Welcome to episode 118. On the last episode, I interviewed the brilliant Tim Williams from Ignition Consulting group about pricing strategies and why agencies need to sell outputs and value and not hours, particularly given the rise of generative AI. If you haven’t listened to that, I’d recommend you go back and listen to episode 117 because Tim shares so many different aspects of why we need to do this as agencies. Today’s guest, founder of Lodestar Agency Consulting Brian Kessman, continues this theme and shares how to make that shift to a value led revenue model. In this chat, we talk abou ..read more

How the demise of the billable hour will affect agency roles…   Agencies typically price projects based on number of hours to be spent. Tim Williams is a well known pricing specialist who has been telling agencies why this doesn’t make commercial sense for years. Tim believes agencies need to urgently adopt a new revenue model if they want to survive. Here are a handful of soundbites – but I’d urge you to listen to the full episode here: Cost is a calculation, price is a judgement – pricing should be ‘top down’ not ‘bottom up’ Pricing starts with the question ‘what’s the potential value ..read more

Welcome to episode 117.  This episode is going to be very relevant for you if you’re responsible for pricing your agency’s services. I first saw Tim Williams, Founding Partner of Ignition Consulting Group, speak at an IPA conference in London in 2016. He was talking to agency owners about why they needed to ditch the billable hour if they wanted a profitable business.  I’ve been following Tim’s work in agency pricing and positioning ever since, and for me, he’s been the consistent voice of sanity throughout the years. Here are just a few of the topics we cover in our chat: ·  ..read more

Is the agency business model holding account managers back? Question: Why did you ditch your agency? Clients: “Because they never gave us anything we didn’t ask for” This finding stuck out from a large scale agency-client survey conducted in 2018 sponsored by the AAAA and ANA. Even though I read this years ago, the same sentiment is reflected in every similar survey I’ve read ever since. So you may very well be delivering high quality work on time and on budget – but it won’t stop your clients from taking a cold call from one of your competitors. Because if you aren’t bringing anything additi ..read more

Everyone in agency new business and account management needs to know this   Most agencies want to understand what clients think. And it turns out prospective clients and existing clients are thinking different things. Tim Riesterer tests sales messages with B2B buyers (your prospects and clients) with a team of cognitive neuroscientists. His company ‘B2B Decision Labs’ is the research arm of Corporate Visions and clients include IBM and Deloitte. After reading his book ‘The Expansion Sale’ I invited Tim on the podcast to share his wisdom. If you’re in agency new business or responsible fo ..read more

If you’re in agency new business or account management and responsible for contract renewals and account expansion, you’re in for a huge treat because Tim Riesterer, author of ‘The Expansion Sale’ (Four Must-Win Conversations to Keep and Grow Your Customers), joins me. Tim is a powerhouse and working with huge enterprises in this area, but he also has a background working in agencies. We discussed data backed insight into: the real reason prospects buy and how to change your approach to new business why how you sell to prospects is not the way you should sell to existing clients why overcomi ..read more

Why the account manager ‘permission line’ is stopping growth When agency owners seek training for their account managers, they typically want to fix their team’s lack of ability to deliver good client service. The behaviours they often describe that need fixing include; not being responsive to client needs, not being organised enough, overlooking key project processes, appearing unconfident in client meetings etc. But while some agencies have been upskilling their account managers in better client service, others have been teaching theirs to sell. Why account managers struggle to sell In 2019 ..read more

Why do account managers not cross sell and upsell during client meetings? When agency owners come to me for account management training, they’re really looking for 3 outcomes: More predictable client retention and revenue from existing accounts A repeatable process for point 1 (so the skills don’t sit with just one person) A competitive advantage (the compounding effect of 1 & 2 becomes a point of difference) In 2023 and beginning of 2024 many agencies found their new business pipeline stalled – so they turned their attentions to growing the existing client accounts. They realised that t ..read more

Welcome to episode 113. This will be particularly inspirational for you if you are currently a small agency owner with aspirations for huge growth. Jared Lopiccolo, CEO & Co-Founder of Noble Studios, built his agency from a single laptop to a multi million dollar agency. He shares some insight into what it took to achieve that growth and also his advice for other agency owners who may want to do the same thing. Jarrod also shares: the pivotal moments that were the growth accelerator points in his business how you need to change and adapt as a leader how to build a strong culture of very ..read more

Welcome to episode 112. I’m joined by Shannyn Lee, Managing Director of Win Without Pitching ®, which is widely recognised by the creative industry as one of the best quality sales training programs because it’s specifically tailored to agencies. This episode will be particularly valuable for you if your job at the agency is winning new business and you’d like to know how to do that without having to go through a costly pitch process. During our chat, Shannyn shares: the Win Without Pitching ® principles what it takes to circumnavigate a client’s pitch process the common sales challenges fac ..read more