Authority Builder Podcast | Client-Winning Strategies for Coaches, Consultants, and Creatives Who Want to Lead With Authority.

ROI is the key to the best project wins. I see it time and time again: proof of the effectiveness of your work is the most powerful thing you have control over when you communicate to your prospective clients. The good news is you don't need to win a DEA to get started.  In this mini-podcast you'll learn how to start putting this to use for your business.

Today's email is a little different: I'm giving you a new business task for this week. I want you to do is listen to through this very short episode once and then listen again, with LinkedIn open and keep hitting pause as you do these tasks that I'm going to walk you through. 

Sandra Booker talks with Charlotte about how to strategise for growth when you're feeling overworked, overwhelmed and multi-hatted. Sound familiar? Listen into this episode for topics like: Foundations to scaling your business. Why sometimes you have to take a step back in order to move forward. Forget the Unicorn. How to find and hire the right person for the right role. Delegation secrets....

Love it or hate it, a big part of getting your agency known and remembered when the dream client is picking their next agency is being featured in the media. Here are five fundamentals that’ll lead you to consistent press coverage.

Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time by Howard Schultz  https://amzn.to/34TaPvn   There is no denying the buisness and marketing genius of former Starbucks CEO and now chairman emeritus, Howard Schultz. This book is an honest look back at the principles that have shaped the Starbucks phenomenon. Schultz shares the wisdom he has gained from his quest to make grea...

"I'm struggling to get clients... maybe I should hire a new business agency" I kid you not: I hear some version of this from 50% of the people who want my help with lead generation. "I'm having a hard time getting people to say yes to my branding project proposal." The hope is that spending some money to get in front of more people will result in a flood of prospectiv...

Melissa Harstine talks with Charlotte about how customer insights have sharpened Kaffeen's marketing, and how they could do the same for you. Listen into this episode for topics like: What is customer research and how can it help creative businesses get more clients?  How do you identify the people you should be speaking to?  How do you make the request in a compelling way so those people agr...

January resolutions don't begin and end at the (home) gym. But all too often agency ambitions for a shiny new year also fail to make it past the gatepost of February 1st. Here are the five new business mistakes I see most ambitious but smaller agencies make, and how to turn them round to a success. They go hell for leather in January, and then fade out. Consistency is key, slow and steady win...

For many design firms, the first marketing/ new business person's hire represents an exciting marker of growth. A kind of milestone that says you've made it, and a signifier of your ambition to scale. It also represents a resignation that you can't do it all, and that you're willing to relinquish the outward message of your agency to another, more specialist person. Only most a...

Growth Hacker Marketing: A Primer on the Future of PR, Marketing and Advertising Kindle Edition by Ryan Holiday https://amzn.to/3dx1SM3 It maybe fairly old by this point (8 years at time of writing) but by no means is this book out of date. When I was in tech start up world, this was my bible. If you've got a marketing budget of closer to zero than squillions, how are you supposed to create a...

If you feel you're undercharging, you're in company. Industry-wide, designers are often hung up on charging for time because of the decades they've spent filling in timesheets. Here's how to get over this money block.

Often within the agency space, there’s a perception that big is more important than efficiency and profitability. I disagree, so here are a few things that hold people back and are easy to resolve.

Even with the most notice you could possibly give a client, that you want to enter their project for an award, invariably there are always those times when it really feels like you’re not getting the information you need to draft a winning entry. Here’s a list of handy tools to use, that don’t require client input.

I just wanted to scribble/record this straight after a call with one of my coaching clients to address an issue that’s come up for me a couple of times in the past week. The challenge is: how to share your client experience when your clients won’t let you talk about the work that you’ve done. So if this is something that effects you, read on/ listen in for ways to appease current clients and appea...

When you're staring at a blank page it can be really hard to summon up interesting and relevant topics that you have something constructive to contribute to, and which your prospects also want to read. Here are three places you can summon great topic ideas that you will enjoy writing about and your clients will enjoy reading.

Dan Englander, Founder at Sales Schema discusses with Charlotte navigating the path to agency new business when you've 'exhausted' referrals and 'milked' existing clients Listen into this episode for topics like: Beyond referrals and personal networks , what do you recommend agencies look to do next? Any advice on how an agency of under 20 people can build an effective sal...

One easy way to get ahead of awards season is to start making folders for each possible entry on your server, where you can dump anything that might help the entry when it comes to writing. Better still, hand this task list below to a junior person, and get them to update the folders monthly with new info.

If you’re starting from scratch it’s not always clear what should be in your agency’s marketing plan. If you consider these 6 linchpins you’ll be setting your agency up for the best possible chance of quality inbound new business

Sometimes it's hard to know where to start when you want to raise the profile of your agency. Take 25 mins out of the day to make 5 giant leaps in your marketing actions.

In design terms, when a project ends, the files get squirrelled away on the server, team drinks happen, relief is palpable. But in marketing terms, that’s when the opportunities begin.

Eman Ismail, founder of Inkhouse talks to Charlotte about copy writing that converts new business prospects to clients, how to get started, what to focus on and many other shortcuts to bossing your copy content.  Listen into this two-parter episode for answers to questions like: Who is better at copy that converts: B2B or B2C businesses? What are the opportunity costs for B2B of not addressing thi...

When you do get some time to dedicate to getting the attention of prospective clients it can be hard to think beyond what you’ve done before. It can feel strenuous and unnatural. Here are a few techniques you might not have used before.

Eman Ismail, founder of Inkhouse talks to Charlotte about copy writing that converts new business prospects to clients, how to get started, what to focus on and many other shortcuts to bossing your copy content. This is the first / second of a two part episode. (delete as appropriate) Listen into this two-parter episode for answers to questions like: Who is better at copy that converts: B2B or B2C...

When you’re ambitious but small it can be tempting to spend money ‘investing’ in marketing tech and sales tools that will help you achieve your growth vision. Sometimes it’s valuable to do this, but most of the time it’s not. Often there is a great, free or low cost alternative that’s hidden away that you can use, meaning you can focus your precious budget on something that’ll help you accelerate...

Deborah Dawton, Chief Executive at the DBA talks to Charlotte about her experience of the most common challenges to agency growth and how to navigate the business aspect of design more easily. Listen into this episode for topics like: How can design business leaders close the gap between agency and client Why proving ROI is such a powerful tool to leverage in business development What the changing...