The Agency Accelerator

Introduction In this episode of The Agency Accelerator Podcast, Rob Da Costa explores how artificial intelligence (AI) can enhance work and team productivity. He highlights examples of AI tools such as Chat GPT and Bard to improve writing skills and how analytical tools can extract valuable data for customer insights and targeting. Rob predicts key trends in AI integration, including the collabora...

In this week’s podcast, Rob talks to Jenny Plant from Account Management Skills about effective account management. They discuss the importance of building respectful relationships with clients and the value of sales training for account managers. They also delve into when and if you should be splitting account management and project management roles in your agency, touching on the benefits and ch...

It's worth revisiting one of our more popular podcast episodes because we all want to build our agency in a sustainable and profitable way and there are 4 foundations we need to focus on to achieve this. We dig into them in this actionable episode. We can get seduced by so many ideas about how to build our agency because there are a lot of people out there telling you what you should be doing and...

In this episode, host Rob Da Costa is joined by Arnaud Belinga, co-founder of Breakcold, a social selling and CRM platform. They discuss the importance of social selling and how it can be used as part of a business development strategy. Engaging with prospects on social media platforms such as LinkedIn is becoming increasingly important, especially for B2B businesses. They also discuss how to use...

In this episode of the Agency Accelerator Podcast, host Rob Da Costa delves into the topic of profitability. He provides advice on ideal profit margins and four key areas that can impact the bottom line: undercharging, over-servicing, not using time efficiently, and high client turnover. [00:32] Introduction [01:13[ Overview of the episode: Rob talks about the focus on profitability in this episod...

In this episode of The Agency Accelerator, we focus on staff utilisation. My guest, Ryan Watson from Upsourced, shares his experiences and advice to help agencies grow profitably by focusing on utilisation. The goal is to avoid being busy but not profitable! Ryan categorises agencies into growth stages, discussing when utilisation becomes a priority. He also emphasises the importance of time track...

On this episode of The Agency Accelerator, host Rob Da Costa dives into the crucial topic of middle-of-funnel marketing. He explains why agencies should focus on educating potential clients and providing genuine value that helps them move closer to making a purchase decision. Tune in to discover how to master the middle of the funnel and build customer trust, authority, and loyalty. Time Stamp [00...

On this episode of The Agency Accelerator, we delve into the common challenges marketing agencies encounter regarding growth. Rob provides insights into overcoming obstacles such as a lack of leads, inability to scale, cash flow and stagnant client growth. The podcast emphasises the importance of having a strong foundation for growth by delegating work (to ultimately work towards creating a self-r...

In this episode, we delve into the common problem of ghosting agencies face when prospects fail to respond after receiving a proposal. Rob shares how agencies can prevent ghosting by better qualifying prospects before sending proposals, better understanding their budgets and timelines, and building strong relationships from the beginning. We also explore how creating a sense of urgency and providi...

In this episode of The Agency Accelerator, Noel Andrews, founder of Job Rack, joins the podcast to discuss how to make remote workers feel like part of the team. The conversation covers topics such as setting clear expectations, providing feedback, and the differences between freelancers and core team members. The importance of regular check-ins and scorecards is emphasised, along with the use of...

In this episode, Rob Da Costa dives into the importance of agencies understanding the buyer's journey. Rob breaks down the three stages of the buyer's journey - awareness, consideration, and decision - and explains the common mistakes agencies make with their marketing.  In the first stage, awareness, Rob suggests creating short-form marketing content to get people to know more about your agency. ...

Resourcing continues to be a challenge for most agencies. Should you hire in-house full-time staff, remote workers or can you build your agency using freelancers? To answer these questions and more I am joined by David Wain-Heapy And Bachir Smahi, former agency owners and now running a remote resourcing agency, Prodigi. Time Stamp [00:36] Introduction [00:54] Running and selling your eCommerce mar...

As an agency owner, managing your time effectively is crucial to ensure that you can accomplish everything that needs to be done. But sometimes we get really busy focusing on client work and all our best-laid plans go out the window. So in today's podcast episode, I share with you some tips to help you manage your time when you get really busy. Time Stamp [00:55] introduction to 7 tips to manage...

David Blois is an agency M&A Expert and founder of M&A Advisory and I sat down with him to discuss succession planning, maximising the value of your agency if you are thinking of selling and the best routes to finding a buyer. Time Stamp [00:00] Introduction [01:05] Is there still demand for acquisition in the past few crazy years?  [02:00] Tips and advice on planning to sell your agency o...

I have been out in South Afrrica for the past 10 weeks, living and working like a local (rather than being on holiday).  In today’s podcast I explore what it’s like to live and work as a digital nomad. I share the major advantages and disadvantages - in the hope that it might inspire you. Time Stamp [00:00] Introduction [01:11] I have worked away from the UK during the winter for the past few year...

There is a new player in the agency education space and today I am chatting with Dr. Baris Onay from Agency Growth Events.   We discuss some of the agency trends we can expect to see in 2023 and learn more about the Agency Growth Book and future planned events.   Time Stamp [00:00] Introduction [01:37] How did Agency Events come about? [03:31] Why create a new event and write a book focused on the...

How good are you at giving challenging feedback so that the other person hears you and takes action?  In this episode, I share 6 tips on how to give difficult feedback. Time Stamp [01:20] We all have to give difficult feedback at some point or another [02:05] Types of feedback you might have to give [02:35] Never sugar coat your feedback if you want to be heard [03:30] When should you give feedbac...

Today we are discussing growing and scaling your agency and succession planning with Trenton Moss. This is a very honest ‘warts & all’ conversation where Trenton shares the ups and downs of growing his agency. After 15 years he sold his £3m agency before starting his current business Team Sterka. Time Stamp [01:30] Trenton’s 15-year journey of starting and selling his agency [03:45] The cataly...

If you have ever considered hiring a coach or an external advisor then today I want to share 10 things you won’t be told and things to look out for and consider when hiring some external support. Time Stamp [00:00] Intro [01:00] Take my brand new quiz to provide you with specific curated content [01:49] Why every agency should have a coach to ensure you are performing at your best [02:21] The coac...

Mindset and training our brains to think in a certain way play such a big part in our productivity. In today's episode, I'm joined by Blaine Oelkers and we're exploring the 30-minute hour and the 21-second way of forming a habit.  A fascinating discussion where I learned a lot. So grab a pen and paper, clear your schedule for the next 30 minutes and join me as we learn how to be super productive a...

What can you do to give yourself the best chance of winning a pitch or proposal you write.  This was a question that was recently asked in one of my monthly group coaching calls.  We had some great answers so I thought I would dig into this in today’s podcast. Time Stamp [00:00] Intro [01:20] We are all time poor so we need to use our business development time carefully and be selective about what...

There is no doubt that we are heading towards more challenging times, so what are the practical areas you should focus on and how do you retain a ‘growth mindset’?  I'm excited to be joined by Nicky Billou today to talk about how to not only survive in a recession but also thrive and grow your agency Nicky Billou is an author of several best-selling business books, a podcaster, a speaker and the c...

It’s that time of year when I collate all of my favourite tools and apps into a handy guide (which you can download for free so check out the links below). In today’s episode, I am going to talk you through my favourite tools and explain why they made my top 15 list. I spent loads of time researching and playing with tools and I'm sharing my top 15 so you don't have to waste any time looking for b...

We are all really busy but no one wants to be a busy fool - filling our days with tasks that don’t move the needle for our agency. So how do you make sure you are focussing on the right tasks, how do you get really organised and how do you avoid chasing shiny new objects?   These are just some of the questions we get answered in this week’s episode with my guest, Chelsey Newmyer. Time Stamp [01:41...

How has your year been in 2022? I hope it has been a good one despite all the craziness going on in the world. In today's podcast, I'm going to share with you the “good, bad and ugly” of my own personal year. I'm going to talk about things that work well for me and activities that didn't so work well. I’ll share some of the changes I made and some of the trends I'm seeing in the agency world.  Tim...