having a clear idea of where you're going makes it much easier to take full advantage of the little uptick moments that get you to the next level. Feedback Over Firefighting: Allowing Room for Solutions to Emerge With over 20 clients, Natalie has had to accept she's no longer able to handle all accounts herself and started delegating. It was time to make her team accountable and trust their work. Giving up control is not easy and it will take hiring people you trust. If you're finding it too hard to delegate tasks, it may mean you don't trust your team. Ask yourself why this is the case. Did you have clear standards when it came to hiring or just started hiring when you were desperate for help? For her part, Natalie made many valuable contacts while working in-house and was already aware of the incredible value they would add to her agency. As a boss, she sees herself as an empowerer and has no issue giving up control; however, she'll always want to be in the loop to influence decisions rather than make them. Agency owners tend to fall into the trap of wanting to solve all problems and not let their team figure it out. This is a mistake. Instead, hard times can become teaching moments if you allow your team to talk through the possible solutions. In this sense, she knows the importance of having a good team to grow your agency and is doing the work to add the necessary talent to take her agency in the direction of being full service. The Key to Building a Scalable Business As the head of a multimillion dollar agency, does she have more freedom? “I did in the beginning,” she says. Now past that initial fun stage, boundaries means making a conscious decision to not put her full self in the business and end up exhausted. Moreover, once you make the decision to take care of yourself to avoid burnout, who's going to be there to fill the gap? Finding the right people to fill that gap is crucial for that transition into more freedom. As she continues to take on more, she will have to delegate part of her load. Sure, creating these jobs can end up initially impacting profitability, but it will surely help the business make more money down the line. Letting go and being very strict about your free time is all about building habits and creating rules for yourself. Just like you schedule your meetings, block some time in your schedule exclusively for your enjoyment. It'll help you enjoy your business that much more. Building a business that is scalable means building a business where you're not doing everything. You're just doing what you do best and keep learning and evolving to then bring that to the business. Making a Clear Mission Statement for Yourself Curiosity and the will to keep learning is the key to any type of success. It also means not letting yourself getting too comfortable with what you know and continue to improve yourself however you can. That was the idea behind Natalie's original press release, to set herself some goals that would take her out of her comfort zone. Now that she accomplished everything on that press release, she's due for a new one. The idea of a press release or any kind of statement where you publicly declare your goals for the next couple of years is a good exercise for all agency owners. It'll be a clear mission statement regarding the type of business you want to create that can provide direction as to where you're going and what your next steps should be. If a giant like Amazon does it, it can sure benefit your business. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

Have you considered bringing on a partner to lighten the immense pressure of solo agency leadership? Do fears around lacking key skills or experience hold you back from taking the entrepreneurial leap yourself? When today's guest launched his first agency, self-doubt around “going it alone” led him to take on a co-founder partnership. But without aligned goals from day one, hairline fractures quickly formed. As their once amicable agency grew and priorities diverged, he outgrew the partnership and they went their separate ways. In this interview, he'll talk about why he didn't go into a partnership for the right reasons, how the dynamic between he and his partner worked, and how they went about the adjustment process after the split. Tune in if you're an agency owner trying to figure out whether a partnership would be right for you. Rob Rosasco is the founder and driving force behind Too Darn Loud Digital Marketing, a boutique agency that specializes in assisting law firms to amplify their presence and reach. Rob reflects on his early days in the industry, his eventual venture into starting his own agency, and the initial fears that led him to start his business with a partner. He goes into the dynamics of the partnership and how eventually he found himself outgrowing it, both professionally and in terms of the vision for the company. In this episode, we'll discuss: Building an exit strategy after outgrowing your partner. Dividing the agency when selling is off the table. Preparing an ironclad clause for an agency partner breakup. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources Gusto: Running payroll and benefits is hard. Especially when you're a small business. Gusto is a tool that helps make payroll, benefits, and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits, and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3 months FREE once you run your first payroll with them. Outgrowing Co-Founders: Building Exit Strategies into Agency Partnerships After working for a larger company in the legal marketing space for eight years, Rob felt starting his own business would be a natural transition. His journey into entrepreneurship began with a mixture of ambition and caution. Initially hesitant to venture solo into the competitive arena of digital marketing, he decided to start his business with a partner. This decision, born out of a desire to mitigate the challenges of launching and running a business independently, marked the beginning of a significant phase in his career. At the heart of Rob's professional expertise is a profound understanding of sales and client engagement, a skill set essential for the growth of his venture. Despite his extensive experience, he recognized the need for support in areas like back-office operations, web development, and SEO. So he resolved to partner with someone who could complement his skills and share the entrepreneurial journey. The relationship worked exactly as he had envisioned for a while, with his partner working his excellent selling skills to get clients while Rob ran the business. As the business evolved, Rob found himself at a crossroads. Both he and the agency outgrew his partner who got comfortable staying at a certain point in terms of growth. After seven years, the differing visions and philosophies between him and his partner necessitated a reevaluation of their partnership. However, their operating agreement did not include language for this specific situation where one partner was dissatisfied with the other's contribution. Rob's experience is not just a tale of business strategy and partnership dynamics; it emphasizes the importance of having clear terms in any business partnership, especially provisions for situations where partners may need to part ways due to divergent goals or strategies. When Selling's Off the Table: Divvying Up Split Partnerships Not all partnerships have to end this way. If you have a business partner and are thinking about parting ways, think hard about whether you have irreconcilable differences or just need to make a few changes. Having fundamental differences in your approach to the business, vision, and philosophy is very different from just needing a new role. If you do decide you just don't see eye to eye in the business anymore, then it's better to part ways sooner rather than later. By the time both partners accepted it was no longer working out, they considered different options like splitting or one of them buying the other out. Selling the agency seemed like a possibility in the beginning, having already received some decent offers. However, Rob and his partner couldn't agree on what constituted a fair amount. Rob pushed to buy his partner out to have the company as a whole, but it wasn't possible. Since neither of them wanted to sell, it came down to splitting their customer base down the middle. It wasn't what he wanted, but it was the solution that ultimately avoided a long legal battle. Preparing for Bitter Ends: Ironclad Clauses & Agency Breakups After the split, Rob and his former partner were able to chart a new course through thoughtful negotiation. With the client base divided 50/50, it was time to also decide who their employees would continue to work with. Four of their employees went to work with Rob while another two split their time between both as they went through the transition. As to their clients, they were informed as soon as the deal was made. However, it would be another four to six months before they'd see real changes like new bank accounts and invoices. Overall, it was a very successful transition, considering they didn't lose neither clients nor team members in the process. Golden Nugget: While their approach went smoothly, the experience revealed gaps in his agency legal safeguards. When co-founders part ways, air-tight client contracts become essential. Specifically, it's important to include a clause in your client agreement clarifying you can transfer those contracts in case of a sale. For context: smaller agencies (under $5M revenue) typically transact as asset sales. This means the buyer purchases all client contracts and can onboard accounts without seeking added approval. But without explicit clauses permitting easy account transfers, securing signatures of dozens (or hundreds) of clients amidst an agency sale sounds nightmarish. As does trying to exclude accounts unwilling to switch over. Come sale time, this clause spares chaotic scramble to confirm who stays and who goes. The buyer inherits your book of business cleanly. No need to parse accounts in the midst of a turbulent ownership shuffle.. It may feel premature early on, but it ultimately provides flexibility to pivot strategically as your agency evolves. Whether a bitter founder split or lucrative acquisition offer, you dictate the terms without complications. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

Is your agency able to turn video views into paying clients? Do you know how to craft an effective video ad and test its results? Why is YouTube still the platform yielding better results for your video ads? Today's guest specializes in video advertising and knows many agencies still haven't fully tapped into the potential for video ads to engage customers and drive results. He'll unpack why YouTube specifically is the best platform for agencies to focus their video efforts and the key ingredients for crafting attention-grabbing YouTube ads that convert. Tune in to learn to maximize your video marketing efforts, leverage data-driven video campaigns, and understand the video marketing opportunity agencies cannot afford to ignore. Jake Larsen is the owner of Video Power Marketing, a video marketing agency that aims to help clients power their businesses by leveraging video and YouTube ads. For ten years his agency has helped clients understand the importance of creating the right video, targeting the right audience, and presenting them with the right offer to achieve successful results. By following this formula, agencies can effectively utilize video ads on YouTube to grow their client base. In this episode, we'll discuss: Why agencies should prioritize YouTube for their video content. 3 elements to creating a successful YouTube ad campaign. Keys to building the right message and offer. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources Gusto: Running payroll and benefits is hard. Especially when you're a small business. Gusto is a tool that helps make payroll, benefits, and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits, and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.   Why Agencies Should Prioritize YouTube for Video Marketing Efforts In many cases, the reason why many people don't get the views they should be getting on their videos comes down to the platform. For his part, Jake likes YouTube as a unique platform for reaching a highly targeted audience. One of the key advantages of YouTube ads is the quality of views they offer. Unlike other platforms like Facebook and Instagram, where a view is counted after just a few seconds, YouTube considers a view when the viewer watches at least half of the ad or 30 seconds, whichever comes first. If you're using YouTube ads, you can be assured that those ads are being seen by engaged viewers likely to convert into leads or clients. Another advantage of YouTube ads is its intent-based targeting. Since Google owns YouTube, agencies can target viewers based on their search behavior on Google. For instance, if someone searches for "how to grow my marketing agency" on Google and then goes to YouTube, they'll probably be served an ad related to growing their agency. This highly relevant audience-to-message ratio makes it easier for agencies to connect with their target audience and deliver their message effectively. In terms of mindset, just remember to create ads that focus on the audience and their problems, rather than solely promoting your business or product. They suggest that great ads are those that offer solutions and make the audience's lives better. They advise advertisers to consider their target audience, how to grab their attention, build trust, and offer something that will improve their lives. 3 Elements to Creating a Successful YouTube Ads Campaign To create a successful YouTube ad campaign, Jake suggests focusing on three key elements: Can you create the right video? Can you reach the right audience? Do you have the right offer for that audience? If you can get those three elements to line up at the right time, you'll maximize your results. Agencies need to create compelling videos that resonate with their target audience and effectively communicate their value proposition. After that, they need to ensure that their ads are being shown to the right audience. Lastly, agencies need to provide the right offer that entices viewers to take action, whether it's signing up for a newsletter, booking a consultation, or making a purchase. YouTube ads offer agencies a unique opportunity to reach a highly engaged audience, and with the right approach, they can effectively grow their client base and drive business growth. What are the Keys to Building The Right Message and Valuable Offer? To successfully utilize YouTube ads, Jake recommends crafting a message that resonates with your target audience. He suggests addressing their specific pain points or needs. This requires a deep understanding of your audience and their motivations. In terms of how this message is constructed; in particular, Jake recommends not skipping these key elements: Effective hook, The problem you're trying to solve, A solution to that problem, Credibility, Call to action, And words of inspiration. You need a valuable offer to entice viewers to engage with your ad. Offer something of value in exchange for their contact information, such as a free ebook or training. By providing something valuable, you can build trust and establish credibility with potential clients. Once you have the right message and a valuable offer, it's crucial to test different aspects of your ad to ensure its effectiveness. This includes testing different videos or variations of the same video to see which resonates best with your audience. This way, you can identify which videos generate the most engagement and conversions, allowing you to optimize your ad strategy and improve your results. Are Shorter Ads Always the Best Option for Agencies? Are shorter ads really more effective? We all know people have short attention spans, however, according to feedback Jake and his team have found that their two to three-minute video ads consistently outperform 15 to 20-second ads. For Jake, this is probably due to the fact that longer ads provide the necessary time to tell a story or create a connection with the audience. Additionally, he says 15 or 20 seconds is not enough time to engage viewers and prompt them to take action. Shorter ads may work for well-established brands like Nike or Starbucks, which have already built recognition and trust among consumers. Furthermore, Google may prefer shorter ads to keep viewers on the platform for longer. As long as an ad is engaging, it can be longer than 15 or 20 seconds and still be effective. The effectiveness of ad length depends on the goals of the campaign. If the goal is to grow brand recognition and measure impressions and views, shorter ads may be more successful. However, if the goal is to drive traffic to a website, generate leads, or have viewers take specific actions, longer ads of at least 60 seconds. Ideally, two to three minutes may be the most effective. With YouTube, advertisers can target audiences who have visited their website or are on their email list. Additionally, if an advertiser has a YouTube channel with over a thousand subscribers or views, they can target those viewers with specific ads based on their previous interactions with the channel. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? If you want to be around amazing agency owners who can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Once a year, our digital agency owners mastermind cohort trades Zoom squares for open skies, convening at a ranch to deepen connections forged through months of vulnerable idea sharing. For three days, members taste true community while sampling strategies for unlocking agency success. But the annual live retreat with other mastermind members promises more than stimulating discussion and delicious food. This gathering of peers breeds breakthroughs that boost business and life alike. Between fireside chats and horseback excursions, mastermind members crystallize priorities, pressure test assumptions, and summon the courage to meet change head-on. Tune in to hear some of this year's highlights and the many benefits both the members and the team take from this annual event. Darby Copenhaver and Jason Swenk look back on this year's Digital Agency Experience (affectionately known as DAX). They discuss the benefits of having a couple of days for in-person meetings and how it provides a sense of comfort and personal growth for everyone involved. They also recall some fun campfire anecdotes, the best memories they take from this year's reunion, and some key learnings everyone took back home. In this episode, we'll discuss: Digital agency experience 2023. Revelations around staffing and agency values. Leadership check-ins on what you need to start, stop, and continue.   Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources Gusto: Running payroll and benefits is hard. Especially when you're a small business. Gusto is a tool that helps make payroll, benefits, and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits, and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.   Digital Agency Experience 2023  This was Darby's third year at the Agency Mastermind Experience and, as always, it was unique. Most of the members had not met in person and didn't know what to expect. Fortunately, the experience created an overwhelming sense of comfort for everyone attending. The members were interacting at all times and had so much to share after a year of online meetings. In his conversation with members, Darby could see how much they each took away. Everyone had their expectations of what they wanted to get out of the event or what they thought they needed. Fortunately, every single one expressed they got monumentally more than they expected. When they join the mastermind, agency owners are normally filled with questions and not sure who to turn to get the answers. In many cases, mastermind discussions lead to tough questions that lead agency owners to question where they are with their business and what they need to keep growing. For others, it may lead to affirming things they already know they should do. In many ways, it's like group therapy. Even though you already know something, it hits differently when you're forced to say it out loud and in front of your peers. It forces people into action in a way they might never do on their own. Staffing Revelations Around Talent and Values Gathering people around a campfire can foster a sense of camaraderie and create lasting memories. It's a perfect moment for them to let their guard down and go back to their high school selves. It creates an environment where people can connect on a deeper level and engage in authentic conversations. During the mastermind experience, the campfire was a time for reflection, collaboration, and goal-setting. The group engaged in conversations about parenting, work, and personal aspirations. This year, many conversations highlighted the importance of considering values when it comes to your team. Jason is a big believer in evaluating team members and clients based on whether they align with the same values. It becomes an important aspect of building a successful and cohesive group. Just ask yourself, "Would I want to hang out with them at my house?" It's not exactly about surrounding yourself with ‘yes men', but brilliant workers can still corrode culture. Mastermind members traded tales of top performers poisoning team dynamics. Finding the right talent is hard, of course. But hiring mistakes grate slowly and then mass exodus eventually follows. So surgically remove cultural cancers promptly. It's the best approach to protect your team and save yourself bigger problems down the line. Furthermore, implement the value element as part of your hiring process. Vet people based on their talent and how compatible they are with the established agency values. Leadership Check-Ins: What to Start, Stop, and Continue? What does your team want you to start doing? What do they want you to stop doing? And what would they like you to continue doing? These questions were part of the group discussions and led to useful realizations, even for Jason, who was asked to institute a 24-hour rule with his team. As a leader, Jason is a doer with a tendency to act on his ideas quickly. Quick decision-making can be beneficial in some cases, but it can also lead to hasty decisions and the need for subsequent changes. Both Darby and Stacey, the director of happiness, know Jason usually has very good ideas. He is the type of person who gets things done. There are many positives to this. He doesn't fall into the trap of overthinking and over-analyzing. However, impulsive behavior can result in the entire team dedicating hours of work to something that may be scratched in the end. With the 24-hour rule, they can ensure decisions are now given time for careful consideration before taking action, increasing the chance of success. “Good is The Enemy of Great” This was part of the mastermind's discussions when talking about training your team to push themselves for greatness. At some point, we may feel pretty confident in what we do and our team's success. However, there's always room for improvement. We all probably have an idea of what we could and should be doing to be better at what we do. However, as human beings, it can be hard to push yourself out of your comfort zone, which is where greatness lies. Training your team to always strive for greatness will ensure you're surrounded by people who will challenge and push each other to reach their full potential. Moreover, by instilling this mindset in your team, you're empowering them to make decisions and take action without constant supervision. This, in turn, allows you to focus on higher-level tasks and responsibilities. A Space for All Agency Owners Willing to Share to Reach Their Goals So what can the members take from this members' only digital agency experience? The experience fosters new ideas and open communication that the agency owners can then take to their teams. So many agencies nowadays are virtual which has benefits for both employees and owners. However, they also miss out on the banter and in-person interactions that come with being in an office. By making this an in-person experience, Jason and the team hope to infuse some of that creativity and problem-solving spirit into the attendees and get them back to their agencies filled with new ideas. The mastermind is by no means a bro club. This year it was pretty evenly divided between men and women attendees. It is a place for all agency owners who need help getting through some hurdles hindering their growth. As long you're a giving, sharing, vulnerable, transparent, and honest person, you have a place to go where you can be around similar people, no matter who you are or where you come from. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? If you want to be around amazing agency owners who can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Are you effectively communicating your brand? Are you understanding your prospects and choosing quality over quantity? Do you speak in their terms to reach them? Do you have a deep understanding of their needs and challenges? Today's guest is a branding expert who knows how to speak to audiences and get a message across. She sees agencies making many mistakes by not understanding that you have to earn your brand, not buy it. Tune in for valuable insights and tips for agency owners to create memorable and effective brands. Jaci Russo is the co-founder and CEO of Brand Russo, a strategic branding agency that aims to change the conversation and motivate consumer behavior through the use of our experience, resources, talent, and process. Jaci discusses branding strategies for agencies and some misconceptions and mistakes agencies make when it comes to branding. In this episode, we'll discuss: To win prospects over, answer the question "What can you do for ME?" Understanding your clients' personality type. How to earn your brand. Focus on quality over quantity in proposals. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources Gusto: Running payroll and benefits is hard. Especially when you're a small business. Gusto is a tool that helps make payroll, benefits, and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits, and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3 months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.   Going from Agency Employee to Freelancer to Agency Owner After college in Louisiana, Jaci moved to Los Angeles and worked at Creative Artists Agency, where she got to be a part of the rebranding of Ticketmaster and USA Networks. Years later she moved home and worked in-house at an agency and then in-house for a client while starting a family. Things were going well, but Jaci knew she'd never get ahead being a W2 worker. The need for a more flexible schedule moved her to make a change to be a freelance media buyer. However, with clients coming in fast and being married to a graphic designer and copywriter, they had more clients than a small agency. They decided to make it official and dedicate themselves to the agency full-time. Eventually, they bought a building to expand their growing operations and 23 years later they have 20 employees serving clients across the country. Answering the Unasked Question “What Can You Do for Me?” Understanding your target audience is crucial for effective branding. Sadly, many agencies make the mistake of using industry terminology that excludes their target audience. It both fails to get the message across and makes the agency appear pretentious and out of touch. To create a successful brand that resonates with your target audience, you'll need a deep understanding of their needs, wants, and challenges. If you do this, you'll easily get in touch with how they talk. “SEO is great,” Jaci says “but when I see companies optimizing for their in-house terminology and the people they're trying to reach use a completely different set of terms. It's such an obvious disconnect!” Furthermore, many companies spend a lot of time talking about features and what they do. In reality, the question “What do you do?” is an opportunity to answer the unasked question “What can you do for me?” Focusing on this question allows you to answer not by talking about the company but about the solutions you provide. This approach will completely change your messaging and content. Now you'll be writing about something people care about; you'll be writing about them. It requires thorough market research, gathering insights, and analyzing data to gain valuable insights into the target audience's preferences and behaviors and use them effectively in your branding efforts. Understanding Your Clients and Communicate Accordingly Jaci believes in the power of understanding personality types of advertising. It helps her know what kind of results they need to deliver depending on the client. “When we're creating something that's targeting engineers or attorneys,” she says, “people are going to read all the details, we have to give them a lot of details”. If the client is an illustration type, they'll love pretty pictures and awards. For them, she finds ways to convey how the agency has been rewarded for great work, like clients sticking around for twelve years. On the other hand, logotypes look to their peers for endorsement of their choices, so they need case studies and testimonials. She knows one size doesn't fit all and it's all about building an emotional connection. However, at her agency, they use that knowledge of the target audience to craft something that'll connect with them. Strong Brands Aren't Bought, They're Earned You can spend a lot of money on advertising and buy attention, but Jaci believes strong brands must be earned. Agencies should be investing in research and understanding their target audience better than they know themselves. You have to understand why your audience is choosing who they're choosing. To create a memorable brand that people refer to, agencies need to ask questions and delve into why their audience is choosing their current solution or competitor. What's their disappointment with their current solution? By understanding their frustrations with their current provider, agencies can identify opportunities to offer a better solution. Changing habits is hard, so agencies need to give their audience a compelling reason to switch. This requires being better than the hassle of switching and providing a seamless and easy transition. Speed and convenience are important factors for customers when considering switching vendors. When it Comes to Proposals it's Quality Over Quantity Jaci often receives proposals from digital agencies and her advice for agency owners is “look at what you're sending out.” From where she's standing, they all sound alike and do not take into account her specific challenges and needs. In these cases, focus on quality over quantity. Take the time on each prospect. Jaci advises having fewer prospects that you know better to connect with them. They'll be more likely to say yes. Try changing the conversation with clients by offering a clarity call instead of just sending a proposal. This way, you'll get to know the client and their needs in a more personal and meaningful way. By taking these steps, you can win more deals faster and easier. Moreover, you can also eliminate prospects who may not be a good fit or who are simply wasting your time. It's a few baby steps to get to the big price instead of rushing and losing the opportunity to work with this person. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? If you want to be around amazing agency owners who can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Offering a unique customer service experience is a sure way to stand out from all the competition out there. With people focusing so heavily on technology and automation, customers are many times left to fend for themselves when a problem arises. When it comes to urgent matters, they crave having a human to reach out to and have experienced guidance to solve their problem. Today's guest realized this need and has worked to build an agency with a 'Yes' mentality. For him, being a service company comes first and is one of the top reasons why clients choose his agency. Tune in to learn why his vision was to offer that yes mentality and customer-centric approach. Jeff Hastedt is the managing director and co-founder of Brkthru, a service company that helps companies harness the selling power of digital advertising. They focus on providing immediate assistance and handling media execution for brands and agencies. Most notably, they believe in “starting with a yes" and accommodating any size campaign, last-minute needs, fixed budgets, unique audiences, and tough challenges. In this episode, we'll discuss: Building a service company with a yes mentality. The importance of centering relationships in sales. How his staff training became an important element of company culture.   Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources Gusto: Running payroll and benefits is hard. Especially when you're a small business. Gusto is a tool that helps make payroll, benefits, and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits, and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them. Podcast Takeover!! Get to know your Smart Agency Guest Host: Dr. Jeremy Weisz is the co-founder of Rise25, an agency that helps companies launch and run podcasts profitably. He followed Jason's podcast and eventually joined the mastermind and has been a guest on the podcast before. Today, he's helping Jason bring something new to the Smart Agency podcast audience by interviewing a special guest and getting a new perspective to the show.   Finding the Right Combination to Succeed in Digital Advertising Jeff's digital experience and expertise date back all the way to 2000, working at companies like CBS, Clear Channel, and Powerheads assisting brands and leading international digital campaigns. He and his co-founder were colleagues at a previous organization and shared a dream of starting a business. Jeff's previous attempts at entrepreneurship did not go as planned. However, he now sees he didn't have enough experience at the time. Years later, he and his co-founder's combined experiences and knowledge in the media and advertising industry, particularly in digital advertising, were the right combination to succeed with Brkthru. Is There a Right Time to Start Building your Agency Management Team? Six years after starting his business, the mission remains pretty much the same; being the preeminent service company in digital media and having no minimums. In fact, the latter is still one of the top reasons why clients continue to pick them. Even though Jeff fully believed in their mission, their growth has been greater than expected. In 2017, when he and his co-founder agreed to let the market decide, they couldn't have imagined the level of growth they'd seen. But Jeff mostly attributes this success to an amazing management team that was willing to take a risk working with a startup. At the time, he wasn't thinking about a management team. His business was barely two years old and technically he couldn't afford one yet. However, he was presented with a wonderful opportunity to add his current COO. He decided to take the chance. Sometimes opportunities like this one will come up before you think you're ready. It won't always happen at “the right time”. However, if it's worth the risk, it may be something you're very glad you took on when you had the chance. Benefits of being a Digital Agency with a ‘Yes' Mentality In an industry enamoured with technology, Jeff's agency Brkthru defiantly declares itself service-first. He knows automation leaves clients craving human connection when challenges strike. So he staffed support with savvy experts, not chatbots. Real people solve real problems in real time. Jeff built Brkthru around "yes" - embracing each client's unique needs and budgets. While other agencies balk at last-minute requests or limited funds, they are willing to work with clients regardless of the size of their campaign or budget. They understand businesses may have unique needs and are willing to take on last-minute needs, work with fixed budgets, target unique audiences, and tackle tough challenges head-on. Being flexible and adaptable has allowed them to offer the necessary support and solutions to overcome obstacles. This is why it's so important for Jeff to center his entire business model on the service element. The Customer-Centric Approach to Building Successful Relationships in Sales Before starting his business, Jeff was laid off in 2009 during the economic crisis. He had to take on different jobs while trying to keep his entrepreneurial dream alive, including a job as a violin salesman, an unusual turn for someone who'd never played this instrument. Despite this, he became the number 1 salesperson in that industry. His formula for success? It all starts with relationships. Jeff knows genuine connections precede sales, even in transactional roles. Too many reps see clients as data points, prioritizing efficiency over empathy. But leads longing to be heard offer precious clues when we listen first. Many people miss the opportunity to understand clients' needs, interests, and backgrounds and just go straight to pitch mode. It can be hard to convince some people of the importance of the human element, especially with so much talk about technology replacing everyone. However, taking the time to understand client's needs and interests can greatly contribute to building successful relationships in sales. Even if it takes more than one call to build a rapport, it'll be worth it. In the end, if clients don't trust you, you're doomed. An In-Person Staff Training for a Remote Agency  In their beginnings, Jeff and his co-founder were on every client call and email. As they grew though, it was time to create a glossary for new hires to follow to break through to clients. This is how their training program Brkthru U was born and it's since evolved into an online and offline training program for staff. People usually attend thinking they're going to gain a lot of product knowledge. “There's a time and place for that,” Jeff says. But this training is solely about being better communicators. It's a week-long training that Jeff chooses to do mostly in person, even if they are a remote company. For Jeff, it's about going beyond work-related discussions and activities. They encourage employees to have dinner with their colleagues and engage in conversations about various topics, whether it be sports, stocks, or pop culture. This time spent together in a non-work setting allows colleagues to get to know each other better and strengthens their relationships. Culture Is Built On Traditions Other than Brkthru U, other traditions with a significant impact on their company are Pizza Friday and Coffee Break Trivia. Pizza Friday started as a simple idea to bring employees together and create excitement around a shared experience. Many employees were posting pictures of their pizzas on Instagram, which showed how much they enjoyed this tradition. Over time, it became ingrained in the company's culture and is now one of its longest-standing traditions. Similarly, Coffee Break Trivia was introduced during the pandemic as a way to check in on employees' well-being. Initially, it was going to be discontinued at the end of 2020, but employees were adamant that they should keep it going. These traditions may not solve all the company culture problems, but they play a significant role in fostering a positive work environment. Focusing on what employees like to do and creating opportunities for them to engage in non-work-related activities is a simple way to build a good culture. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? If you want to be around amazing agency owners who can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Have you made hiring mistakes that affected your agency's growth? How long did it take you to course correct before it was too late? Wrong hires can become a cancer inside your agency that leaves you exhausted and overworked. Today's guest started her agency as a very small operation and turned to friends when it came to hiring. However, she soon realized that friendships don't always translate to the best work relationships. She was micromanaging, losing money, and losing confidence in her ability as a leader. In a bold move, she took control of the situation by shutting down her agency at the end of the year. She decided to create new rules, enforce them, and see who really remained after the agency's direction was made clear. Tune in to learn she saved her agency, gained confidence as a leader, and built the team she needed. Danielle Reid is the owner of DR and Associates, a creative agency specializing in communications, diversity, and multicultural marketing. They do brand and project development, and growth campaigns for start-ups and helps all size business and achieve results through strategies that connect while using innovation and expertise. In this episode, we'll discuss: Rapid growth and getting to 7-figures in four years. Why you should always ask for a budget. Pulling the brakes to correct hiring mistakes.   Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources Gusto: Running payroll and benefits is hard. Especially when you're a small business. Gusto is a tool that helps make payroll, benefits, and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits, and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.   The Biggest Challenge with Getting to 7-Figures in Four Year Danielle worked for a Big 6 agency as a senior manager for a long time and loved being the person pulled into projects that needed saving. However, she craved new challenges and eventually got bored. She left agency life to work for the Navy, a new and exciting challenge that validated her leadership talents. She realized she was the expert in the room, which fueled her motivation to one day own her own agency. After a brief stint at a corporate job she realized it was the right time to become a business owner, so she started her agency, DR & Associates. Looking back, the growth they've seen since 2019 has been amazing, hitting over 7 figures in just four years. However, despite the rapid rise, pricing was the first big obstacle she struggled with. Agency owners often see low pricing as a strategy to get started and build a client list. Like many before her, Danielle wasn't thinking about her profit margin. She figured she'd just charge low prices to have a competitive advantage. How did she measure success? It was all about making an impact on companies she believed in. Many businesses couldn't afford a $25,000 retainer but had great potential for growth. This approach is often driven by a desire to attract clients and gain experience in the field. However there are risks associated with low pricing. It's important to consider the implications of this strategy and its long-term effects on the agency's growth and profitability. A Crucial Turnaround: Why You Should Always Ask for The Budget The first moment that represented a crucial turnaround for Danielle was her first 6-figure contract. A non-profit client needed help with social media strategy and ended up hiring her agency. She was stunned to find their budget was $180,000 but was glad to have asked for a budget beforehand. This contract dwarfed her previous record of  $4,000 so it was a huge step in the right direction. This enormous deal affirmed her value while fueling accelerated growth. Still, Danielle doesn't apply a one-size markup. Especially with budget-limited nonprofits, proposals embody custom assessments of needs, goals, and ability to pay. Her agency balances mission and margins through context-based pricing. Pulling the Brakes to Correct Past Hiring Mistakes As she went through expenses at the end of last year, Danielle had the dreadful realization that she had been scammed by some employees, considering how much they cost and how little value they provided in return. This brought about a moment of radical changes, as she fired some of her team last December to figure out how to move forward in 2023. We've all been warned about the difficulties of hiring friends. In her experience, these friends turned out to be less productive than expected. Unfortunately, it came to a point where Danielle had to babysit her employees, having to do more direction of everyone else's duties than her own work. So she put certain parameters up, knowing these employees wouldn't choose to return after the rules were enforced. It was a tough lesson but it had to be done, especially considering how much money she'd lost while still having to do the work herself. She had to realize that not everybody would enter a working relationship with a friend and know how to separate the boss from the friend. Having employees who are unwilling to follow your lead will leave you exhausted and unhappy. Your agency will need direction to truly succeed and if you're being unclear about that direction or have a team who refuses to follow it, you won't get to where you want to be. Since this experience, Danielle has taken full control of her leadership and reassessed her hiring decisions to prioritize the agency's overall direction and the impact she wants to make. Embrace the Benefits of Collaboration Danielle encourages agency owners to not be afraid of collaboration. We often miss out on good opportunities that could help elevate and grow our businesses to new levels. Given the chance, the right collaboration could help take your agency to a Big 6 level. However, the competition mentality ruins those chances, as every opportunity for collaboration is also seen as competition. This is an example of thinking too small and failing to see the power of collaboration to further build your brand. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? If you want to be around amazing agency owners who can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

How do you scale your agency faster while delivering better results to your clients In this episode of Revenue Marketing Show, Jason Swenk, Host of Smart Agency Master Class Podcast, interviews Constant Contact's Head of Revenue, Greg Bond, about overcoming challenges in aligning marketing and sales, choosing the best martech stack, and getting more recognition for the value you deliver to your clients.Greg and Jason share valuable insights on how to scale your agency faster while getting better results for your clients, highlighting the importance of tool/data consolidation and the benefits of using SharpSpring from Constant Contact.You'll also learn Greg's top tips for communicating ROI to clients so you can achieve better client retention and charge more for your products and/or services!“The #1 way that agencies get business is through word of mouth and word of mouth is about delivering results.”  - Greg Bond“As your business scales… you better damn well start putting the people in place for this. You should have someone, like the Director of Happiness, making sure you're delivering the results. That's what we have, so I don't have to.”  - Jason SwenkResources Mentioned:Listen to Smart Agency Master Class: https://www.jasonswenk.com/smart-agency-master-class About Greg Bond, Head of Revenue at Constant Contact:Greg's purpose in life is to add value to other people's lives. Businesses thrive when they create value for their customers. Greg helps businesses better understand their customers so they can maximize their value proposition. To accomplish this, he analyzes customer behavior and KPIs, creates strategies for optimization, then builds more efficient systems that mobilize teams to deliver value. Connect with Greg: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregbond007 About Jason Swenk, Host of Smart Agency Master Class Podcast:Jason Swenk is the agency advisor & coach that guides marketing agencies through a proven framework for growing their agency faster. Jason currently hosts the Smart Agency Master Class Podcast, the #1 Digital Marketing Agency Owner podcast for sharing the strategies and stories from real agency owners of what is working today in the agency world, and how they got to where they are now.Connect with Jason: https://www.linkedin.com/company/jason-swenk-llc Visit his website: https://www.jasonswenk.com

Jason is a digital marketing agency coach and advisor who specializes in strategies and systems that scale. He’s also the author of “Accelerating Your Agency: An 8 System Playbook for Growing Your Agency Faster” (4.6 stars on Amazon!) and host of the Smart Agency Master Class podcast.

Iris Shoor is the founder and CEO of Oribio, a web analytics tool. After two successful startups, she is growing her third startup. Oribi, an AI-based web analytics tool dedicated to making analytics easy for everyone, without the help from analysts and developers. (And, no code needed!) Iris is passionate about simple products, creative marketing, great UX, building a unique culture, and most of all—people. She's on the show talking about how she helps her team aspire to reach their goals with personal development. She also shares how your digital agency can show clients success on their funnels and campaigns by using a new analytics tool.   Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher | Radio FM 3 Golden Nuggets The best way to inspire your team is by understanding their personal needs for professional development. Understand their career goals and meet them there to encourage growth. Perks like free food and amenities are nice, ultimately not what retains really great team members.  Clients don't benefit from reports on their funnels and campaigns. They need to understand where the customers are coming from and why. This helps your clients It's important to set goals with your clients for what success looks like, then measure and benchmark results throughout so clients understand the value you're bringing to the table. Sponsors and Resources Oribi: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Oribi. Check out Oribi.io/smartagency for a free trial. Plus when you sign up for Oribi get 20% off the first three months with promo code: Smart Agency Show Transcripts Jason: [00:00:00] On this episode, I talk with an amazing entrepreneur that's in her third business. She's a rockstar. She talks about personal development of your employees, how to keep them. But most importantly, we talk about how to prove your value. To your clients, so you can actually charge more. I think all of us need to do that. We're always constantly wondering how do we prove our value to our clients? Well, this is the episode for you and it will prove your worth. Hey, Iris. Welcome to the show. Iris: [00:00:40] Hey Jason. Jason: [00:00:41] I'm excited to have you on and, so tell us who you are and what do you do? Iris:: [00:00:46] Okay. So I'm CEO for Oribi. I'm a serial entrepreneur. This is my third startup for the other two companies that have been leading the product and marketing. Um, I love marketing and I was always amazed that with how difficult it is to measure marketing. And that's why I started the Oribi and we raised 27 million dollars today. And worked with thousands of customers around the world. And we were doing marketing under the tech set, hopefully, better than other tools. Jason: [00:01:19] Oh, it's awesome. Yeah. Definitely check out the tool and it was very cool. But before we get into the tool, I wanted to ask you because a lot of agency owners, obviously everyone listening, we're hiring people, we're always hiring people. And I read a blog post that you had on your blog. And I was like, Oh, that's interesting. Tell us a little bit about, you know, just giving people pizza and feeding them is not really what will keep them. Iris: [00:01:43] Yeah. I feel it's something like I find that baby ironic about this is that we want to hire the best people, the smartest vehicles, the most innovative people and treat them like a small children. And you need to be very cautious with them and you need to give them beer and pizza. And do you want the smartest people? And they usually want to, to lead interesting innovations, they want to grow. They want to learn new things. And for some reason, most of the work environment are mostly about just conquering people and their employees. And it's something that you really trying to do at Oribi, is to focus more on the personal development and giving them more independence. And. The way I see my role as a manager is to really let people shine. And to find their unique voice and to help them do it rather than having like lots of Ben and Jerry's and the kitchen. So, yeah, that's how I see it. Jason: [00:02:48] Yeah. For many years, you know, I thought it was like, Hey, you know, we'll, we'll, we'll bring in lines, you know, like the Googles of the world, right? Like, especially that one movie of the internship with Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson right there, like I can have five bananas it's free. And I think. That will draw in the wrong people. Sometimes it won't keep them. Iris: [00:03:10] Yeah. Also we can like, um, it's all standard. So it's not that you have like a free pizza and ice cream and everybody will stay because of it. So, yeah, I agree with like, we have nice food over here, but this is not the main thing that we do. And they see that people are looking for something more personal and more deep. Jason: [00:03:32] Yup. Let's talk about a little bit about personal development, right? Since we're on the topic of keeping our employees, right? Like we're attracting the right ones. How do you guys help out with personal development? Because I feel, you know, when people come in, if you're just expecting them just to do their job, right. They're going to be like, okay, like, they're going to be excited for a little while. Like I remember when I sold my agency, I was very motivated. To help out with the new company. And then when the dream squashers came in and started, you know, squashing our dreams, I started getting de-motivated and I was an, A- player. And I literally went to like an F- player. I'm like, you know, you better sell this company or I'm going to be the worst employee ever. And I find a lot of people are like that. So what's some things that you can help out employees with on personal development? Iris: [00:04:24] Yeah. So, so that's a very interesting question. It seems like for me, the main thing that I benefit from being a certain type of entrepreneur and going fast was a rollercoaster every day is that I feel that it really challenged me with, learning new stuff all the time, inventing staff being creative, and they really feel that a huge part of my personal development is, me being forced to learning, uh, sales and marketing and different types of marketing and then managing and firing people. And I really wanted to give this experience to my employees. So instead of thinking of it as a funnel for rollercoaster also, it's something that they can step up using this platform. And an interesting story is that when it started at Oribi a few years ago, we actually had the budget for each employee for personal development. And I asked each one of them, what do you want to work on? If it's like a writing, public speaking, learning how to design. And then I have a list of like 50 things that they want to learn. And I was amazed to see that like half of their flow is new, what they want to work on, but we didn't have a clue. So they said, okay, so as a developer and not interested in public speaking or writing or anything else. So funny that they did learn is that most people don't really understand what they want to work on, but they do want the encouragement and the platform. When something arrives to, to really go in-depth . So tell me to do this change, how this program and receive the results have been really worked out well. And today it's more about working with employees on their personal challenges. Yes. Within the professional environment, what do they find challenging? How do they want to work on it? And sometimes we, we do help with them with top coaching. Is there internal or external? And, but the main thing is just about seeing them. Like for me, it's about things that unique voice of each one of the employees, and really try to encourage them to speak in this voice rather than being part of the company and where we are within the same box. Jason: [00:06:34] Awesome. Great. Let's kind of change, focus. And let's talk about, because I know a lot of agencies because I chat with them all day long. A lot of times they have a hard time showing their clients results. And I think that's, if you look at it like a stoplight, that's a red light. That's something that you really need to work on because if you can't show your clients results, then they don't know the value, which means you're going to lose them. And you're just literally trying to hold onto them rather than going. This is what's working. This is not what's working. So talk to me a little bit about how did you come up with the current company now of really making it very easy for agencies to see what's currently working. Like, you know, when I was going through the tool and going through the funnel, I was like, that's pretty cool. Like, I could literally go, hey, here's the starting page and here's the page I want them to get to. What's my percentage and all that. So talk a little bit about that. Iris: [00:07:34] Yeah. So, yeah, I do agree. This is like the main challenge. So today about 30% of our customers are agencies and probably most of the other 70% of the customers are working with agencies. So we hear those from agencies that they're unable to communicate their amazing work to the customers. And we also hear a lot from customers of agencies. If they're, they don't trust the agency, they don't really understand what they're doing and in my opinion, the main, the main challenge is how big can the agency go ? Cause something that happens a lot is agencies want to deliver the best results, but in many cases, they really stay up the funnel. So they drive traffic or they drive sign-ups and they're sure they're doing like amazing work. That's e-commerce show up or the companies that don't see an increase in sales. And the immediate result is a distrust. And they don't understand what they're doing. And they said it's the key thing for, for both parties to work well together, to understand which results they're measuring. And in most cases, it will be the sales-qualified leads. And in most cases, it's not very easy to track it. So the dimension that we're doing it really different things than other tools. It's creating a very simple solution. For defining all the different events. So instead of using code, you can easily understand what is the qualifying lead, how many people requested a demo? How many of them paid later? How many of them churn? How many of those approaches, which product, how many of them returned? And they say that once the agency can then create a high-level picture and can go into the entire funnel, the entire flow, understand all the different metrics. The communication is much better. They can understand what's working well. Does there, like an example I can give you is like two years ago where I was working with an agency and they manage my Facebook ads, I've been on maternity leave. So I haven't used the results for like months. And they told me it's doing amazingly well. They managed to reduce the cost by 50%. Then I entered the numbers and I saw that the sign-ups are actually. The cost per signup is much lower but that, hardly no one converts and it's so that they use like ads of like kittens. Everybody clicks sign up it very simple, but nobody really converted. And if they could have seen like the entire funnel easily to understand what's converting, who isn't, and compare it with other time periods, they would have been able to understand what they're doing wrong. So it's mostly about creating like a very solid ground for communication and for seeing all the important KPIs. Jason: [00:10:23] Yeah. I totally agree with you. It's you know, if I was an agency right now, You know, a lot of times you need to test out the waters with your prospects. And I remember this and I see this all the time. I would take on the wrong clients and the client would tell me one thing. They'd be like, oh, we're driving, you know, this much traffic and we're converting at this. Like, we can get them to this page. They're going to convert. And if it was me, what I would do now, And I guess you can sort of do it through Google tag manager, but that's very, it's kind of like, you have to be a mad scientist. I feel like they'll make that work. Uh, like I don't understand. I'm like, wow. Like I throw up in my hands, but I haven't been in the weeds in a while, but like, if you could set up the tracking and the measuring ahead of time and you do like a test project with the client, like don't even do anything other than just set up analytic tracking and the dashboard and then go back to them and go, here's our recommendation based on the past 30 days, then I think you could blow your competition out of the water. You both probably have a lot happier clients, because you're only taking on the right ones rather than taking on the living, breathing ones for now. Right. There'll be dead later. Iris: [00:11:44] Yeah, definitely. So yeah, I really like setting up the goals and mutual goals is super important and how to measure them. And now to see that they feel that it's doing this injustice for both parties is attribution and which became much more challenging from one year to another. And then in many cases like the agency and things, they're doing amazing work, how are they in the conversions, the agencies, so that, okay, everybody we're exposed to your brand from Facebook ads and, that they both met her via direct as a company says that the hard content in convert and coming from Facebook ads over here as well, I've seen that, um, there's many companies or agencies. They try to really like try to attribute to every single conversion it's really, really hard today. So, and when you facing the numbers coming from Facebook and Google, it's becoming even more challenging. So it's more about understanding the trends. If you're doing like a massive change, even if you can attribute everything, you can see how impacted, if you're working with different channels, you can understand the correlation between them. Jason: [00:12:56] Yeah. Tell me a little bit more about like, when someone can dive deeper into the analytics and amazes me too, or maybe it's just because it's been complex up until this point with really. Kind of diving into the analytics, like why do you feel that more agencies don't really dive into that to really understand it, to deliver the best value? Because I truly believe that people want to deliver their best stuff, but sometimes they just, they don't. Iris: [00:13:26] Yeah, I think it's mainly because it's a, it's a lot of work.. And as I told you before, like the, the main goal for me with Oribi is to help companies answer is the very trivial questions in a simple way. So it always amaze me that I try to answer questions, like where do my best customers come from and how is campaigns really doing. So the other, like exactly the same question that every company asks and today it's still lots of work. So you need developers to define events and every time it changed the website, you need to change it into maintaining and, um, So I seen it today. It's mostly about if the process is pretty complex, we need developers, as it takes time. I don't believe it's because people don't want to see the full picture or the people don't want to be data-driven. I say that today, something that we really see that even marketers, that they're not really into numbers and they love writing content and be more on the creative side, they really want to understand what is the impact of the work and to measure it and to understand what to do home. Jason: [00:14:38] So tell us a little bit more about why people need to check this tool out? Cause I checked it out. It was really pretty amazing. I was like, Oh, I didn't know I needed to change this and that. And it gave me some insights that weren't available to me before. Iris: [00:14:55] Yeah. So today, I guess it's most of the listeners are using Google analytics. It's always fascinated me that with Google analytics, we choose the market and there are other like very high end tools, that are very, very extensive require local integrations. And you can find some tools that are more around like max or just like landing pages, but there isn't like a good solution for marketing. And what they're doing at Oribi is creating marketing analytics that doesn't require developers, so he can define all the events without using code. You can do it yourself. You can get to more interesting events that we can create different rules for different rules, and then you can easily create finance and correlations and to analyze a user behavior and to do everything yourself, it's very simple. And also to export this data, to Facebook ads or to Google ads and to email automation, so you can create better audiences. And yeah, our main goal is to really give the power to the marketing team. And two they're very dependent on developers. If you're a part of a small company, usually we don't have developers. If you're part of a larger company, usually you need to wait like two months until they have time to, and the new event or, or change something. And is it for me, like the inspiration or company, like Shopify for where you can build your own e-commerce store, to change it, and to do the same for, analytics. Jason: [00:16:32] Awesome. Is there a special offer that you have for our audience listening in if they want to check you guys out, which I highly recommend everyone go do. Iris: [00:16:41] Yeah, definitely. So can enter Oribi.io then sign up for the free trial. The installation is super simple. If you're using like Wordpress or Shopify, it's just plug-in. If not, you can edit scripts, you can enjoy a free trial. When you decide to purchase Oribi, you can enjoy a 20% off discount for the first three months. And just write us on chat or email that you arrived via this podcast, and we'll be happy to provide a discount. Jason: [00:17:08] Awesome. Well, great. Well, everyone go check that out. Iris, is there anything I did not ask you that you think would benefit the audience? Iris: [00:17:15] I would say that something that I find pretty amazing is that most people will put tons of time in creating like the best content and videos and a stunning website. And we'll hardly measure it.. So I think there is much to do with like funnel optimization and website optimization. Okay. And let's say for example, that you invest a lot in writing content for SEO and getting direct traffic, and you probably can find out with two weeks of fare, changing the website, making some AB tests and changing the messaging and the call to action. You will be able to increase the conversion rate by 70%, by 50%. So I would say that most people's they're really into the content itself and the efforts themselves. And don't put enough time in optimizing the funnel, like the conversion. So there are a lot of low-hanging fruits over there and lots of opportunities to get you to great results. Jason: [00:18:19] Awesome. Well, Iris, thanks so much for coming on the show and everybody listening. If you guys want to check out Oribi, go to Oribi.io and check it out, do the free trial. And then, uh, if you guys want to take it on, uh, even more, make sure you reach out to them and say, Hey, I heard of you guys from the Smart Agency Master Class, and they'll give you 20% off for the first three months. And, uh, until next time have a Swenk day. Thanks, Iris. Thank you.

Are you struggling to attract new clients with your outbound marketing? Do you need to build deeper connections with your prospects? The key is creating an outbound strategy that is worthy of prospects' engagement. In a time when we're all bombarded with multimedia and social media, what are you doing to make your agency stand out from the rest? In today's episode, we'll cover: How to send emails your prospects actually want to open. How personalization can help your agency win clients. Should your agency outsource outbound sales research? Today I had a really fun chat with Jonathan McFarlane, Director of Strategy at Hybrid Marketing Company. His agency deals almost exclusively with cannabis and hemp companies. The agency hasn't experienced a lot of the challenges many other agencies are facing during the economic downturn. That said, Jonathan still works hard to look for opportunities to grow his agency. He is sharing what he's done to reignite his agency's outbound marketing strategy and how he's using humor to connect with prospects during this difficult time. How to Send Emails Your Prospects Actually Want to Open Hybrid Marketing Company started three years ago. During that time, the agency has relied heavily on referrals to bring in new clients. But while referrals are great, they are not a scalable approach for continued growth. Recently, Jonathan decided to switch things up. Now, the agency does a lot of LinkedIn networking and cold emails to build up their network. The problem with email campaigns is most people won't even open an email unless they already have a personal connection with the sender. Yet Jonathan averages a 55-60% open rate. How? Jonathan says his goal is to create funny, witty emails. His emails feature his new work-from-home "assistant" — his two-year-old daughter who says, "it's time to build new connections." Each email features a link to a case study and a picture of his assistant doing something cute and irresistible, like "sleeping on the job" :) Jonathan's advice is to get creative, have fun, and try to connect with prospects on a personal level. You also want to do some research and personalized the email. Be relatable and unique so your emails are read instead of ignored. How Personalization Can Help Your Agency Win Clients Even if you can get a prospect to open an email, it can still be a hard sell to get a client to reach out to you, especially in today's climate. This is where personalization can set you apart. Every now and then, Jonathan will check out the websites of prospects who he thinks might be a good fit. Then he'll email them with specific ways his agency can help. Obviously, most agencies don't have the time to personalize every email they send out. Focus on prospects who align with your agency's strengths or those with an existing connection. Even if they don't need you yet, when they do decide to hire an agency, they'll remember the extra work you put in. Should Your Agency Outsource Outbound Sales Research? If personalized emails are so effective, then wouldn't it make sense to outsource your research so you can maximize outreach efforts? The choice is up to you, but Jonathan says he likes to keep the research in-house. When you bring in a third party to gather information, there's an extra level of communication. Think of it like the game of telephone — you risk losing valuable information with every layer that stands between you and your potential client. When your team is doing the research, you'll have a better idea of what makes your agency best suited to meet the client's needs. When you're trying to build new connections, it can be difficult to get people to pay attention. Find ways to stand out and show you're invested. Even if a prospect doesn't reach out to you right away, there's a good chance you'll leave an impression. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you're a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits, and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits, and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

Does your agency have the right people and the right systems in place? Do you want to work smarter, not harder? If it seems like no matter how much time and work you invest, you just stay stagnant, it may be time to review these four basic things. In this episode, we'll cover: 4 things successful agencies are doing right now. Why you shouldn't compare yourself to larger agencies. How do you measure your agency's success? Are you planning to sell your agency someday? Today I sat down to talk with Robert Craven, founder of GYDA Initiative and author of Grow Your Digital Agency. Robert works with digital agencies to help them figure out what they want and the life they want to live. He's here to talk about what he thinks is working right now (and what's not) and why so many smaller agencies struggle. 4 Things Successful Agencies are Doing Right Now There's no doubt many agencies across the globe are struggling right now. While the pandemic has hit some industries harder than others, Robert says there are a few things he has noticed some agencies are doing right to stay afloat in today's economic climate. So what can you do to grow your agency today and when the economy gets back to "normal"? Start with strategy: Where are we going? Do you have a vision? Do you have a plan for success? Focus on marketing: Are you struggling to convert prospects? Trouble generating leads? Don't let your own marketing take a backseat. Make time to work on the business, instead of just in it. Build your team: Hire the right people in the right seats. Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you and be smart about how you grow your agency team. Understand the finances: How is your cash flow looking and how can you improve the situation? Consider: changing payment terms, raising prices, or even firing those PIA clients who aren't profitable. Naturally, Robert has also noticed things that don't work, regardless of the economic climate. This includes: Hiding your head in the sand — just because you don't want it to happen, doesn't mean it won't. Thinking just because you can create a good product/service people are going to buy it. Focusing on you instead of the client. Let them be the hero -- you should be Alfred (the advisor) and position the client as Batman. Why You Shouldn't Compare Yourself to Larger Agencies Robert and I have both worked with many smaller agencies that attempt to replicate the success of larger agencies. They'll go in and copy the website or a marketing campaign because "if it worked for them, it will work for us." This simply isn't true. The successful agencies are the ones who take time to do the boring stuff. They measure time and profitability and have long-term contracts in place. But they're also the ones who are able to be a solution to their client's problems. Remember, your client doesn't want to hear about how great you are or what awards you won, they want to hear how you will make their life easier. How Do You Measure Your Agency's Success? How does your agency define success? Most agency owners look at margins, EBITDA, or how many clients they have. But profits are variable and can depend on a variety of factors. As such, they aren't always the most reliable indicator of success. At the end of the day, most of us got into the business to be able to do what we want and pick and choose who we work with. But you can't just skip to the end and have a million-dollar agency. To find success, you need to go back to the basics. Understand how to manage a business and people and figure out how to get the right systems in place. Success doesn't just come down to the numbers. It's about fulfillment and significance. Are You Planning to Sell Your Agency Some Day? I tell agency owners I work with, start with the end in mind. What do you want to get out of your agency and how do you plan to get there? A lot of the time, the end goal is to sell the agency for a profit. But what if you didn't? If you run a successful agency, selling it isn't your only option. You may be tired of the day-to-day grind now, but as agency owners, we're creators. While the idea of selling your agency and living off the proceeds may seem great, in actuality, it can quickly become boring. Instead, why not take a step back and bring on someone to run the agency while you continue to pull a paycheck? Then when you are ready to sell, you have allowed your agency to grow even bigger. The agencies that have the most success are the ones who have a good understanding of the basics. Understand your agency and make yourself a trusted advisor. When you do, you'll find it easier to have the freedom to pick and choose what you want to do. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you're a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits, and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits, and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

Is your growing team in need of more structure? Do you feel like you're too caught up in the little stuff? Or does the small stuff turn real big, real fast? Too often, as owners, we hesitate to give up any sort of control out of fear. The truth is, when you are willing to delegate and bring in support, you free up time to focus on your agency's growth. In this episode, we'll cover: Does your team have the tools to succeed? Is it time for your agency to hire an HR person? How transparency builds trust with your team. Do you need to learn how to trust your leadership team? Today I sat down with Ben Askins, owner and managing director of Verb, a full-service agency based out of London. In the six years since Ben has been with the agency, Verb has gone from a project-based structure to a retainer-based model. The agency has subsequently grown from a small team to a team of about 65. Ben's here to discuss how he keeps such a big team motivated and what he's doing now to make sure they feel comfortable about the agency's future. Does Your Team Have the Tools to Succeed? Any good leader knows, your team is your biggest asset. So it makes sense, if the team is unmotivated or disorganized, you're going to have a problem. Ben says one of the best things his agency did was create an HR department. Here they were able to develop their brand pillars and create incentives to keep their team motivated. While individual programs like peer-to-peer recognition and limelight awards help build morale, one of the biggest investments has been in manager training. Ben says, no one ever sits down with you and tells you, "this is how to be a manager, this is how you train, and this is how you can increase morale." So, when it comes time for annual reviews, there's a disconnect between what the manager expects and how the employee thinks they are actually doing. Verb devotes half of their training budget for the employee to spend on enrichment programs of their choice and half on what the manager deems necessary. This helps everyone be on the same page and allows for self-improvement and re-investment. Is it Time for Your Agency to Hire an HR Person? Not enough agency owners recognize the value of a strong human resources presence. While we often look at HR professionals as paper pushers who deal with insurance and employee discipline, HR is actually a vital part of any organization. Think about it this way, as an agency owner or CEO, you may have two, three, or even four layers between you and your lowest level employee. This makes it hard to know what's going on in your agency. Something may start as a minor problem, but by the time it gets to you, it's too late. The purpose of HR is to sort out these problems and identify them before they become something bigger. So when is the right time to bring in HR? Ben says if he could do it all again, he'd bring on HR as soon as there was more than one layer of seniority away from the team. How Transparency Builds Trust With Your Team Like so many other agencies and businesses right now, Verb has furloughed several members of its team. And while this is never easy, Ben says one of the things that has really helped is transparency. Everyone at the agency has complete access to the business financials. At a time like this, there is no benefit to hiding information. Your team needs to make decisions just as much as you do, so knowing a layoff may be coming can help them prepare. The same goes when you hire people back on. When you support your decisions with margins, your managers can better understand your decisions and what benchmarks they have to meet. Margins become less arbitrary, allowing your managers to appreciate these guidelines are designed to promote agency growth, not pad profits. Do You Need to Learn to Trust Your Leadership Team? Bringing in HR and being transparent only go so far if you are constantly being a toll booth for your team. I've worked with many owners who think everything needs to go through them for approval. Give your team autonomy and let your managers run their departments. When you do this, you'll have time to focus on growing the agency and doing the things that will help your agency succeed. Trust in yourself and the team you've built. When you do this, you'll find everyone is more motivated to help the agency continue to grow. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you're a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits, and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits, and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

Does your team come to you for every little decision? Not sure how to empower your employees to take more initiative? A lot of agency owners find themselves in this frustrating position. There's actually an easier fix than you think. The answer may be as simple as setting a clear vision. In this episode, we'll cover: How to build a cohesive agency team. How to create and fulfill your agency's vision. How important are core values during an acquisition? Today I sat down with Luke Kempski, president and CEO of JPL, a marketing communications agency based out of Harrisburg. Luke started at the agency 30 years ago as a production employee and took over the agency roughly 15 years ago. He's here to talk about some of the mistakes he has made along the way and how he has created a team that supports the agency vision. How to Build a Cohesive Agency Team When I asked Luke about some of the mistakes he has made at JPL, one of the first things he brought up is his team. Luke says when you run an agency, you have to be careful about creating hard lines and segmenting departments. Instead, you want everyone on the same team, working towards the same goal. When you divide goals and incentives by department, you inevitably create competition. While a certain level of competition is healthy, it becomes a problem when it interferes with the agency's goals as a whole. Luke says he uses profit sharing based on the agency's profits (not each department) to incentivize his team. This way, each department is more apt to work together instead of against each other. How to Create and Fulfill Your Agency's Vision Do you have a clear vision for your agency? If not, you're not alone. Luke says it took him about 5 years before he realized he needed to create a vision his leaders could follow and buy into. One of the main reasons so many agency owners put off creating a vision is they don't know where to start. The truth is, it's a lot easier than you think. When your team knows and believes in the vision, it will be easier for them to make decisions without you. Luke decided to look at multiple resources to create his agency's vision. Not only did he involve his team, but he also talked to his clients. Luke meets bi-monthly with his team regarding initiatives and progress. Every two years, the agency brings in a third-party to interview the clients about what they expect from the agency, what their experience has been, and how JPL stacks up compared to other agencies the clients work with. Luke says this insight is invaluable because it gives the team a different perspective and makes the agency's vision less arbitrary. How Important are Core Values During an Acquisition? Core values and vision go hand-in-hand. To grow as an agency, everyone has to be on the same page. This is easy when you're building your own agency, but what happens during an acquisition? Do core values of the two agencies have to align? Having gone through several acquisitions, Luke says there does need to be good alignment between the two. When you're bringing creatives together, it can be difficult to find cohesiveness and build collaborative relationships. The more your values align, the easier this process will be. Your success as an agency will be based on the strength of your team and their ability to follow your vision. But your team can't do their job if they don't know what the agency's vision actually is. When you take the time to create and share your vision with the people in your agency, you'll find everyone's job becomes a lot easier. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you're a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits, and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits, and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

Do you want to know what pricing model is right for your agency? Do your clients understand the value of the services you provide? Are you doing enough to make sure your clients stick around? Performance-based pricing can be a great model to help grow your agency, but only when clients understand the real value your agency brings to the table. In this episode, we'll cover: Is performance-based pricing right for your agency? How to help clients understand value compared to performance. Why your agency needs to set big goals. Today I sat down for an informative chat with Justin Buckley, partner at ATTN, a performance and growth digital marketing agency. After spending years working in affiliate marketing, Justin and his partners realized they were spending too much time and money building other people's brands. Two years ago they decided it was time to make something of their own. Justin's here to talk about how their unique pricing model and aggressive goal setting helped grow ATTN fast. Is Performance-Based Pricing Right for Your Agency? One of the most important decisions you'll make is how to charge for your services. Whether you charge on value or performance, there a few things to consider: What type of services do your clients expect of you? What type of time commitment does this mean for your team? How much control do you have over your client's results? When ATTN chose a pricing model, they chose to go with a hybrid approach. What this looks like is a combination of a flat fee and a percentage of ad spend. ATTN chose to build a performance model into their pricing structure since they are a performance agency. Ultimately, when they perform well, their clients perform well and want to spend more. The more their clients spend, the more the agency makes off the ad spend. This helps balance out the lack of control the agency has on the backend of operations as well as offset the cost of working with clients who aren't as focused on growth. As you grow, you'll quickly learn what works for your agency. Don't be afraid to charge what you're worth and be willing to put the measure of your agency's performance on the line. How to Help Clients Understand Value and Performance There's a risk that comes with performance based pricing. If the clients don't get the expected results based on your performance, you aren't going to get paid what you need to. At the end of the day, it's up to you to get your clients to see the value of your services and make sure your agency can achieve the right outcomes. Justin says the number one thing they rely on to help their clients understand what they are getting is communication. If you don't show your clients what you are doing and the results you're achieving, how else are they going to know? While it's important to have regular meetings to review benchmarks and create goals, it's also essential your clients know you're invested in them. Talk to them about what they want to achieve and get a real understanding of their vision. When you know what your client wants and what they are working towards, you'll have an easier time delivering results. Why Your Agency Needs to Set Big Goals If you're not setting goals at your agency, you have nothing to work towards. Whether you're creating an exit strategy, improving cash flow, or building your team, you need to have goals. Don't be afraid to set goals that make you uncomfortable. The best way to meet your goals is to break them into manageable chunks. Want to be at $10 million in profits after 10 years? Where do you have to be at year five to make this achievable? Now break it down even more. What does year three look like? Year one? Finally, figure out what each quarter, each month, and each week looks like. When you do this, not only do you have a way to hold your team accountable, but you can also start putting the right pieces into place and deploying the resources you need to hit your goals. As an agency owner, your job is to provide a service. And with this, you continually have to prove your worth. Talk to your clients, create benchmarks, and schedule regular check-ins. When you and your client are on the same page, you'll both find it easier to find success.   Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you're a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits, and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits, and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them. Building Your Agency I have advice for challenges you will face building your agency including recognizing common agency mistakes, how to keep great agency employees in your team as well as fostering the connections made with clients. If it’s challenging growing your business, I have agency growth hacks, the best ways to improve management of your business as well as why building a remote team can be beneficial in the long run. Learn more about my experience, as well as tips, tricks, and insights by checking out my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. You can learn more from my experience from my Ask Swenk series and my videos on my Youtube channel. Check out the advice and learn even more from other successful agency experts featured on Smart Agency podcast twice every week.

Has your agency recently experienced major changes? Is it time to transition away from how you used to do things? Is it time to promote key employees or buyout a partner? Being able to adapt to the market and the needs of your individual agency is one of the best ways to find long term agency success. In today's episode, we'll cover: Why your agency should always be open to change. Should you promote a key employee to an agency partner? Does your agency have a succession plan? Today I sat down for a talk with Cherie Hebert, owner and CEO of BBR Creative out of Lafayette, Louisiana. Cherie has owned her agency for over 23 years now and has naturally seen her agency experience a lot of change. She's here to talk about how she's found longevity and why it's important to be open to changes as they come. Why Your Agency Should Always Be Open to Change We've always heard that one person say, "But this is how I've always done it." This, for me, is always the kiss of death. If you want to be successful, whether you're running an agency, or just in life in general, you have to be open to change. Cherie says she started her agency as a creative. For the most part, they offered design creative and eventually PR. But as things do, the agency realm began to change. When BBR lost a major client and gained another who focused more on digital outreach, they knew they needed to make a change and evolve with the times. Cherie hired a digital strategist who was able to train the team on the basics of SEO. SEM, and paid search. This new person was also instrumental in helping the agency launch into the digital arena. He was also the right person to hire more digital marketing talent and be the catalyst for the change the agency needed. Should You Promote a Key Employee to Agency Partner? The answer is, maybe -- it all depends on timing. Cherie says she has never lost an employee to another local agency. Where she loses team members is to other markets and bigger agencies that offer more opportunities. That is why Cherie regrets not offering her digital strategist a partnership role in the agency before he left. Here are 2 reasons why you might want to offer a key player a partnership role: You can't always compete with the bigger fish: BBR is located in a relatively small market. While they don't have much local competition, they have lost a number of employees to out of state agencies. If someone holds an instrumental role in your agency, sometimes giving them ownership can promote loyalty and investment in the agency. Adding on a partner is an investment: BBR's digital strategist played a big role in vetting and training new employees. He helped the firm transition to a broader scope and work with new clients. When you bring on someone that adds this type of value, it's an investment into your agency's future. Does Your Agency Have a Succession Plan? In the beginning, we have a tendency to focus on the short game. Thinking about who will take over the agency or how your legacy will live on isn't something that typically comes at the early stages. But at 56-years-old, figuring out a succession plan is something at the top of Cherie's mind. Cherie has bought out one partner, with another soon to follow. She's soon to be the sole owner of the agency. What comes next? That's something Cherie is trying to figure out. As an agency owner, it's something you should always keep in the back of your mind.  For starters, Cherie has decided to offer her VP's a partial stake in the agency. I usually suggest a Key Employee Program -- which protects your key employees with some profit-sharing yet prevents you from giving away ownership. (There's more detail about this in the Agency Playbook.) Whether you have been in the business for 5 years or 25 years, one of the best ways to find success is to be willing to adapt and make changes when necessary. Don't be afraid to try new things, but be true to yourself. If you do this, you're more likely to be satisfied with how everything turns out in the end. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you're a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits, and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits, and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them. Building Your Agency I have advice for challenges you will face building your agency including recognizing common agency mistakes, how to keep great agency employees in your team as well as fostering the connections made with clients. If it’s challenging growing your business, I have agency growth hacks, the best ways to improve management of your business as well as why building a remote team can be beneficial in the long run. Learn more about my experience, as well as tips, tricks, and insights by checking out my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. You can learn more from my experience from my Ask Swenk series and my videos on my Youtube channel. Check out the advice and learn even more from other successful agency experts featured on Smart Agency podcast twice every week.

How well do you connect with your clients? Do you know what your clients really need? Do you have a system in place to solve clients' problems? Sometimes we automate things to be more efficient, but we lose connections in the process. Personalization can bring back the human element, make your clients feel valued, and help you get to the heart of what your clients need. In today's episode, we'll cover: Why agency automation needs more personalization. 2 reasons to treat your agency like a client. How systemization can help your agency grow.   Today I sat down for a chat with Anthony Baxter, owner of Firefly, a performance digital marketing agency based out of New Zealand. Anthony started his career in telemarketing sales and has implemented a lot of what he's learned from his past position into how he runs his agency now. He's here to discuss how agencies can benefit from getting back to the human connection. Why Agency Automation Needs More Personalization In an age that's highly digital, it's easy to automate everything. Chatbots can answer questions, email systems can send out automated replies, and CRM's can make it simple to manage clients. So it's easy to ignore the human element. While these tools do make things easier, they often don't take into account what matters the most — your client. Anthony says he's a big fan of picking up the phone and having a conversation. When you have that one-on-one connection, it's easier to understand what your client truly needs. Don't just go all-in with one way to reach out to your clients. It's important to have multiple touchpoints. I suggest using automation to make routine tasks easier but not to replace personal interaction. Have automation but also have personalization. Do your own marketing, but don't be afraid to pick up the phone. By testing and trying out various strategies, you can figure out what approach works best for your clients and your agency. 2 Reasons to Treat Your Agency Like a Client When Anthony first started Firefly, his team spent 50% of their time working on internal projects and creating strategies to help the agency grow. Anthony says, if you're a digital agency, you're good at digital. So why not use your own resources to grow your agency? Firefly has seen two major benefits from this approach: Strong culture: We talk about the importance of agency culture all the time. When you spend time focusing on your internal processes and ways to grow your agency, it shows your team your business is just as important as the ones you are working with. Better leads: Anthony says pain points are one of the fastest motivators for sales. If a prospect has a problem and you can solve it, they're more likely to become a client. When you work on your agency, you'll find it easier to understand your vision, recognize these pain points, and be the fix. How Systemization Can Help Your Agency Grow Anthony says systemization has been the key to growth. In the beginning, he held all the agency knowledge himself which created a bottleneck. But over time he has learned the importance of systemizing processes in everything from operations to fulfillment and even sales. In fact, Firefly's systemized sales process has created efficiencies and sped up their sales cycle. This helps them deliver a predictable result every time. This results in happy clients and an efficient agency team. Change is inevitable. And as agencies, we are competing against talent. So Anthony says we must take our systems and bottle them in order to adapt easier and grow faster. To be a successful agency, you have to figure out what works. A lot of that comes from looking within. When you focus on your process and building those key relationships, you'll find it easier to have the freedom to focus on what you want to do. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you're a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits, and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits, and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

Do you struggle to get agency clients to understand your value? Wish you could be paid what you're worth? Have you ever considered a value-based or performance pricing model? The simple fact is, some clients need to see performance results in order to appreciate value. So if you want your agency to get paid what it's worth, you need to present your agency as an authority. In today's episode, we'll cover: Do you have to niche down to grow your agency? Why it's important for your agency to build authority. Are you leveraging results to gain trust? Today I sat down with Todd Juneau, co-founder of Vuja De, a digital media agency. Todd got started in the agency world during the dot-com era and has subsequently seen a lot of change in the industry. But at the same time, he says, a lot of things have stayed the same. He's here to talk about what this means to agencies today and why his agency is so focused on results. Do You Have to Niche Down to Grow Your Agency? If you have listened to my podcast more than once, you've probably heard a recurring theme — niche, niche, niche. It's no secret, it's my belief you have to specialize to grow your agency. But does that really mean you can't be a full-service agency? In our discussion, Todd says, the main thing he has seen over the past 10 years is specialization. The funnel is becoming narrower and narrower. Clients want an agency that is the best at what they do and to put it simply, it's hard to be a jack of all things and be great in any one area. Start with one thing and become the best in your field. Then, as you grow, you can build different practice areas, bring in new people, and move towards being a full-service agency, if that's what you want. Why It's Important for Your Agency to Build Authority Today, Todd says many agencies have transitioned to a more specialized, highly skilled model of service. But one of the biggest challenges agencies face now is things haven't evolved as much when it comes to how clients view agencies. In the 60s, traditional media agencies could get away with 15% commissions because there was less work to do. But now, campaigns require more technology, more specialization, and more human capital. The 15% model just isn't feasible to be profitable and find success. So how do you get your clients to see the value in your work? It's actually pretty straightforward —build your authority. Start a podcast, create videos, or just go out and speak. When people see you as a trusted advisor instead of just another "me too" agency, they're more likely to pay you what you are worth. Are You Leveraging Results to Gain Trust? Todd's built his agency on results. In fact, his agency is so confident in their results they even have a performance-based pricing model. He says clients don't spend money because they want to, they do it to acquire customers and sell their product. When a client can look at the P&L and see, "Wow, we actually did sell more product," they typically have no problem paying you more. The key is to get your clients to stop looking at the vanity metrics and focus on how you are actually helping them achieve more. The good news is, agencies are beginning to shift in this arena and communicate the value of human capital and expertise. At the end of the day, clients will get what they pay for. It's not your job to undervalue your services to attract new clients. When you narrow your focus, build your authority, and produce results, you'll have no problem getting clients to see how much your services are worth. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you're a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits, and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits, and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

Are you struggling to find your purpose in the marketing agency world? Do you find yourself doing all the work, taking all the risks, and feeling like you should have all of the early rewards as well? Are the clients you're taking on reflecting the vision you have for your agency? There is a lot of joy to be found in owning your own marketing agency, and it is most often found when values are aligned. In this episode, we'll cover: Why being prepared and reinvesting are important. Identifying your marketing agency's purpose. Three ways to find joy in your agency again. I talked to Sean DallasKidd, Partner and Chief Creative Officer of Demonstrate, a boutique agency that provides public relations and creative content. At just over one-year-old, Demonstrate has two offices and close to 20 people on its team. Sean talks about the ways he was able to find such quick success with his agency while continuing to enjoy the work and the atmosphere he has created. Why Being Prepared and Reinvesting Are Important While Sean and his partners only started Demonstrate a year ago, they were hardly newcomers to the agency industry. Sean worked for a number of agencies and in the marketing departments of large companies before taking on the endeavor. "We got lucky by being prepared, willing to invest in the business, and not letting greed get in the way." He adds that other components he and his partners brought to Demonstrate were a strong network, good momentum, Often, new agency owners find themselves doing the bulk of the work and making the bulk of the investment. So, it is not uncommon for an owner to decide he or she should keep all of the early rewards. This is often a mistake, as it gets in the way of investments that should be made in order to help the business grow. Further, if the single focus of the business is to make money, it prevents an agency owner from building the team and attracting the clients that will help your agency succeed and grow. Identifying Your Marketing Agency's Purpose Sean and his partners spend a lot of time helping their clients identify the purpose of their brand. In order to do this effectively, the team at Demonstrate had to identify its own brand purpose. Sean says, in order to do this, they started by asking themselves two questions: What would you like to do every day? What do you never want to do? "On your slowest week," Sean says, "You're going to be focused on your work at least five-sevenths of the time. If you don't like your work, you won't enjoy your life." Three Ways to Find Joy in Your Agency Again How do you make your agency something you enjoy, rather than something that merely pays the bills? Sean offers the following tips. Is your team on board? Use the same filter when choosing team members as you do when choosing clients. For Demonstrate, that filter is whether the individual or company's beliefs and desires align well with the vision they have for the agency. Who is in control? Sean says there is a decision to make: You can choose to define your agency by selecting the type of work you want to do and the clients you want to work for. Or, you can let your clients define what type of agency you are. Staying in control of who and what you're willing to take on is an important part of enjoying the work you do. Don't get stagnant. Losing passion for your work is a quick way to lose your grip on the agency culture you're trying to create. Sean believes that continuing to grow, learn, and develop relationships with your team and clients is the way to create a more dynamic business. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you're a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits, and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits, and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

Does owning your agency give you a sense of significance? Do you ever wonder or worry about what an acquisition might feel like? Will you know when it's the right time to sell your agency? The marketing agency industry is always evolving. Selling your digital agency doesn't mean your journey is over; it might just be another step in a longer journey. In this episode, we'll cover: Leveraging your strengths in an agency acquisition. Are you learning and growing with your agency? One major key to working with contractors. I talked to Adam Weil, Partner and Creative Director for White Rabbit Group, based out of Seattle. Adam started his own agency several years ago. He eventually sold it to White Rabbit. Adam is here to discuss the communication and mindset necessary to deal with dramatic changes that often occur by having your agency acquired, obtaining a new partner, or deciding when to outsource work to a third party. Leveraging Your Strengths When You Sell Your Agency Adam started an agency focused on designing websites and mobile sites for clients. It was very much an opportunity he grew into, as he journeyed from simply wanting to own his own online business to knocking on the doors of potential clients and learning new ways to connect with them. Over the course of several years, he surrounded himself with people who were smarter in various aspects of the business than he was and learning as much as he can about the industry. When it came time for Adam's agency to be acquired by White Rabbit, a development agency that was servicing a number of creative agencies and bringing their designs to life, he brought those years of experience and learning to the table. "One important lesson I learned is that you really have to play to your strengths," he said. He realized what he is good at and likes to do was intersecting with the opportunity to grow something much bigger than himself. Adam knew the acquisition was the right opportunity for growth because it would take the agency he started to the next level. As he began to deal with the emotional aspect of no longer having his own agency, Adam avoided letting those emotions derail the deal. Rather than looking at his agency's acquisition as the end, "I just kept thinking about future opportunities," he says. "I viewed it as the next step in my career." Are You Learning and Growing With Your Agency? One crucial piece of agency growth is liking what you do. If you enjoy the work, you will look for ways to improve your skills and continually improve your service offerings. Liking what you do offers a second benefit, as well: The ability to learn from those around you. "Agencies are unique because they are such good vessels of growth. You get to try so many new things, and you will never know it all. You have to connect with people who are way ahead of you and smarter than you," Adam says. "There is so much competition and such an opportunity of growth that you have to stay on the cutting edge." One Major Key to Working With Contractors Even if you aren't planning a merger or acquisition, the marketing agency industry is one that never stops evolving. While this evolution is the key to future opportunities, it is also the catalyst that requires many agencies to outsource work. Working with contractors is also a step forward in the progression of an agency, Adam explains, and one that should be entered just as cautiously. Check at least three references for any contractors you are considering working with, and also check their work. "Don't just take their word for it," Adam warns. "Make sure you actually look at their portfolio and make sure it's pixel perfect." He stresses it is also important to be sure the contractor you're considering is strong in the area of communication and they have the tools necessary to do the work. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you're a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits, and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits, and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

Should you start an agency or buy an existing one? Do you have the right skill set for owning a successful agency? This isn't really a clear path on the right way to start an agency. Sometimes you just have to do what today's guest did and jump right in. In today's episode, we'll cover: Leveraging your skillset when you acquire a marketing agency. 3 ways to invest in your agency's talent. Why agencies must educate clients on value. Today I had a really interesting conversation with Joycelyn David, owner of AV Communication, a multicultural digital agency based out of Toronto. Joycelyn recently purchased a 7-figure agency after spending over 10 years as that agency's client. She is sharing what's worked, what didn't, and why she decided to take the leap to acquire an agency instead of starting from scratch. Leveraging Your Skill Set for a Successful Agency Joycelyn, like many of us, didn't plan to own an agency, she just kind of fell into it. But when she was presented with the opportunity to acquire one, she decided to dive in. And, like most of us, she says, if she could do it all again, she'd do it in a heartbeat.  So what gave her the confidence to know she had what it takes? An understanding of her basic skill sets. Running an agency is very much skills-based. And it's using those skills to produce results for clients. Before you think "I don't have enough experience to run my own agency," take some time to look at the skills you already have. For Joycelyn, she had spent over a decade on the client-side of the agency space and built solid relationships. She also had a degree in multicultural communications which ultimately helps her understand the needs of her clients better. Recognize what you have to offer. Surround yourself with a team that believes in your vision. When you do, you'll find owning an agency isn't as overwhelming as it seems. 3 Ways to Invest in Your Agency's Talent Joycelyn says the most important part of her agency is the people who work there. But soon after she acquired AV Communications, she realized there were legacy employees who had been there since the beginning and then a revolving door of new employees. So what did she do? She spent time developing a better culture for the agency. Her tips: Invest your time: Joycelyn says she spends 45-60 minutes with each team member every week to check in and work on employee development. She has observed that something that may come natural or seem obvious to her may actually be a challenge for a newer member of the team. Mentorship: One of the great things about investing in your team is providing them with the skills and the confidence to pass on to junior team members. When you create this culture from the top, learning becomes organic. Formal skills development: This includes guest speakers, hands-on workshops, and even travel opportunities. There are some skill sets that can come only from engaging with other clients and getting out in the field. Why Agencies Must Educate Clients on Value AV Communications works with a very unique niche. They work with brands to understand and connect with multicultural audiences. So what does it mean to fight for your niche? You have to understand your value. For Joycelyn, this means helping companies understand one out of every three Canadians has a multicultural background. By ignoring this, they are missing out on a big share of the market. What unique value does your agency bring to the table? Start with a question. Do you want to grow your market? Do you want to miss out on this opportunity? When you start with a question, you turn the focus on your client and make it about them, instead of you. Your job, as an agency, is to offer a solution to your client. And at the end of the day, it all comes down to using your specific skills and your team to deliver. Invest in the basics and surround yourself with like-minded people. When you do this, the rest becomes so much easier. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you're a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits, and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits, and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

Build brand trust and shorten the sales cycle using a one-two punch of rich content combined with derivative micro-content. Jason Swenk, host of the Smart Agency Master Class podcast and coach to growth-oriented agencies nationwide, does not enjoy writing blogs. And he's certainly not alone in that sentiment! But what Jason does enjoy is helping businesses grow through education. He's developed a one-two content marketing punch that capitalizes on his strengths and expertise, with rich podcast content at its core.

Uncertain on choosing a niche for your agency? Have you ever considered specializing in multicultural marketing? Are your clients losing customers by omitting multicultural messaging? Multicultural marketing is rapidly becoming an important growth strategy for businesses. It might be time you consider specializing in this marketing area in order to grow your agency. In this episode, we'll cover: The importance of multicultural marketing. How can you learn more about your clients' audiences? Are your agency clients drowning in data? I had the opportunity to speak with Eric Diaz and Natasha Pongonis, partners at Nativa. Their agency specializes in multicultural digital marketing agency and works with brands like Charmin, Castrol Motor Oil, and Arizona State University. Several years ago, Eric and Natasha noticed a lack of ads targeted to Hispanic audiences. Realizing these advertisers were missing out on a substantial demographic, they set out to not only help clients expand their reach but to help make the world of marketing a more inclusive one, as well. How Important is Multicultural Marketing? According to Eric and Natasha, the growth of the Hispanic population is just one example of the importance of multicultural marketing. In addition to Hispanic and Asian consumers in the U.S., multicultural marketing targets other growing demographics, like African-Americans, Native Americans, and others who fall outside of the mainstream marketing reach, including the LGBTQ community. Natasha also points out, as the country becomes more diverse, the numbers of individuals in the Millennial and Gen Z generations who identify with more than one ethnicity are also increasing. We have growing numbers of young consumers in this country whose buyer preferences are impacted by more than one culture. Failing to reach this growing group of consumers means leaving their money and their business on the table for one of the bigger companies to grab. How Can You Learn More About Your Clients' Audiences? How do agencies know what a certain demographic will want? The answers are in the data, Eric explains. Determining the data to identify potential consumers by cultural identity takes some digging, however. Many years ago Nativa developed a website that gathered data in a spreadsheet on what Hispanic buying habits, trends, and attitudes. Unfortunately, the data they gained only identified Hispanics based on whether they spoke Spanish. Thing is, many Hispanics don't speak Spanish fluently but still consider themselves of Hispanic descent. The team had to discover new ways of learning about Hispanic consumers by studying their profiles for information to indicate a Hispanic ethnicity. They looked at names, the commonality of products the purchased, and geographic information. Eventually, Nativa turned this site in a more valuable and all-encompassing SaaS tool that helps their prospects and clients learn more about all their multicultural consumers. This solution has proved to be invaluable to prospects and clients alike. Are Your Agency Clients Drowning In Data? Most brands have the data, but what sets Nativa apart is how they analyze and interpret the data. How can a company organically reach multicultural audiences by being part of their conversations? The best way is to just be quiet and listen. Learn what is driving those conversations, where are they taking place, and what are is the ethnicity of the users. Watch strategic partnerships of competitors and learn how different ethnicity's use different products. Our society is overwhelmed with data. We are drowning in data, but we're starving in knowledge. If you can interpret the data that is a superpower. And today, with machine learning Nativa is even testing out AI usage to predict behaviors of multicultural audiences. Eric made reference to Walmart and their 25-year relationship with their multicultural agency. The multicultural niche isn't going anywhere in fact, it's evergreen as the market continues to evolve. Natasha says it's not necessarily about the native language anymore. It's more about cultural awareness. It's about communicating in a very cultural and appropriate way to the demographic you're trying to reach, whether Hispanic, Asian, African-American, or others. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you're a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits, and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits, and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

Does your agency location determine its growth potential? How important is the location of your digital marketing agency? Do location and culture impact the talent you're trying to attract for your team? Can your clients expect better service if you're "local"? In today's episode, we'll cover: Why clients like a local agency. Why culture matters to your agency team. Tips for relocating your agency. The explosion of digital options has clearly changed the world, taking in everything from how you get your news to where you buy your products. However, in spite of all of the changes from digitizing the world, some things remain the same. One of those things is the old adage about location, location, location. I sat down to talk to Kaushal Kakadia, Partner and CTO of Birmingham-based marketing agency, SociallyIn, about the importance of your agency's location, for your clients as well as your team. 3 Reasons Why Clients Like Having a Local Agency SociallyIn started in a small Mississippi town, Kaushal explained. However, they decided moving to a larger area still in the same geographical region helped attract better clients. Some of the additional benefits clients receive from having a local agency include: Focus on the local market. We live in an era where brands can choose to work with agencies anywhere in the world, but in some cases, the local digital agency is going to better understand the local market and how to reach it. Building a network with local talent and vendors. One thing SociallyIn did once they relocated to Birmingham was to begin an annual conference called the Southern Social Summit. The conference attracts local talent and builds a network between marketing agencies and creative freelancers. It also provides networking for others involved in the equation, such as advertisers and vendors.  Avoiding time zone issues. There are times where a client needs to contact its marketing agency immediately and needs a quick response. This can be difficult if their agency is several time zones away. Why Culture Matters to Your Agency Team Culture is real and it is important, particularly if you're growing an in-person team. Providing a positive work culture for your team not only keeps your team members happy but inspires them to work harder. While there are many virtual agencies with fully remote teams, if you want to create an office-based team, it's important to establish roots in a location where you can find amazing agency talent. In addition to culture, Kaushal says there are other benefits to having an in-person team versus having a remote team, such as: Faster communication. Time zone communication doesn't only affect clients. It is generally easier to reach your team if they're in the same space than if they're in a different state or country. Reducing burnout. Work-from-home employees are at higher risk of "over-working" since there isn't a start and stop time. In an office, there are established hours and break times that keep creative minds fresh and allow them the ability to step away. This helps your team be more productive during their work time. Increased flexibility. Office workers can go remote easier than a remote team can go to an office. Your in-office team will consider it a benefit to have the option to work from home on an as-needed basis. Tips for Relocating Your Agency So, if you're planning to set down roots for your agency in a new city, what are some considerations that need to be made? Kaushal offers a few tips: Be transparent with your team, particularly if your relocation is going to result in the need for them to move themselves and their family. Plan the move in phases so that everyone has the time to make arrangements necessary for a smooth transition. If you're looking to grow your team in your new location, be sure to take the time to learn about the local creative talent pool. Once you get to your desired location, be careful not to scale too quickly. It is OK to say no to a prospective client who needs more than you are able to give. Scaling slow and steady is better than going too fast and falling on your face. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you're a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits, and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits, and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

Are you worried you can't grow a successful agency without a large team? Are you looking for a way to provide a better, more efficient experience for your clients? When it comes to running an agency, bigger isn't always better. In today's episode, we'll cover: Does agency team size matter? How to grow profits without growing your team. Why project-based agencies shouldn't take retainers. Today I sat down with Jon Paley, owner of The Vault, an ad agency/production company based out of New York City. Jon's agency runs off a fairly small team (10 people), yet manages to bring in 8-figures. He's here to discuss why he chooses to keep a smaller team and how he has used it to his advantage. Does Agency Team Size Matter? When I talk to agency owners, there are usually two metrics they use to measure success — profits and the number of people on their team. There's a common misconception that as you grow, you need to increase the size of your team. But if you've been listening to me for a while, you've probably heard me talk about the way a small team can work to your advantage. When Jon created his agency, he had one thing in mind, to remove the typical agency bureaucracy. With larger agencies, it often feels like you have to go through layer after layer just to talk to the right person. Jon knew if he hired the right people, his agency could do a lot more with less. Without all the layers and red tape, Jon can quickly determine if a client is a good fit, and if his team has what it takes to take a project on. In the end, the team is more productive, the clients are happier, and Jon can be confident his agency delivers what the client expects. How to Grow Profits without Growing Your Team I hear you, "but what if my client needs something my team can't do?" This is when it makes sense to work with freelancers. In most cases, the quality of work is great and you aren't stuck with the overhead of a permanent employee. So how can you make freelancers work for you? Determine who's essential on your team. Your account managers and team executives should be full-time employees. These are the people who know your brand, understand your vision, and help you build important client relationships. Build a database of preferred freelancers. Just because a person's not on your payroll, doesn't mean you can't work with them frequently. Create a database of freelancers who consistently knock it out of the park so you'll know where to turn first when you have a specific need. Why Project-Based Agencies Shouldn't Take Retainers Jon says he's noticed some agencies claim they are a project-based firm but structure their relationships based on a retainer. When you do this, you're not operating from a place of success. These relationships have very different demands. Many agencies move to a retainer structure because they want more predictability. But if you focus on building the pipeline full of projects, you'll find you can have the same type of success. Plus, you'll find many of your clients are referrals from previous project clients. You don't always need to focus on building a bigger team to find continued growth. Much of the time, it's not about how many people are on your team, but rather who is on your team. When you focus on quality instead of quantity, everything else will fall into place. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you're a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits, and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits, and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.  

Do you have a plan to protect your agency and team in the event of illness, injury, or death?? What would you do if your partner died? What if you were hurt or sick and unable to work? How much of your agency is dependent upon you for the day-to-day operations? As agency owners, we often think about our exit plan, but it's also important to plan for the unexpected. In today's episode, we'll cover: 2 things to protect your agency from the unexpected. The key to protecting your agency's acquisition. Today I sat down for an interesting chat with Eric Meyers, former CEO of a $40 million digital marketing agency. Back then, Eric found himself trying to navigate a pending merger as well as a transfer of ownership after the sudden death of his agency's founder. He's here to talk about what he learned through the process and what you can do to protect your agency from the unexpected. 2 Things to Protect Your Agency from the Unexpected Take a minute to think about what your agency's future looks like. Where do you want to be in 5, 10, or 20 years? Is that future still possible in the event of a sudden illness or injury of an agency leader? What about the death of your business partner? These things aren't fun to think about, but the truth is when you own a business you have to consider and plan for the unexpected. When Eric took the role of CEO at an agency, he never expected the founder would be involved in a tragic accident after only three months on the job, but that's what happened. As a result, the owner's family took control of the agency. From there, a pending merger fell apart and the agency went up for sale within six months. So how can you protect your agency from unforeseen changes? Create a Buy/Sell Agreement. If you have a partner, a solid Buy/Sell Agreement is critical. It protects both partners' interests and keeps things simple during times of uncertainty. You signed up to work with your business partner, not his or her family. A Buy/Sell Agreement helps ensure you have the funds to buy out your partner's family so you retain control over your agency. Purchase disability insurance. Would your agency survive if you had to take a sudden leave of absence due to an injury? Would you be able to pay your own bills? This one may seem obvious but it's often overlooked. It's a low-cost way to protect your business and your family. The Key to Protecting Your Agency's Acquisition One of the major problems at Eric's agency is the acquisition fell through at the last minute. This could have been prevented by a rock-solid Letter of Intent. A Letter of Intent helps all parties understand what they are getting out of the purchase of the agency. Eric says you shouldn't assume you can do it on your own. You need someone guiding the process and helping you navigate the unknown. It's even a good idea to make sure you have legal representation to look over paperwork and contracts. Another way to protect yourself is to set up an escrow account with the Letter of Intent. The amount in escrow depends on the amount of the sale. Then, if everything before the Letter of Intent turns out to be true and one of the parties backs out, the other party receives financial compensation. Don't forget, an agency sale is not the time to slow down. You need to keep your foot on the gas. You need to excel servicing existing clients and continue to fill your pipeline. That way, in the event the sale falls through, your agency is in a good position to thrive. Nobody likes to think about the worst-case scenario, but as a business owner, you have no choice. When you take the time to make sure you have the necessary precautions in place, you're investing in your agency's future. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you're a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits, and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits, and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

Are you looking for an efficient way to attract more leads? Do you want to get to a place where you can pick and choose your clients? Content is a great way to generate leads with your ideal clients. When you generate the right content you will find the perfect prospects seek you out. In today's episode, we'll cover: #1 way to increase organic traffic. How to get over your content creation fears. How to create more content right now. Today I sat down for a really fun chat with Jason Sirotin, co-founder of Brain Bytes Creative, a digital marketing agency. Jason spends a lot of his time creating fun, highly-opinionated content. He's here to discuss the value of content for digital agencies and how you can use content to see results right away. #1 Way to Increase Organic Traffic As agency owners, we all hope to get to a point where we can pick and choose who we work with. Work becomes more enjoyable when you do what you love for the people and brands you actually want to work with. But often, we limit ourselves to take on projects and clients that aren't necessarily a good fit because we need to make payroll or pay rent. What if you had more options? Content is a quick and easy way to increase organic traffic and generate more leads. Plus it helps establish you as a thought leader and trusted authority. It doesn't matter what type of content you create. You can write blog posts, start a podcast, or create videos on YouTube. The number one thing you need to do is let go of your fear of failure. Sometimes your content will resonate, sometimes it won't. The key is to just produce. How to Get Over Your Content Creation Fears One of the reasons people hesitate to put out content is their fear of judgment by the audience. But Jason says you need to forget about the haters. In fact, he relishes in the negative comments because they promote more conversation. Think of it this way, each comment counts as fresh content. This keeps your page relevant which is good for SEO. So don't turn off the comments and don't be afraid to put your opinion out there. Your words and wisdom will resonate with the right clients. How to Create More Right Now Sure, there is such a thing as bad content. But we all have to start somewhere. The more you put out there, the better you will get. The number one goal is progress. Jason says, right now, it's all about speed. You have to be reactive. If there is a current trend or a popular news topic, get your content out there and provide guidance or an opinion. So what if someone doesn't agree with what you have to say, maybe they'll learn something new or see things from a different perspective. When you create agency content, don't forget about SEO, but more importantly, don't forget to think (and write) like a human. Google is designed to give users the best results for their queries. You can help users (i.e. your potential prospects) make a decision by showing them you're an expert in what you do. And when you find the keyword that resonates with your audience, you'll see the leads come flooding in. There is no way to overstate the importance of content, especially in today's climate. The more you put out there, the more your audience will have the opportunity to view you as an authority. Let down your guard, brush aside the fear, and start creating. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you're a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits, and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits, and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

Are you a small agency worried your size might be holding you back? Afraid you might not have what it takes to compete with the big agencies? The more you put yourself out there, the sooner you'll realize it's not the size of your agency that makes a difference, but rather, what you bring to the table. In today's episode, we'll cover: #1 reason you should hire people smarter than you.  How to turn your agency's weakness into its strength.  Why agencies need to build authentic relationships. Today I sat down with Valerie Moizel, executive creative director and co-founder at The Woo, a digital marketing agency. Valerie started her agency almost 23 years ago with a little bit of naivety and a whole lot of drive. Today she's here to discuss key connections she made to make her agency successful and the number one thing her agency has done to see continued growth. #1 Reason You Should Hire People Smarter Than You There's a certain level of confidence required to start an agency. A lot of us get into the agency business because we can do something not everyone can. So it can feel kind of counterintuitive to actively seek out people who are smarter than you. But it's one of the best things you can do, especially when you are first starting out.  It's important to recognize there are some things you are good at, and some things you are not. When Valerie first started out, she had a lot of drive and passion, but not a lot of experience. So her first hire was someone very established within the industry. She says it was the combination of her naiveness and fearlessness and her partner's experience that really propelled the agency forward. Surround yourself with people who are the best at what they do.  How to Turn Your Agency's Weakness Into Its Strength As agency owners, we somehow got it in our heads that the bigger the team, the more successful the agency. So it's easy to feel a disadvantage as a smaller agency. But that's not always the case.  Valerie says time after time, she is able to use her agency's size to their advantage. In fact, her partner would even make the pitch, "Sure, you can hear from all these big agencies, but don't you want to see what a boutique agency can do?" Even if a client didn't choose them as the agency of record, often they would still get the call to work on special projects because clients loved their passion. In most cases, smaller agencies can pivot quicker and be more flexible than the big guys. That's an advantage every client needs! Whether you're big, small, niche, or full-service, embrace what makes you special. Often what you view as your weakness, your prospects will see as a strength.  Why Agencies Need to Build Authentic Relationships Curious about how Valerie named her agency? Valerie says she scoured the dictionary looking for the perfect name for her agency. When she got to the end of the book, she came across the word "woo." Woo means "to seek favor and affection." And at the end of the day, Valerie says that's what our job as marketers is.  Look at the advertisements you see on TV. Think about the ones you connect with. Today, people don't want companies who beat their chests and say "look at me." They want to support brands with shared passions and values. When you look at your campaign through the lens of the customer and not through the client, that's when you're more likely to build connections.  If your goal is to create an agency, the only person who can limit you is you. When you surround yourself with the right people, embrace your strengths, and build meaningful relationships, everything else will come easier.  Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you're a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits, and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits, and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

Is an acquisition in your agency's future but you're not sure how to find a potential buyer? Does your agency have incredible strategic partnerships? Sometimes, the best merger and acquisition deals come out of existing relationships with partners and businesses that offer complementary services. The key is to structure a beneficial and fair deal for both parties while avoiding the biggest acquisition pitfall. In today's episode, we'll cover: Why agencies need to lead with data. Agency acquisition mistake to avoid. How to structure an agency owner's buyout. Today I sat down for a discussion with Tim Curtis, President, and CEO of CohereOne, a direct-to-consumer marketing agency. Tim recently sold his agency to a strategic partner and took a little different approach. He's here to discuss what he did and why this option was the best choice for his agency. Why Agencies Need to Lead with Data We all have biases. It's human nature. So, of course, you think your agency provides the best solutions and services.  But while it's great to take pride in your work, when you are trying to sell (whether it's to a client or another agency), you want to put the data first. As a data-driven agency, Tim knows the value of numbers. Numbers don't lie. So, if you want to sell the value of your service or communicate the results your agency can achieve, let the numbers do the talking. Once you provide the data, then you can explain why you're the best. Tim says, if you want to take advantage of opportunities, you have to understand the data, and then the context. In that order. #1 Mistake in an Agency Acquisition One mistake many agency owners make when there's a merger or acquisition deal on the table is letting their foot off the gas. They focus on the value of the sale instead of keeping the agency profitable.  Of course, it's more fun to think about the dollar signs, what you want to buy, and how much money you are going to make from a buyout. When this happens, people tend to relax, put in a little less effort, and look at the acquisition as a done deal. This is a mistake. Regardless of your role in the agency, everyone needs to be all in until the deal is in ink. Continue to hustle, bring on new clients, and build new income. What happens when you start to take the foot off the gas? Best case scenario, you sour the relationship between you and the buyer. Worst case scenario, you lose the deal. How to Structure an Agency Owner's Buyout There are many ways to structure an acquisition. You can have more cash upfront and less earnout. Or you can have less cash, but retain a big piece of equity. Tim says, when it came to structuring his acquisition, he went with a hybrid approach. Generally, when we consider earnout, we look at EBIDTA. Often, this is where sellers get the best deal. But Tim says, instead of EBIDTA, his earnout is based on gross sales. In addition, they've also agreed to guaranteed payments based on this amount. With this approach, there's more incentive for everyone to focus on the growth of the business, rather than bleed it for profits. This way, the agency continues to grow momentum. Tim says, the industry as a whole is beginning to see more of a shift towards smaller percentages upfront. As such, it's important to look for the best way to get the most out of your deal. Whether making a deal with a strategic partner or putting out feelers to merge with another agency, it all comes down to your approach. When you focus on what makes you valuable and keep your foot on the gas, you won't have to work as hard for a buyer to recognize your agency's value. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you’re a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

Do you struggle to get clients to view you as an authority? Do you have a difficult time communicating value to your prospects and clients? Are you concerned about losing work to machine learning or AI? When you position your agency in the context of strategy, you bring value to clients and outlast computer intelligence. In today's episode, we'll cover: How to grow your agency team the right way.  3 ways to set your agency apart from AI. Do your clients view your agency as a trusted advisor? Today I sat down for an interesting talk with Dan Golden, co-founder and president of BFO, a digital marketing agency with over 60 employees globally. Over the past 10 years, Dan and his partner have grown their agency across the globe and learned what it takes to be successful in today's changing market. He's here to talk about what he's learned about growing a team and evolving his agency with changing technology over the past decade.   How to Grow Your Agency Team the Right Way When you're first starting an agency, it's easy to focus on rapid growth. What can I do to get more clients, make more money, and grow my team? It's a natural instinct. We all want to find success and we can be impatient waiting for it to come organically. But if you're not careful, you may find the growth of your team no longer supports the work you bring in.  So how do you avoid this and make sure you don't have to make some painful cuts? Focus on "right-sizing": As you're building your teams, don't simply be reactive to the work that comes in. Be intentional with the type and size of team you create.  Resist the urge to overbuild management: It may seem like a natural progression to promote your early employees to managers as the agency begins to grow. But just because someone has been there the longest, doesn't mean they should be a manager. Put the right people in the right places and don't create a position you don't need.  3 Ways to Set Your Agency Apart from AI If you're not paying attention to AI, you should. AI is changing the industry and forcing many agencies to take a hard look at the way they do things. And the hard truth is, there are many agencies vulnerable to losing business to AI. The trick is to position yourself so you work with AI, not against it. This means: Refocus on where you add value: A machine can compile spreadsheets and discover trends, but what about strategy? You may need to shift how you do business. However, if you restructure some of the engagement to strategy instead of execution, you will still end up with a valuable partnership.  Embrace the change: AI isn't all bad. Automation can make your life easier and add value to your clients. Focus on how you can use this technology and act as a shepherd to guide clients through this new world.  Up your skills: AI can have a steep learning curve. Be the best in class in understanding how to manipulate machine learning algorithms and do something not many other people can.   Do Your Clients View Your Agency as a Trusted Advisor? "Most agencies give away their secret sauce and then charge for cooking." As agencies, we tell our clients exactly what we do and why we do it. The problem is, eventually, you'll have clients who think they can do it on their own. But you can prevent this.  Know the value of your services: One of the main reasons clients don't understand the value of strategy is because you don't understand the value of strategy. If you're not charging strategy as a separate line item, do it now.  Be flexible: Things are changing. There are more resources available on the client's side than ever before. Some clients may not need you for everything. And that's okay.  Ask the right questions: The client may think they have a better strategy, but what are they risking? Lay it out to them — How many leads are they getting? What is a lead worth? What type of traffic are they getting from these leads? When faced with hard facts, many clients will see the benefit of working with an expert.  Now, more than ever, it's important to highlight what you bring to the table. When you position yourself as a trusted advisor instead of an executioner, your clients are going to have a harder time walking away.  Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you're a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits, and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits, and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.  

Does your current agency business strategy support long term sustainability? Are you looking for some simple strategies to be a more effective leader? It probably comes as no surprise the two issues often go hand-in-hand. In today's episode, we'll cover: 3 elements to any successful agency. What is the key to agency client retention? How to be a more effective agency leader. Today I had an informative talk with Ryan Cote, digital services director at Ballentine, a direct mail and digital marketing agency founded by his great-uncle over 50 years ago. Ryan's here to share how his family's agency has sustained success for over five decades, and how he has become a better leader. 3 Elements to Any Successful Agency If you want to know the secret to success, there's no better place to start than with an agency that's been around since the mid-1960s. During a time in which many agencies have started and failed, Ballentine has not only survived, they've thrived. I asked Ryan why he thinks his family's agency has been so successful. His answer — it all begins with the basics: Always look for sales. As agency owners, we have a tendency to back off from bringing in new sales when business is good. But we often experience lulls where we have to catch up to find new clients and replace some that have left. Constantly sell and bring on new clients. Keep your current clients happy. Ryan says his team is always revising their onboarding strategy to make sure clients get the attention they need. In order to retain clients, make sure you're giving them the attention they deserve. Start with leadership. As your agency begins to grow, the way you treat your team can make a big difference. For some people, leadership comes naturally. For others, it doesn't. Take the time to make sure you have the right leaders in the right places. What is the Key to Agency Client Retention? Many agency owners make the mistake of thinking converting leads is the secret to rapid growth. The truth is, you have to focus on your current clients first. It's far easier and cheaper to retain existing clients than to keep finding new ones. The number one key to client retention is communication. There's no quicker way to lose a client than to make them feel neglected. Make time to show your current clients you're still invested. For Ryan, this means bi-weekly phone calls and quarterly check-ins. For you, this could be something different. Establish a procedure that prioritizes communication and keeps the client involved every step of the way. Take nothing for granted. Speaking of communication, make sure you communicate successes and what you're doing behind the scenes. As another podcast guest said, "If we didn't communicate it, it never got done." Give your clients a way to track metrics and provide benchmarks to show how far they've come. How to be a More Effective Agency Leader Ryan says having a team made him take a look at his own ability to be a leader. This, in turn, pushed him to focus on personal development. Despite what you're lead to believe, leadership doesn't come out of a book and it's not something that you really can teach. Successful leadership comes from within. I end my day answering "What did I learn? What did I accomplish? Am I ready for tomorrow?" This simple ritual allows me to visualize the day ahead and get a good night's sleep. Ryan, on the other hand, focuses on a morning routine.  His regimen includes meditation, exercise, and morning journaling. Whatever you choose, take some time to focus on what went well and how you can improve. Being aware and continuous learning are two attributes of a good leader. So much of your success as an agency will come down to your values. When you invest in your clients and your team, you're more likely to see your agency grow. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you’re a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

Does it feel like no matter how hard you work, you just keep running around in circles? Are you ignoring all the signs that your agency's crying out for help? When you get to a point where it seems like your agency is out of your control, often, the best solution is a simple change of perspective. In today's episode, we'll cover: 3 signs your agency needs more attention. 2 steps get a stalled agency back on track. Do you have your priorities all wrong? Today I sat down for an engaging chat with Brad Martineau, repeat podcast guest and owner of Sixth Division, a digital marketing agency. Like so many of us, Brad saw success early on but quickly stalled out. He's here to talk about why he found himself in this position and how he scaled back to scale up. 3 Signs Your Agency Needs More Attention As agency owners, we have a tendency to set our sights high. We go into the business with a lofty goal in mind and won't stop until we get there. When this happens, it's easy to gloss over (or even purposely ignore) signs you're in trouble. Brad says to ask yourself these 3 questions to find out when your agency needs your attention: Is your team excited? One of the first signs something is wrong is team morale. Brad says there's a difference between a disappointed employed and a disgruntled employee. If your team's unhappy or constantly overworked, it's time to slow down. Are your clients pumped? Your clients should be excited about your work and see the value your agency delivers. If your client response is lackluster or worse, you're losing clients, do something now. Is revenue shrinking? A sure-fire sign you need to make a change is less money coming in. If you're not as profitable as you once were, you're either spending too much or you're losing clients. 2 Steps to Get a Stalled Agency Back on Track Brad says he spent 1.5 years ignoring all the signs something was wrong. If you're not careful, success will tell you you can do no wrong. But ignoring the problem can cause a lot of unnecessary pain and anxiety, as Brad will attest. So what can you do to get your agency back on track? Acknowledge the problem. This one's hard. As humans, we'd rather ignore a problem than confront it. Pay attention to the signs and get good at recognizing problems from the beginning. The longer you wait, the harder it is to fix. Set aside your ego. Brad says this meant coming to terms with the fact he might not be a $3 million agency. Put aside your preconceptions of how it should be and focus on the fix. For Brad, when he finally faced the issue head-on he was able to cut over $100,000 from his monthly budget. Do You Have Your Priorities All Wrong? How do you create goals for your agency? For most of us, it's easy to set monetary or other tangible goals. And for the longest time, I was just like everyone else. My goals were always revenue, projects, time, in that order. There's this bad mindset we get in where we tell ourselves, if I just make this amount of money, my family will be happy, and then I'll have everything I want. But in the end, that goal just keeps getting bigger and bigger and you never catch up. If you really want to grow, you have to flip the switch. Brad says we need to get away from focusing on monetary profit and prioritize time and emotional profit. When you do this, you'll find you're happier and more fulfilled. And bonus, when you slow down, you free up your headspace to be more creative, which ironically may help increase profits after all. Don't get too consumed with that bottom line that you forget to enjoy the ride. When you slow down and focus on what's important, then you'll truly be able to enjoy your success. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you’re a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

Are you looking for a way to scale up without adding new employees? Do you want to get back to enjoying what you do? When you try providing everything to everyone, you're likely to get burnt out fast. But when you find what you're good at and focus just on that, you'll find freedom and enjoyment in owning your agency. In today's episode, we'll cover: #1 pitfall of full-service agencies. 2 steps to grow your agency without bringing on excess staff. The only 5 roles you should fill as an agency CEO. Today I sat down with Chris Kneeland, CEO of Cult Ideas, a digital marketing agency. Just over 7 years ago, Chris made the jump from a large, publicly-traded US agency to a smaller firm based out of Canada. He's here to discuss what he's learned from the transition and how you can get to a point where you can do what you love. #1 Pitfall of Full Service Agencies It's no secret, I'm not a fan of full-service agencies. In fact, you'll find this to be a common feeling among many agency owners. Why? After working for a very large, publicly-traded agency, Chris says there is one thing that stood out. The agency was constantly over-leveraged with staff. It got to a point where Chris began to wonder, "When did my job become keeping our bloated staff billable?" When you try to provide everything for everyone, you tend to hire a bunch of different people to fill all those roles. But if you're not getting the business to support your staff, you'll end up working just to pay your team. 2 Steps to Grow Your Agency Without Bringing on Excess Staff "But Jason, don't I need to expand my team if I expect to grow?" Not at all. Chris uses a strategy that's similar to the one I would use if I could do things differently. He says there are two steps to growing your agency without bringing on a ton of new employees: Figure out what you're good at. Chris says, think of it this way: If you were called on to deliver a TED Talk tomorrow, what would you be able to talk about? Better yet, what would you want to talk about?  Only do that. Niche down and you're naturally able to reduce the number of people you need. Then you will be able to really leverage the people you choose to keep around. Only staff what you have work for. Having a larger team makes you feel like a big agency, but it eats into your profits when they aren't fully utilized. Focus on the essentials and outsource the rest. If I were to do it over, my key leadership, PM, and account managers would be the only full-time employees. When you keep a full staff, you put yourself in a position where you have to focus on payroll. You'll end up taking on a bad client or billing out something your client doesn't actually need. This is not a fun way to work. When you focus on being properly sized, not only will you improve your finances, but you'll also see an improvement in your quality of life. The Only 5 Roles You Should Fill as an Agency CEO Think about why you originally started your agency. If you're like me, it wasn't to see how fast you could grow it was about having the freedom to do what you love. Unfortunately, far too often we manage to get lost somewhere along the way. If you want to get to a point where you love your job and enjoy what you do, there are only 5 roles you should be responsible for as an agency CEO: Set the vision and communicate it to the team. Be the face of the organization. Understand the financials. Coach and mentor the team. Assist with sales. Don't worry, your agency and team still need you! When you focus on these 5 roles and let key leadership take care of the rest, your agency won't need you for what you used to do, they'll need you for what only you can do. It's never a good idea to focus on growth over doing what you love. When you narrow in on what you want to do and surround yourself with people who support you, you'll begin to have the freedom to pick and choose what you love. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you’re a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

Apprehensive to declare a niche? Worried that being a niche agency will limit your growth? Do you own a full-service agency that's in need of restructuring? Declaring a niche is one of the best ways to set your agency apart, but is it possible to find success with multiple niches? In today's episode, we'll cover: How to demonstrate expertise as a full-service agency. 3 steps to help your agency team adjust to change. Is success possible in more than one niche? Today I sat down with Jeff Hahn, owner of Hahn Public, a public communications and marketing agency. After purchasing a full-service agency, Jeff made a creative decision to split the agency into four practice areas. He's here to discuss the steps he took to make this change, how it worked, and how he made sure his team was on board. How to Demonstrate Expertise as a Full-service Agency You've heard me discuss just how important it is to declare a niche. When a client is looking for an agency, 9 times out of 10 they reach out to someone who is an expert in their niche. If you run a full-service agency, it doesn't matter how good you are, the majority of clients will always see you as a generalist. While this might work for a while, eventually, this model will almost certainly limit your growth. When Jeff purchased his agency, he knew it was important to establish expertise right off the bat. But rather than choose just one niche, he chose four. Jeff took the existing agency and split it up into four separate practice areas. As separate mini-agencies, each was able to focus on their vertical and target a specific audience. While the agency shared resources and was organized around one central team, the division allowed each practice area to gain and demonstrate expertise. 3 Steps to Help Your Agency Team Adjust to Change Whether you're splitting up into four different practice areas or bringing in a new CEO, change can be hard. Your team is your most important asset so it's important to approach major transitions with the care they deserve. There are a few things you can do to help your team adjust to change: Ease into it. Changes are the hardest to accept when they are not communicated well. The best thing you can do for your team is to take it slow. Roll in changes gradually and keep your team informed every step of the way. Show them how. Part of the reason people don't like change is the fear of the unknown. After you've told your team what you want to do, show them how you plan to achieve it. Provide an opportunity to opt-in. Look around and see who's excited about the change. Those who aren't can quickly become a cancer to the rest of the team.  When someone's not on board or actively opposed to change, Jeff says he likes to hold a "graduation ceremony" to recognize their contribution and allow that person to move on. Is Success Possible in More Than One Niche? Jeff has proven it is possible to break an agency into smaller, more-focused areas and find success. And maybe this approach will work for you. But Jeff says if there is one thing he could do over it would be to commit to one direction or one idea. When you split an agency into separate practice areas, you still have to market, maintain, and build intellectual property for each one. In this way, it's akin to running four separate agencies at the same time. Sure, it may work out, but it's a lot of extra work. That is why I advise agencies to focus on one niche at a time. Should you run a full-service agency? Should you declare a niche? Ultimately, the decision is up to you. But when you choose your passion and run with it, you'll find you're happier and more likely to find success. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you’re a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

Would you like your agency to be more profitable? Are you setting goals you just can't seem to achieve? Goal setting is an important part of becoming a successful agency. But if you are not creating the right goals and don't have the right tools, you're never going to get there. In today's episode, we discuss: How to set achievable goals for your agency. 3 Ways to build a team to help achieve your goals. Why solid leadership is critical to your agency's success. Today I got to chat with Monica Louie, a Facebook and Instagram strategist who left the corporate world to have more flexibility and spend more time with her family. Since leaving her 9 to 5 job, Monica has blasted through some of the goals she set when she first began and developed a successful three-part business. Find out how Monica paid off over $120,000 of debt in just two years using clear goals and a lot of creativity. How to Set Achievable Goals for Your Agency We've talked about it several times, just how important it is to have a goal. Without a goal, it's hard to find your north star. But the type of goal you set is important. As are the tools you use to achieve it. So how can you make sure you don't fall short? Be specific about your goal. For Monica, her goal was to pay off all of her debt, including her mortgage, in 8 years. You need to have a specific goal and you need to have a timeline. If Monica had just said "I want to pay off my debt soon," she probably wouldn't have met that goal because there was no specific timeline to hold her accountable. Create a strategy. How are you going to get there? Monica and her husband had a garage sale and worked a lot of overtime to achieve paying off their debt. When you make a goal at your agency, it's important to have a strategy in mind to help you get there. It's okay to improvise and change things along the way, but you need to give yourself a plan and tools to make it to your goal. What are you willing to sacrifice? In Monica's situation, they sold her husband's car and motorcycle and did a lot of scrimping. For you, sacrifice might mean cutting a service that's putting a financial strain on your budget or finding extra funds. If you have a goal and the motivation to achieve it, you will find the means. 3 Ways to Build a Team to Help Achieve Your Goals It's futile to set a goal if you don't have a team that shares your vision. Your team will be one of the biggest components of your success. But the hiring process isn't always fun, nor is it easy. And job boards don't usually pan out. So what do you do? Connect with like-minded people: A lot of Monica's first team members came from the personal finance world, a world she was comfortable with and had experience with. Look to people in your field who might be good for your team. Reach out to your connections: There's a good chance you already know someone who would make a good team member, or you know someone who knows someone. Reach out to your connections and tell them you're hiring. For Monica, this meant telling her email list she had a few positions to fill. Know your focus. Again it's all about your vision. If you don't have a clear vision, your team won't either. Communicate your vision and find people who have the same values you do in order to help you reach that vision. Why Solid Leadership is Critical to Your Agency's Success Great teams come from great leadership. We've all had that one boss that made going to work a miserable experience. Great leaders have teams who support them and want to work for them. What does this look like? Invest in personal leadership skills. Some people are born a leader. Some are not. Take the time to invest in your leadership skills. Take classes, get feedback, and work on being a better leader. Listen. Listen. Listen. The number one thing your team wants you to do is to listen to them. Listen to what they want, what they need, and give them the tools to do their job well. When you provide the resources and support they need, they're less likely to go somewhere else. They say anything is possible if you set your mind to it. Make a goal, build a team, and take action to get where you want to go. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you’re a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.  

Are you looking for a new, creative way to generate leads? Have you thought about offering a course, but don't know where to start? An online course is a great way to attract new clients and create some extra revenue.  In today's episode, we cover: How an online course can help your agency grow.  3 Ways to keep your course from becoming a distraction.  How to create a unique course different from everything else.   Today I had the opportunity to talk to Chase Chappell, the owner of Chase Chappell Marketing. He began his career developing his own Facebook influencer page and quickly discovered he could do social media for other agencies. After going door-to-door to find leads, he leveraged the power of social media. After finding success Chase realized he could help more people by teaching his own processes in an online course. Find out how developing a course can attract more clients and help grow your agency.  How an Online Course Can Help Your Agency Grow Creating an online course is a lot of work. So why spend your time developing a new course when you can put your time and focus on other projects? What will you really get out of it? For Chase, the benefits were bigger than he initially realized. Referrals. When Chase started his online course, he immediately discovered the course was generating a lot of referrals. When you provide value and have a genuine interest in helping others, they're likely to refer your agency to others. Conversions. Chase started his course to teach agencies his process. But the agencies that took his course came back to him just a few months later asking him to do the work instead.  Authenticity. Ads will only get you so far. When a client sees your ads and sees you have a course to back up what you are doing, you're more likely to develop trust.  3 Ways to Keep Your Course from Becoming a Distraction   Not every agency has what it takes to support a course. If that was the case everyone would create a course to attract new clients. When you choose to develop a course you want to make sure you have the resources to support it. The last thing you want to do is put all your focus on the course and neglect the agency.  Evaluate your team. When Chase developed his course, he already had an outside agency onboard to manage client relations. Because he knew he had a team that could focus on the agency work, he was able to devote some of his focus to the course.  Watch your client load.  If you're going to focus your attention on developing a course, it's probably not a good idea to bring on a bunch of new clients at the same time. Make sure you don't overextend your agency — work on growing one piece of business at a time. Have a process in place. Chase's course focuses on processes his agency uses every day as part of the agency's training program. When you develop a course around existing processes and procedures, it will be easier to put together and less likely to distract you from your agency work. How to Create a Unique Course Different from Everything Else If you're on Facebook, you know how saturated the digital course market is. It seems like everybody wants to teach you something about something. In many cases, these courses are simply marketing ploys or click-bait to get a prospect to sign-on with an agency. Online courses are a dime a dozen and most quickly fade into obscurity. So can you make sure your course stands out and continues to attract new clients? Know your target audience. The reason so many courses (and agencies) fail is because they don't know their target audience. If you create a course for everyone, you're going to have a hard time attracting the right clients. Know your audience and market your course directly to them.  Provide value: The number one way to stand out is finding a gap or need in the market. Be unique. If you just regurgitate what everyone else is saying, potential clients have no incentive to stick around. Chase's course shares the same strategies his agency uses on a day to day basis. This proprietary process has proven success stories to back it up.  An online course is a great way to attract new clients and increase authority. But it's not for everyone. Do your research, evaluate your resources, and make sure you're prepared before you take the jump. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you’re a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

Trying to decide whether your agency really needs to declare a niche? Can a generalist approach equate to more clients? In the marketing agency space, it's all about standing out from the crowd. Whether you can find success as a generalist may depend more on your process than your expertise.  In this episode, we'll cover: #1 Thing to remember whether you're a generalist agency or declare a niche.  3 Ways to stand out as a generalist.  3 Reasons you're better off choosing a niche.  Today I had the opportunity to talk to Ted Birkhahn, president and part-owner of Hot Paper Lantern. Hot Paper Lantern is an integrative marketing communication agency that focuses on analytics, redefining how clients are targeting their audiences, and improve experiences. With over 19 years in the agency, Ted was able to take an existing customer base and turn it into a successful generalist agency. Find out whether it's really possible to find success as an agency without choosing a niche.  #1 Thing to Remember Whether You're a Generalist or a Niche Agency If you have been in the agency world for any period of time, you know there's one thing that holds true — nothing lasts forever. Ted says this is the number one thing he learned over the course of his career. As such, you always need to have a plan for when times get rough. What does this look like? Evaluate your client base. It's never a good idea to put all your focus in one area. As a generalist, don't invest too much in a specific industry. As a niche agency, never saturate too much of your interest in one client or one area.  Grow in smart ways. As an agency owner, the goal is growth. But you have to do it right. If you grow too fast, you may have difficulty keeping up which can make you vulnerable in times of instability.  3 Ways to Stand Out as a Generalist You've decided to be a generalist — great. The good news is, this means you have a wider reach, you can relate to a larger range of customers. The bad news is, there's nothing to separate you from all the other "me too" agencies who don't have a specific niche. So how do you stand out without having a niche? Don't pretend to be all things to all people. Even as a generalist, there will be clients who just aren't the right fit. Clients who require a niche level of expertise or have specific needs may not be right for you.  Know what makes you different. For Hot Paper Lantern, they set themselves apart from the rest by bringing in specialists from different industries. By providing marketing and consulting services they provide value many similar agencies don't. Even if you don't have a specific area of expertise, you can still be unique. Leverage your experience. One thing Ted has that many agency owners don't is experience. Ted has two decades in the agency world and has surrounded himself with a team of similar expertise. Experience is an asset. OWN IT.  3 Reasons You're Better Off Choosing a Niche  It's important to find out what makes your agency stand out from the crowd. Some agencies are able to do this without choosing a niche. But for many agencies, defining a niche is how they stand out. So how do you know if you're better off choosing a niche? You don't have an established client base. Ted was lucky. He started his agency with several established clients. This isn't the case for most agency owners. If you don't have an established customer base, you're going to have to find a way to bring in clients. As a generalist, it's going to be hard to stand out. When you niche down, you are able to dedicate your marketing toward a specific client base. You don't have a lot of revenue. Even if you don't have an established customer base, you can still stand out by bringing in resources or hiring great talent. Without appropriate funds, this will be very hard to do.  You're just starting out. This one goes with the two points above. If you are just starting out, you likely don't have the client base or the revenue. Additionally, you haven't quite figured out what makes you unique. For smaller agencies, it's usually better to start out with a niche and expand later on if that's what you want. It's hard to say you can't find success as a generalist because it has been done and it continues to be done. But it takes a certain level of experience and expertise. If you're going to be a generalist, it's important to understand the extra level of investment and risk it entails. By setting realistic expectations, you're more likely to make smart choices and find success.  Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you’re a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

Thinking about selling your agency -- someday? Is a merger or acquisition a good fit? Whether you are hoping to move on to a new adventure or stay on as an employee, it's always important to make sure your agency is in a position to maximize a merger or acquisition opportunity. In today's episode we'll cover: Why it's important to tell your agency's story. #1 Way to get multiple buyers when selling your agency. 2 Simple ways to know a merger is the right fit. Today I talked to Todd Taskey, the CEO of Potomac Business Capital. Todd's agency does a lot of merger and acquisition work, dealing with sellers to maximize their profits and find a good fit. He shares what agencies need to do to get buyers interested and how to get the best offers. Why It's Important to Tell Your Agency's Story When buyers are looking to acquire or merge with your agency, they want to know where your agency is heading. This is a good way for buyers to determine your agency's value. But the biggest mistake most agency owners make is not thinking about where they are going. The best way to increase your agency's value is to tell a story. What does this mean? How long have you had your clients? Buyers like to see longevity. If you have a bunch of new clients, a buyer will worry this revenue can easily slip away. How much do your clients like you? Yes, this is important. Likeability and trust go a long way. If your clients don't feel a sense of loyalty, they're going to use this transition as a good opportunity to jump ship. What is your recurring revenue? Those big projects are nice. But your potential acquirers want to see long term stability. Todd says he is able to get buyers to feel more comfortable with agencies that have long term retainer contracts. #1 Way to Get Multiple Buyers for Your Agency We all hope when we go to sell our agency there will be multiple buyers fighting over us. But many times you put feelers out there and then suddenly one of them sends you a letter of interest asking you to stop shopping your agency around. So how do you avoid this and get the best selling price? The simple answer is HARD WORK. Todd says he puts together a list of about 100 prospects and then goes and talks to each one. He then finds the three most serious buyers and works from there. When you find the right agency, it's all about negotiating. When a buyer thinks they are getting a great value they are more tolerant when bumps inevitability come up down the road. If you work the buyer in the beginning, it provides leverage when it comes to negotiating things like working power and non-solicitation agreements. 2 Simple Ways to Know a Merger is the Right Fit When you sell your agency, you want to know it's the right deal. Everyone's a Monday morning quarterback and will always find something they could have done better. So how do you prevent that? How can you feel comfortable with the choice you make? Todd says it comes down to a couple of things. Is it a lot of money? Funny but true, right? You don't want to walk away feeling like you got the short end of the stick. If a buyer is offering you a lot of money, it's hard to feel bad about that. Have a dollar amount in mind before you entertain any negotiations and don't settle for less (as long as you're realistic). Does the buyer share or complement your vision? If you plan on staying on with the agency, your vision is important. You need to make sure that you are comfortable with where the agency is heading. If you don't see that with the seller, it might not be a good fit. Selling your agency is a good way to make a change or take things to the next level. But you have to do it right. Take time to prepare your agency and don't settle until you find that right fit. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you’re a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

Are you struggling to make your agency stand out? It could be a branding issue. Knowing your brand and owning it can make a big difference when it comes to getting your prospects' attention. In a world saturated by digital marketing agencies, the last thing you want to be is another "me too" agency. So here's advice on the best ways to differentiate your agency from the competition. In today's episode we'll cover: 2 reasons it's important to find your agency's niche. How to understand what it means to brand your agency. #1 Way to differentiate your agency from everyone else. Today I sat down with Scott Markman, Founder and President of Monogram Group. Monogram Group is a branding agency, dealing almost exclusively with private equity clients. As a branding agency, Scott has spent the past 30 years finding his niche, developing a brand, and becoming an expert in his field. But recently, Scott's firm hired a digital agency to help with their own brand. In this episode, we'll talk about why you have to know your agency's brand and how defining a niche can get you there. 2 Reasons It's Important to Find Your Agency's Niche Lately, it seems like anyone who knows anything about a computer can start an agency. Because there are so many agencies, it's tempting to offer everything to everyone. The logic is, the more I offer, the more clients have to choose from. But agencies who take this approach quickly find out being a generalist isn't really the best approach. Why? Because clients want someone who knows the nuances of their specific industry. Scott started his agency as a generalist -- part out of boredom, part out of a desire to learn something new. But while the work was challenging, he quickly learned private equity was where he needed to be. There are two main reasons why finding your niche is important: Being a generalist will quickly eat away at profits. Sure it's fun to challenge yourself and learn new things, but doing so every time you bring on a new client takes time. You'll learn you're investing too much time learning about the product when should be focusing on what you can deliver. Do this too much and you will end up losing more than what you are making. When you have a niche, you save time because you don't have to take the extra step of researching the product or the market. Clients want someone who knows what they are talking about. Scott says he is able to close 65-75% of all the proposals he pitches. Why? Because clients are confident that he knows what he is talking about. Think about it. When you speak the industry language, understand the challenges and pain points of your clients' clients you are more valuable than someone who has to research those things. How to Determine Your Agency's Brand Many agency owners think they know their brand, but really they have no idea. When we talk about branding, we're talking about the feeling clients get or associate with your agency. When you are developing your brand, there are a few questions you want to be able to answer: Why do I exist? What can I provide to potential clients? Where can I play strong? What's the market for my services? How can I make clients feel they wish they had found me sooner? Scott says 85% of what you say is going to be the same as everyone else. The key is to not stop there. The other 15% is your brand. Recognize what makes you valuable, carve out a space for yourself and own it. #1 Way to Differentiate Your Agency from the Others Back to the question we started with at the beginning: "How do I stand out from the crowd?" The answer is brand, brand, brand. What is it that runs in your DNA? What are you passionate about? What do you know better than anyone else? The number one way to separate your agency from "me too" agencies is to know your brand and make it approachable to a variety of audiences. Remember, your niche is who you will market your services to, but it doesn't have to stop there. When you know who you are, clients will search you out. The key is to find the one thing you can offer better than anyone else can. Branding is so important for attracting clients and earning their respect. Your clients can't know who you are if you don't. Carve out your space, master your craft, and share it with the world. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you’re a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

Would you like to be your own agency boss but not hesitant to start a business from scratch? Tired of having a boss? Think you can do it better? Ready to run things yourself? Most times these are the reasons most agency entrepreneurs start their own agency. But that doesn't mean it has to be the way you do it. Another viable option is to acquire an established agency to give you a jumpstart. In today's episode we'll cover: How to find the agency that's right for you. 2 tips to make sure you don't pay too much to acquire an agency. 3 keys to finding success at with your new acquisition. Today I had the opportunity to talk to John Kadlic, CEO and owner of Parallel Path. Parallel Path is a digital marketing agency focusing on the health, wellness, and lifestyle industries. John worked his way up in the agency world, eventually becoming president of a large digital marketing agency. After 22 years in marketing, John was ready for his own agency. But John didn't take the conventional approach and start one — he bought one! Discover why John took this approach, and what he learned along the way. How to Find the Right Agency for You Why buy an agency when you can start your own? John wanted to take advantage of the hard work someone had already put into their company. John bought Parallel Path on his 50th birthday. He says at this point in his life, he was willing to spend more money, in exchange for not having to invest the extra time. John didn't have to spend time finding clients or hiring staff, they all came with the acquisition. Buying an agency is a great option for people who don't have the time or desire to start an agency from scratch or who are looking to grow their existing agency. The downside is, it requires a larger investment. So how do you find the agency that's right for you? John says his process started with a little soul searching. He took some time to figure out what he liked about work, what he didn't, and what energized him and got him excited about his job. Then, he made an outline of all the things he was looking for in an agency. Having a clear vision of what he was looking for not only helped John narrow his focus but also made it easier for his team to suggest potential agencies. 2 Tips to Make Sure You Don't Pay Too Much for Your Agency Okay. So you've found your dream agency. How do you make sure you don't pay too much? Buying an agency is like buying a house. Owners take pride in their "baby" and often ask for more than what it's worth. Buyers, on the other hand, are looking for a deal ~ the acquirer's idea of fair valuation is often much lower than the sellers. How do both parties find common ground? Surround yourself with a good team: John had a strong team working with him throughout the entire process. His team included an experienced lawyer, a financial adviser, and a private equity expert. Make sure you hire the right professionals who will give you honest, sound, financial advice. Data, data, data: Buying an agency is an emotional process for all parties. While you may not be able to eliminate the emotions altogether, the less they are involved, the better. Stick to the facts and always have benchmarks, figures, and numbers to back up your offer. 3 Keys to Finding Success at Your Newly Acquired Agency You've bought an agency, now it's time to make it your own. But wait! Now is not the time to go in and change things up. John says new owners often want to jump in and get their hands dirty. But this is almost always the worst thing you can do. To find success, you need to appreciate what you are getting into. Take it all in: We get it; you're excited and ready to make big changes. But you have to respect the process and team already in place. If you go and change things up right away, you're likely to upset your team and clients. Implement structure: It's important your team understands what is expected of them and how you will hold them accountable. John says he uses EOS, implementing accountability charts and weekly leadership meetings. Create a vision: John waited about 5 months before he made any big changes. At this point, he met with his team to discuss the vision moving forward. Letting your team know you respect the past and including them in your vision of the future will help gain their respect and find success as an agency moving forward. Whether you're buying your first agency or acquiring another agency to grow an existing one, it's all about the process. With a careful plan, a solid vision, and respect for existing systems, you'll be on the path to success. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you’re a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

Are you worried your agency is too small to compete with the big dogs? Are you exhausted trying to provide everything for everyone? The marketing world has changed over the past few decades, but a lot of the concerns and approaches have remained the same. As an agency, knowing your strengths and marketing to your niche can be a huge advantage. The sooner you realize this, the better. In today's episode, we'll cover: Why agencies need to combine branding with direct marketing. How segmentation can take your agency to the next level. #1 reason to dominate your agency's niche. Today I got to talk with Grant Johnson, founder, and owner of Responsory. Responsory is a direct response digital marketing agency focused on measurable results. Grant started his agency in 1999 after leaving his job as VP of a marketing agency. Grant didn't like the direction the agency was heading, so he started his own. Grant felt nobody was really doing measurable marketing the right way, so he took on the challenge on his own. 20 years later, Grant has grown Responsory into a multi-million dollar agency. Let's dive in. Why Agencies Need to Combine Branding with Direct Marketing Many agencies put all their effort into building their brand but fail to focus on direct marketing. Or, they do the opposite, and put their efforts on direct marketing, with no real idea about their brand identity. But the truth is, you'll get the best results when you combine the two. That's what Grant did when he started his agency in 1999. He says when he started his agency, you had brand marketing on the left and direct marketing on the right, and the two weren't converging. Today, it's all about ROI — what am I getting out of what I am putting in? Grant believes when you combine branding with direct marketing, you have the ability to enhance and grow your brand in a measurable way. Direct marketing helps your agency grow faster, while branding helps you establish trust with your audience. How Segmentation Can Take Your Agency to the Next Level The bulk of the clients Grant works with don't do segmentation. This has been a problem for as long as advertising has been in existence. Some agencies prefer to reach as many people as possible, instead of focusing on specific sectors. It's important to realize your customers are going to have a variety of wants, needs, and ideals, even within the same niche. You can't just send out a blanket marketing campaign and call it good. You have to understand the individual component. Today, SEO and paid digital make marketing to specific sectors and analyzing the results easier than ever. You have to remember to look at your audience as a whole vs. individuals. #1 Reason To Dominate Your Agency's Niche When you're starting an agency, the temptation is to provide everything to everyone. This is the quickest way to fail. For the bulk of agency prospects, they're not looking for an agency who can do a lot of things okay, they want an agency who can do what they need really well. Know your niche and own it! Grant says he's always upfront with his clients. When they come to him, he tells them what he is really good at and what he's not. In the same regard, if you're a small agency, own it. There's been a shift towards smaller agencies who know what they are doing vs large agencies who do it all. If you have a team of five, don't hide the fact that you're small, announce it to the world! It's all about quality vs. quantity. Most importantly, you have to believe in your brand and believe you're the best. Like Grant says, if you don't think you have a niche, or a difference, or are the best at what you do, then why do it? What's that saying — the more things change, the more they stay the same? A lot has changed in direct marketing and branding over the years, but many of the same basic principles remain the same. When you combine proven philosophies that work with today's technology, you provide the catalyst to help your agency grow. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you’re a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

Are you still struggling to score the first few agency clients? Or maybe you've scored them, but now you feel like you're stuck handling them and not growing. Making it past those first few agency road bumps is difficult. And finding your first clients and figuring out how to use them to springboard your growth is the biggest initial road bump. But finding those clients doesn't have to be a nightmare. You just have to get a little creative. He's on the show to talk about a cool strategy for landing the first five clients and how his agency took off from there. In today's episode, we'll cover: Why sometimes even the best agency team members quit. How to score your first few clients. #1 thing to do after you secure your first digital agency clients. Today, I talked with Benjamin Arabov, Founder and CEO of Pure Digital — an agency specializing in PPC, ad design, and influencers. Benjamin is passionate, hardworking, and above all, dedicated. When his brother told him about an agency internship while he was in college, he pounced on the opportunity. From there, he moved into full-time while taking night classes. Why Sometimes Even the Best Agency Team Members Quit Keeping your agency employees can be the hardest part of your initial growth. Replacing team members isn't cheap. In the past, I've talked about how you can dominate employee retention using a variety of methods like profit-sharing and killer training processes. But here's the thing. Even if you give your team members big chunks of cash, it doesn't mean that they're all going to stay. There's no way to prevent employees from leaving. Some people just want out. And I'm not talking about those poor performers you should be firing already. I'm talking about some of your best workers. They may want out. In Benjamin's case, he was crushing it at his first agency job, but he wanted more. Born from a long line of entrepreneurs he decided to chase his own dream and create his startup agency. You should be prepared to lose anyone. And you should have a backup plan in case your most valuable employees up-and-leave. How to Score The First Few Agency Clients The hardest clients you'll ever land are your first ones. You need incoming cash to fuel agency growth. You may have clients in mind. But you don't have past client results to show off and win them over. Why should they even look your way? Benjamin says his agency's early growth was largely due to referrals and a super successful email campaign. If you want to grow early, you have to get scrappy. You need to flex some of those creative muscles. Back in 2015, Benjamin sent out an email campaign offering a performance review (audit),  that scored him 5 BIG clients. Let's be honest — that may not work in 2019. Audits have been done to death. But you can identify your own Foot in the Door offer and create a winning email campaign surrounding it. #1 Thing to Do After You Secure Your First Agency Clients When you finally figure out that magic formula to get a few initial clients (call in some favors if you have to!), you need to do something ASAP. You need to hire some people. You don't want to be the person making all the creatives for this account. Why? Because you'll get stuck and unable to scale your agency to the next level. When you spend all your time on those first few clients you put yourself in a prison and you're chained to client work. But when you hire creatives or project managers, you are free to work on business development. You want to scale. We all have different agency goals. You probably want more than just those first few clients. And you need people to make that happen. What role should you hire first? The role you're worst at! Eventually, you want to move away from creatives unless you have an agency partner who can handle the business side. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you’re a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

How much time should you spend on client work vs. actually growing your agency? Figuring out how to grow early isn't easy. You're not sure where to start and what to focus on. Chances are, you're spending too much time on client work and way too much time trying to land the next big contract. But is it worth it? In today's episode, we'll cover: #1 way to grow your agency fast. 3 ways to determine your agency's niche. Why you might need to say no to big projects. Should you spend time on neutral tasks? Today, I talked with Jordan Scheltgen, co-founder of Cave Social — a social media agency based out of Canada. Jordan has been hustling for brands before he was self-aware of it. His pre-agency blog, CaveMag, had a story about having season tickets to Florida Panthers games. It blew up and went viral, with tons of social shares and exposure. And he quickly realized he could do this... for money! Since then, his agency has rocketed to three locations already! So how did he grow so fast, and what did he focus on first? #1 Way to Grow Your Agency Fast You have to niche! Seriously! If I sound repetitive, it's because it's super important. Niching separates you from the pack and keeps the lights on. But Jordan's agency didn't just niche to find more clients. They niched to create repeatable processes, which is another benefit of niching down. Let's say your agency niches into plumbing. Are plumbers in LA really that different from plumbers in Nebraska? No - not at all. So, this gives you the ability to create a process you can use again and again for clients, in order to grow rapidly and become an authority. When you niche, you become an authority in a specific market. You can speak their language and get really familiar with their common challenges and pain points. When prospects realize you "get" them, it makes them want to work you with. But what if you can't figure out what your niche should be? 3 Ways to Determine Your Agency's Niche If you want to find the perfect niche for your agency, you need to answer these three questions. What am I passionate about? What do I have knowledge about? What's a problem I can solve? If you can find a niche that answers all three questions, you're golden. But even if you can only answer one or two questions, that's fine! You can become passionate. You can gain knowledge. And you can always find a problem to solve. But having at least one of those questions answered can help your agency focus on a niche (either vertical or horizontal -- or both) that will help you grow faster. Why You Might Need to Say No to Big Projects Turning down a massive deal is really difficult. So most of end up saying yes, and then live to regret it. But don't be fooled by the numbers — figure out if it's actually worth the money. For example, you may get offered a one-off project worth $50k. But if your long-term clients are paying you $10k per month, the big one-off client may not be worth the time. It's all about opportunity cost. Remember, when you say yes to one thing, it means saying no to something else. Make smart choices about the value of your time, and remember bigger projects don't always mean better projects. And it's about more than just basic math. If the client is going to cause you headaches or disrupt your agency culture, learn to say no! There are more reasons to turn a client down than there are to accept one. Should You Spend Time on Neutral Tasks? Are you wondering how much time to focus on systems and how much time to focus on clients? Try this trick: create a list. Grab a piece of paper and make three columns. In column one, list all of the value positive tasks you have. In column two, list all of the value negative tasks you have. And in column three, list all of the neutral tasks you have (those tasks that aren't really positive or negative.) Then, take everything in the latter two columns, and delegate or automate it. As owner, you should only be focused on positive value tasks. Most of the time, you'll find there's not much client work on the list. The bigger you grow, the faster you may need to start moving towards business-side tasks. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you’re a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

Wondering if an agency merger is right for you? Curious how do those new partnerships work? And what do you do if they don't? Taking the leap with another agency can be a strategic move. Maybe you want to grow faster or combine skillsets. Whatever the reason is, here's everything you need to know about agency mergers. In today's episode, we'll cover: Should your agency leverage the gig economy? How to know if an agency merger is right for you. #1 way to make agency partnerships work. How to cope with agency partner problems. How one small change can impact agency culture.   Today, I talked with Adam Williams, CEO of Magneti — a branding and digital agency out of Colorado. Over the years, Adam has founded a variety of startups ranging from publishing to construction companies. When Adam decided to take the leap into the agency space, he was well-prepared for the business side, but he needed scale and some extra creatives on his side. He's here to share the story of why he decided to merge with another small agency to tackle some bigger clients. Should Your Agency Leverage the Gig Economy? The rise of the gig economy is massive for agencies. Are you worried your agency doesn't have the creative scale to capture big clients? You can leverage the gig economy to deliver those creatives. Are you worried onboarding costs are going to sink your agency? The gig economy can help you deliver at a fraction of the price. The secret is creating processes for external contractors to follow. Once you have the processes down, you can scale-at-will. Want to deliver a massive project for a new client? No problem! You can scale up with freelancers quickly and easily. Hiring freelancers is a no-brainer for most agencies. Just make sure you're hiring the right one! How to Know if an Agency Merger is Right for You There are a million reasons to merge your agency with another. You may be experiencing a growth spike that's forcing your business into new roles you need help developing. You could have a big client you need a little help with. You may want to grow super fast. Or you may even want to fulfill some agency responsibilities you're, well, not good at (like taxes, billing, or even HR.) The only way to know if a merger is right for you is to ask yourself some questions, like: Does this agency offer services my clients need? Do the owners have skillsets I don't have? Does the agency have scalable processes we can adopt? What does the agency's book of business look like? When you start answering those hard-hitting questions, the merger answer will smack you in the face. #1 Way to Make Agency Partnership Work If you do decide to merge, it could mean bringing on a few new partners. And this can be a serious pain if you're not ready. How do you make it work? And how do you prevent bad partnerships from tearing your agency apart? Here's the secret — it's all about empathy. You have to care about the person on the other side of the table. When you're making agency decisions, think, "how would this impact my partner's family?" Make it personal. Because let's be honest. Sometimes, we get angry at our business partners. It's natural. But you always have to dig deep and remember who they are as a person and why you ventured into business together, to begin with. You can get mad at each other -- but you have to respect one another enough to be empathetic. But, what do you do if it just really isn't going to work? How to Cope With Agency Partner Problems Is your partnership just not going to work out? It's ok! You don't have to explain. But you do have to break up with them. At this point, the only question you have to ask is, "who's buying out whom?" If you want to remain in the driver's seat, you have to execute a successful buyout. Here's the thing. If you were empathetic during your entire partnership, this part is probably going to be easier than you think. Make sure everyone walks away happy, don't let it impact your day-to-day work, and smile when you're done. How One Small Change Can Impact Agency Culture Sometimes, having agency rules can disorient workers. Your team needs guidance and structure, but not a list of rules to follow. If you have a giant paper filled with rules hanging in your break area, it may be time to rethink your strategy. Your agency culture should create rules without having to write them down. Check this out -- Adam's agency only has 3 rules: Over-communicate. Nail the details. Have fun! Those three simple things capture so many different little things. They're easy for team members to remember, and they're rules that have scale. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you’re a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

Have you been using the same set of processes for years? When's the last time you updated your SOP's? Old, tired processes could be hindering agency growth. If you're feeling stuck it could be an Operations issue. Sales and marketing can get you clients, but stellar operations is what sets you apart - or not. Don't focus on leads; focus on processes. That's the secret to rapid growth. In this episode, we'll cover: How to scale with better agency operations. How to level-up your agency every year. Stop being scared to scale your agency. Today, I talked with Clint Cobia who is the COO of 98 Buck Social — a social media management agency. Clint is an ops man at his core. Over the past few years, his agency has exploded due to his focus on creating the right processes and breeding superior Ops practices. He's on the show to share ways to do better with Ops so you can grow your agency. How to Scale With Better Agency Operations Scaling up is all about hiring, firing, and processes. Those processes define your agency. If you can't produce repeatable work, you're working 10x as hard for half the return. Ask yourself these questions: Do my employees know what do to every day when they get to work? Do I use time as a measure of success or processes? Does everybody in the agency know their roles in the bigger scheme? Is my creative side and sales side systematic? Clint says if the answer to any of those is no, you have a problem! So, hire an Ops Manager or start developing some in-house processes. Use your Ops to create an unfair advantage over the competition because it's not going to create itself. How to Level-Up Your Agency Every Year Having an agency with 10 employees is vastly different than having one with 20. Agencies have levels. These levels aren't set in stone, but you can pretty much guarantee that if you're growing at a healthy pace, you're going to level up at least once a year. You can't use the same processes with a team of 20 that you used with 10 employees. The key is to completely strip everything down and reinvent your processes annually. It may sound like a pain, but it saves time and stress in the long run. Stop Being Scared to Scale Your Agency Agency owners are notoriously hungry. We want to grow bigger, faster and more aggressively. But we're also notoriously scared of growth. Don't believe me? Let me ask you a question — do you know what's holding you back? Clint believes most of us do. Chances are, you do too. You know you need to hire a salesperson. You realize you need better processes. And, you aware you should definitely drop that problem client. Whatever it is — you know it but you haven't done it yet, have you? Why? Because you're scared of growth! Whether it's because you're too comfortable right now or you're scared growing because the next level is too complicated and risky, something is holding you back. But you shouldn't be scared... Growth is really just another word for agency evolution. If you're doing things right, it's bound to happen. I believe growth is a conscious choice. And it is. But so is sitting in limbo. You probably know what needs to be done. You just haven't done it yet. Here's my challenge for all of you today. Get up and go do the thing you know is holding you back. Hire that salesperson, get an Ops Manager, or fire that client. Whatever it is that you've been putting off — go do it. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you’re a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

Jason Swenk runs a unique consultancy helping marketing agency owners grow their agencies faster. He is the resource he wish he had when he started his agency. Jason currently hosts two podcasts: The Smart Agency Master Class Podcast sharing strategies and stories from real agency owners and SwenkToday which is a weekly show that documents how you can grow your digital agency. Early on Jason decided to quit his day job and launch a digital marketing agency that grew to a multi-million dollar operation, 100 staff, and they worked with brands from AT&T, Hitachi, and Lotus Cars. After 12 years of growth, he sold the agency in 2012. Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:  [2:55] Jeremy introduces his guest, Jason Swenk.  [4:50] Why did Jason start his podcast?  [7:20] The best foot-in-the-door offers from Jason’s career.  [15:30] Customer success stories.  [19:15] Helping clients shift their mindset when it comes to marketing costs.  [22:20] How setting prices too low can hurt you.  [26:00] Tools that Jason has found helpful.  [29:15] What Jason looks for when he hires team members.  [35:45] How Jason got involved in car racing.  [39:30] Jason explains how he keeps his staff motivated.  [41:15] Delegate outcomes rather than tasks.  [44:30] Success is what you make it.  [46:00] Jason talks about his onboarding process.  [48:00] Why your personal brand matters. [52:15] Horror stories from working with clients.  [54:15] Tips from Jason’s exit from his agency.  In this episode… What does it take to build a business that can stand the test of time and regularly deliver impressive results? Is there a magic formula that you need to learn before your business really starts to build some momentum? On this episode of Inspired Insider, you’ll hear from business leader and innovator, Jason Swenk. In his conversation with Jeremy, Jason opens up about his journey with podcasting, how he keeps his team motivated, the value of your personal brand, challenges he has faced along the way, and much more. Make sure you have pen and paper ready - you are going to need it!  Have you ever been in a situation where you had to manage the expectations of your customers or clients? How do you ensure that both your team and your customers are on the same page? According to Jason Swenk, it all comes down that magic word - communication. You could have the best products or services in the world, but it doesn’t mean anything if you fail to communicate what you need from your clients and what they can expect from you and your business. Don’t fall for the same trap that many business leaders find themselves in; make sure to learn the best communication methods available.  Did you know that setting the lowest price in your market could be hurting your business? It’s true! While you might think it is a good idea to become the “Walmart” of your industry - remember, there is always a price to pay. Sure, it’s great that Walmart keeps their prices low, but at what cost? When was the last time you purchased a high-quality product from Walmart? If you want to set your prices low - make sure you understand that some customers will pass you by to go with a more expensive option. What can you learn from Jason’s story?  Don’t you hate it when you find yourself surrounded by a dysfunctional team environment? As a leader, what should you do? Is there a way to avoid toxic hires and keep your team healthy? Jason Swenk is such a strong believer in hiring the right people that he has developed a rigorous screening process that has served him well over the years. While some leaders will find Jason’s vetting process too involved and nuanced - the truth is, he’s had some impressive results. Consider learning from and implementing some of Jason’s standards into your hiring practices; what do you have to lose?  What is your definition of success? Do you want to drive all the nicest cars, or is traveling to exotic destinations more your style? Maybe for you, success is about spending more time with your family. Whatever your view of success, it is going to be different for each leader - everyone has to determine the big “Why” that motivates their drive. Remember, leaders, aren’t the only ones who need to define what success looks like! Jason Swenk has some helpful insights regarding the topic of success. Make sure to check out the link to Jason’s website, where you can learn more about his mindset and the podcast he hosts!  Resources Mentioned on this episode www.jasonswenk.com Trello PandaDoc Intro Music by Kidd Russell Sponsor for this episode Rise25’s mission is to connect you with your best referral partners and customers. We connect you with strategic partnerships through our done for you podcast solution which is the best thing I have done for my business.  Our Done for you Podcast service - We help your company completely run and launch your own podcast and make sure you get ROI from it.  We distribute your show across more than 11 different channels (spotify, google play, itunes, and many more) including a dedicated blog post and social media. You simply show up and talk and we do everything else. Our team has been working with podcasters since 2009. I personally credit podcasting as the single best thing I have done for my business and my life. It has allowed me to connect with the founders/ceo’s of P90x, Atari, Einstein Bagels, Mattel, Rx Bars, and many more. Besides making best friends and finding my business partner, podcasting has led to relationships with countless customers and referral partners. The most important piece that most are missing is the right strategy and we make sure our clients get ROI so it becomes one of the most valuable parts of your strategic partnerships. Since this requires a lot of humans (we have operations, developers, writers, audio editors, video editors) to do the work we have limited bandwidth and only want to work with the right company. If using a podcast for strategic partnerships, content marketing, and increasing clients and referrals sounds interesting to you go to www.Rise25.com and contact us or email support (at) rise25.com. If your company wants to attract and connect with your highest level customers and referral partners then you can learn more and contact us to find out if your company qualifies at Rise25.com. Rise25 was cofounded by Dr. Jeremy Weisz and John Corcoran. For larger conferences and software companies we have done an onsite podcast booth and created a years worth of content in just a few days. So if you are holding an event or your company will be having a booth at an event let us know. Check out Rise25.com and also some see some examples of our VIP Events below. Our Done for you VIP Events - We do live in-person VIP Days and receptions. These are 100% outsourced VIP days for software companies and conference organizers so we can help you serve your highest level customers.  It may or may not involve Elvis costumes - See video  Rise25 VIP Days have a proven track record of helping companies to get more referrals, increase retention with their VIP customers, and get more engaged new customers without adding extra work to that company’s plate. Rise25 has hosted VIP events in cities such as Austin, Chicago, Santa Barbara, San Diego, New York, Sonoma, and Las Vegas to name a few.

Do you feel like growing and scaling is always a struggle? Need to differentiate yourself from other agencies? Finding success as an agency owner isn't easy. But with the right mindset, you can hit the 8-figure mark and even power through an eventual agency acquisition. Whether you want to grow your agency fast or plan on growing it to sell, you need to hear from the one and only Mitch Joel, who's done it all. In today's episode, we'll cover: 3 steps to an 8-figure agency. How to power through an agency acquisition. #1 way to differentiate your agency. Today, I talked with Mitch Joel, co-founder of Mirum and founder of Six Pixels Group. Joel is a marketing superstar. He was one of Canada's Top 40 under 40, does keynotes for top brands, and has a best-selling book, Six Pixels of Separation. Mitch also sold his agency Mirum to WPP (a.k.a the world's largest ad agency). And he's on the show to talk about how he was able to grow, sell, and move on from his agency. 3 Steps to an 8-Figure Agency For many agencies, the 8-figure mark is the "we made it!" moment. But how do you get there? Honestly, everyone's path is a little different. That being said, here are 3 universal steps you'll probably need to make. Take on the right partner: There are two things that make a partner great. They need to have the same goals, and they need to compliment your weaknesses. If you're a master salesperson and you're looking for an agency partner, don't look for a salesperson. Find someone who is amazing at the things you're really bad at. Otherwise, you may both end up trying to play to the same tune. And that can lead to a nasty breakup. Get a marquee client: Landing your first big client can completely reshape your agency. You can go from pennies to dollars overnight. It only takes on business with a few friends to grow your agency fast. There's a misconception that you have to have tons of clients to grow. That's not true. You just need a couple of good ones. And they don't even have to big per se! But they do need to be able to pay your agency what you're worth. Have the right philosophy: You need to be scale-focused. What does that mean? It means that your processes need to be capable of handling scale. Think about your ability to support large-scale projects with big clients. If you feel like your foundation is weak, you need to build it up before you take on any big clients. Don't just chase big fish without a big hook. You'll get pulled overboard. How to Power Through An Agency Acquisition There's another way to "make it" without hitting 8-figures. Getting your agency acquired is the dream for many of you. It happened to me, and it happened to Mitch. But what do you do when it actually happens? Your first instinct may be to go out and spend the cash. Don't do that! You have to wait until the acquisition is 100% finalized before you celebrate. The entire process will take a while. And you need to be focused on continuing to grow your agency AND focusing on your new "biggest client" — the company acquiring your agency. Force yourself to wait to celebrate. Afterward, you have to get used to not calling the shots. It's tough. You can always do what I did; go start a podcast. It gives you back some of the control you're used to. Plus, you get to help people out. It's a win-win! #1 Way to Differentiate Your Agency Are you tired of being a "me too" agency? Then change your philosophy. STOP trying to be like your competition and you do you. Don't be like everyone else, but instead figure where you stand on these four things that set  you apart from every other agency: Trust Empathy Chemistry Authority How can you create a differentiate using these four pillars to stand apart? First, create trust with your clients by showing tons of empathy. Develop amazing internal chemistry that is evident in the way you carry out your core values. And display the level of authority that conveys domination in your area of expertise. Then, use your messaging (website, social posts, etc.) to display this differentiation to your prospects. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you’re a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

Considering a merger or acquisition to scale your agency? Wondering what's involved in selling, but overwhelmed at the thought of it all? Relax! The processes can be stressful, but it's totally manageable and can also be a great growth strategy. Whether you want to stay in control and grow your agency with an acquisition, or you want to exit your business with a massive payday, here's everything you need to know about agency mergers and acquisitions. In this episode, we'll cover: 3 things agency acquirers are looking for. The best way to cure agency growing pains. Can you really grow through mergers and acquisitions? Today, I talked with Jose Lozano CEO of 9thWonder — a full-service digital marketing agency with offices around the globe. Jose didn't start off with a massive agency, and he didn't grow one... he bought one! After selling his company to a massive organization, he led a group to acquire an agency to scale up. Jose shares why and how to scale your business by acquiring another agency. 3 Things Agency Acquirers Are Looking For Selling your agency is an important decision. Are you really ready to sell? What will you do after you sell? Will you merge agencies and stay on, or get acquired and move on? The answers to all of these questions matter. But, before you can even start thinking about them, you have to ask the big question — is your agency sellable? When CMOs and big organizations look at agencies, they aren't just looking at profitability. They're looking for opportunities. Jose has done internal M&A polling, and I've talked to thousands of agency owners on this subject. Here are 3 things that make your agency sellable. Having Processes: You can be crazy-successful but still look like a bad investment. Having success is one thing — having a repeatable formula for success is a whole different ballgame. When you have the right processes in place it lets investors know you're successful and that you've broken your success down into a repeatable formula. Being Independent: If you created your agency with the sole purpose of selling it, you're at a disadvantage. It's like when people buy a house just to flip it, they treat it differently because it's not their home and never will be. The same thing happens with agencies. Being an independent owner who has hustled and bled for their agency is huge. It lets people know you're personally invested in your business. Niching Out: You have to have an unfair advantage. Why should an acquirer buy you? There are plenty of agencies out there but, if you do something better than everyone else — you're worth top dollar. Dominating a specific niche not only makes your agency more valuable to investors, but it is one of the best ways to be viewed as an industry leader. The Best Way to Cure Agency Growing Pains Your agency's size is not relative when it comes to stress. I've met agency owners with 3 part-time team members that were as stressed as owners with 30. It's all about how you handle key areas of your business. What's causing the stress? Is it ops? Or are you having trouble handling team members? Whatever it is you have to pinpoint it and either hire it out or partner up with someone who gets it. Deciding to grow is a conscious choice. And it can be impossible to make that choice when you're busy managing your stress level. Chances are, you know what's causing your stress. Maybe you're overwhelmed with finances and KPI's, or maybe you dragging your feet on hiring or firing. That's ok! If you feel like you're not cut out for the role of CEO the solution might be getting acquired or merging with an agency. Don't be afraid to give away some of your equity to reduce your stress. Which would you rather have? Full ownership of a stressful, chaotic agency, or 80% ownership of a well-managed one? Can You Really Grow Through Mergers and Acquisitions? Yes, you really can! Giving away equity can put you on the growth fast track. And acquiring another agency can also be one of the smartest moves you ever make if you do it right. I know what you're thinking! How do you know what your agency (or another agency) is truly worth? You can check out this video on agency valuation. Bottom line, the answer really depends: How profitable are they? What kind of niche are they in? What's their profit margin? Check out my post on how to double your growth with an acquisition.  Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you’re a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

Jason Swenk runs a unique consultancy helping marketing agency owners grow their agencies faster. He is the resource he wish he had when he started his agency. Jason currently hosts two podcasts: The Smart Agency Master Class Podcast sharing strategies and stories from real agency owners and SwenkToday which is a weekly show that documents how you can grow your digital agency. Early on Jason decided to quit his day job and launch a digital marketing agency that grew to a multi-million dollar operation, 100 staff, and they worked with brands from AT&T, Hitachi, and Lotus Cars. After 12 years of growth, he sold the agency in 2012. Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:  [2:55] Jeremy introduces his guest, Jason Swenk.  [4:50] Why did Jason start his podcast?  [6:40] Horror stories from working with clients.  [8:40] Tips from Jason’s exit from his agency.  In this episode… How do you expand your reach and positively influence more people? Should you learn how to become a world-class public speaker, or is there another way? On this episode of Inspired Insider, you’ll hear from business leader and entrepreneur Jason Swenk. After years running his own marketing agency, Jason decided it was time to expand his reach. In his conversation with Jeremy, Jason opens up about why he started his podcast; lessons learned the hard way, tips from exiting his business, and much more. Don’t miss a minute of this fascinating episode featuring Jason’s story!  If you wanted to take a valuable message and share it with a lot of people, how would you do it? Would you try to make a viral video? How about a commercial during the Super Bowl? Where would creating a podcast fall on your list? For many business leaders, podcasting is an afterthought if it is a thought at all. Thankfully there are forward-leaning leaders like Jason Swenk who realized that podcasting and videos are the waves of the future! You can learn more about the amazing podcasts that Jason’s hosts by visiting the link to his website in the resources section at the end of this post.  What is one of the hardest lessons you’ve learned in your business career? Did you learn from an early point in your career how much first impressions matter? What about delivering on your promises? One of the early lessons Jason and his team learned was to make sure to get payment before beginning work for clients. Unfortunately, they invested a lot of time and resources into a big project for one client only to never receive payment for the work after they delivered it. Don’t let that same mistake happen for you! What lessons can you take away from Jason’s story?  Resources Mentioned on this episode www.jasonswenk.com Intro Music by Kidd Russell   Sponsor for this episode Rise25’s mission is to connect you with your best referral partners and customers. We connect you with strategic partnerships through our done for you podcast solution which is the best thing I have done for my business.  Our Done for you Podcast service - We help your company completely run and launch your own podcast and make sure you get ROI from it.  We distribute your show across more than 11 different channels (spotify, google play, itunes, and many more) including a dedicated blog post and social media. You simply show up and talk and we do everything else. Our team has been working with podcasters since 2009. I personally credit podcasting as the single best thing I have done for my business and my life. It has allowed me to connect with the founders/ceo’s of P90x, Atari, Einstein Bagels, Mattel, Rx Bars, and many more. Besides making best friends and finding my business partner, podcasting has led to relationships with countless customers and referral partners. The most important piece that most are missing is the right strategy and we make sure our clients get ROI so it becomes one of the most valuable parts of your strategic partnerships. Since this requires a lot of humans (we have operations, developers, writers, audio editors, video editors) to do the work we have limited bandwidth and only want to work with the right company. If using a podcast for strategic partnerships, content marketing, and increasing clients and referrals sounds interesting to you go to www.Rise25.com and contact us or email support (at) rise25.com. If your company wants to attract and connect with your highest level customers and referral partners then you can learn more and contact us to find out if your company qualifies at Rise25.com. Rise25 was cofounded by Dr. Jeremy Weisz and John Corcoran. For larger conferences and software companies we have done an onsite podcast booth and created a years worth of content in just a few days. So if you are holding an event or your company will be having a booth at an event let us know. Check out Rise25.com and also some see some examples of our VIP Events below. Our Done for you VIP Events - We do live in-person VIP Days and receptions. These are 100% outsourced VIP days for software companies and conference organizers so we can help you serve your highest level customers.  It may or may not involve Elvis costumes - See video  Rise25 VIP Days have a proven track record of helping companies to get more referrals, increase retention with their VIP customers, and get more engaged new customers without adding extra work to that company’s plate. Rise25 has hosted VIP events in cities such as Austin, Chicago, Santa Barbara, San Diego, New York, Sonoma, and Las Vegas to name a few.

Are you struggling to find the right clients? Wish your agency was working with bigger clients? Finding the right clients isn't easy — especially if you're trying to grow from freelance to agency owner. The secret is having the right qualification process and knowing who to say yes (and no) to. In this episode, we'll cover: How to go from freelancer to digital agency owner. 3 reasons you might steer clear of big agency clients. #1 way to choose the right agency clients. Today's interview is with Jesse Witham, the Co-Founder and CMO of Search Marketing Agency. Jesse has been doing SEO since he was young (like 14!), way back when keyword stuffing and digital directories were "SEO" so he knows the complicated evolution of the field. Jesse went from freelancing to owning an agency handling over $300 million in client SEO spend. He's here to share his story about agency growth and finding the right clients. How to Go From Freelancer to Agency Owner Going from freelancer to digital agency owner is natural. As a freelancer, you already have some clients— you just need to scale. So, why not start a business, hire a few people, and start serving more clients, right? While everyone has unique reasons for making the jump, they all share one thing in common — they're ready to go big or go home. So how do you actually do make the leap? The biggest thing is making the first hire. Sure, setting up an LLC, creating a brand and logo are all important steps. But, the symbolic moment for the transition from "freelancer" to "agency owner" is that first hire. That's when you know you've gone from being solo to being a team. And that's a lot of responsibility — suddenly you have someone relying on you. That's the magic line you cross when you go from freelancer to agency. Your first hire doesn't have to be another creative or a salesperson. You should always hire for your weakness. You don't want a clone of yourself, you want someone who can fill the gaps you leave. Like the ying to your yang :) Jesse's first hire was someone who could keep him organized; I usually suggest a first hire be a project manager. 3 Reasons You Should Steer Clear of Big Agency Clients Big clients with their big budgets always seem appealing. Don't be fooled!  Here's the problem with big clients — they can make or break your agency. Whether you're a new agency owner or have decades of experience under your belt, one thing never gets easier — turning down big budgets. Sure, big clients have tons to spend on marketing. But that doesn't mean those big clients are the best way to scale your agency. There are 3 issues with big clients. Inhibited growth: Having 5 huge clients can mean major revenue, but at what cost? When you have 5 clients that absorb all your time, it's tough to grow. You can't test new concepts on a multi-million dollar account. With smaller clients, you can more easily research, test, and develop new strategies and tactics. It's much harder with clients that are make-or-break accounts. Lack of diversity: The bigger they are, the harder they fall. And when they fall, it can really impact your agency (but not necessarily a bad thing!). Having a few key clients is stressful. You're constantly in fear of losing them. Big egos: When clients know they're your biggest, they may act like it. This leaves the client with the upper hand, and you without leverage. Big clients can also come with big egos. As an agency owner, your team expects you to handle those egos. That's tough to do when losing a single client can tank the agency. Having a bunch of similar sized clients allows you to be more selective. #1 Way to Choose the Right Clients It's important to know when to say no to clients, but the real question is — when do you say yes? The easiest way is to create some criteria. If they fit it, they're in. If they don't, they're gone. Easier said than done, I know. But letting a few rotten apples slip through can spoil the whole bunch. You have to create crystal clear criteria and stick to it. What does this mean? It means saying no more often than you're comfortable with at first. But in the long run, you'll only be working with the ideal clients who you can really help be successful. That's a WIN! Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you’re a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

Have you ever considered running a fully remote digital agency? Wondering the pros and cons of leading a virtual team? Like anything else, there are pluses and minuses -- and it can be hard to know if it's the right choice for you. One agency owner decided to ditch the office space in favor of running a remote business and she's not one bit sorry. In today's episode, we'll cover: Working on the agency vs. working in it. 3 reasons to ditch your office space. #1 way to inspire remote agency teams. Today, I talked with Jordan Lacenski — Chief Innovation Officer and the main boss at BrandBoss Creative. Jordan is also the Co-Founder of SheWolf Collaborative, an online association for high-achieving women. Here's the crazy thing... she just recently ditched her office space to work from her home and she hasn't looked back. Working On the Agency vs. Working In It Being an agency owner can feel like a circus. You have to juggle clients' brands and marketing as well as your agency brand and marketing. So, how much time should you devote to your clients and how much should you devote to your agency? If you're the founder, almost all of your time should be spent on your agency. Here's why... You can hire people to handle the projects and clients. You can find someone to do taxes and finances. And, you can even have someone build killer processes for delivery. But, what you can't hire for is someone to define your brand. As CEO, you should spend your time working on your agency and not in it. In fact, you have 5 specific roles as CEO and setting the vision is #1 on the list! 3 Reasons to Ditch Your Office Space Jordan has jumped the growing trend of agencies who are ditching the office space for an entirely remote agency. It may sound crazy but, it can work. While it's not for everyone and there are circumstances where it won't work, there's never been an easier time to work remotely. I had office space for my agency, which housed over 100 employees. But if I had to do it over again, I'd do a hybrid model with office space and work-from-home opportunities to offer my team a better work/life balance. Jordan gave us 3 reasons she ditched her office space: No more rent. Why add to your overhead by paying rent?  You can help your profits margin by ditching your rent payment. This is especially helpful in cities like NYC where rent and the cost of living is astronomical. If your entire team works from home, you'll save on the fixed costs associated with having an office. And your employes will probably thank you for it :) Avoid traffic. In some cities, getting to work is its own nightmare. It can swallow up a few hours of your day. Those are hours you or your team could be working. Going remote means more billable hours in the day for you and your team. Hire anyone. Having a physical location limits who you can hire to a specific geographic area. You are constrained by hiring local or someone willing to relocate. With a remote team, you can hire anyone from anywhere, which gives you a huge advantage over brick-and-mortar agencies. It can be really, really great but, there's one massive con... Interaction among remote teams is very limited. This can lead to issues with agency culture, team bonding, and even branding. Plus, it can make agency team management a little more tricky. #1 Way to Inspire Remote Agency Teams Finding ways to inspire a remote team can be tough, right? Regular video chat meetings are a must, but it really isn't the same as having them in the office. Daily engagement with one another builds camaraderie ...video chats are great for getting the work done, but most people are multitasking or focused on other things. What can you do? Have a few in-person meetings every year ~ quarterly or even semi-quarterly. But, you should try to get your entire team gathered into a physical location. This will help the team bond, spread some of your culture around, and create a better remote culture. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you’re a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

Are you looking for a creative way to reward your agency team? Ever considered giving your key employees a stock option? This can be a great way to incentivize and reward your loyal and hardworking team. The real key is to do it the right way so you don't lose ownership or control. In this episode, we'll cover: How profit-sharing can boost your agency's value. What is an ESOP and why have one? Should you be offering free services to gain new business? Today, I talked with Matt Fickin, Sales Partner at Techwood Consulting, an SEO and paid ads agency. I love having salespeople on my podcast. They can help give agency owners a unique perspective. Matt's agency's culture is all about value. So, when it comes to providing employee value, he decided to set up a profit-sharing model. The more success employees achieve, the more money goes into their wallets. He's on the show to explain the benefits of using profit sharing to incentive your agency's team. How Profit-Sharing Can Boost Your Value Here's the question — why should you think about profit-sharing? Let me ask you this: how do you currently motivate your employees? Is it your culture? Or, are you offering promotion incentives? Maybe bonuses? Hey! Those are all great! But, what if you could directly reward employees based on your entire agency's success? That means employees aren't getting rewarded based solely on their projects — the whole agency needs to succeed. That is baking success into your agency's DNA! It's a great way to get all your team members collaborative and accountable while spreading responsibility throughout the agency... when everyone succeeds, everyone wins. I'm not saying this will work for every agency model. And, you can definitely find ways to bake value into your agency without giving your employees a financial stake. But, it can help boost the team as a whole and incentive your key players. What is an ESOP and Why Have One? Matt set up an employee profit-sharing based on the ESOP model. ESOP stands for "employee stock ownership plan." Basically, it means giving employees stock as an incentive. So, the better the agency performs, the more money the team makes! When your agency's value increases, their wallets get fatter! Usually, an ESOP involves a vesting period. So, employees may not be able to cash out their shares until they've worked for you for at least 3 - 5 years. This means your most loyal employees are going to be benefiting the most. If an employee leaves, your agency simply purchases their stocks. It's cash for agency-wide wins. Matt also says that you can fast-track executive staff or key employees. In fact, you can even give execs partial ownership using the same methods — which I advise against. Even better, an ESOP comes with some pretty hefty tax benefits. You should definitely talk with your tax person first — these are going to vary by business, state, etc. Should You Be Offering Free Audits? Of course, I couldn't have a salesperson on the show and not ask about the sales pipeline. Matt says one of the best ways to get clients in the door is to offer up free audits. Sure, some of your prospects take your audit and do the fixes in-house or with another agency. But, by and large, most prospects are going to stick with you once you give them a free audit. If you establish trust up front and prove your authority with audit itself, there's no reason they'd need to look elsewhere. Audits are a great way to impress your prospects and help you get your foot-in-the-door. Now, a caveat here -- Matt admits that he doesn't offer free audits when clients want complex circumstances. But, you can figure out when and where a free audit would be appropriate. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you’re a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

What are the three things you need in order to be successful? I just had a lot of my mastermind members come to a live workshop and retreat and here's one big takeaway from it that I think everyone can benefit from. We spent two days going over everyone's biggest challenges, their goals, and what's working for them in their agency. One big obstacle for many of the members is the "shiny object syndrome" whether it's new services to offer or new strategies to apply in their agency. The problem with it is that it pulls you away from the things that matter most. My advice to them was that you have to be consistent and play the long game. Last week marks my 5th year in this business. I love doing what I do! And, I appreciate the community of viewers, listeners, followers, former/present clients that allow me this opportunity. But also, this means that my podcast is also five years old. When I look back at the success of my current business the #1 biggest contributor is the Smart Agency Master Class podcast. At first, very few people were actually listening to my podcast. Yet with persistence, my audience grew, and business eventually took off. That's what I want for you and your business. Sure you can implement a "quick, silver bullet" tactic and you might see a spike in your business. But if it's not a long term strategy with consistency, you won't have long term, consistent growth. You have to start with clarity and goals. You need to know exactly who your market is and who you're serving. When those things are missing, you just say "yes" to everything with impedes your agency growth. That's why the 3 biggest things you need to grow your agency are: Clarity, Goals, and Consistency. I'd love to hear your comments below. Tell me what challenges you're experiencing with your agency and what advice do you need? ======================================================= SUBSCRIBE NOW to follow my entrepreneurial journey. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDvZHFVeqEMq58q6tMoyMK-ufpp0ysoVP ======================================================= Thanks for watching. I hope you keep up with the daily videos I post on my channel. Make sure you subscribe and share your learnings with others. Your comments are why I do this, so please take a second and say hello.  JASON SWENK IS AN AGENCY ADVISOR THAT GUIDES MARKETING AGENCIES THROUGH A PROVEN FRAMEWORK FOR GROWING THEIR AGENCY FASTER & EASIER. Fresh out of college Jason was off to work for Arthur Anderson, one of the big 5 consulting firms. He quickly realized that he could never work for anyone other than himself. He decided to change direction, launch a digital agency that quickly grew to a multi-million dollar operation working with brands such as AT&T, Hitachi and Lotus Cars. After 12 years of steady growth, the agency caught the attention of bigger agencies and Jason sold it in 2012. Now, Jason leads http://JasonSwenk.com, a unique media company & consultancy helping marketing agencies grow & scale their agencies faster by applying the framework that he used to grow, scale and eventually sell his agency. Jason has helped over 10,000 agencies in 23 countries meet or exceed their business goals. Jason currently hosts two shows that are available for download… The Smart Agency Master Class Podcast, dedicated to providing tactics and strategies to agency owners and decision makers that cut through the BS, focus on exactly what works and what doesn’t; and SwenkToday a daily VLOG that documents the entrepreneur journey of building another multimillion dollar business, where he share the latest strategies, and answers the most burning questions entrepreneurs have.  SCHEDULE TUES & THUR VLOG #SwenkToday Q&A from my digital agency audience Ask me A Question http://jasonswenk.com/askswenk Podcast Wednesday: (Digital Agency Interviews) https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/smart-agency-masterclass-marketing/id870206013?mt=2&ls=1 or http://smartagencymasterclass.com Follow me here: Website: http://jasonswenk.com  Podcast: http://smartagencymasterclass.com  Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jasonswenk    Twitter: https://twitter.com/jswenk   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jswenk   Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonswenk   Medium: https://medium.com/@jswenk/  Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/jasonswenk Music by epidemicsound.com

Are you trying to figure out how to scale your agency? Do you want some killer agency growth tips? Finding clients can be tough, especially if you don't yet have a salesperson or team in place to land more clients. But, if you play your cards right, you can skip some of the typical growing pains in order to grow and scale faster. In this episode, we'll cover: 3 ways to reel in more new agency clients How to know when to hire a salesperson. #1 way to capture clients in the beginning. Today, I talked with Kirk Deis, co-owner of Treehouse 51 and creator of proprietary software Bugsquasher. Kirk started off building Tumblr sites, ghostwriting, and grinding in the freelance world. Three years ago he finally decided to make the jump from freelancer and started his own agency. Like all new agencies, he learned some tricks along the way, and he credits is business for mentoring him along the way. Today, he shares a ton of great tips for breaking those first barriers. 3 Ways to Reel in More New Agency Clients Wondering the best ways to build trust and authority in the market? Capturing prospects' attention can be tough in the beginning. Here's how you can reel in your ideal clients by building trust and authority. Be a student. Too many new agency owners fall into the trap of trying to leverage themselves as experts. Don't be afraid to ask for help! Connect with mentors, interview experts, retweet or share social posts by others. You don't need to have all the answers, you just need to know where to find them and how to connect to them. All these things help build instant credibility and maybe even score some clients. Connect on social media. Everyone is on social media - use it to find and talk to them! Connect with other agency owners or marketing experts and create some deep, meaningful connections. Find out who's doing it better than you and connect with them. Help first rather than asking for help. These relationships can lead to tons of new opportunities that would not be possible without social media connections. Do free stuff. Don't be afraid to do your first few jobs for free! It's a great way to capture the attention of prospects in your niche and build authority. You will build up a portfolio and be able to ask for testimonials. It's that sort of priceless social proof that lands clients more easily than any paid ad campaign ever could. How to Know When to Hire a Salesperson I get this question a ton. When do you hire your first salesperson? Kirk hired his first salesperson at the $500k mark. But, honestly, it's not about when you hire your salesperson, but how. Most agency owners think they can be the sole salesperson, and there are some that can (like Kirk, for example). But, having a dedicated salesperson is the best way to truly scale as well as fill your pipeline. If you're the founder and owner then it's hard for you to focus solely on sales. That means when you are focused on sales, then sales are great. But when you're pulled into other areas, such as delivery, then sales suffer. If your agency is suffering from big ebbs and flows of sales and the owner is the one handling sales, then it's probably time to hire a salesperson dedicated to that role. Here's the thing. Don't just hire a salesperson and then tell them they have to sell your way. Give them the freedom to sell their way. Here's the trick. Define the outcomes, not the strategy. Maybe start them off with just selling your foot-in-the-door offer, then you could assist with selling the next project. The key is to assist, not dominate the whole process. If you start trying to force salespeople to work within your parameters, you'll end up with a terrible experience. #1 Way to Capture Client's in the Beginning It's less about what you've done and more about how you do it. So don't worry about a solid portfolio, just nail down a great process. You don't have to show off your previous work; you need to explain what sets you apart. Sit your prospect down and tell them why your process is better than your competitors. Do you make websites? What's your process? How is it better than your competitors? Why do your sites convert better than other agencies? If you don't know, figure it out and then point it out to your prospects! Clients want to know why they should choose you. They don't want your secret sauce ~ they just want to know you have one :) That great looking portfolio may get your foot in the door, but your process will convert! Here's the thing about your process, it must be fluid. There's always a better way to do things. Your agency should be that better way. If it is, your prospects will notice, and they will definitely be interested. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you’re a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

How can your agency create compelling YouTube ads? How can you get the most ROI from YouTube ads? YouTube ads are a strange beast, and the creative landscape of YouTube is continually shifting. But, if you stick to your buyer's persona and chase your ideal customer, YouTube ads can help grow your agency fast. In this episode, we'll cover: Why you may need 2 YouTube channels. The difference between YouTube and Facebook ads. 3 steps for making better YouTube ads. Why 5 seconds could make-or-break your ad. #1 most important tip for the future of YouTube ads. Today, I talked with Tom Breeze (A.K.A the king of YouTube ads) who runs Viewability — the highest spending performance campaign agency on YouTube! Tom has been on the podcast before, and he dropped some great insight into performance-based models. I urge you to check out that episode if you haven't already; it's one of my favorites. Tom went over some of the most critical YouTube ad strategies, and how he and his agency position YouTube ads that engage and convert. Let's dive right in! Why You May Need 2 YouTube Channels Tom talked about splitting your organic YouTube channel and your Ad-based YouTube channel. That may seem strange at first, but, since both require different things for success, splitting them up actually makes a bunch of sense. When you're releasing videos on your organic channel, you want to have a ton of views and engagement (subscribers, comments, shares, etc.) to help boost your channels ranking on the YouTube algorithm. When you're running ads, you want views, but you aren't going to have a lot of engagement (and you probably don't want a lot of engagement.) That's where a second channel comes in useful. Splitting them up gives you the freedom to chase different metrics on each account without risking tanking your YouTube rankings on either of them. The Difference Between YouTube and Facebook Ads Tom laid out the main difference between YouTube and other ad types. On YouTube, you already have your viewers attention. They're already there to view and buy. Facebook, TV, Instagram, and other creative outlets all require you to be entertaining and engaging enough to grab the viewers attention. On YouTube, you don't want ads that are too entertaining. When you do pre-roll ads (those ads that you can skip after watching 5 seconds before the video you actually wanted to watch), you only pay if the viewer watches 30 seconds of the ad. You don't want anyone except potential buyers to watch the entire ad because you'll waste ad spend. You'll end up paying for people who aren't your ideal clients and don't fit into your buyer's persona. 3 Steps for Making Better YouTube Ads YouTube ads can be annoying. There, I said it. So, when it comes to creating ads that are going to nurture customers down your funnel, you have to use a little finesse. Tom shared some of his agency's biggest tips on how to chase those critical customers without wasting money and people's time. You want to disqualify people in the first 30 seconds of your ad. You have to pay for pre-roll ads once it hits the 30-second mark. Make sure only your ideal customers get to that point in the ad. Create different ads for each pain point your audience experiences. For example, let's say you run a social media marketing company. You will want to create an ad that targets companies looking for help running their Instagram accounts. At the same time, you'll want to run ads targeting companies looking for help with social media metrics on Facebook. If you create ads for each service, you'll be hyper-targeting people who need your service, so you'll only be paying for prime leads. Don't be too engaging! I know, everyone ever has told you that all your ads need to be engaging all-of-the-time, but, when it comes to YouTube, engaging ads are going to waste your money and people's time. Don't let people get all the way through the ad because you blew your budget to make a hilarious creative. Be engaging in a way that appeals to your ideal customer, not to everyone. Remember, you already have their attention — you don't need to fight for it. Why 5 Seconds Could Make-or-Break Your Ad Here's a prime tip for all of you. Adding an extra 5 seconds to the end of your ad can make-or-break your CTA. Tom recalls watching a Monday.com ad on YouTube that was engaging and appealed to him, but the ad ended before he could click the CTA. Tom's company has been having major success testing a countdown timer at the end of the ad. This way, customers have time to click that CTA and it adds a sense of urgency. You have to remember that video ads aren't like landing pages. People only have a certain amount of time to click the CTA — give them an adequate amount of time to click it. #1 Most Important Tip for the Future of YouTube Ads The future of YouTube ads lies in AI metrics. You want to keep an eye on your conversion pixel. Gather as much information as possible on each ad you're running. You want to give the Google AI monster as much food as possible. The more Google knows about your ad and the people consuming it, the better it's going to get at targeting your ad to the right customers. Data has become the king of marketing — we all know that. The future of YouTube ad targeting (and ad targeting in general) is going to be reliant on AIs consuming as much data as possible. For those of you that want to get ahold of some more great YouTube insights from Tom, he's written a book called Viewability where he breaks down some of his agencies time-tested strategies and tips — like how to find selling moments and capitalize on different customer types. Ready to Grow Your Agency, but Not Ready to Hire? Hiring freelancers can be frustrating. You post your job, wade through hundreds of proposals, and hire a few before you find the right fit. You want to scale your agency by outsourcing, but wonder if this dreadful process is worth it. That's where Freeeup is different. Instead of wading through freelancers yourself, FreeeUp does all that for you. They have a network of the top 1% of freelancers, so everyone you hire is top notch. Depending on what you need, FreeeUp connects you with a freelancer who can make it happen. And just for Smart Agency Master Class listeners, create a Freeeup account and enter code "JSwenk50" for $50 off.

Is your marketing agency taking advantage of every possible tax break? Did you know you could get up to $250K in tax credits? A lot of agencies are actually leaving money on the table in the form of an R&D tax credit. So, let's dive in, and break down some actionable steps that any agency can take to cash in. In this episode, we'll cover: Tax credits vs. tax write-offs. #1 tax credit agencies can take advantage of. 4 steps to claim the R&D tax credit. When to claim the credit and when not to. Today, I talked with Jim Morrow from AATDM where he does tax consulting and CFO reporting for digital media companies. I actually met Jim after a conference; he gave me a ride to the airport. After figuring out he was an accountant, we talked shop for the entire trip and I just knew I had to get him on the podcast. Tax credits are one of those things that too many agencies just aren't taking advantage of, which is just like throwing money away. Jim is here to tell us how you can take full advantage of tax credits that you're due. Today, we're going to get hyper-actionable, and show you how you can save your agency some money! Tax Credits vs. Tax Write-Offs Agencies need to be paying more attention to available credits. Credits have some significant benefits over write-offs. Here's the difference. Tax credits are dollar-for-dollar reductions off your tax. Which means credits are basically free cash! If you have a $10k credit, you get $10k off of your paid taxes. Write-offs — or deductions — lower your taxable income. So, let's say you made $150K, but you had a $50K expense. That $50K will lower your taxable income, but not lower your actual taxes. Make sure that you look for those tax credits! #1 Tax Credit Agencies Can Take Advantage Of Jim talked about a tax credit nearly every marketing agency can take advantage of — the R&D tax credit. The R&D tax credit — officially known as the Credit for Increasing Research Activities — can refund your agency as much as $250,000 a year! That's money-in-the-bank! The R&D tax credit is federal (though some states let you "double dip") so it's folded into your federal tax return. To qualify for the R&D credit, your agency has to be "experimenting" with technology with a qualified purpose. Basically, anytime your agency is devoting man hours to either: Building your own technologies (CRM, databases, marketing automation, etc.) Customizing out-of-the-box technologies to capture unique analytics. So, all of that hard work your agency has put into customizing your Infusionsoft or HubSpot software would count towards the credit. The credit is also great for those of you in tech-heavy niches — like VR or AI. But, let's be honest. Almost every agency is going to devote some man hours to, at the very least, customizing out-of-the-box software. Here's how it works. Let's say you spent 7,500 combined manhours customizing your CRM (not unheard of,) you would get 10% of that 7,500 hours back as a credit. So, if your employees get paid $35/hr, you would be looking at around $262,000 total. That means your credit would be $26,200. Not bad! That's a pretty significant tax credit which you could be missing out on. 4 Steps to Claim This Tax Credit Since the R&D tax credit will reimburse you 10% of your R&D cost, and the majority (if not all) of those costs are going to be attributable to manpower, the main two documentations that you need will be timesheets and payroll. Here are some steps Jim provided which will help you take advantage of the R&D credit. Find an accountant who understands R&D tax credits. Sure, you could use your regular CPA, but why wouldn't you want someone that specializes in tax credits to handle it for you? Same reason niches work in marketing — if someone specializes in a few things, you know they do those few things well. Figure out your associated costs. Your accountant will probably do this for you. Most of the time, these costs are going to be manpower-related. Have your tax specialist fill out Form 6765. Claim previous years. This tax is retroactive so you can claim the last 3 years at the same time if you haven't done it before. Most of the steps will be handled by your tax specialist (if you hire one) so you shouldn't have to put much legwork in. The only problem you could run into is payroll and timesheet related. If you don't keep timesheets or super-accurate payrolls, it may not be worth it to apply for this tax credit. It's a large tax credit, so the IRS will probably be looking into it. If there isn't something concrete to back up your claim, you'll probably get denied and throw up a red flag. (Here's more on how to avoid an audit!) When to Claim the Credit and When Not To Let's go over the caveats. When should you try to claim the R&D tax credit and when should you not? Jim went over some of the "magic" numbers with us. You should try to claim the tax credit if all of the following are true. You have around $200,000 in R&D related expenses, or you spend money on R&D every year. You have timesheets or expense reports that show definitive spending. You probably shouldn't try to claim the tax credit if any of the following are true. Your total R&D expenses are under $100,000 (unless you have 2 or 3 years to proactively claim). You don't have hyper-accurate timesheets or payroll. Since you're going to have to pay your accountant, gather some timesheets, and spend a little time on the credit, you'll probably just break even if you're trying to go after anything under $15k. That is, of course, unless you're proactively claiming it for a few years or you are planning on having R&D expenses each year. Related:  What is a Healthy Profit Margin for a Digital Agency? Ready to Grow Your Agency, but Not Ready to Hire? Hiring freelancers can be frustrating. You post your job, wade through hundreds of proposals, and hire a few before you find the right fit. You want to scale your agency by outsourcing, but wonder if this dreadful process is worth it. That's where Freeeup is different. Instead of wading through freelancers yourself, FreeeUp does all that for you. They have a network of the top 1% of freelancers, so everyone you hire is top notch. Depending on what you need, FreeeUp connects you with a freelancer who can make it happen. And just for Smart Agency Master Class listeners, create a Freeeup account and enter code "JSwenk50" for $50 off.

Does your agency struggle with an outbound sales strategy? Do you even have an outbound strategy? You can build a scalable outbound strategy using LinkedIn by making connections and delivering those prospects critical content. If your LinkedIn profile isn't getting you the results that you need, or if you're looking for a way to boost your sales, check this out. You don't need a big budget to grow your agency using outbound marketing. With a solid plan, an ideal client in mind, and a little finesse, you can use LinkedIn to dominate outbound! In today's episode, we'll cover: Does your agency really need a LinkedIn outbound strategy? #1 biggest mistake you're making on LinkedIn. How to create a LinkedIn job story. Why getting rid of connections will land more new business. Bonus: Joey's super-secret growth hack! Today I chatted with Joey Gilkey founder of Tribe Prospecting; his agency which provides done-for-you prospecting and marketing solutions. Joey comes with a solid sales background that eventually turned into a love for marketing. He leveraged that into a position as a growth hacker and growth strategist with a HubSpot agency. Today, he's crushing it over at Tribe Prospecting, and he's here to share some tips on how to dominate outbound using LinkedIn. It's always refreshing to hear from someone who loves outbound marketing because I think that too many people gloss over it when it comes to generating leads. Let's dive right in... and make sure you follow us to the end for a great LinkedIn hack from Joey that will help your agency immediately start reaching out to clients in an impactful way without breaking the bank. Does Your Agency Really Need a LinkedIn Outbound Strategy? There are way too many agencies that have absolutely no outbound sales strategy. We all like to pour over the inbound marketing blogs then run out there and smash ads on whatever is this year's biggest trending inbound strategy is (I think you're supposed to be throwing money at micro-influencers this year?), but when it comes to having a dependable outbound strategy, most of us fall short. The problem with outbound marketing is lead generation. You spend tons of money trying to get customers to your landing page so that they can start slowly worming their way down your funnel. Now, imagine that there was a platform that was saturated with potential clients, lots of those potential clients were decision makers for their company, and those clients were already sharing content and looking for solutions. Ok great! Now, imagine it's totally free! Here's why you should be hyper-involved with LinkedIn outbound marketing. It doesn't have cruise control. You control the speed of your outbound marketing campaign. Unlike referrals or ads, you are completely in control of the growth and scalability of cold emails, calls, etc. It's predictable and dependable. Sure, there are definitely nuances that come with outbound marketing, but, as a whole, outbound is much more predictable than inbound. Want to connect with only dental assistants and deliver content directly to them? Great! LinkedIn lets you do that. Do you need to meet an aggressive sales quota? Great! Outbounding marketing enables you to be as aggressive or passive as you need to be. It's free! Seriously, LinkedIn is one of the best platforms for growth-stage companies on a budget. You don't have to pour money into the ad or lead machine to get results. #1 Biggest Mistake You're Probably Making on LinkedIn Stop using LinkedIn as a bragging platform! Utilize LinkedIn as a lead generation tool or a landing page. Don't just talk about how amazing you or your agency is --- talk about the customer's needs. Give them a reason to want to stay and learn more. Joey tells us to use a specific framework when you build out your profile: Use your headline to call your customers out. Don't just talk about how you're the greatest thing since sliced bread, talk about what you can offer your customers. Don't say "I'm the world's greatest inbound marketer, and I own a multi-million dollar marketing agency." say "I help CMO's around the world generate leads effortlessly using omnichannel marketing dominance!" Who are they? CMOs. What do I do to help them? Using omnichannel marketing dominance. What will they get? Leads.  Your summary should have empathy and authority. When it comes to your summary, use empathy and authority to drive the point home. Empathize with their issue and tell them how you will solve it. Now, I always say to keep the authority light. Writing with authority is like using salt in food. Too much of it makes the whole thing taste horrible, but a little adds some depth of flavor. Lead up to a failure or fear of not working with you. After your CTA in your summary, lead the customer to a failure. "I help you create a growth-driven marketing strategy that literally shoves leads into your funnel and forces them down, so you don't go out of business!" No one wants to lose their job. Don't be afraid to add a prospect qualifier. If you are only looking for certain budgets or firm sizes, add a qualifying statement. Let them know that your agency is not going to waste your time with low-budget firms looking for growth-hacks if you're an inbound marketing agency working with multi-million dollar companies. How to Create a LinkedIn Job Story We all know that you have to identify and understand your ideal client - those are the ones right in your agency's sweet spot. But, Joey talked about his pro-tip for helping you really focus in and get super specific. This trick will help your agency zero in on their pain points and motivations. A job story is one sentence about your ideal customer that breaks down into 3 parts. The formula is:  When ____ + I Want _____ + So I Can _____ When: Why your customer would be looking for your product/service. ("When I am deciding on which sales software will help my startup the most...") I Want: Why your customer would buy your product/service. ("I want a sales software that connects my sales team to potential customers the second that they fill out that landing page contact info.") So I Can: What your customer's expected outcome of using your product/service is. ("So I can crush my sales quota this year!") The full example of this job story would be: When I am deciding on which sales software will help my startup most, I want a one that connects my sales team to potential customers the second they opt-in so I can crush my sales quota this year! Why Getting Rid of Connections Will Land More Business LinkedIn connections are a vanity metric. If you have 5 thousand connections but only 10% of them fit snugly into your ideal client's persona, start deleting. LinkedIn's algorithm likes to push your content out to a small sampling of your connections and see if it engages them. If half of your connections are doctors, but you want to target veterinarians, your white paper on neutering probably isn't going to generate a bunch of clicks. (Remember to use that job story!) You want to make sure that you have a hyper-targeted connection list — one that you can push those sweet eBooks that you wrote onto. If you find connections that aren't relevant after you've pivoted your ideal client's persona, be merciless. If you have quality connections, connecting to them is much easier. You can send them a message, share their content, give them content without bothering them for their email address because you already know that they are a perfect fit for you. Having quality connections makes nurturing those connections a breeze. Pro Tip: Joey's Super Secret Growth Hack! Being the super cool guy that he is, Joey shared a little trick his agency uses to generate leads. This method takes advantage of LinkedIn, Facebook, and cold emails do you can triple down on outbound efforts. Here's the rundown. Go to LinkedIn and click settings. You should be able to download all of your LinkedIn data. You will get the email addresses of all of your first-level contacts. Create a spreadsheet using that data with your contacts emails. Find someone (or do it yourself) to go through the list and pull out all of your ideal customers. This will be easy if you have quality connections. Go out and find a personal detail about everyone on that list. Do they love golfing? Do they know your cousin? Great! Use it. Drop those emails into a sales email automation platform (whichever one you like,) and then create a magic field (custom field) so you can put a sentence or two in each one that's super relevant and personal to that particular individual. Send out the emails. Here's where it gets juicy. Drop those same emails addresses into Facebook and spend a few bucks a day targeting ads to those people. BOOM! You're connected to them on LinkedIn, you've sent them some personal cold emails, and you're in their face when they're on Facebook. Want more on LinkedIn lead gen strategies? Check out these posts/podcasts: 3 Steps for Using LinkedIn to Turn Connections Into Clients 5 Steps to Generating New Agency Business On LinkedIn Ready to Grow Your Agency, but Not Ready to Hire? Hiring freelancers can be frustrating. You post your job, wade through hundreds of proposals, and hire a few before you find the right fit. You want to scale your agency by outsourcing, but wonder if this dreadful process is worth it. That's where Freeeup is different. Instead of wading through freelancers yourself, FreeeUp does all that for you. They have a network of the top 1% of freelancers, so everyone you hire is top notch. Depending on what you need, FreeeUp connects you with a freelancer who can make it happen. And just for Smart Agency Master Class listeners, create a Freeeup account and enter code "JSwenk50" for $50 off.

Do you want to find a niche that you can carve out? Do you want to dominate a specific gap in the marketplace? This week we talked to one agency that picked a niche and is dominating their market. They have hyper-specific goals, achievements, and clients, and that exclusivity is propelling them forward as aggressors in their market space. Today, we'll cover: 4 benefits of operating within a niche. Overcoming the obstacles of niching down. How to dominate your competition. The #1 pain-point of operating within a niche. Today I chatted with Adam Draper CEO/Owner of Gladiator Law Marketing. Adam's digital agency operates deep within the law firm niche, and, recently, he's been crushing it. His agency is rapidly growing, focused on small to medium sized law firms. He's here to share some of his keys to success, specifically how his niche is propelling his agency forward. 4 Benefits of Operating Within a Niche Why would an agency want to specialize? Doesn't working in a niche limit you from reaching clients outside of your niche? Doesn't specifying a niche mean losing out on potential clients outside the niche? First, it's crucial that we all understand that finding a niche isn't only beneficial, it's critical in the current agency atmosphere. Being able to dominate a specific industry is more feasible than dominating the entire agency atmosphere; it just is. Let's go over four critical benefits of operating in a space where you can specialize your services. You have a roadmap. If you start providing a service that's specialized to service everyone, you can lose track of what you're doing and where you're going. You have to find a way to position your service to clients without giving them a good example of why your service is more beneficial than your competitors. Finding a niche allows you to target specific pain-points and polish your service. You can predict outside influences. Being in a niche allows you to predict and adapt to outside impacts. You can position yourself more clearly because you're a master-of-one, not a master-of-none. You have killer growth potential. Because you can create a more actionable to-do list and you understand the exact nature of your services, operating in a niche can help you grow your businesses faster with higher ROI. You know your competition. When you wedge yourself into a specific gap in the market, you can really start to study your competition. You can understand precisely what services your competitors offer, and convince clients why your service are unique and have a higher value. Overcoming the Obstacles of Niching Down Adam and I talked a bit about overcoming those initial obstacles. I see far too many people get caught up in that one bad client. It's sad, and one ruthless client shouldn't ever defeat your self-worth. Here are some tips for overcoming those initial obstacles that are holding you and your overall growth back. Make sure that your client is a good fit. If you're too focused on the financial aspect of your business, you might be taking on all comers. Don't do that. If you feel like your client won't benefit from your services, don't take them on. It will end up biting you in the end (confidence, churn rate, etc.) Find out where your bad prospects are coming from. Pinpoint the avenues that are drawing in bad clients, and try to reduce negative experiences (even if that means an initial profit hit.) Learn your industry inside and out. Adam talks a bit about the obstacles that are generated due to him being so focused on one specific area of business. He says that you need to really learn the business you're in and plan accordingly. If there are any potential threats to your business (even if they seem far-fetched) create a contingency plan. Be on the lookout for new technologies. Keep your eye out, there could be upcoming technologies that will impact your area of expertise. Learn them before your competitors do. How to Dominate Your Competition When you're starting out in a niche, competition is heavy. Here are some tips on how to dominate your competition. Stay focused on your clients. You know that iconic photo of South African swimmer Chad le Clos watching his Olympic competitor, Michael Phelps? During the whole race, his eyes were so focused on Phelps that he was looking at him even while swimming. Of course, Phelps won. That's because Phelps was more focused on the prize than on his competitors. Think 2 years ahead. Since you can heavily focus on one specific area when you operate in a niche, start to think years ahead. Don't get caught up in the now and forget to plan dominance in the future. Turn down work. Remember, make sure your client is a good fit. Let your competitors get greedy and take on the bad clients. Not all clients are good clients. And when you spin your wheels working with the wrong ones, you're turning down some of the right ones. The #1 Pain Point of Operating in a Niche The main pain-point of working within a niche is that you're at the mercy of your niche. Whatever industry it is, is now completely in control of you and your business. If laws change, it impacts you. If the industry slows down, it impacts you. Make the niche your victim - not fall victim to it. Related: 3 Big Benefits of Declaring Your Agency's Niche Market Why Your Agency Needs to Start With One Niche at a Time Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you’re a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

The creative landscape is changing. Is your agency keeping up? Are your creative people struggling to stay fresh? It's easy to become overwhelmed with change and uncertainty. Learning new trends and technologies can be challenging. However, there are massive opportunities available in our day and age. It's good to be a creative right now, and there's no excuse not to create! In this episode, we'll cover: Why it's never been a better time to be a creative. Why you're out of excuses not to create. Today I chatted with Sean Womack, founder, and CEO of Smack, a media agency, and author of the novel, The Six Sides of the Black Box. That's right, Sean wrote a fiction novel (not a business book!) which provides a glimpse into agency life and illustrates 6 lessons learned. Sean's interesting and extensive background a creative in the agency space speaks for itself. On today's show, Sean shares his interesting backstory and the excitement of being an agency creative in today's landscape. He also touches on the evolution of being a post-40-year-old creative person as well as give us some fresh insight on being creative in our crowded agency world. With the ever-changing technology and fast-paced nature of our industry, it's refreshing to hear from someone who has navigated successfully and reminds us why it's an exciting time, no matter your age. It's Never Been a Better Time to Be A Creative Are you a Gen-X-er? If so, then you remember the "Don Draper way" of pitching creative ideas to the client. As a Creative Director, you show up to a meeting and tell a compelling story to get a client to buy the idea. Not so much anymore... Today's philosophy is to create as many ideas as possible. Then those ideas go into a system to be analyzed and tested in the marketplace and see which one(s) will fly. That change has been radical and it's impacted the entire industry. Change can be difficult and scary but we have to remember all the positives that today's technology brings. If you are (or if your agency has) an awesome creative who love creating stuff but feel guilty about not really knowing which idea will work...then this is the best time ever to be a creative! Not only do we get to generate as many ideas as possible, but we also get to put them into a system to be tested. That system is able to tell us which idea worked and with whom. It's pretty ideal - the system always needs new creation in order to test and improve. So keep creating! Why You're Out of Excuses Not to Create 1. There's plenty of material. Today, creatives get to work directly with a ton of different people, from engineers and business people to artists and storytellers. Everyone comes together and mixes it all up to create an interesting and rich creative environment. 2. There's plenty of resources. Let's not forget all the different mediums and platforms right at our fingertips. In recent times, a creative's job has expanded. You might be thinking of writing a book and you know that actually writing the book is just step #1 of like 20. But the amount of tools at our fingertips makes our expanding jobs easier... that's to technology and social media we can reach the masses at lightning speed. No excuses... Now is an exciting time to be a creative! Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you’re a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits, and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits, and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

Are you self-sabotaging your agency's sales? Do you lack trust or confidence in your team to deliver results? Worried they aren't going to live up to expectations and make you look bad? You probably have felt this way at one time or another. You might even be causing the problem and not realize it! Your agency is a reflection of you and it's natural to have these concerns. Once you're super honest and self-aware you can get out of your own way to grow your agency. In today's episode, we'll cover: How niching down builds trust. Avoiding 2 major pitfalls of growing an agency team. 2 questions the guest has for Jason when she puts Swenk on the Spot Today I chatted with Cat Howell, founder, and CEO of Eight Loop Social, a successful Facebook ads agency.  Cat faced some serious lows in the beginning and shares with us what she learned and how she overcame them to become a six-figure per month agency. Growing an agency can be hard, but you can make it even harder if you are self-sabotaging your agency sales... and you might not even realize you are doing it. As agency owners, we are all guilty of wanting or feeling that we need to "do it all". Cat tells us how to overcome that "do it all" mentality so you can learn to trust your team and grow your agency. How Niching Down Builds Trust When you are an agency that is trying to serve all types of clients, you aren't serving any type of client well. (The jack-of-all-trades is the master of none.) Trying to do everything means your agency team is constantly on a learning curve to a specific industry or service. That constant learning curve can cost your agency: Money Resources Accounts Greatness When you hone in on your agency's strengths it allows your team the ability to FOCUS. Pinpointing a niche - whether vertical, horizontal or both - provides the opportunity to save time, money, resources as well as gain clients and become great at one thing. Once you pinpoint a niche, create SOP's around that particular funnel and get systemized so your agency team can be more efficient and effective. When you see your team running like a well-oiled machine, you'll gain trust and they'll feel empowered to do work that will grow the agency. Avoiding 2 Major Pitfalls Of Growing an Agency Team #1. DON'T borrow money to build your team. It can be a vicious cycle... You're trying to win new business, but you don't have the money to hire staff. But then clients don't want to commit without you having enough staff in place. You might want to (or already have) taken out a large loan to build your team. Here's how you can avoid this pitfall: Have lead generation processes in place and be able to onboard new clients effectively. Understand how to win clients and bring clients in under the right pricing. Have a system for onboarding and training your team. Minimize the amount of training that requires your time, personally. While you're personally training, you're neglecting other important agency growth tasks. This can lead to resentment and stunt agency's growth. Don't expect new team members to just figure it out - that's a recipe for disaster. #2. DON'T neglect your team during agency growth. In times of fast growth, we tend to shift focus to onboarding clients quickly and lose sight of internal processes and systems such as properly training the agency team. This is a sure way to set them (and you) up for failure. Talk about self-sabotaging! Instead, here's what you can do: Have a non-negotiable structure which includes proper training and processes in place so you can trust your team. If you find yourself in a situation of too much, too fast and things are slipping through the cracks take a step back. Look at what's standing in the team's way of success. Then STOP. Stop the funnel. No more calls. Focus on your team and train them. Reset everyone on the right path in order to rebuild trust and confidence in your team. Your team is your greatest asset. You need to trust your team and put them first. New agency business and growth can only follow when there is confidence in your team to deliver results on the services you're promising. When you lose confidence in your agency team it is natural to start pulling back and that is self-sabotaging agency sales while negatively impacting growth. Swenk On The Spot Today I tried something new on the podcast and let my guest, Cat, ask me two questions. It could be anything she wants, within appropriate reason (ha!) and I answered them on the spot. 1- Do you run background checks on contractors and full-time staff? I run background checks, dig into social accounts, and check references on employees but not on contractors. I'm totally transparent about this policy with job candidates and I've found it filters out the shady ones. 2- What do you do if a client asks you for a grace period on your invoice? No. Don't do it. You have to start by setting up expectations from the beginning of the client relationship. Clients start to get nervous if they don't see results as big or fast as they want to, and they want to put on the brakes. If this happens, remind them they hired you to achieve specific results and you will do it when allowed the proper time. In the meantime, they're still responsible for paying you on time. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you’re a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits, and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits, and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.  

Looking for ways to generate more new agency business? Tired of watching your competition grow and want to set your agency apart from the pack? Now is the time to be a front runner with the cutting edge technology of chatbots. You can use chatbots to generate new business and as an add-on service for your clients. It's easier than you might think to build and use a chatbot. Chatbot technology helps you engage with your ideal prospects and keep the conversation going in order to convert them into a client. In this episode, we'll cover: Why chatbots are better than other methods of prospecting. #1 mistake agencies make using chatbots. Should you add chatbot building as a service? 2 easy steps to get start using chatbots. Today I talked with Andrew Warner, Founder and CEO of Mixergy, a development resource for entrepreneurs. He's also the founder of Bot Academy. Andrew built his first company to over $30 million in sales and sold it. He started Mixergy to help business owners, by interviewing successful entrepreneurs and learning how they built their businesses. After learning about chatbots and eventually becoming an angel investor, he immediately knew chatbots were going to change the way we do business. He shares the potential that comes from using chatbots to generate new agency business. Why Chatbots Are Better Than Other Methods of Prospecting Email isn't working like it used to. Inboxes are flooded and we are learning that people love instant messaging or chats instead. People like to engage with communication apps. Chatbots are the ideal tool to educate, build trust, and nurture a relationship from prospect-stage to client-stage. For example.... Think about your Contact Page. People can come to it and ask a question... they want to know if you can help them. Then they have to wait for a response and that is it. That's the end of it. With a chatbot, there is potential for further engagement. A potential customer can ask questions while the chatbot is also garnering information. After the chatbot interaction, your agency can also followup and engage. A relationship is formed and can be nurtured over time. The change can be as simple as moving from a form, which is transactional in nature, to a chatbot that is more of a relationship-builder. A chatbot allows businesses to connect with their customers. Right now very few agencies are using chatbots, and even fewer are offering chatbot building as a service. Your agency can get in on this early-on. #1 Mistake Agencies Make Using Chatbots Don't try to have your chatbot do too much! While it can be exciting to jump out of the gate with new ideas, remember chatbots are still relatively new to the receiver and you don't want too overwhelm them. You can test my 'bot here. You'll see I only use the it to qualify the prospect and determine who I'm talking to by asking 2-3 questions. Then a live person jumps in to keep the conversation going. Should You Add Chatbot Building As A Service? In addition to using chatbots to generate new agency business, you might consider adding it as a service. Chatbot building might be a service to consider for bringing value-added to your clients. Andrew says a basic chatbot takes just minutes to make. He suggesting building one to present to your clients and let them play with it. Start by approaching your agency clients who already do email marketing well and show them how their current content would work with a 'bot. Be sure to do it in person or via video conference, so you can get real-time reactions. Since chatbots are in the early stages, creating this add-on for clients might set your agency apart from the competition. 2 Easy Steps To Get Started Using Chatbots Test out different chatbots. You wouldn't start building a website without doing some research, so approach chatbot building the same way. Check out the chatbot built specifically for this podcast, here. Create a fake chatbot and go from there. Visit botlist.co to find a list of software for chatbot building. Play with different tools to see what works for your agency and it's chatbot purposes. If you build your chatbot right, your agency will be able to know exactly where the audience is coming from. Generate leads for your agency by checking out Builtwith, to find out who's using chatbots. Then use an email service, like Mailshake to send out mass emails (that don't actually look like mass emails) as well as follow-ups, to start a chatbot conversation. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you're a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.  

Want to grow your agency to 8-figure revenue? Thinking of growing your team but worried about the overhead? Hoping for a moment of clarity, where it'll all come together? Then it's time to put your foot on the gas and push through. Acquiring quick agency growth is achievable when you're focused. Find out how one agency owner got to $1 million in under 6 months and 8-figures in under 5 years! In this episode, we'll cover: A different agency structure. 2 attributes for quick agency growth. #1 thing to achieve constant agency growth. The 8-figure revenue a-ha moment. Overcoming the small agency hump. Today I talked with Jake Baadsgaard, founder and CEO of Disruptive Advertising, an agency built on results-based relationships. Jake grew his agency to the $1 million mark, run-rate, in six months and was able to exceed 8-figure revenue in under five years. Today, Disruptive Advertising boasts over 100 employees and continues to grow. He shares some thoughts on agency growth, pivotal moments for his company and advice on how your agency can overcome that plateau and accelerate growth. A Different Agency Structure Jake's agency has an interesting structure. Disruptive separate out the account management from the execution. He brings in employee and continues the face-time with the client, to ensure the agency is moving in the right strategic direction for the client. He then provides a list of what needs to get done. This develops into the employee taking over the face-time and owning the relationship as well as the execution. 2 Attributes for Quick Agency Growth Always be in a hurry. Jake always felt a need to be in a hurry and get things done. He attributes their quick agency growth to two things: Cash Having a physical software that he could sell, Jake started with no debt. Keeping his monthly expenses low, he didn't have to worry about making money the first two years. Having cash on the table allows your agency to focus on growing. Cash on hand can shave 2-3 years off what typical agencies will go through to achieve growth. Hustle Network and get good at bringing in business and selling. Build relationships to help build your agency and attract top talent. #1 Thing To Achieve Constant Agency Growth Don't give up ~ push through! There are always bumps in the road. Jake thought about quitting all the time in the first couple of years, but he didn't. After successfully navigating some difficult relationships and figuring out the direction of the agency, he chose to push through. There is no magic bullet. Don't quit today, quit tomorrow. The 8-Figure Revenue "A-Ha Moment"? There were different things that pointed Jake in the right direction, but his true "a-ha moment" came when he realized he was trying to make decisions before he needed to. This approach creates a lot of unnecessary pressure. It comes down to this:  What is your agency's end game? Do you ultimately want to sell your agency? Once you establish this decision, then you can build something exciting to come to work on everyday. It's all about clarity, vision and communicating direction. --> See related articles to sell your agency. How To Overcome the Small Agency Hump It can be scary to bring on more overhead, knowing that it will cut into revenue. If your agency has multiple partners, that brings the challenge of keeping everyone satisfied while still having room left to grow the financials. Here's the thing. Sometimes you have to take a hit on your bottom line, by investing in sales and marketing, to feed the pipeline and encourage growth. It's important to recognize when it's time to move past founder-based selling. To do that, carve out a percentage of revenue to invest in a sales team and marketing team. That's the best way to grow. Always be building your agency pipeline... and, don't take your foot off the gas. Don't forget the value that comes from collaboration with other agencies. Strategic partners can be lead to major growth. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you're a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

Are you looking for better ways grow your agency? Tired of the status quo? Missing easy targets and low hanging fruit opportunities? Then take some lessons from an agency owner who's doubled revenue every year for five consecutive years and growing at a crazy fast rate! In today's episode, we'll cover: Finding your agency's share of the market. What to expect in your agency's first year. 4 simple actions to grow your agency. 3 easy ways to maintain agency growth. Today I chatted with Tony Delmercado, co-founder and CEO of Hawke Media. With only five years in business, Hawke Media has grown from a 5 person team to 100+ employees and has doubled it's revenue every year, looking to hit the $18 million mark this year. With that kind of success, I couldn't wait to pick Tony's brain on how he was able to start and maintain growth of his agency. From his start to present day, Tony walks us through some simple tips and strategies he found successful. Finding Your Agency's Share of the Market Tony says you need to find a hole in the market and respond to demand. The catalyst for starting a company, whether you want to grow a brand or do marketing well, you need to either: Build a team in-house Multitude of challenges Work with an agency cost prohibitive - straight up expensive Unfortunately there isn't a good intermediate option. So Tony and his business partner turned to qualified friends that checked off necessary boxes. As their clients wanted more things, they built their agency's internal competency and hired more people with the necessary talents and skill sets. What To Expect Your Agency's First Year Work, work, work...and more work. Lots of hours and hard work. In the beginning, your agency says "yes" to everything whether it's speaking engagements, meetings, committees, public appearances, anything and everything to get your agency name and brand out there. Hawke Media, didn't take on investors or debt, they simply bootstrapped on the cash coming in. In that first year, because of this model, they were very judicious with their spending. Tony says his personal mantra is three-fold: Get shit done. Learn quickly. Be cool. He and his partner hustled hard that first year, living this mantra every single day. That's why it was easy to realize these needed to be their agency's core values. Since then, they have hired their team around these values. Your agency NEEDS to nail down and define core values and build a company culture. One of the best things about being an entrepreneur, is that you get to pick who you want to work with. Your agency needs to make sure that it picks well, that it gets the right people, good people, to keep a good cultural vibe. As an agency owner, Tony says, "it will never all be done". Your agency to-do list will always and continuously grow. Stop worrying about checking off the last box, instead start prioritizing and allocate  time to the important stuff. Your agency, but also you, will need to learn how to say "no" to those things that aren't necessary or can be better managed by a team member. Get rid of time-sucks, like recurring meetings that aren't necessary. 4 Simple Actions To Grow Your Agency Growth might not be easy, but it can be made simpler when you model after someone who's doing it the right way.... Use a CRM and some form of follow-up or reminder. You don't have to use an expensive service There are cheap options out there. Create some basic email automation Have a form to capture information. Develop a system to drop prospects into funnels for your agency. Use Google retargeting or GDN Don't underestimate the abilities of this service. This is still a powerful tool when done correctly. Pick up the phone. A call back or follow-up phone call, keeps lines of communication open. Build solid personal relationships while your competition is automating everything. PRO TIP: Don't forget about the low-hanging fruit. These are old or stale leads right at your fingertips. Create a system for routinely checking those out, too! 3 Easy Ways To Maintain Agency Growth Don't become complacent. Always look to do better and to improve. Be aggressive in marketing your agency. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you're a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.  

Do you want to convert more of your digital agency proposals? Do you want to win more clients, easier and faster. I'm going to walk you through my proposal formula that we used to convert 80% of our prospects and win business with big brands like AT&T, Hitachi, Lotus Cars and more. First, make sure you're talking to the right prospect. Never create proposal until you know: NBAT (Need, Budget, Timing, Authority). This helps qualify your prospects to you don't waste time with the wrong ones. Check out for more info: https://JasonSwenk.com/nbat/ 1. Master template - save time with a template instead of preparing every proposal from scratch. Make it as long as you need to list all the services you offer. Then when you create a new proposal, remove or replace anything irrelevant. This is a HUGE time saver! Or, make it even easier on yourself and check out my Proposal Template: https://jasonswenk.com/proposaltemplate/ 2. Executive Summary - most people get this part wrong, because it is not a summary of the proposal itself. The Executive Summary is a summary of what the client has expressed in your upfront conversations. Include things like: what they need and want, goals and challenges that stand in their way. I also like using neurolinguistic programming (NLP) by stating a few obvious facts in order to establish trust. 3. Service Solutions - list out the services you'll provide in order to achieve the results they desire. This is not a menu of services and you do NOT list pricing in this section! This area is just walking them through the plan in detail to help them understand the process. This is the most detailed section of the proposal, but if you're using a master template it will be the easiest! :) You also want to include what you're NOT doing, which will help you avoid scope creep. Define what is include and what is not to save time and headaches later. 4. Project Summary - this is the section where you you can list out pricing; and I suggest doing it in 2 categories: one-time fees and residual or ongoing monthly fees. 5. About Us - most agencies are doing this wrong, because they put their "about" section right in the beginning after their cover letter. They list out honors, awards, certifications, team, etc. No one cares who you are that early in the process! First, show them what you can do for THEM, and put your agency's credentials deeper in the proposal. 6. Contract - include the contract with the proposal! Now, mega brands are going to have their own contract or MSA. But most clients will use whatever contract you provide so include it with the proposal. You can even be more proactive and send it in advance of the meeting so they can have their legal department review it first. Doing this helps determine whether they're serious about working with you, but it helps them see you're serious about working with them. 7. DON'T SEND THE PROPOSAL. It took me years to figure this out! You're going to have a lot of prospects ask you to send them the proposal. Don't send it!! Explain to them that it's your process to review the proposal with them in person. This can mean a physical meeting or video/web conference. That way you can walk them through the proposal, answer their questions, and make sure they're comparing apples to apples when you're up against other agencies. What challenges are you facing with your agency proposals? Comment below! Related: https://youtu.be/m9vLU83qjJc https://youtu.be/Csqa6HyF4cQ =======================================================  JASON SWENK IS AN AGENCY ADVISOR THAT GUIDES MARKETING AGENCIES THROUGH A PROVEN FRAMEWORK FOR GROWING THEIR AGENCY FASTER & EASIER. Fresh out of college Jason was off to work for Arthur Anderson, one of the big 5 consulting firms. He quickly realized that he could never work for anyone other than himself. He decided to change direction, launch a digital agency that quickly grew to a multi-million dollar operation working with brands such as AT&T, Hitachi and Lotus Cars. After 12 years of steady growth, the agency caught the attention of bigger agencies and Jason sold it in 2012. Now, Jason leads http://JasonSwenk.com, a unique media company & consultancy helping marketing agencies grow & scale their agencies faster by applying the framework that he used to grow, scale and eventually sell his agency. Jason has helped over 10,000 agencies in 23 countries meet or exceed their business goals. Jason currently hosts two shows that are available for download: The Smart Agency Master Class, weekly podcast and SwenkToday a daily vlog that answers viewers questions. Follow me here: Website: http://jasonswenk.com  Podcast: http://smartagencymasterclass.com  Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jasonswenk    Twitter: https://twitter.com/jswenk   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jswenk   Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonswenk   Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/jasonswenk Music by epidemicsound.com

Are you looking to get your agency revenue to the $1 million mark? Already at $1 million and struggle to get beyond it? What got you where you are now, isn't what's going to get your agency to the next level. Have you lost focus or just don't know where to look? Then it's time your agency explored the power of content and started making investments into it's future. In this episode, we'll cover: Growing your agency from the first million to the next million. One growth strategy often forgotten. 5 simple tips to help scale your agency. #1 Technology your agency should be using. How to find your agency's focus. Know yourself and build a solid team. Today I got to talk to John Hall, CEO and co-founder of the content marketing agency, Influence & Co. He's also a keynote speaker and author of the best-selling business book, Top of Mind. Considered a content marketing guru, John shares with us tips and tricks he has learned along the way, as he grew his company from just 2 people in 2007 up to 130 employees in 2018. Implementing John's strategies will help scale your agency and position you as a thought leader and influencer in your agency's niche. Growing Your Agency from the First Million to the Next Million The biggest challenge your agency will face when scaling is taking on clients and employees you shouldn't. To avoid this classic pitfall, use these two tips in your agency process: Take time to hire the right person. Having the right people in the right seats will make all the difference. Really look at potential clients and ask "why?". Make sure you are only taking on the right clients for the right reasons. Having processes in place is important when scaling. One Growth Strategy Often Forgotten Simply put -- CONTENT Content is more than a  lead generator or marketing vehicle, content is the core of the company. Content allows your agency to share it's culture, industry trends, leadership, vision, and more. Your agency wants to generate content in "themes" to outline the environment and to attract people, whether it's employees or clients. You can't just say the words in an interview or pitch, you need to be continually communicating it as a company. This allows potential clients or employees to see what your agency is all about and makes them want to work with you. Define your agency's core values and live them out. 5 Simple Tips To Help Scale Your Agency Amplify your agency's services on your website with an excellent user experience. Make an investment in what your agency does. Utilize technology that can help your agency scale by saving you time. Create efficient practice that will lead to higher margins. Leverage content across the company by multi-purposing it. Differentiation can be hard, but it is important. Don't be like the competition - stand apart from them! #1 Technology Your Agency Should Be Using Technology needs depend on the agency, but to have the absolute best tech for your agency's needs, you need to create it. Creating your own technology allows customization towards your agency's needs. If there is a problem you're experiencing, and you can create a tech tool as the solution, that's the ultimate benefit. How To Find Your Agency's Focus Where is the biggest opportunity for your agency? It's not about what is most exciting, it's about what is going to drive longterm success. What are the things that your agency can say no to and what are those things that your agency needs to say yes to? Owners typically jump quickly and this can lead to a loss of respect from your team, as well as opportunity costs. Don't put your agency in a position where it is no longer doing productive work, because you're too busy "chasing butterflies." Know Yourself And Build A Solid Team Who you get into business with and how you treat the people around you is key! Your agency needs trust at the core. John and his two partners are in sync with another and he attributes it to total transparency. Although I usually say: "you either know the bad partner or you are the bad partner,"  I've seen some really successful agency partnerships too. However, having an out clause and operating agreement in place can keep things from getting messy if someone wants out. And most importantly, your personal brand is important. You are a vehicle to create opportunities for your agency and you need to invest in it and in yourself. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you're a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

Thinking of vlogging but doesn't know where to start? Don't think you're any good on camera? Afraid you don't have the right equipment? With these simple tips and tricks you'll be able to  get started right away. You will become an authority in the marketplace and build trust with your ideal clients so you can win more new agency business. In this episode, we'll cover: #1 reason your agency should be vlogging. More benefits of vlogging. Why video views and subscriber numbers don't matter. How to get started and what equipment you need. Today I got to talk with Cody Wanner, daily vlogger and co-founder of the video production company CAP Collective. After watching and being inspired by another vlogger, Cody thought about creating his own daily video series. Over a year of thinking about it, he finally decided to just do it and it's been a major game-changer for his video agency. With Cody's simple tips and easy style, he shares how your agency can start vlogging immediately. #1 Reason Your Agency Should Be Vlogging It Builds Trust! Just getting a face in front of people, in front of possible clients and talking to them is building trust. Consistent face time will build trust between your agency and your audience and trust is everything. People buy from people they trust. And, with that trust comes authority. Trust + authority = more new agency business More Benefits Of Vlogging Sharing content via a vlog will help position your agency as an expert in the marketplace. Your audience will look to your agency for answers. There's a serious ROI when you vlog on a consistent basis. For Cody, his vlog has also become a constant follow-up tool to help keep his agency top of mind. His consistent (daily) video content serves as a reminder to his prospects, and works SO MUCH BETTER than a "checking in" phone call. Why Video Views And Subscriber Numbers Don't Matter Cody has a cool movement he's pushing right now, which he's calling No Small Creator  #nosmallcreator... he says there is no such thing as a small creator or small subscriber. He believes anyone who's creating content is a big deal. There's no such thing as insignificant content because you never know who is going to be inspired by something you say or create... your content could be influencing the next Oprah. You never know who your viewers are, who they're sharing with or who they're affecting on a daily basis. Influence them to be great and let the domino affect happen. How To Get Started and What Equipment You Need Your agency needs to commit to uploading content every day - even if it's not great. Even if it's downright bad. Once you commit to that, you can trust the process and yourself. Once you start vlogging, it is in your entrepreneurial nature to make things better. If your agency just starts uploading content, the process will take you to reviewing, analyzing and improving on it because that is what you do. Perfection is the enemy of good. Your agency's vlogging is probably not going to be perfect at first but upload it anyway. As my friend Ian Garlic says, What Type Of Equipment Your Agency Needs To Start Vlogging Check your pocket. The best equipment is the equipment you already have... meaning, don't let equipment be an excuse that keeps you from vlogging! If all the video equipment you have is a smart phone - use it. Vlogging on a smart phone can be just as successful as with expensive equipment. As you get more experience and more comfortable you may want to buy other equipment, but it's not a necessity. And if you really want to know more about equipment, here's a video about what I use now. Just note - I started by using my iPhone and iPad! :) Vlogging is not about the technical quality of the footage, it's about the story you tell. The way you document growth or change and how your agency is helping others. You can check out my evolution as a vlogger... and seriously, it was pretty rough when I first started. This was my first vlog episode and it's pretty terrible! Cody and I agree; just start by documenting what your agency is doing and get it out there. Find a main focus and go do it. And be sure to make it your own - modeling other vloggers is ok as long as your end product is genuine to who you are.   Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you're a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.  

This video includes a great strategy that can build a lot of awareness and generate leads for your digital agency business. I'll also reveal one big mistake that can actually hurt your agency business. (Spoiler alert: someone did it today and as you're about to see, I'm pretty FIRED UP about it.) So, a real game changer for me and a lot of other businesses is being a podcast guest. The great thing about being a guest, is that you just do the interview for 30-mins or so and then the host does all the rest of the work. When you're a guest on the shows your niche market is listening to, you have their solid, undivided attention. They're listening to you speak about your experience and expertise. You're spreading awareness and gaining authority in your market. It's a brilliant way to generate leads.... IF you're interview is helpful. Remember, help first to spread good will, don't sell right off the bat. That's where my frustration from today comes in. I just interviewed a former agency owner for my other show, The Smart Agency Master Class (http://smartagencymasterclass.com). This guy used to run a digital agency and now is transitioning into running a service for digital agencies. This should've been a great interview. But instead, this guy just used it as a pitch-fest. UGH! SO MAD!!! :/ Look, I set up the expectations for him. I sent him (as I do with all my guests) the expectations for the interview. Our #1 goal for the podcast is to provide VALUE to my audience. That's it... provide value. I also chatted with the guest before recording the show and told him to focus on his experience running an agency. HE PITCHED THE WHOLE TIME!!! Seriously, the entire time. I can't even use this interview for my podcast because I refuse to expose my audience to this type of garbage. So I want you to learn from this guy's mistake and hear what I'm saying. When you're interviewed on a podcast, just provide value with no expectations for an immediate return. I promise, it will come back to you in the long run. I can't even begin to tell you what a game changer this can be for your digital agency when you provide value as a podcast guest. Your ideal clients are listening to podcast when they're working out, in waiting rooms, on road trips, etc. People want to hear what you have to say and it will strike a chord for them. They will remember you for it, as long as you don't use it as a forum for a sales pitch. ======================================================= SUBSCRIBE NOW to follow my entrepreneurial journey. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDvZHFVeqEMq58q6tMoyMK-ufpp0ysoVP ======================================================= Thanks for watching. Your comments are why I do this, so please take a second and say hello.  JASON SWENK IS AN AGENCY ADVISOR THAT GUIDES MARKETING AGENCIES THROUGH A PROVEN FRAMEWORK FOR GROWING THEIR AGENCY FASTER & EASIER. Fresh out of college Jason was off to work for Arthur Anderson, one of the big 5 consulting firms. He quickly realized that he could never work for anyone other than himself. He decided to change direction, launch a digital agency that quickly grew to a multi-million dollar operation working with brands such as AT&T, Hitachi and Lotus Cars. After 12 years of steady growth, the agency caught the attention of bigger agencies and Jason sold it in 2012. Now, Jason leads http://JasonSwenk.com, a unique media company & consultancy helping marketing agencies grow & scale their agencies faster by applying the framework that he used to grow, scale and eventually sell his agency. Jason has helped over 10,000 agencies in 23 countries meet or exceed their business goals. Jason currently hosts two shows that are available for download… The Smart Agency Master Class Podcast, dedicated to providing tactics and strategies to agency owners and decision makers that cut through the BS, focus on exactly what works and what doesn’t; and SwenkToday a daily VLOG that documents the entrepreneur journey of building another multimillion dollar business, where he share the latest strategies, and answers the most burning questions entrepreneurs have.  SCHEDULE MON-THUR VLOG #SwenkToday Q&A from my digital agency audience Ask me A Question http://jasonswenk.com/askswenk Podcast Wednesday: (Digital Agency Interviews) https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/smart-agency-masterclass-marketing/id870206013?mt=2&ls=1 or http://smartagencymasterclass.com Follow me here: Website: http://jasonswenk.com  Podcast: http://smartagencymasterclass.com  Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jasonswenk    Twitter: https://twitter.com/jswenk   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jswenk   Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonswenk   Medium: https://medium.com/@jswenk/  Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/jasonswenk Music by epidemicsound.com

Jason Swenk knows what it takes to run a successful agency. Based out of Atlanta Georgia, he started Solar Velocity in 2001, which he ran it for 11 years and then sold it for profit. By the end of his tenure his company had grown to nearly 100 people and boasted clients like Hitachi, AT&T, Coke and Legal Zoom. Now Jason hosts the Smart Agency Master Class and advises small and mid-size advertising agencies, PR firms and digital shops to help them get to the next level. In this episode we will talk about TABOO.

Jason Swenk knows what it takes to run a successful agency. Based out of Atlanta Georgia, he started Solar Velocity in 2001, which he ran it for 11 years and then sold it for profit. By the end of his tenure his company had grown to nearly 100 people and boasted clients like Hitachi, AT&T, Coke and Legal Zoom. Now Jason hosts the Smart Agency Master Class and advises small and mid-size advertising agencies, PR firms and digital shops to help them get to the next level. In this episode we will talk about GROWTH STRATEGY.

Jason Swenk knows what it takes to run a successful agency. Based out of Atlanta Georgia, he started Solar Velocity in 2001, which he ran it for 11 years and then sold it for profit. By the end of his tenure his company had grown to nearly 100 people and boasted clients like Hitachi, AT&T, Coke and Legal Zoom. Now Jason hosts the Smart Agency Master Class and advises small and mid-size advertising agencies, PR firms and digital shops to help them get to the next level. In this episode we will talk about FUN.

Jason Swenk knows what it takes to run a successful agency. Based out of Atlanta Georgia, he started Solar Velocity in 2001, which he ran it for 11 years and then sold it for profit. By the end of his tenure his company had grown to nearly 100 people and boasted clients like Hitachi, AT&T, Coke and Legal Zoom. Now Jason hosts the Smart Agency Master Class and advises small and mid-size advertising agencies, PR firms and digital shops to help them get to the next level. In this episode we will talk about DIFFERENTIATORS.

Jason Swenk knows what it takes to run a successful agency. Based out of Atlanta Georgia, he started Solar Velocity in 2001, which he ran it for 11 years and then sold it for profit. By the end of his tenure his company had grown to nearly 100 people and boasted clients like Hitachi, AT&T, Coke and Legal Zoom. Now Jason hosts the Smart Agency Master Class and advises small and mid-size advertising agencies, PR firms and digital shops to help them get to the next level. In this episode we will talk about HUMP DAY HASSLES.

Jason Swenk knows what it takes to run a successful agency. Based out of Atlanta Georgia, he started Solar Velocity in 2001, which he ran it for 11 years and then sold it for profit. By the end of his tenure his company had grown to nearly 100 people and boasted clients like Hitachi, AT&T, Coke and Legal Zoom. Now Jason hosts the Smart Agency Master Class and advises small and mid-size advertising agencies, PR firms and digital shops to help them get to the next level. In this episode we will talk about MONEY.

Jason Swenk knows what it takes to run a successful agency. Based out of Atlanta Georgia, he started Solar Velocity in 2001, which he ran it for 11 years and then sold it for profit. By the end of his tenure his company had grown to nearly 100 people and boasted clients like Hitachi, AT&T, Coke and Legal Zoom. Now Jason hosts the Smart Agency Master Class and advises small and mid-size advertising agencies, PR firms and digital shops to help them get to the next level. In this episode we will talk about CLIENTS.

Want some tax-saving tips for your agency that will help you save money and avoid an audit being carried out on your digital agency? In this episode, we discuss: How to protect your business, financially and legally. Ways to lower your taxes and other tax-saving tips. The IRS's big secret on audits. This is HUGE!   Super-fun CPA and friend to U.S. agencies, Jason Blumer of Blumer CPA's chatted with me about several tax-saving tips along with a few words of caution, and one big IRS secret on this episode of The Smart Agency Master Class. Blumer founded and runs a virtual CPA firm with a team of 8 around the country who are specifically geared toward accounting for design, web and marketing agencies. (See? He's niching his firm and you should be, too. But that's another topic for another day :)) Keep in mind the advice here is just general. Your specific situation and questions about your agency should be discussed in detail with your own CPA. What type of business classification is best for your agency? Best advice: protect yourself and be something other than simply “self-employed.” A sole proprietor should set up a limited liability corporation (LLC). This designation provides legal protection and operational flexibility, however there are no tax benefits. An LLC pays twice the self-employment tax since regular employees have the benefit of the self-employment tax being matched by their employer. An S Corp can save you a lot in terms of tax dollars, however, the hoops to jump can be pain. You must have a system for payroll and deductions, including paying yourself a salary. That means paying payroll taxes, too. Therefore, what you save in taxes can be swallowed up quickly by paying out professional fees to a payroll service. Keep in mind, that an LLC can transition into an S Corp as they grow. Blumer says he advises his clients netting $80-90k+ to go the S Corp route. Tax Saving Tips: What's the best way to lower my taxes? This is always a hard one. If you make money, you're going to pay taxes. The best tax-saving tip and way to lower taxes is to spend money reinvesting in your business which ultimately lowers your net profit, meaning less taxable income. Retail or manufacturing businesses have it a little easier. They can buy equipment to invest back into their business. Service-based businesses are a little difficult to advise in this area. And agencies? We're the worst. All we sell are our ideas. Blumer says your best bet is investing cash in a retirement plan for yourself. Depending on the type of plan you set up you'll benefit your taxes and your team. Other ways to save include training/educating your team. Small businesses like to lower their tax burden with these 2 tactics: You might think you are saving a ton on taxes if you're doing one or both of these things. That's only true if you're doing them right. Here's the real deal on the best tax-saving options... 1.Being a virtual agency Technically, if you have a team that's spread out around the country you should be paying taxes in every state where you've got people. There are states with no state tax such as Florida, Texas, and Washington. There are also states that make it a major pain in the ass to be self-employed, like California, New York, and Pennsylvania. Tax laws vary by state, so be sure to check things out for the state(s) your in. And, if you're not sure if you've got all your bases covered, talk to your account about it. Blumer CPA's offers an Exposure Tax Analysis. This is a discovery of your tax liability to see if you're compliant and in what areas you might be exposed. If your tax firm doesn't offer something similar, I know a guy… :) 2. Having all (or mostly all) freelancers If you're doing it correctly this is a good way to avoid paying employer taxes. But your freelancers have to actually play the part of a freelancer. The term "freelancer" or "contractor," in regard to taxes, is determined by the IRS. To be legit, your freelancers must be able to answer “yes” to all of these questions: Is there actually a contract in place? Do they invoice you for their time? Are they using their own equipment (computer, phone)? Are they available to work for others? This tax saving tip is simple. If they don't look like a contractor on paper, you need to have payroll systems in place and pay taxes on them.  Want to know the IRS's biggest secret on audits? They don't really want us to know, but the IRS is in real trouble. They don't have the ability to enforce things like they once did.... A possible impeachment of the Commissioner coupled with losing budget dollars means they don't have the leverage to effectively audit. It's somewhat of a vicious cycle -- they're losing tax dollars because they can't run audits, and they can't run audits because they can afford to. So, that's kinda good for us. But, they DO still audit and audit selections are done totally at random. The good news: less than ⅓ of 1% of businesses get audited. In fact, with 20 years in the business, Blumer's only seen 2 or 3 audits ever. Don't get too comfortable with those statistics, though. The IRS is still looking for ways to penalize and fine you. Make sure you're compliant so you can avoid one of their nasty-grams. What to do if you are contacted by the IRS If you get something from the IRS, let your CPA or tax attorney handle it. There are things you should and shouldn't say. There are also things you should and shouldn't give them. Don't be so scared that you hand everything over - that just opens a bigger can of worms. If you receive a notice, always question it. If it comes with a penalty, don't pay it right away. These notices are computer-generated and often wrong. Some are even waivable. Your accountant knows how to handle each situation while saving you time and potentially, some money. Looking for a Great Group of Like-Minded Agency Owners? My Agency Mastermind group has been wildly successful for lots of motivated agency owners looking to grow and scale their businesses. If you'd like to share thoughts, ideas, problems and solutions with people in your shows, check out my upcoming group. We meet every two weeks, so it's not a huge time commitment but the benefits are immeasurable. You can read more details here and if you're interested there is a brief application process. You'll fill out a quick form and then I'll let you know if the group is a good fit for you. Build Your Agency Authority I hope this episode with Jason has provided some fantastic tax-saving tips for you and agency audits are no longer a concern. Creating the best agency possible means being able to recognize other challenges you are facing within your agency. Why not take the time to take a step back and look at other processes that need attention? No matter what challenges your agency is facing, I can help you get through all of it. There are many topics I can give advice on from what to do when you want to speed up sales processes to how you can build authority for your agency. Growing your agency can be a major struggle for any agency owner and I can show you the different phases of growth you will experience, how placing a process for performance-based pricing can be the best pricing strategy for your business and the three questions you need to ask yourself to sell more! Want more? Learn about my career and different experiences as well as tips, tricks, and insights by checking out my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. Check out more from my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my YouTube channel. There you will find advice from me and other agency experts.

Leverage Media Opportunities to Achieve Agency Business Growth Looking to use new media opportunities to build momentum for your digital agency and gain new agency business growth? In this episode we cover: How to create a media pitch that scores an interview Ways to prepare for the interview, and how to knock it out of the park When and how to promote your media opportunity to promote agency business growth   A feature in the media can be a killer lead generator! My guest, Dana Barrett has got a ton of tips for us on getting media attention - and she should know! Dana hosts a daily business talk show on Atlanta 1190AM radio and is a panelist on Tech Edge, a local TV show. She typically interviews 1-2 companies across different sectors every single day! In this episode of The Smart Agency Master Class she talks with me about how a small business can get media attention, what to do once you score an interview and how to keep the momentum going when it's over.   Make a Pitch Reach out with a simple and direct email pitch. Be clear on what you do, why it's different and who you serve. You must capture the reader's attention in the first 2-3 sentences! Also, show you've done your homework by stating why you are a good fit with this audience of listeners, viewers or readers. Don't throw in a bunch of stats, figures, or “hoopla”, as Dana calls it. The subject line should be equally as direct, like “Possible Show Guest”. Prepare for the Interview Know your stuff and be ready to talk about it freely. Dana's pet peeve: being given a list of topics or questions to avoid. Instead, she says, learn how to address those things even if you have to put on a politician hat and just say during the interview, “I'm not willing to discuss that today.” Local media want to help you tell your story, so give them the talking points you do want to address. Dana also says you must able to speak about your business in an unrehearsed way. Be confident and genuine. Radio interviews are probably easier than TV interviews because there are less people watching you during the interview but regardless of who's in the room remember you are there to build relationships both the audience and the interviewer. People want to know who you are, what you stand for, and why you are special. If they can get behind you for those things, then sales will result from it. Lastly, don't be boring! Interacting with the media gives your brand a personality that will either resonate with the audience or... it won't.  But, no pressure! :) Promote the Heck Out of It to Generate Agency Business Growth Before, during and after…. post it, tweet it and promote it. Whatever your social media platforms, give a it's imperative to make sure your social followers know about it prior to the interview, the day of, the hour before and for weeks afterwards. Today, everything lives digitally for all of eternity - use that to your benefit! Also, treat your interviewer as you would any other networking contact. It's not “one and done”... you can continue to help each other out. Remember, they're getting something out of this, too. You are providing them with good content and delivering an audience. It's a win-win. Media exposure can be an awesome way to generate leads! And, if you want to learn even more ways to generate leads check out my Generate Leads Everyday program with invaluable tactics and strategies you can implement for immediate results. My clients are generating 25-50+ leads every day using this program. Discover the best Digital Agency Strategies today. Get Online Training to help you setup the right systems and strategies to help you grow faster. What's Next for your Agency? Through leveraging media opportunities, you could see a large increase in agency business growth but this could be detrimental to your business if you aren't prepared to handle it. To create the best business possible, you need to look at your agency in the bigger picture to find your strong areas as well as weak spots and then think of how you can fix them. No matter what challenge your agency is facing, I can help you get through all of it. Through my experience running my own digital agency and helping other digital agency owners, there are many topics I can offer guidance on whether you are an established agency facing struggles to new agencies unsure of what the different phases of growth you will experience will look like. Growing your agency team can also be a major struggle for any agency owner and I can show from knowing when it's time to hire a sales manager or expand your sales team to perfecting your business strategy with creating a process for performance based pricing and how to keep your big name clients happy. Are you ready to create something cool and want more advice? Learn about my career and different experiences as well as tips, tricks and insights by checking out my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. Check out more from my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my YouTube channel. There you will find advice from me and other agency experts.

How to Be So Successful You Can Accelerate Business and Turn Clients Away Ever wonder what it would feel like to accelerate business to such a level you can turn down work? That's exactly what my client, Matthew Arndt, CEO of Turbo Medical Marketing is able to do with his business. In this episode of The Smart Agency Master Class, Matt shares exactly what he has done to get to his agency to that point.   3 Ways to Accelerate Business Right Now... 1. Be Super Specific:  It Will Draw In the Right Clients Turbo Medical Marketing is a digital agency specializing in medical aesthetics (ie. cash pay medicine such a: plastic surgery, dermatology, ophthalmology, medical spas and their related industry partners who work with the same practitioners). Wow. Super specific, right? Matt says he's seen huge benefit from really laser focusing on a very specific market. Because the medical field is so huge, he had to pinpoint a particular audience to gear all his marketing efforts. He understands the challenges and issues they face and knows exactly who/how he can help.  Also, since business today is about belonging, he has become a servant to the medical aesthetics community. Turbo has built a reputation of being the go-to agency with proven results which has helped to accelerate business. 2. Be Patient:  Nurturing Your Leads is Key for Growth A key turning point in Turbo Medical Marketing's business was the development of an automated email campaign used to warm up leads. They already had a ton of content but getting into the right hands at the right time has made a huge impact on their business. Don't be tempted to go in for the kill right away. Nurturing leads is so key to long term relationships and agency growth. It starts conversations and provides the opportunity to understand which of your core offerings are the right fit for a particular client. 3. Be a Partner:  It Triangulates a Win Partnering with a third-party who has mutual interest can reap huge rewards and score a win for everyone involved. Matt was able to cultivate relationships with medical equipment and non-prescription drug reps who sell high ticket products to his clients in the medical aesthetics field. These reps also have marketing budgets allocated to value added campaigns. That means these reps actually give doctors marketing dollars to spend on promoting the equipment or drug they just purchased. Triple win…. The rep scores a win by giving something back to their customer. It sets up the doctors for a win by bringing in new patients to offset the cost of their investment. And, of course Matt wins by bringing in new agency business... Win - Win - Win. Ask yourself what kind of partners can help propel your business? What can you do for them? Find mutual benefit and go after it. Why Even Consider Turning Down Business? It's counterintuitive to turn down work, isn't it? Matt struggled with it for awhile too, but when he took the time to identify what his ideal clients looked like he realized the opportunity cost of taking on the wrong ones was too big to ignore. Sure, the wrong clients will bring in a small amount of revenue and but they'll also bring a huge amount of headaches. The tradeoff is just not worth it. As a business owner you're watching the bills roll in and may even be worried about payroll. It's tempting to take on a project that isn't quite the right fit or to work with a borderline bad client just to pay the bills. Before you do it, weigh the costs and long term effects on your business. If a client or project isn't going to get you where you want to go - just don't. Stop 'Getting Ready to Get Ready' and Take Action! Matt credits podcasts as his main source of inspiration for accelerating his agency and clients' business. He has incorporated podcast listening into his daily routine as a way to learn passively and find new ways to accelerate his agency and/or his clients' business. But it's not just the listening that important -- its the implementation. As business owners we have a million little reasons not to take action, but one really BIG reason why we should. Actions lead to transactions. Check out this approach.... I've created a FREE video on Generating More Leads. It talks about the 5 Systems my clients and I use to generate 25 or more leads every day. I use this strategy as a goodwill offering and as a way to get new conversations started. Check it out here. Growing Your Digital Agency I've now shared my advice with you on how you can accelerate business for your digital agency but what other issues are within your agency that needs your attention? Take a step back, look for weak spots in your business and then think of how you can fix them. No matter what challenge your agency is facing, I can help you get through all of it. From my experience in the industry, there are many topics I can offer guidance from the different phases of growth you will experience to how you can build authority for your agency. Growing your agency can be a major struggle for any agency owner and I can show from knowing when it's time to hire a sales manager or expand your sales team, creating a process for performance based pricing which can be the best pricing strategy for your business and learning how to keep your big name clients happy. Are you ready to create something cool and want more advice? Learn about my career and different experiences as well as tips, tricks and insights by checking out my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. Check out more from my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel. There you will find advice from myself and other agency experts.  

Hiring People Better Than You To Take Your Agency to the Next Level In today's session of The Smart Agency Master Class, I talk with Rich Brooks, president of Flyte New Media, a web design and marketing company.  This episode is all about how to manage your team. You need to be hiring people better than you, and we're going to help you find those people, as well as get over being afraid of their skills. Plus, you'll hear about how to avoid some common mistakes.   When should you hire someone else? The right time is different for everyone. For Rich, he was prompted to hire someone by a client. They wanted to give him more business but felt he wouldn't have been able to handle it on his own. For most of us, the right time is when we realize we can't handle it on our own. But maybe you're feeling like you can handle most of it on your own. In that case, think about bringing someone in on a part-time basis. Rich started with a part-time person and has since grown to a staff of seven; five of which are full-time. Take your time finding someone. Remember: hire slowly, and fire quickly. (More on that in a second.) Four of the biggest mistakes when hiring people. Hiring people too quickly! If you need someone ASAP for a project, or you're just going to hire so-and-so because you like them, then you are probably hiring too quickly. Cool your jets a little and really think about what kind of fit that person will be. And if you find yourself employing the wrong person, get rid of them! Not casting a wide enough net. If you're advertising for potential employees in a place where the kind of people you want to hire aren't looking, then you're making a mistake. Perhaps you should think about ditching the free neighborhood circular and paying for an ad on the hottest industry job board. Hiring without a plan. You hired them for a specific project, but what happens after that project ends? Have you made a job description for them? These are the kinds of questions you need to ask yourself before you bring someone on board. Hiring someone because you liked them. If your only requirement is that you like the person, you are going about hiring all wrong. Great people are great, but you don't have to hire people you want to spend holidays with. Sometimes the best people aren't your best friends. You're looking for people that will be a good compliment to you. That means you need to stay away from hiring someone just like you. You'll never get anything done that way. Instead, look for people you can work well with, but who will challenge you and fill in the gaps that you can't. Measuring employee performance. Everyone hates reviews. So let's ditch that term and start calling them Coaching Sessions. It can still be a painful process to go through, but it's a lot easier if we go ahead and reframe it as a conversation rather than a scolding. Secondly, you do not need to be everyone's best friend. Repeat it with me: I do not need to be everyone's best friend. What you need to be is your company's best friend, and your company needs you to toughen up and be the bad guy sometimes. At Flyte, Rich does his reviews quarterly. That way it's a more continuous conversation with the employee rather than an annual lambasting. I also do quarterly coaching, but instead of talking about what my goals are for the company, I let the employees set their 90-day goals that will help us reach the company's goals. Then we can sit down and see what goals were met, which weren't and why, and how to improve going forward in the next 90 days. This way everyone knows exactly what is expected and exactly what will be measured. Pro tip: deliver bad news last, or at least, in the middle. That whole bad news before good news idea is backwards. Instead, give the employee some positives before delivering any bad news. Then end on a high note for bonus points. How to say ‘You're Fired.' Firing people sucks. It just plain does. But as a business owner, it is your job. You need to keep reminding yourself that it's not what you want as the agency owner, but what the company needs. Unfortunately, what you personally want and what the company needs don't always line up. Of course, firing awful employees is easy. It's those middle-of-the-road ones that are tricky. They're not really doing a good job, but they're not necessarily doing a bad job either. According to Rich, the so-so employees are actually the worst. They're doing nothing to improve and grow your company. In fact, they're just slowly dragging it down. As the owner, you need to tell the employee that it's time to rise to the occasion or get out. You aren't personally responsible for their well-being. If you've given them the opportunity to succeed, and they still can't, then you need to let go. Be zen about it: perhaps the reason they aren't succeeding with you is because they should be succeeding elsewhere. Hire dwarfs or giants. Do not be afraid when hiring people to hire people better than you. If you have any fear that they're going to come in and take your business, you need to let go of that immediately. You want people better than you! This is how your business will grow. You're still going to be needed, but your position will evolve, and that's okay. Think of it this way (courtesy of Rich's old business coach): if you hire people smaller than you, you'll have a company of dwarfs, but if you hire people bigger than you, you'll have a company of giants. AGENCY MASTERMIND for agency owners that want to GROW PROFITS It can be very isolating running your own agency. Wouldn't you like to join a community of other agency owners that will hold you accountable for growing beyond yourself, all while supporting your journey to get there? That is exactly what the AGENCY Mastermind is all about.  Learn more... Becoming a Better Agency Owner Hiring people who are better than you is the best and only way to create the best team possible for your digital agency. I have probably experienced all the different struggles of an agency owner through my own experience and I can help you from what I learned. From what to do with your sales processes, ways to increase your profit margins or how you can build authority for your agency. I can tell you the best ways to stop losing money on projects, why performance-based pricing can be the best pricing strategy for your agency as well as why including remote working or freelancers in your team can be beneficial in the long run. You can learn more about my career and different experiences as well as tips, tricks, and insights by checking out my blogs which cover a wide variety of topics. Find more from my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my YouTube channel. There you will find advice from me and other agency experts.

In this session of The Smart Agency Master Class, I chat with Peter Caputa, VP of Sales for Hubspot, the king of inbound marketing. We chat about how you should stop relying solely on referrals, and how you can use strategic partners get your business to the next level.   Strategic partners are awesome. You can get a lot out of having a strategic partner. Here are just a few benefits: Steady stream of referrals Marketing opportunities They can help you grow from small agency to large agency There will be many chances to learn from partners How you can you become one of the top strategic partners for a company like Hubspot? Unlike some, a strategic partnership with Hubspot cannot be bought. Peter says being a Hubspot strategic partner is earned, not purchased. In order to become one of Hubspot's top strategic partners, you need to: Have the ability to make your clients successful on Hubspot. Be able to sell and acquire new clients. Communicate your goals and successes with the strategic partner. Do something unique with your new client using the strategic partner. What your agency is probably doing wrong. According to Peter, agencies are failing to create the right relationship with their clients. Going in and selling tactics is the wrong approach. You need to be selling long-term value because you want a lasting relationship with the client that focuses on success. It's not just about what you're doing. You need to be showing the value of it. And remember - know your audience! A lot of agencies are afraid of committing to a niche for fear of losing out on an opportunity. It's time to raise your prices. Stop worrying about what other agencies are charging. You're worth more! Take time to figure out how much value you're providing the client. If you're helping them earn a million dollars, then you should rethink your $4k per month retainer. You need to find out the prospect's goal and explain to them the value that you can deliver. Their answers will help you determine what to charge. Also, make sure you don't lose the prospect in all the bells and whistles. Sure, you love the software, but the client just loves the outcomes. Keep the business conversation upfront, and explain the methodology in a way they can understand. I asked Peter what the biggest retainer per month was for inbound marketing services...and it's $25,000! Per month! The art and science behind hiring salespeople. The first sales hire is key. Peter is a fan of the Objective Management Group, which is an assessment tool that includes an assessment for salespeople. Peter also warns that you need to be ruthless in finding the right fit, not just hiring someone because you like them. Once you've hired someone, don't just tell them to “go sell.” That's setting everyone up for failure. You need to be sure you've put objectives in place to hold the salesperson accountable (how much, by when, etc). You also need to be sure you are motivating and empowering them. Salespeople need praise as much as they need to want to make money. Give them lots of incentives and high-fives. AGENCY MASTERMIND for agency owners that want to GROW PROFITS It can be very isolating running your own agency. Wouldn't you like to join a community of other agency owners that will hold you accountable for growing beyond yourself, all while supporting your journey to get there? That is exactly what the AGENCY Mastermind is all about.  Learn more... Become an Agency Mastermind Creating leverage to bring in strategic partners for your agency can bring your digital agency to a whole new level but this can cause issues if you don't work on the other challenges you have within your business. Don't worry, I can help you get through all of it. I can give you advice on recognizing new client opportunities to different ways of building authority to improve your agency. If you are having issues with growing your agency, I've the different phases of growth within your agency and how performance-based pricing can be the best pricing strategy for your business as well as the three questions you need to ask yourself to sell more! Learn all about my career and different experiences as well as lots of tips, tricks, and insights by checking out my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. Check out more from my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my YouTube channel. There you will find advice from me and other agency experts.

In this week's session of The Smart Agency Master Class, I sit down with Tom Fishburne to talk about how you can spice up those boring newsletters you're sending out, and how you can invest in your audience to get better email open rates.     Tom is Founder and CEO of Marketoon Studios, a content marketing studio that helps businesses reach their audiences with cartoons. He started cartooning at Harvard Business School, and was putting out a weekly cartoon about marketing for several years before finally building it into a business model. For Tom, it was all about connecting his passion with his business. Cartooning is a great tool to increase engagement. Cartoons have been described as the best involvement tool out there. Plus, you can fit a lot of information in a small space. Best of all, you don't even have to be a good cartoonist to draw one. In fact, one of the most successful web comics out there is XKCD, which is done entirely in stick figures, but has over a million unique visitors to the site every day. And cartooning has given Tom a 50%  increase in email open rates on his email blasts, but more on that in a bit. What you shouldn't do with your boring agency newsletter. People tend to automatically think, “I want to make something that will go viral.” You should most definitely avoid this approach. Tom says it's all about continuity. Make a commitment to producing weekly, and stick to putting out quality content every single week. Don't worry about whether or not it goes viral, just worry about whether or not your audience will find value in it. The more valuable it is to them, the more they'll share it, and the more the audience will grow. Remember, you're making an investment in the audience. Don't feel rushed to make a sale. People hate that, and you'll end up turning them off. It's not about people who are ready to buy now, those people will probably find you anyway. What you're trying to do is invest in people who will want to buy from you in the future. Gain them as fans, and they'll come to you when the time is right. And yes, it does need to be weekly. Monthly is just too sparse. Sure, weekly is a lot of work, but it'll pay off in spades over time. Just make sure you're putting out thoughtful content that the audience wants. How to get your email open rates to 50%. It's true, Tom has a fifty percent open rate. His email list of 20,000 is read by about 100,000 people a week through social shares. And he doesn't do any outbound marketing! Take a moment to collect your jaw from off the floor. Most agencies have an open rate of 12-15%, maybe 20% (if you're really lucky). How does one get to this magical 50%? It's all about interesting, relevant content. Tom has an audience that wants to be there, and they expect his email every Monday morning. They look forward to it, which has a lot to do with the fact that he doesn't stuff it full with sales pitches and useless facts about his agency. The cartoon is relevant to his audience and he uses it to start a conversation. Seriously, no one cares about your new VP of Operations. Don't put that kind of stuff in your email blasts. It needs to include things that the audience wants to see. No thought-provoking conversation is going to spring up around the newest award your agency won. Would you like me to help you with your biggest challenge? I've set aside some time to talk to you, personally. During that time, I'll evaluate your business and work with you collaboratively to create an immediately actionable plan to increase your sales and profits. Click here to get my help Keep Improving Your Business Now that you know how to increase and improve your email open rates, take a look at the bigger picture of your agency. Are there other challenges you are facing in your agency? From my experience, I have covered topics from how to handle a recession or how to increase your profits without losing customers for your agency. Or maybe you want to know the four phases of growth within your agency and want extra help in taking your agency to the next level and selling your agency for a larger profit. I have all the information you need to help you through it. You can learn more about my life and my experience as well as lots of tips, tricks, and insights by reading our blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. If videos are more your thing, don't worry, I've got you covered! You can check out more from my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my YouTube channel. There you will find advice from me and other agency experts.

Going from Agency Owners to Agency CEOs In today's session of The Smart Agency Master Class, I chat with Hannah Paramore, president of Paramore Digital. Hannah is going to talk about the five jobs of an agency owner, how to handle those roles and transition from agency owners into an agency CEOs.   The 5 Roles of an Agency Owner. As the agency owner, it is your job to: Grow and mentor the leadership team. To be the face of the company. To set vision and direction. Manage the financials. Be available for key relationships. Whatever you're doing, make sure they are part of these five roles. If it's something outside of these, you need to assess whether or not you are the one that should be doing it. Being comfortable as the agency CEO. No doubt you started out as the smartest person in the room. You were consumed with passion and drive. You were the best at everything, from account management to writing to sales. But as you started to grow from a one-person agency, you probably realized you need to hire people to help you. Suddenly, you're not the smartest. And that's a good thing! You want to hire people smarter and better than you to do the work you don't have time for anymore. Who to hire for your agency. It may take some trial and error to find the right person. You need to clearly define what it is that you need, and how you envision working with someone. Think about what you want your team to look like. Try using a personality profile to find the right fit. If you hire someone, and it goes poorly, don't be disheartened. Remember, it's trial and error. Maybe you need to redefine what you need, or how you want to work with someone. Maybe that person was just an awful fit for your agency. It's okay. There are lots of wonderful people out there. If Hannah had to do it all over again, her first hire would be a Director of Client Services. According to her, "Good work doesn't keep the clients. You're hired for your creative and technical abilities but you're fired for your service." How to motivate and inspire your team. All agency CEOs should know the importance of a happy team. There is no magic formula, but here's a darn good one: Great clients + Great office space + Great culture + Ownership of work These factors, when combined with the right people, make for happy employees. Happy employees motivate and inspire each other, and that's how awesome agencies thrive. (Note: giving out employee bonuses doesn't hurt either!) The “too busy” excuse. Sometimes also known as the “too poor” excuse, and it's just that - an excuse. If you want your business to grow, you're going to have to make time for it. Hire people organically as you grow. Don't think you can afford them? Then you're not charging enough. Your team is part of the billable hours, don't be afraid to include them in the costs. Would you like to get more strategies like this, and be apart of an elite group of agency owners? It can be very isolating running your own agency. Wouldn't you like to join a community of other agency owners that will hold you accountable for growing beyond yourself, all while supporting your journey to get there? That is exactly what the AGENCY Mastermind is all about. Check it out now.  Find the right Systems and Strategies that will help you grow faster. Check out the Playbook and the exclusive digital agency elite mastermind. Taking Your Agency to the Next Level Now that all your business owners know how to transition into agency CEOs, are there weaknesses within your agency that are causing everything to break down? Don't worry, I'm here for all the advice you need. I have been in the industry for a long time and I have had my own experience running my own digital agency as well as helping other digital agency owners so there are many topics where I can offer guidance. Whether you are experiencing challenges as an established agency or a new agency unsure of what the different phases of growth you will experience will look like, I've got you covered. As you continue to grow your agency team, I can show you how to recognize when it's time to hire a sales manager or expand your sales team to perfect your business strategy by creating a process for performance-based pricing and how to keep your big name clients happy. Are you ready to create something cool and want more advice? Learn about my career and different experiences as well as tips, tricks, and insights by checking out my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. Or if videos are more your thing, visit my YouTube channel!

Going from Agency Owners to Agency CEOs In today's session of The Smart Agency Master Class, I chat with Hannah Paramore, president of Paramore Digital. Hannah is going to talk about the five jobs of an agency owner, how to handle those roles and transition from agency owners into an agency CEOs. https://traffic.libsyn.com/jasonswenk/The_5_Roles_of_an_Agency_Owner_1.mp3 The 5 Roles of an Agency Owner. As the agency owner, it is your job to: Grow and mentor the leadership team. To be the face of the company. To set vision and direction. Manage the financials. Be available for key relationships. Whatever you're doing, make sure they are part of these five roles. If it's something outside of these, you need to assess whether or not you are the one that should be doing it. Being comfortable as the agency CEO. No doubt you started out as the smartest person in the room. You were consumed with passion and drive. You were the best at everything, from account management to writing to sales. But as you started to grow from a one-person agency, you probably realized you need to hire people to help you. Suddenly, you're not the smartest. And that's a good thing! You want to hire people smarter and better than you to do the work you don't have time for anymore. Who to hire for your agency. It may take some trial and error to find the right person. You need to clearly define what it is that you need, and how you envision working with someone. Think about what you want your team to look like. Try using a personality profile to find the right fit. If you hire someone, and it goes poorly, don't be disheartened. Remember, it's trial and error. Maybe you need to redefine what you need, or how you want to work with someone. Maybe that person was just an awful fit for your agency. It's okay. There are lots of wonderful people out there. If Hannah had to do it all over again, her first hire would be a Director of Client Services. According to her, "Good work doesn't keep the clients. You're hired for your creative and technical abilities but you're fired for your service." How to motivate and inspire your team. All agency CEOs should know the importance of a happy team. There is no magic formula, but here's a darn good one: Great clients + Great office space + Great culture + Ownership of work These factors, when combined with the right people, make for happy employees. Happy employees motivate and inspire each other, and that's how awesome agencies thrive. (Note: giving out employee bonuses doesn't hurt either!) The “too busy” excuse. Sometimes also known as the “too poor” excuse, and it's just that - an excuse. If you want your business to grow, you're going to have to make time for it. Hire people organically as you grow. Don't think you can afford them? Then you're not charging enough. Your team is part of the billable hours, don't be afraid to include them in the costs. Would you like to get more strategies like this, and be apart of an elite group of agency owners? It can be very isolating running your own agency. Wouldn't you like to join a community of other agency owners that will hold you accountable for growing beyond yourself, all while supporting your journey to get there? That is exactly what the AGENCY Mastermind is all about. Check it out now.  Find the right Systems and Strategies that will help you grow faster. Check out the Playbook and the exclusive digital agency elite mastermind. Taking Your Agency to the Next Level Now that all your business owners know how to transition into agency CEOs, are there weaknesses within your agency that are causing everything to break down? Don't worry, I'm here for all the advice you need. I have been in the industry for a long time and I have had my own experience running my own digital agency as well as helping other digital agency owners so there are many topics where I can offer guidance. Whether you are experiencing challenges as an established agency or a new agency unsure of what the different phases of growth you will experience will look like, I've got you covered. As you continue to grow your agency team, I can show you how to recognize when it's time to hire a sales manager or expand your sales team to perfect your business strategy by creating a process for performance-based pricing and how to keep your big name clients happy. Are you ready to create something cool and want more advice? Learn about my career and different experiences as well as tips, tricks, and insights by checking out my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. Or if videos are more your thing, visit my YouTube channel!

In this episode of the Smart Agency Master Class, I chat with Lauri Flaquer, a business consultant with over 20 years of experience in television and film. Lauri specializes in using content to maximize business opportunities and she's going to help you understand why you need to use video content marketing to grow your agency's new business. https://traffic.libsyn.com/jasonswenk/Why_you_need_to_use_video_to_increase_your_agency_new_business.mp3 You need to be making videos to generate agency new business. If you want to become an authority in your marketplace and establish credibility quickly, then you need to be creating video content. The power of video is limitless! It's another opportunity for your clients - and potential clients - to know you and fall in love with you. Because, let's face it - people make buying decisions more and more off of what they see online. Video content marketing gives them another way to really get to know who you are, what you're about and what you can do, and realize they want it. It's not about being perfect from the start. Do not be afraid to just get started. If everyone waited until they were flawless, had all the right equipment, and were totally perfect to start, there wouldn't be any content anywhere. Give yourself the freedom to learn the craft. In 20 years, you'll look back and celebrate all your successes and failures. In the future, you'll be telling stories at parties about how bad you were in your first videos. But if you never start, you won't have anything to look back on - and no one wants to hear a story about nothing. Seriously, don't dwell on mistakes you haven't even made yet. Get out there! Where do I start when wanting to produce video content marketing for my agency? Lauri gives three pieces of advice to those figuring out where to start with creating video content: 1. Find your platform. What will it be about? What is the main theme? How will it enhance, fortify, solidify, and expand your brand? 2. Check out other people who are doing what you want to do well. Watch them. Model them. Then do it better and add your own flare. 3. Come up with scripts. Write and rewrite them. Once you go through the above, find yourself a community or public access network. They are typically desperate for content and a good place to hone your skills and refine your content. Bonus - they're usually free! Extra bonus - check out Cowboy Studio for affordable equipment, and Wistia for great tutorials on lighting, sound, etc. Don't forget to laser focus on your audience. It all goes back to branding. Think about who you are trying to reach and tailor your content to be what your audience wants to see. What would benefit them the most? Having a clear picture of who you're trying to reach will help you in creating great, valuable content. Build the Best Agency With this advice, you should now be able to strengthen your marketing by implementing video content marketing into your strategy. If there are other struggles you are experiencing in your agency, I can help you get through. I can give you advice on how to increase conversions on your website, how to snap up client opportunities as well as ways to build authority to improve your agency. If growth is your focus, I've the different phases of growth within your agency and the three questions you need to ask yourself to sell more of your digital agency services. Learn more about my career and experiences as well as lots of tips, tricks and insights by reading my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. Check out more from my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel. There you will find advice from myself and other agency experts.

What do you need to do to improve your business management and get away from being run by your agency and start running it? In this episode of The Smart Agency Master Class, I talk with Chris Ducker. Chris is a serial entrepreneur that owns and operates three separate business that include a call center, a recruitment company and a co-working space for startup entrepreneurs. Chris is obviously someone who knows a lot about running a business and he's going to share with us how he manages it all without being overwhelmed. Business Management: Why is the agency running you? Because you're micromanaging! Let's face it, entrepreneurs are wired to believe they should be doing everything themselves. Chris refers to this as “superhero syndrome,” and it's something every entrepreneur will suffer from at some point. Eventually, though, you will hit a crossroad where one of two things will happen: A) You'll burn out and be no good to anyone. B) You finally build a brilliant team to help you run, grow, and support the business. Clearly, you want to go with Option B, right? That's how you build the business, not just run the business. There's a lot of amazing talent out there, so make sure you're making the most of it. Say it with me: I do not have to do everything myself. But I can do it quicker! Yes, you probably can do it quicker yourself, but that doesn't mean you should do it. If it's a revolving task - say, posting a blog - it makes more sense for someone else's time to be taken up with completing it. Taking up hours of your time to complete simple tasks just because you can do them faster doesn't make sense financially. Next time you're doing one of these revolving tasks, take a second to record yourself doing it. Show the steps so that your virtual assistant can see how to do it, and BAM! You've cleared up some of your valuable time! But I don't want to pay someone! Again, it doesn't make financial sense for you to be doing it. Let's look at the math: Say your time is worth $1,000/hour, but the routine task you're looking to spend the next hour on can be done by a virtual assistant for $100. Why in the world would you spend your time doing it? You're literally saving $900 by having the VA do it! As the agency owner, your time is better spent creating content, meeting with clients, and growing the business. You need to build a quality team and let them handle running the business. Chris spends a maximum of 10 hours/week on his businesses. Max! The rest of the time he's out there marketing, working on other projects, and speaking. That's what you need to be doing, too. [clickToTweet tweet="Unlearning micromanaging: make a plan to phase yourself out." quote="Unlearning micromanaging: make a plan to phase yourself out."] For each task that comes up, ask yourself, “Am I the one that has to be do this?” If the answer is no, then don't do it. Pass it along to someone on your team who can handle it. It can be a hard thing to learn, but make a habit of asking yourself that question. Eventually, delegating will come naturally.  This is one of the most important thing I tell people, and that is why I created the Agency Playbook. It allows you to setup systems that make your business profitable without you having to make every decision or do every thing. Check out the Agency Playbook now.  What's Next Using the best business management processes will help you run your agency and team rather than your agency run you and make you lose your passion. If business management isn't your only struggle, I have probably experienced all the different struggles for an agency owner through my own experience and I can help you from what I learned. From what to do with your sales processes, ways to increase your profit margins or how you can build authority for your agency. I can tell you the best ways to stop losing money on projects, why performance based pricing can be the best pricing strategy for your agency as well as why including remote working or freelancers in your team can be beneficial in the long run. You can learn more about my career and different experiences as well as tips, tricks and insights by checking out my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. Find more from my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel. There you will find advice from myself and other agency experts.

Have you ever thought of developing your own product - or have already developed one - but have found that the client work is distracting you from finishing? In today's episode, I talk with Kyle Racki about how your agency can create a product without killing it before it even gets started and how to upgrade any established product development processes. Product Development for Your Agency Kyle is a designer, blogger, technologist, and entrepreneur from Canada who ran his own web design agency for five years. During that time, he had several failures. Four to be exact. He then sold the agency and is now CEO and co-founder of Proposify. Let's build a product! Being a service agency is tough. You have to deal with cash flow, invoicing, revenue, etc. All these make building a product even more attractive. But don't be fooled, Kyle warns, “building a product while servicing clients is hard.” Hard, but not impossible. Ask before you build. Don't just start wire-framing the second you get an idea. Get out and start talking to people! You need to get product market validation and customer development before you start building. Start by talking to people you don't know. Lots of people. Hundreds, if you can. You want to make sure you're building a product that actually solves a problem and that people will actually pay for. Things to ask: What is your biggest challenge? What solutions have you found to the challenge? Are you willing to pay for a solution? I promise, it's way better to find out no one wants or needs your product before you start spending money and building it. Dedicate people to work on the product. If you can, resist the temptation to make building the product an add-on to someone's job. Think about it: your developer just spent four days coding for client projects and now has to switch over to working on your product. You're going to lose time on ramp up. Not to mention, paying clients will always come first. So without having a dedicated person to work on the product, you'll find yourself putting it on the back burner. Take it from me, if I had the chance to do it over again at my agency, I absolutely would have hired a dedicated person for product development. The investor route. Startups are expensive and not all agencies make enough profit on services to also fund building a new product. Kyle went with an investor to fund his product but there are lots of options, like incubators or crowdfunding. There are also VC's, but Kyle cautions that venture capitalist funding may be hard to get if you haven't made the full leap into being a product company. Some investors want to know you're fully committed to the product and not just moonlighting. Tinkering versus actually building. Make sure you do your homework! The grass isn't always greener on the product side, so learn the metrics of what you're getting into. And there's nothing wrong with tinkering. Use your service-based role to get to know your customers and to become really knowledgeable about your niche. Learn their pain points so you can make the kind of product that will actually make a difference. Proposify offer for listeners! Proposify is a cloud-based proposal management system and the product of Kyle “scratching his own itch.” Putting out proposals, responding to RFPs, and keeping track of all of them is daunting. Proposify helps agencies simplify the entire process so you don't have to spend forever putting together proposals. Smart Agency Master Class listeners can sign up for the free 14-day trial of Proposify and get 3 months free with promo code "JASONSWENK". Simply upgrade at the end of the 14-day trial. Growing Your Agency Having the right product development processes established within your agency could be the helping hand you need in getting your product off the ground. Now the next question is, what other challenges are you facing? I have probably experienced all the different struggles for an agency owner through my own experience and I can help you from what I learned. From what to do with your sales processes, ways to increase your profit margins or how you can build authority for your agency. I can tell you the best ways to stop losing money on projects, why performance based pricing can be the best pricing strategy for your agency as well as why including remote working or freelancers in your team can be beneficial in the long run. You can learn more about my career and different experiences as well as tips, tricks and insights by checking out my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. Find more from my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel. There you will find advice from myself and other agency experts.

Are you going wrong when it comes to creating proposals and the proposal percentage you give your clients? In this episode of The Smart Agency Master Class, I chat with Ruben Gamez, founder of Bidsketch, about what agencies are doing wrong on their proposals and you can do to win new business. Bidsketch is a web application that helps create professional looking client proposals in minutes. Common Proposal Mistakes Most Agencies Make The #1 mistake is talking about yourself in the proposal. If you're not talking about the client, the client's problems, and solutions you can offer, then you're proposal isn't doing you any favors. Clients want to know that you understand their problems and that you have actual solutions for them. Those are the kinds of proposals that have the most appeal. You also need to take the time to understand the buying process from the other side. Most companies go out and get a lot of proposals, meaning they talk to several agencies at the same time. It's not the ideal place for you to be but it's pretty easy to change that conversation. Tell the client that, in order to help them, you need to talk about their problems and get as much information as possible. This will help you better determine if this is the right kind of client for you, as well as what solutions you can offer. How to Increase Your Proposal Percentage in Closing Ruben puts the average closing proposal percentage somewhere between 30-40%. If you fall into this range (or below), here's a tip from Ruben for increasing your closings: Give pricing options. Don't just have one set price in your proposal. The only answer to one price is a yes or a no. By offering pricing options, you may be able to avoid getting a hard no. Plus, your conversion rate will go up if you have multiple options. However, steer clear of having too many options; Ruben advises somewhere between 2 and 4. My feeling on pricing options is different. If you're asking the right questions and communicating with the client throughout the process, you'll have already agreed on a price along the way. For me, you should pretty much have a “yes” by the time you get to submitting the proposal. My advice is to use B-A-N-T: Budget Authority Need Timing Using B-A-N-T to prequalify clients will save you so much time. Do you want the EXACT PROPOSAL TEMPLATE that won clients like AT&T, Legal Zoom and Hitachi? Writing a winning marketing proposal is key to winning new business. Over the past 12 years, I have created the ultimate web and marketing proposal template. This proposal is unlike other people's proposal templates for sale because this is the actual template that won big name clients for our web, technology and marketing engagements. If you want to be able to use a proven template for getting bigger projects, that are well over $10,000, check out this proposal. This proposal template will give you insights to winning even more proposals. Check out the Marketing Proposal Template now! Discover the best Digital Agency Strategies today. Get Online Training to help you setup the right systems and strategies to help you grow faster. Creating the Best Agency Creating a strong client proposal with the best proposal percentage for your agency is a step forward in creating the best best agency. Through my own career and professional life, I have more than likely experienced all if not most of the different struggles you have and can help you with what I have learned. From bad agency clients, developing agency products as well as how you can build authority for your agency. If you want to grow your agency even further, I have agency growth hacks, the best ways to improve management of your business as well as why building a remote team can be beneficial in the long run. As well as this, you can learn more about my career as well as tips, tricks and insights by checking out my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. I also hear the experience and advice from other successful agency experts in my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel.

In this episode of The Smart Agency Master Class, I sit down with Joe Grano who is going to talk to us about who to hire, getting that next level agency, and making the transition from a small, one person agency to bringing on full-time employees. Joe is the president and founder of Next-Mark, a full-service marketing, communications, public relations, and business strategy solutions company based in Sarasota, FL. When to hire full-time employees. Joe once said to me, “I never want to hire employees.” He's since changed his tune and now has several full-time employees on his team. In fact, he prefers them to contractors. Here are the questions Joe considered when making the full-time leap: Can you really afford to do it? There's a level of financial stability needed. Are you willing to give anything up to ensure your employees get paid? If you're not, then you aren't ready yet. Do you know how to hire? Bringing on just anyone can be a disaster. Other considerations: You need to really think about how you want to grow your business because hiring full-time staff is a big mind shift. Understanding that contractors probably don't have your business's best interests in mind. Contractors just don't have the same kind of loyalty as full-time employees. You can do so much more for people who are fully invested in the business, and vice versa. Have full-time staff and only bring on contractors whose core competencies are things that you couldn't afford full-time. Who is the right first hire? Okay, you're making the move to bringing on full-time staff but who is the first hire? Joe and I both brought on people who had been long-time contractors for our businesses. You already know their work style and they're already familiar with your company. Joe's first hire was his Director of Communications; someone who had been with him for awhile as a contractor and who brought along a lot of agency experience. Mine was a designer, but I also definitely recommend hiring some kind of manager - office or project. You need someone to do the operational stuff while you're out growing the business. New employees are an investment. Time is money, and it's hard to commit to spending a lot of your time teaching a new employee. Joe's advice for shortening the learning curve is to hire up. Bring in people with good experience and skill sets, so they can come in and start performing quickly. But remember - like anything else just starting out, new employees need to be nurtured. It takes time to teach them and help them gain confidence in their competencies. Be patient because it will be worth it. How to put together a great team? You may think you want to hire people whose working style is just like yours. You're wrong.  A team made up of a bunch of the same people won't be productive. Look for people who: Work well in teams. Joe recommends check out this TED Talk about hiring introverts. Have working styles that would compliment yours. Use this helpful quiz. Why are setting core values so important? If you don't have core values, you need to get some ASAP. If you have core values, you need to communicate them to your people ASAP. Make sure you are sharing them with your current and new employees, alike. Bonus: Want more info on core values? Check out this video from Zappo's CEO about core values and creating awesomeness. Important steps toward growth. Take a good, hard look at where you want your business to go to bring it up to a next level agency. Remember, new employees take time, so it's important you consider that in your growth plan. Also, think about their long-term fit within the company. If you can only see them around for a couple of projects or for a matter of months, it's not time for full-time staff. Finally, be really comfortable with being able to support someone full time. The last thing you want is to have to let them go after only a little while because you can't afford to pay them. Discover the best Digital Agency Strategies  to create a next level agency today. Get Online Training to help you setup the right systems and strategies to help you grow faster. Creating a Next Level Agency Are you holding yourself back from creating a next level agency by ignoring problems or issues you aren't even aware of that need your attention? Good, this is where I can come in and provide you support. In all my years, I have more than likely experienced all if not most of the different struggles you have and can help you from what I have learned. From what to do with your bad agency clients, how to develop agency products and how you can build authority for your agency. If you want to know how to grow your agency even further, I have agency growth hacks, the best ways to improve management of your business as well as why building a remote team of freelancers can be beneficial in the long run. As well as this, you can learn more about my career as well as tips, tricks and insights by checking out my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. I also hear the experience and advice from other successful agency experts in my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel.

Creating Valuable Content for Your Agency In this episode of The Smart Agency Master Class, I talk with Ahava Leibtag, and she is going to explain the six steps for creating valuable content to help you reach your target audience and increase your impact. Ahava is the president and owner of Aha Media Group, a content strategy and content consultancy in Washington, D.C. How can you generate leads for your agency? If you ask Ahava how to create great content, she will tell you step one is understanding your target audience. You need to know their business, understand their pain points, and know what solutions they are seeking. Know this before anything else because you can't start talking to people without knowing what they want to hear. You also need to spend time where your target audience is spending time. Don't feel like you need to be on all the social channels. If your target audience isn't on Twitter, why are you wasting your time and energy on Twitter? Once you've located your target audience make sure you master that technology. “Content and social marketing isn't all that simple,” Ahava says, “it's a lot of stuff to balance, so make sure you know how to use the technology.” Checklists are imperative in order to create valuable content that can generate new business for your agency. #1 - Findable. Make sure that you are utilizing appropriate keywords so your target audience finds you. Also think about how your content relates to other content. If someone is looking for a dresser, they may also be looking for a headboard. #2 - Readable. We've all seen it - bad web writing. Keep your content short and with the most important points at the top. People just don't read long-form content anymore, so don't have giant chunks of text. #3 - Understandable. It seems like a no-brainer, but you need to have your content easy to read, and not all about yourself. Make sure it is relevant to your audience. Show them that you understand their pain points. #4 - Actionable. Include clear calls to action in your content so the reader knows what to do next. Content exists for two reasons: because it supports business objectives and because it helps users accomplish their tasks. You want the person consuming your content to feel comfortable performing the action your requesting. #5 - Shareable. This does not mean going viral. Shareable content fills a need, is well executed, and simple to understand. It's the kind of content that can jump from the hands of the person that has it, right into the hands of the person who needs it. #6 - Mobile. It's clear mobile is huge in content and social marketing, but Ahava hasn't quite finalized its place. Since mobile can be standalone and fit within each of the other checklist items look for more to come in the future. Winning at content on the web. Be sure to pick up a copy of Ahava's book, The Digital Crown: Winning at Content on the Web. It's full of tips to simplify and refine your processes so you're putting out the best messaging possible as well as creating valuable content. Bonus: go to Aha Media Group's website and download the first chapter for free! Take Your Agency to the Next Level I hope you find my guide to creating valuable content helpful and you are able to implement it within your agency's strategy. There may be other business struggles you need to focus on. Don't worry, I have all you need to get through these obstacles. I have advice on topics such from getting your agency exposure in the news, the best way to get through a recession or even how to use a social media community to expand your brand awareness. If growth is your focus, I've discussed the four phases of growth within your agency and ways in easing through website issues holding your business back. I have all the information you need to help you. You can learn more about my life and my experience as well as lots of tips, tricks and insights by reading my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. If videos are more your thing, don't worry, i've got you covered! You can check out more from my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel. There you will find advice from myself and other agency experts.

Are you struggling with generating new business and grow your digital agency? In this episode of The Smart Agency Master Class, I talk with Michael Gass who is going to share with us his steps for driving new agency business. Positioning is the foundation of generating ad agency new business. Historically, agencies have problems when it comes to generating new business. There's little differentiation; every agency sounds just like the next. It's like you're forgetting your marketing minds when it comes to promoting your agency. Think having great creative makes you different from the next guy? Michael doesn't. “Great creative isn't a point of differentiation, it's an expectation.” If you really want to stand apart you need to narrow your focus - find that niche - and give the prospects a reason to want to work with you. Stop being your own worst client and making it harder than it should be! The paradigm shift. Let's face it - it just isn't how it used to be. Many agency founders, who were once great at working a room are finding themselves pretty inept nowadays. But Michael points out that we don't need to be mourning the days of chasing new business. He suggests using technology to entice new business to come to you. Don't worry if you have been slow to start using social media, you're not alone. Most agencies didn't start using it until 2010, and then they just did the same thing they were doing in the real world - talking about themselves. “Credentials, capabilities, and case studies - no one cares.” Prospects are looking for resources, not portfolios. 7 steps to differentiation and driving new business to your agency. #1 - Identify a target audience. Remember, you want to work with people who fit in that sweet spot. Once you find the target audience, set a clear objective. #2 - Find your purpose. Think about what your content driven blog is providing. Make sure that you're keeping your focus narrow. If you try to be everything to everybody, you won't appeal to anyone. #3 - Develop content! Michael gives his clients a 30 post in 30 days challenge. Do that and you'll have a lot of content and a routine for future production. Also, make sure you're leading with the benefit statement (i.e. put the most important information at the top to hook your readers). #4 - Include a clear call to action. Give your readers a prompt to keep the conversation going. #5 - Implement best practices. Keep what works and dump what doesn't. #6 - Make use of your analytics to refine and improve your content. You can learn a lot by just looking at the data, so if you're not currently checking your analytics, you're missing out. #7 - Manage the process. Use automation or hire someone to be responsible for making sure posts happen. Even if you're busy with pitches or away at a conference, someone should be in charge of putting out content. What you can do right now to start generating new business for your agency? Michael is a huge fan of social media and is adamant that we get comfortable using it. Tweet a lot, post on Google+, Facebook and LinkedIn. Write blog posts. Share, share, share. Start building a community. Use social media to promote your blog and share your posts. You can also share posts by others that you think are relevant and interesting. For help building that community, try ManageFlitter. Sound daunting? Michael suggests using Basecamp, a project management tool. Michael calls it “the ultimate cat herding program." Discover the best Digital Agency Strategies today. Get Online Training to help you setup the right systems and strategies to help you grow faster. Grow Your Agency Profits With this insight, I hope this improves your strategy for generating new business. This can only be successful by focusing on the processes you within your agency to improve it as a whole but I can help you get through all of it. I can give you advice on what to do when you are presented with new client opportunities as well as the different ways of building agency authority. Growing your agency can be a major goal for many agency owners. I can show you the different phases of growth you will experience, how placing a process for performance based pricing can be the best pricing strategy for your business and the three questions you need to ask yourself to sell more! You can also learn about my career and different experiences as well as lots of tips, tricks and insights by checking out my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. Check out more from my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel. There you will find advice from myself and other agency experts.

Facebook Marketing - How You Can Generate New Business With It In this session of The Smart Agency Master Class, I chat with Kim Walsh-Phillips who is going to share with us how to get new business through Facebook marketing, which is one of the most powerful marketing tools out there. Kim is the CEO of IO Creative Group and is a speaker, author, and a ROI enthusiast. Why your current Facebook engagement is so low. Because Facebook is free, you may have just jumped on all willy-nilly and started posting. According to Kim, that's not the way to go about it. After all, you wouldn't do that with a direct mail campaign, would you? No, of course not. You would put a lot of strategic thought into what you were going to say. Kim suggests thinking of each Facebook post the same way. Your posts have the potential to be seen around the world, so each should be part of a strategy for your Facebook marketing. The engagement formula to make Facebook work for your ad agency. Your Facebook marketing posts should be 85% PBS and 15% QVC. Meaning, you spend 85% of the time offering free, valuable content, and only 15% of the time doing self-promotion. It's a formula designed to gain trust and position you as an authority figure. Your page focus shouldn't be on lead generation. Kim points out that only 2% of people will return to your page after their initial visit. You're trying to impress the newbies, so put yourself in their shoes. Would you like to see valuable content or a bunch of self-promotional posts? In other words - brag sparingly. Ideally, you'd have one post per day, and only one of those per week would be promotional. It's not that you won't be promoting at all. Create ads that look like post which show up in the News Feed of your target audience.   Here is the type of content should you be posting on Facebook. You want to create content that is liked, commented on, and shared. The more of that kind of engagement you get, the more your stuff will show up in Facebook's feed. Kim suggests the following types of posts: Offering original content - tips, information, and resources Celebration - highlight a fan of the week Communication - ask a question of your audience Don't feel overwhelmed with the amount of posting. Automation is your friend. Kim and her team schedule posts in batches, 30 days in advance. Her tool of choice is Hootsuite. Kim's Tips on how to get UNSTUCK and to the next level in your business. Read Dan Kenny's book, No B.S. Direct Marketing: The Ultimate No Holds Barred Kick Butt Take No Prisoners Direct Marketing for Non-Direct Marketing Businesses. Once you're done reading that, become a member of GKIC. And stop being afraid of letting go of clients that aren't the right fit anymore. It's okay to out grow them, and it's okay to say goodbye. If a client doesn't help you reach your end goal, every hour you spend with them is one you'll have to make up elsewhere. Find the A+ players, get yourself involved with them, and make yourself known as a specialist. For more information on Kim Walsh-Phillips, check out IO Creative Group, or follow her on Twitter. More About Me We have talked about using Facebook marketing for your agency but it's also time to focus on the other hurdles and obstacles that are stopping your agency moving to the next level. I have all the advice you need. No matter what you need advice on, I have more than likely covered it. From topics such as how a poor website design can affect your leads to how your agency can cope while you work through a recession. Or maybe you want to know the four phases of growth within your agency and want extra help in easing through agency growing pains? I have all the information you need to help you through it. You can learn more about my life and business experience as well as lots of tips, tricks and insights by check out my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. And if videos are more your thing, i've got you covered! Check out more from my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel. There you will find advice from myself and other agency experts.

In this session of The Smart Agency Master Class, I chat with Joe Koufman who gives us insights into setting up technology to build leads over time, and tips for winning big pitches for your agency. Joe has been doing business development for digital agencies for over a decade. Most of us rely on referrals from clients to grow our business. In fact, we get excited when someone from an existing client changes jobs because it gives us a new referral opportunity. Now, I'm not knocking referrals but as Joe points out, it's not sustainable. Use technology. According to Joe, you need to implement best practices and repeatable marketing practices. Utilize CRMs and marketing automation to create content and nurture your leads over time. It's something that very few agencies do, but it's an invaluable practice. In addition to using tech to help you create content, it will also help you determine whether a lead is really dead or not. Don't just assume! You won't know if you aren't keeping track of your leads and interactions with them. Make sure you have the infrastructure. You need to put the right infrastructure in place to be able to handle new business. Build a team devoted to building new business. If you don't have a team, dedicate someone to serving that function for your business. You need to have someone responsible to responding to RFP's, prepping the company for pitches, and identifying new business opportunities. You, or someone on your team, needs to be getting out there and networking to find new business. And don't just go to the same old events every other agency does. Joe suggests trying to go to industry-specific trade shows and conferences to talk to potential prospects. Here's where you can get a sense of what this specific industry needs and find new opportunities for business. Winning Big Pitches - What does an agency big pitch look like? Ever wonder what it's like to do a $1.5-$2 million pitch? Joe shares his experiences and offers some advice as to how smaller agencies can do better and move on to winning big pitches. Joe's big pitches involved teams of people. People focused on making sure the pitch goes well, people creating content, and so on. Joe's team usually consisted of 6-8 people in the actual pitch with him keeping everything running smoothly. Joe's big pitch tip for smaller agencies: make sure you're doing something to show the client that you understand them. Not necessarily something that's solving a specific problem of theirs, but showing you care and aren't just giving a canned pitch. Make them feel special. Getting to the next level in your agency. Joe's biggest tip for getting your agency to the next level is to make sure you nurture leads over time so when the client is ready, you're there to work with them. Joe uses social media to maintain a more personal relationships with prospects and clients. He uses their shared interest to help build better, longer relationships over time. BONUS TIP - Joe suggests you check out the book, The Challenger Sale. It talks about the best way to approach a prospect with insights, teaching and offering solutions. Take Your Agency to Next Level So once you have established a strategy for winning big pitches with clients, what's next on your list of improvements? By taking a step back, you can look at the bigger picture of your agency and focus on areas you haven't explored yet as well as struggles you need to focus on to improve your business and then check out how I have all you need to get through these obstacles. I have advice to share with you from how to implement Facebook in your marketing strategy, ways of building authority to improve your agency or the best way to pitch to big brand clients. If growth is your focus, I've discussed the different phases of growth within your agency and the three questions you need to ask yourself to sell your services to more customers. You can learn more about my career and experiences as well as lots of tips, tricks and insights by reading my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. If videos are more your thing, did you know I have a Youtube channel? Check out more from my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel. There you will find advice from myself and other agency experts.

In this session of The Smart Agency Master Class, I chat with Gene Hammett about how to get unstuck so we can each reach that next level. Gene is a business coach who loves working with businesses to find new strategies including marketing strategies to move forward. He is also the host of Leaders in the Trenches, a podcast where he offers insights and tips from leaders and today's entrepreneurs. You should definitely check it out, especially episode 6, featuring me. Getting your business unstuck. You probably do a lot of marketing for your clients but hardly any for yourself. Sure, referrals come in because you're great at what you do, but it doesn't happen frequently enough to help move to the next level. And the clients coming in aren't always the right kind of clients. Being really intentional about the kind of agency you want to be gives you the freedom to create amazing solutions and land those high-profit projects. You want big names; the ones that really allow you to be creative. But you're not going to get there if you don't start marketing yourself. If your website isn't enticing to you, how is it going to attract anyone else? Stop making the time excuse. If the reason you haven't been marketing yourself is that you don't have the time, it's because you're doing too much. You need to be building your team out and delegating. If you're putting the right people and the right processes into place, you'll be able to get out there and grow your business. You simply can't do everything, everyday. You need to outsource! Find people with more expertise than you to do the things that they do best, so you can go out and do what you do best - sell your business. If you're not doing what you want to be doing because you're too bogged down in the details, then something is wrong. Try this exercise from episode 22 of Gene's podcast: write down everything you want to create and then write down what you're willing to give up in order to do it. It's all about finding your passion. It may seem counterintuitive, but taking on a broad spectrum of clients isn't going to make you money or help you grow. Niching gets you the kind of work you want and positions you for long-term growth. Foot in the door approach. Okay, so you've found your niche - now how do you get the clients? Gene offers these two points: Think of where you can create more opportunity with the people that already know and like you. Remember, people are 20 times more likely to do business with you if they are already a paying customer. Look at the people who have been in your pipeline for a long time and identify some small service that can get your foot in the door. It's not about making a profit at this point. It's about changing the relationship and turning a prospect into a client. The good news, according to Gene, is that digital agencies can do the second point really well. Use your niche to find businesses that are absolutely hungry for what you have. Figure out what you can give away to get their attention and then identify the service you can provide to convert them to a paying customer. After that you can introduce your core services. Get your foot in the door first, and the rest will follow. Marketing Strategies for your Own Agency Using the best marketing strategies not only for clients but having a clear focus on your own marketing strategies with get your agency in front of new potential clients. I have probably experienced all the different struggles for an agency owner through my own experience and I can help you from what I learned. From what to do with your sales processes, ways to increase your profit margins or how you can build authority for your agency. I can tell you the best ways to stop losing money on projects, why performance based pricing can be the best pricing strategy for your agency as well as why including remote working or freelancers in your team can be beneficial in the long run. You can learn more about my career and different experiences as well as tips, tricks and insights by checking out my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. Find more from my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel. There you will find advice from myself and other agency experts.

Are you looking into business scaling for your agency but just can't seem to getting the wheels in motion? The Four Pillars of Business Scaling In this session of The Smart Agency Master Class, I talk with Kyle Porter, founder and CEO of SalesLoft, a software that searches through social profiles to help find prospects. Kyle is going to tell us the four things that contributed to the growth of his business, as well as some inbound and outbound marketing strategies and how to build culture. Kyle attributes SalesLoft's growth to these four areas: Focus on product market fit. The more you can understand your customer's pain, the better solutions you can offer. Creating an engine for client acquisition via inbound and outbound marketing, as well as a team of closers. Client delightment. It's about exceeding expectations and taking them beyond just being satisfied. Culture. Kyle says this is the area he focuses on most. By creating these systems, you will have a foundation for success for business scaling. Each area builds on another: empathy for your customer creates better solutions, which builds the content for marketing, which makes the sale that delights the client, which positively reinforces the culture. Culture, culture, culture. Culture is so important, it deserves its own section. “Life is too short to not love every minute you're in the office,” says Kyle. He's worked hard at SalesLoft's core values: positive, supportive, and self-starting. [quote]Have fun. Get shit done. Grow the business.[/quote] Tips for getting those inbound leads. Kyle started nurturing those inbound leads by getting to know the thought leaders in his industry. It wasn't about asking them for something right away. No, he followed their social profiles, promoted them when they did something of value, and began building a relationship. He also does a lot in building a community for sales professionals. And let's not forget about content. Kyle makes sure that he's putting out content on a regular basis. Content Pro Tip - Have trouble finding the time to sit down and produce content? I record my blog on my iPhone, and then shoot the recording over to my virtual assistant. The blog and the show notes are then transcribed for me, and put on the website. I just have to review and schedule. SalesLoft and outbound strategy. Identify your ideal customer profile and use SalesLoft (or any tool, but I recommend it because I use it) to build an accurate and targeted list of those profiles. Once the list is compiled, use a cadence of emails, phone calls, and social drips until you get an appointment with the customer. Your initial email should be short and simple. Send them an email, follow-up with a phone call. Also, try monitoring them on social media. See what they're tweeting about so you can find something relevant to get them to open your email or take your call. There are even some free tools to help you weed through all the social media noise and find the details you want from the people you're interested in. Try Newsle and Nutshell Mail. The new school of sales. The old school way was to have an entire department dedicated to sales, but only the tiniest sliver of that department was focused on prospecting new business. New school sales is broken out into two divisions: the part that's going after the money and the part that's going after the appointments. The part that's going after the appointments is the sales development process. People target the audience with a specific objective. This allows for a shift in how the business thinks, empowers people to go after their mission, and enables specialization. Next Steps for Your Agency If the next steps for your agency are business scaling, I hope you found this helpful and you achieve the goals you have set for both yourself as an agency owner and the business itself. If this is only the first of a list of obstacles in your way, I have you covered. I have probably experienced all the different struggles for an agency owner through my own experience and I can help you from what I learned. From what to do with your sales processes, ways to increase your profit margins or how you can build authority for your agency. I can tell you the best ways to stop losing money on projects, why performance based pricing can be the best pricing strategy for your agency as well as why including remote working or freelancers in your team can be beneficial in the long run. You can learn more about my career and different experiences as well as tips, tricks and insights by checking out my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. Find more from my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel. There you will find advice from myself and other agency experts.

In this session of The Smart Agency Master Class, I chat with Alex Harris, of Alex Designs,  a company specializing in conversion rate optimization, landing page optimization, and e-commerce web design. Alex talks to us about value propositions and what your agency website is doing wrong right now. I've said it before, and Alex will say it again - it's all about your niche. You need to define your unique role within your own space. You have to understand who your target audience is so that you can gain a clear understanding of their needs. Once you've identified these two things, you will be able to create your unique value proposition and target to your audience. This value proposition will help show the target audience you are a credible authority within your niche. Alex was doing conversion rate optimization before anyone else. This was (and is) his value proposition, and he positioned himself as the leader. He remained number one in the industry for years and did so by clearly defining his goals and understanding his target audience. Failure and moving forward. [quote]Failure doesn't mean you'll never succeed.[/quote] You need to learn from your mistakes and move forward. When asked how to get passed a particular barrier, Alex gives these tips: Decide your mindset. Are you a dabbler? A stressor? Or are you a master? Learn from your failure. Find other people who have overcome similar barriers and seek advice. Don't forget to keep seeking clarity. Failure can be a hard blow, one that clouds your vision. Keep your eye on the prize, though. Once you know where you're going, you can create the necessary steps to get yourself there. How to set micro-goals. You have to continuously push yourself to accomplish and succeed, but you can't focus on everything. Alex uses micro-goals: small, manageable goals to be reached within 90-day time periods. "It's not about 5-10 year goals anymore. Things now move so quickly that shorter timeframes are better." What are you doing wrong on your agency website right now? According to Alex, you need to be doing better on clarity and consistency. Make sure that no matter where on your agency website the user is, they clearly understand what you do. Your value proposition needs to be prominent on each page. Use good message matching to ensure that no matter what page of your website a user lands on, it's consistent with their search. You also need to be giving away something in return for getting their email addresses. How about a free PDF download of some of your best tips or helpful infographics? You want to get the user to like you and to trust you, so that you're able to nurture and convert. What's Alex's #1 tip? Set up a feedback loop. Find out what your best customers like and keep doing it. Find out what people don't like and stop doing it. Alex's choice for helping with this is Qualaroo, to help identify and capitalize on web visitor revenue opportunities. What's Next for Your Agency? When you know how to improve your agency website by knowing what to avoid, this opens your agency to more potential client opportunities. However, without laying the ground work this could cause more issues than benefits. Check out how I can help you get through these obstacles. I can give you advice on how to increase conversions on your website, how to snap up client opportunities as well as ways to build authority to improve your agency. If growth is your focus, I've the different phases of growth within your agency and the three questions you need to ask yourself to sell more of your digital agency services. Learn more about my career and experiences as well as lots of tips, tricks and insights by reading my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. Check out more from my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel. There you will find advice from myself and other agency experts.