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 challen ..read more

Welcome to episode 111. This episode will be particularly relevant for you if you're heading up the agency or you're in charge of an agency team.    Alison Coward is the founder of Bracket, a consultancy that partners with ambitious, forward-thinking companies to help them build high-performing and collaborative team cultures. She is a culture strategist, workshop facilitator, coach, trainer, keynote speaker and author of “A Pocket Guide to Effective Workshops” and “Workshop Culture: a guide to building teams that thrive”.     Alison shares some data backed insights, some b ..read more

Welcome to episode 110. This episode is for you if you're an agency owner either interested in buying agencies to grow, or selling your agency at some point.  It's also enlightening if you work in an agency and you want to understand the process of mergers and acquisitions. Jonathan Baker, Practice Lead in M&A at Punctuation joins me and shares a lot of tips and insights about the buying and selling process, including: - the current state of M&A and why right now might be a really good time to sell - the impact of AI on the changing agency landscape and his advice for content mar ..read more

Welcome to episode 109. My guest is Michael Farmer, a management consultant who has been looking at the agency business model for over 30 years.  He's identified three burning issues for creative agencies.  1. Work is increasing in volume and yet agencies fees are declining. But because agencies aren't measuring scopes of work, they don't often realize the extent to which this is happening.  2. Agencies aren't helping clients achieve their business outcomes. Clients are paying them less and typically fire them every three years and generally treat them as order takers. 3. AI ..read more

Welcome to episode 107. If you’ve ever wondered if you’re pricing your services in the right way, this one is for you.  Alfie Wenegieme, Managing Partner at Cactus,  joins me and he shares:  1. Why agencies don’t lose pitches on price alone  2. How agencies price to ensure a healthy profit margin  3. Typical mistakes agencies make when pricing  4. And some useful tips for account managers and project managers when scoping projects  If you’re listening to this episode in February 2024, I’m opening enrolments again for my Account Accelerator programme that be ..read more

Welcome to episode 106. If you’d like to know how one agency has been using AI since 2011 to predict the future for their clients, this chat will be interesting for you. It will also be insightful if you’re curious how the agency works with their global CPG and FMCG brands. ‌Nik Pearmine, Chief Strategy Officer at Black Swan Data,  and I cover a range of topics including: - his view on what it takes to be successful in account management - what he thinks is in store for the future  - and whether we should be worried about AI replacing our jobs. You can get in contact with Nik via L ..read more

Welcome to episode 105, I have invited two of my most popular podcast guests back for a second time, sales trainer legends; Marcus Cauchi and Benjamin Dennehey. ‌Both have been sales trainers for years and have worked with many agencies and tech companies. They shared some golden nuggets to help you with selling your agency’s services. ‌I had to throw away the list of questions I’d prepared and let the conversation flow naturally because I wanted to capture as much of their collective sales wisdom and tips as possible. I hope you’ll enjoy the longer length of this episode and ultimately come ..read more

Welcome to episode 104. In this episode, I talk all things agency project management with Joanne Reid, Managing Partner for delivery at Cactus.  We cover: - the challenges agencies face with project management - how Joanne assesses how well an agency's project management is working - how project management differs from account management and why she recommends agencies to have both roles - the target level of annual gross profit an agency should reach before investing in both roles - her recommendations for project management tools and how to evaluate whether you have the right one for y ..read more

Welcome to episode 103. This episode will be particularly relevant to agency owners who want to become less hands-on in their agency and just step away from the day to day operations.  I'm chatting to Karl Sakas, an agency growth consultant in the US and author of several books, the latest of which is called Work Less and Earn More a Practical Guide for Agency Owners to help them escape the daily grind of agency ownership. Karl has spent years consulting with agency owners and leaders and, I think because he originally had an operations background, he seems to have a wonderful way of exp ..read more

Welcome to number 3 in my mini series of five bonus podcast episodes created to show you how to build an entrepreneurial mindset in your agency account managers. Agency owners often tell me they wish their account managers were more confident in client meetings, including being confident enough to suggest new ideas for new projects. But, as with everything else, you can't expect your account managers to just know how to run an effective client meeting.  In this episode, I share seven things that you'll want to make decisions about in order to approach each client meeting in the right wa ..read more