Build a Better Agency Podcast

If you're tired of assessing your agency's project values based on an average hourly rate and having your team constantly updating timesheets, you'll want to take some notes on this episode. Today's topic is all about restructuring pricing models to focus more on the scope value rather than an average billable hourly rate. Our guest, Jonathan Stark, is a former software developer on a mission to r...

One of the most common traps we fall into as agency owners is making decisions based on our fears. Every day we have to make hard choices, and it's easy to fall victim to a fear-based narrative when trying to make everyone happy while keeping a business afloat. But fear not — I have some advice for you that will help you see the bigger picture of where you are likely making fear-based decisions fo...

To continue on the sales theme this week, we'll dissect everything you need to know about winning and retaining right-fit clients, honing in on your agency vertical, and strategizing your agency growth plan. Our guest, Corey Quinn, has a 25-year track record of extraordinary success as an entrepreneur, sales leader, and CMO for a $150M+ company. Today, he helps B2B SaaS and Agencies grow from 7 fi...

Sales — the dreaded word that most of us cringe when we think about it. It brings up thoughts of manipulation, forced conversations, and fear of rejection. It's one of those necessary evils that come with being a business owner that's essential if you want to keep growing. For many of us, we fear hearing the word "no." Once it's out there, we drop the conversation, take the loss, and move on. But...

It's no secret the job market has shifted immensely over the past 3–4 years. One minute, we're hitting the brakes and halting all new hires. The next, we're kicking things back into gear and going through a hiring frenzy with inflated salaries. And now, we're entering a recession but still need to hire top talent at an affordable price. How do we keep up? This week, I'm talking with Art Boulay and...

One of the biggest sticking points with agencies is establishing tried and true onboarding and training SOPs. Over and over, we find that new hires aren't pleased with how their onboarding process went, despite agencies and larger companies investing billions into this one area. Poor training and onboarding experiences can result in disaster and influence how long your new hire will want to stick...

With a heavy heart, I'm recording this week's solocast to commemorate the life of a cherished and respected team member of AMI, Craig Barnes. I have known Craig for 25 years, and we became great friends and colleagues over our time together as fellow agency owners. I want to use this solocast as an opportunity to honor the legacy Craig left behind and share with you all some of the core values he...

As agency owners, we're always looking for ways to get great customers that increase our profitability while decreasing the length of the typical sales cycle. That's the dream, right? This week, I have Tom Schwab on to talk about one of the best ways to make that dream a reality — being a great guest on other people's podcasts. As a great guest himself, Tom has a gold mine of valuable information...

As agency owners, we're always looking for ways to get great customers that increase our profitability while decreasing the length of the typical sales cycle. That's the dream, right? This week, I have Tom Schwab on to talk about one of the best ways to make that dream a reality — being a great guest on other people's podcasts. As a great guest himself, Tom has a gold mine of valuable information...

Diversity in the workplace is the cornerstone of running a modern and successful agency. Without it, you're not only selling your agency short, but you're also passing up on an immense pool of talent and ideas that you won't find by staying in a comfort zone. This week, we have Dr. Ella Washington, a professor, organizational psychologist, and DEI expert, on the podcast to share the purpose, pitfa...

With agency ownership comes big ideas, a lot of creative energy, and infinite passion for your work. Chances are you have a million ideas floating around your head with nowhere to put them. Why not compile them into a book? We've talked about why creative thought leadership matters for finding right-fit clients and aids in biz dev for your agency. This week, I'm bringing back Henry DeVries to disc...

Business development will always be necessary for keeping your agency alive. Many agencies are great at marketing for clients but historically fall flat when it's time to market themselves to prospects. Peter Levitan knows this very well and has some tips to share to help us get creative about our agencies and prospecting for them. Whether aggressively pursuing a dream client or breaking into thou...

Time tracking is one of the most overlooked resources in an agency's day-to-day operations. Without it, you're missing out on valuable data about where you need more training, more staff, or even if you're charging enough for your services. That's why I'm talking today about incentivizing daily time tracking with your employees. The first thing a lot of your team will say is, "I don't have time to...

Weary is a great word to describe a lot of agency leaders right now. It comes up again and again that we're just tired, overworked, and running on fumes. It's not our fault, but there are things we can do to get back to feeling a little more balanced and less like we're about to snap.   I brought Jeff Salzenstein on this week to teach us some good habits that we can work on little by little to imp...

If you've ever been in a situation where you're thinking, "I'm doing too much," or "I don't have time to be creative anymore," get comfortable because this episode is for you. Today, we're talking about optimizing your agency workflow through outsourcing and hiring so that you can get your hands out of everything and get back to doing more of the work you love.   Manish Dudharejia of E2M Solutions...

Marketing agency culture is constantly changing, but adapting the best we can is important. And one of the most important ways we need to be adaptable is by identifying where we can bring more diversity and new perspectives into our company culture. Sometimes when you're sitting in the boss's chair, there can be a disconnect between knowing what your people want and need and seeing who might be mi...

Creating content and having a content marketing strategy have become the bread and butter of marketing agencies, and we have the research to prove it. In fact, many agencies are now saying that 75% of their revenue is coming from content. This week, I'm talking with Steve Pockross and Ryan Sargent of Verblio to go over some interesting research they did about content creation, content ROI, what ty...

For 2021 and 2022, we've been in a job seeker's market where potential employees have more power to make demands. But now, this period is cooling off as we head into a recession. This means you should be able to find good talent for less money and with fewer demands. We know it's hard to compete with big corporations for what we can offer, but many people choose to work with agencies because they'...

Fear is a familiar feeling in agency ownership. It's easy to feel like you don't know what you're doing or might be missing something important, especially if you're doing it all yourself. In this episode, I'm delivering advice on how to conquer the biggest agency owner fears in a Collabs & Cocktails event hosted by Predictive ROI. Whether it's imposter syndrome, money worries, figuring out how to...

One of the best ways to establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry and get more right-fit clients is by publishing a book. Often, the people who don't want to publish a book fall into one of two categories: those who don't think they know enough (or think everyone knows what they do) or those who think they have the "secret sauce" and don't want to give it away willingly. Our guest, H...

Today on the podcast, we're challenging how you approach B2B prospecting. If you've ever been afraid to openly advertise your pricing, roll out a free offer for new customers, or try something completely different from the agency norm, I hope this conversation inspires you to take the risk. In this episode, David Valentine and I discuss how his businesses have grown incredibly by using unorthodox...

We always say, "What you measure matters," on the podcast, and today is no exception. To keep you and your team fed, you need to measure metrics in your agency. Without this vital system in place, you likely have no idea how much money is coming in or being spent, which directly affects your team. That's why we have Marcel Petitpas here to teach us all about running your agency by the numbers. He'...

We've all been hearing it: a storm is coming. Or maybe it's not. Depending on who you ask, we don't know what our economic future holds. But one thing is for sure, if you stay prepared with recession planning, regardless of what the economy is doing, you can hold strong against those unexpected changes much more easily. In this solocast episode, I will share with you the best ways you can start re...

What do you think of when you hear about Disney? Fireworks, castles, and happy families all probably came to mind for a moment. But you probably didn't think of dishware — and we're not talking about those cups from the 90s with Lion King characters on them that were in every family's kitchen cabinets. Today's guest, Alvaro Melendez, knows brands deeply in a way that most of us could never even im...

What makes an employee want to stick around at your agency? Every year since 2014, we've been doing the research and compiling it into our Agency Edge Research to help agency owners get to the bottom of how to maintain employee satisfaction. We expected certain things like financial compensation and work-from-home flexibility to be most important this year. Still, we were surprised to find many ot...